Fred's Lunch Bag Deli in downtown San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter has served sandwiches from a counter inside 861 Sixth Avenue since the mid-1990s, building a weekday lunch operation around speed and scratch-made soups. The deli runs Boar's Head cold cuts alongside hot builds like the Reuben — pastrami, Swiss, sauerkraut, and Thousand Island on rye — on a compact menu that parallels the classic cold-cut format at Sabrina Cafe & Deli nearby. A Middle Eastern thread surfaces in the deluxe manoushi — oregano-olive-oil paste baked on pita, topped with feta, tomato, cucumber, and red onion — splitting the menu between American deli and Levantine flatbread traditions. Breakfast croissants and fourteen-inch flour-tortilla burritos loaded with egg, cheese, and salsa anchor a morning program that converts the same prep line into a full pre-work station. All soups rotate from recipes cooked in-house rather than reheated from commercial cans, a scratch commitment that sets the kitchen apart from grab-and-go counters and aligns it with the made-to-order breakfast focus at Cafe 222 on Island Avenue. The garlic chicken sandwich — grilled breast with house garlic spread, mayo, lettuce, tomato, and pickles on a nine-inch roll — represents the most layered single build on the hot-sandwich side of the menu.