Report: American People Lead World In Compressing Big Sandwiches So They’re Bitable

This week in sandwiches pt. II

The Red Scooter Deli is in Paso Robles. We went there for lunch because it had a huge sign on it that said LUNCH. Their tactic worked. Its in a really nice little park downtown. I was in the mood for something fresh. So, I got "The Bird" which consists of turkey, cranberry sauce, cream cheese, seeds, lettuce and sprouts on wheat. Theoretically, it should have been good. The cranberry sauce was more like strawberry jam and the turkey tasted like it came from an oscar myer package(no offense to the myer family.) They should have bombarded it with more sprouts and cream cheese. That sammy is for the birds.
Sunha got the breakfast croisant sandwich. It was amazing! Almost too good, like when you're three quarters of the way in and it almost over powers your taste buds. I would go back there if I ever had the chance in hopes of redeeming myself. Maybe they'll come with some adequate meat next time. Its at 110 Pine Street, Paso Robles , Ca 93446



This is a chicken salad sandwich made by Sunha's mom. I was spoiled when she came here to visit. She's an amazing cook. The chicken salad was made from scratch with almond slivers. She even picked a perfect wheat roll. She emptied out some of the bread so that she could fit more chicken salad in it, that deserves some sort of award. She decided to start a blog about her food and gets like 500 hits a day, which is not bad, considering I only get like 5,000... hits...haha (crusty the clown sigh.)



This is a Sandwich from the The Viking Restaurant in Solvang. What you see here is a Danish sandwich. Pork and sauerkraut and beets! Yaaay? No, boooo! It tasted like a vikings shoe that stepped on some pork and sauerkraut. (I still ate the whole thing.) It'd be nice to eat an authentic one of these some day, it has all the right ingredients right down to the pumpernickle bread. 1684 Copenhagen Drive, Solvang


This lovely burger is called the Blue Cheer. Its from the grillemall burger truck. Cranberry sauce and blue cheese pulled off with the greatest of ease. It even has chips on it. I'm on board for this one. Check em out! http://twitter.com/#!/grillemalltruck

Lobsta Sandwich

Another doozy from my man lp. This one is coming our way from Portland, Maine. World renowned for their seafood and swarthy hooligans. Look at that fresh lobster, shit is ridic!

Bay Cities

Bay Cities is recognized by sandwich lovers as having the best Italian sub in town. Several people have asked me wether or not I have been there. One person even made the remark that it is so good, it will break my sandwich blog. It was my destiny to face this mythical hoagie. I finally made my way out to Santa Monica to try the legendary Godmother.
I went to Santa Monica to pick up an art piece from Romney for the auction. He and Devi told me that they eat there all the time and judging from the looks of the place, so does everybody else in Santa Monica. It was around 1:30 pm on a weekday and you could barely get the counter to order. Romney pointed me towards a big basket sitting on the counter overflowing to the brim with freshly wrapped Godmothers. So many people order it, that aside from everything else people order, they just keep a steady flow of them pumping out to satsify the hunger of local santa monicans and sandwich crusaders alike.
The bread is a little chewy, but crunchy enough to let that slide. They are made on Italian rolls (made & baked fresh hourly!) The bread is hearty like that to soak up all of the juices. On it, are the usual suspects, genoa salami, mortadella, coppacola, ham, prosciutto and provolone. If you get it with THE WORKS then they hit you with mayo, mustard, onions, pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, Italian dressing & mild or hot pepper salad.


Thats a lot of juice to soak up! Which is precisely why this sandwich is so successful. Even with all of that juice, the bread holds it in like the sturdy walls of an above ground swimming pool.(If you wait too long to eat it then it will get soggy, if this has happened then you have failed. Also, when feeling for which one to grab on the counter, make sure its not soggy. Thanks Rom.)
The main reason that this sandwich is so good is the taste. The scale of flavors don't tip too far in either direction. Its right on the money. The perfect blend of sweet, sour, salty and spicey. Its the freshness of the meats with perfect balance of the condiments that makes it so delicious.
Many purists of Italian subs don't think that condiments should even be on it, just meat and cheese. While I understand and respect this, I need mine served with a little push of mass appeal (condiments.) Maybe I just haven't gotten to that level of refinement yet. Its like my taste in movies. I love a more sophistocated film, even avant-guard at times, but more often then not, I'm gonna pop in Delta Force or Zoolander. Its just more palatable and accessible to the masses. This is probably the same reason why I like sandwiches so much.
The Godmother kind of reminded me the Italian from Delfonte's in New York. That sandwich won best Italian sub in the city. It had similar ingredients in the meats and the hot pepper salad. I proposed to my future wife while we were eating a couple of those puppies. Good times...


Above is one of the best Caprese sandwiches I've ever had. Super fresh. Once again, the bread totally makes it. It also has just enough Balsamic and olive oil on it. If you want something a little lighter, then maybe give this one a try. In a funny coincidence, I had the Caprese below the day before. It was made by my friend Nigel. Thanks Nigel for the great sandwich!


Bay Cities is located at 1517 Lincoln Boulevard Santa Monica, CA 90401

Famous sandwiches

Believe it or not, a good sandwich can either make or break a movie. (thanks dooley)

Lyon's Sandwich post

This next post come to us from fellow sandwich aficionado, Lyon in NY. These sandwiches are from Fredi on 28 E. 12th st off University Place.

First up we have the Italian Melt which includes prosciutto di parma, mozzerella, parmigiano reggiano, roasted plum tomatoes and balsamic dressing: ay maron!


Next up we have the BBQ pulled pork with chipotle lime sauce slaw. This one looks like a force to be reckoned with. Why is cabbage so good with lime?


Heres's the rest of the menu

Thanks buddy, keep em comin!

Sandwiches by Charles Schiller.

Slicin' and dicin' pt.1

What a difference good bread makes. If you haven't sliced yourself up a loaf, then do it, you'll feel like a man. Its like hunting your own food and cooking it (except the exact opposite.) Will you make the cut? Send me your pix, I'll post em. Thanks to the mainn man BR for the bread.

And then,

BAM! Cucumber, butter and omelette. Sometimes you just let the bread do the driving. Learned this sandwich from Natalie.

Do ice cream sandwiches count?

No, they don't. But they're still good. These are from Coolhaus ice cream sandwich truck. http://twitter.com/COOLHAUS. They have flavors like strawberry with jalapeño and bacon...zoinks!

The Club

My guess (is as good as yours): They are called club sandwiches because they were served at clubs at which they had to accomodate for a lot of people. Thats why they are double decker, cut in to four pieces and contain many ingredients, to satisfy the varying tastes of each member.

Whats Cookin America basically says: A guy came home and was so hungry that he put everything that he could find together in one sandwich. He then introduced it to the club that he belonged to and they went crazy about it and adopted it as their own.(Which means that he put turkey on bread and was like, "this is not gonna be enough," put ham on it, "not gonna be enough," put bacon... and was still fearful that it wouldn't satisfy his giant appetite. So he made it a double decker and added cheese and vegetables!)


Wikipedia adds: One popular theory is that the club sandwich was invented in an exclusive Saratoga Springs, New York, gambling club in the late 19th century.[1]
The sandwich is known to have appeared on US restaurant menus as far back as 1899.[2]

And Mitch Hedburg says:

Modern day: At grimey late night diners, its one of the only safe things to eat. At such an establisment, it comes with a trough of ranch dressing for dipping to mask the mediocrity. The toast gets cold as soon as it comes out. It is rare to come across a decent club sandwich, but they are out there. The one pictured above is a really good one. Its from Home Restaurant in LA. Everything there is tasty. What seperates this club sammy from the others is the fresh ingredients. The bread is what pushes this sammy over the edge, high quality, not toasted, just right..aight.
1760 Hillhurst Avenue
Los Angeles, CA

Wedding Sliders

Big congrats are in order for my friends Lyon and Abbey who just got married in the Virgin Islands. Also, big congrats to their choices in food. Behold the Asian BBQ Snake River Kurobuta Pork Belly Slider. This little gem consists of Snake River Kurobuta Pork Belly Slow Braised in East West Asian BBQ Sauce and then Finished on the Grill for a Touch of Smokiness. Served on Homemade Mini Slider Rolls with Marinated Cucumbers, Grilled Scallions (which go well with anything) and Local Organic Pea Shoots... Now thats a mouthful. Perfect meat, sauce and garnish... Masel tov!
On a side note: As I was taking this picture, an elderly gentleman was taking a picture of me. He said that him and his buddies have a blog with nothing but pictures of people taking stupid pictures. Touché old friend.

Croissandwich round 3

Once again. Croissant sandwiches are riculously good. This one is peppered turkey, sharp chedder, red onions and lettuce on a lightly toasted croissant. The key ingredient here is homemade red wine vinaigrette mayo... Perfect blend of sweet and savory.

Big mac attack!

http://theopenseason.tumblr.com/

Super Bowl Sandwiches

Chef Loretta Keller crafts a line up of seven game changing meals.
Here are three of them:

SERRANO HAM, RICOTTA AND NETTLE PESTO SANDWICH

BACON, LETTUCE AND TOMATO WITH EGG AND CHEESE

ROAST PORK SANDWICH WITH FONTINA, BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES AND SAUERKRAUT


Click on this link to see her amazing creations...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703555804576102111048263134.html?mod=ITP_offduty_0


(thanks Lyon)

Langers, the Queen mother of LA sandwiches

Whenever sandwiches are brought up in Los Angeles, somebody asks "Have you eaten at Langers?" and up until now I've said "No, but I hear its really good." I went there this past weekend and was impressed. They boast the best Pastrami in the world. I don't know anything about pastrami outside the US, but one immediately thinks of New York. There are way more great pastrami joints per square foot over there, obviously. Katz Deli and Carnegie Deli being the most well known. I ate at Katz a few months ago. So, I can now assess them both.
At Langers I had the #1, pastrami with russian dressing and coleslaw on rye.The bread is near perfect, I say near because the crusts are so tough that they risk destroying the whole operation. Sharpen your teeth beforehand. The pastrami wasn't that hot but it was hot enough and went along perfectly with the slaw and russian. This place lived up to its hype, it was an incredible sandwich. Youre so full but you cant stop eating because it tastes so gud.
Katz best item is the pastrami on rye with mustard. The pastrami, since it was fresh cut was nice and hot, fresher than Langer's. They pile it on really high, like "heart attack" high. I had to divide the meat into two sandwiches. Their rye is good too, I can't remember which was better, probably Katz's. The reason the sandwich is so good is because the pastrami really flavorful, so all you need is bread and mustard. But there strength is also there weakness, the pastrami is so salty that they can't pull off the russian dressing combos like Langer's.
At the end of the day I'm gonna go with Langer's because I could see myself eating there more often. Its a more complex sandwich. The ingredients complement eachother perfectly. Katz is really good, but too much meat and too salty... for my taste anyways.
Langers is at 704 South Alvarado Street
Los Angeles, CA 90057

Burgers and blue cheese

Meat and blue cheese are amazing together. So are buffalo wings and blue cheese. Thats all I have to say about that.