Posted by Zach Brooks, February 27, 2008 at 11:30 AM
I still remember my first sandwich press. I convinced my mom to let me order it after spending a day at home sick from school watching some lady make apple pies, brownies, waffles and, of course, sandwiches. I also remember my first car accident—it was caused by my fumbling for a boombox that had just tumbled off the dashboard of my Honda (the car stereo was broken). I can't help but think that S. King had me in mind when it developed the car-powered Pro 12-Volt Sandwich Maker—it's perfect for that person who is in love with cheap sandwich presses but also stupid enough to put an appliance on the dashboard.
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Posted by Zach Brooks, October 3, 2007 at 12:00 PM
Photograph from Gaetan Lee on Flickr
We have all heard (and possibly made) jokes about how bad English food is, especially when compared to its European neighbors, and yet last week, while in the West Midlands of England, I made a discovery that calls all of that into question. Meet the chip butty.
I'm a huge fan of french fries in a sandwich. Israelis stuff their falafels with them, and Primanti Brothers in Pittsburgh puts fries on every sandwich on the menu (unless you ask them not to). But, a sandwich of just french fries? That takes it to a completely different level.
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Posted by Zach Brooks, September 19, 2007 at 12:00 PM
Yesterday, the Hamburger Today post about whether or not a patty melt is a hamburger (because it is served on sliced bread instead of a bun) got me thinking about how important (or not) bread is in determining whether something is a sandwich—or a hamburger, or any other food classification.
If rye bread doesn't get the same respect as a bun, then where do we draw the line?
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Posted by Zach Brooks, August 29, 2007 at 1:45 PM
Nothing like a good sandwich battle to get you excited for lunch. There seems to be some potential for a Big Apple hamburger–style fight over who can create the most expensive commercially available sandwich in the world. In 2006, the London department store Selfridges introduced the "MacDonald" (named after a chef, not the fast food place), featuring wagyu beef, fresh lobe foie gras, black-truffle mayonnaise, brie de Meaux, rocket (arugula), red pepper and mustard confit and English plum tomatoes- the whole thing served on a 24-hour fermented sour dough bread, and costing a healthy £85 (US$170).
The bar was clearly not set high enough, because a few months ago, the Cliveden in Berkshire (one of the Von Essen Private Country House Hotels) started serving the £100 von Essen Platinum Club Sandwich.
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Posted by Ed Levine, August 15, 2007 at 1:00 PM
I know it's all sliders all the time in the food media these days, and I don't mean to jump on the bunwagon, but I feel compelled to post about the scary good, extremely serious meatball sliders I had at the Little Owl last night. Chef Joey Campanaro combines ground veal, pork, and beef; fennel; panko (Japanese breadcrumbs); and pecorino Romano cheese to impossibly delicious effect. The house-made cheese garlic roll doesn't hurt, either.
They come three to an order, perfect for sharing, though after your first bite, you won't want to. The recipe for these bad boys, minus the house-made buns, is in this month's Bon Appétit. I pondered making some at home, but it turns out these suckers are hard to replicate.
Little Owl
Address: 90 Bedford Street, New York NY 10014
Phone: 212-741-4695
Photograph from beurremanie on Flickr
Posted by Zach Brooks, August 8, 2007 at 12:00 PM
Photograph courtesy of Town Hall Deli
You say "sloppy joe" in Lunch Lady Land, and only one thing comes to mind. Say it in South Orange, New Jersey, and you're talking about a whole different sandwich—no ground beef, no hamburger bun, and no worry that today's sandwich was yesterday's meatloaf.
In South Orange, the sloppy joe is a much more serious concoction. Three slices of bread, any two meats, Swiss cheese, and my two favorite sandwich condiments of all time: coleslaw and Russian dressing. And there's no better place to get one than the Town Hall Deli.
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Posted by Zach Brooks, July 18, 2007 at 2:29 PM
Everybody has heard of a PBJ. And I've seen the classic tomato, basil, and mozzarella combo called a TBM on a few occasions. But hands down, my favorite three-letter sandwich is the PMB. By applying the transitive property, the PBM should consist of peanut butter, basil, and mozzarella—but that would be disgusting (or would it?). Lucky for us, we don't have to test that theory, because the PMB actually stands for pancetta, mango, and basil, a combo of ingredients that makes up one of my favorite New York sandwiches, found at the Sullivan Street Bakery.
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Posted by Zach Brooks, July 5, 2007 at 2:00 PM
Photograph courtesy of Jason Perlow
Hoagies. Subs. Heroes. It doesn’t matter what you call them, they’re delicious. And every week, we honor a Serious Sandwich—or in this week’s case a serious po’boy.
The Po’Boy in New Orleans is a sacred object, like the cheesesteak in Philly, or the pastrami sandwich in New York City. There are many theories as to the origin of the name, but many agree that it dates back to the early 1920s when free sandwiches were given out to striking workers, dubbed poor boys (shortened to po’boy by the thick Louisiana accent).
And while some will argue about where the name came from, nobody argues about how it’s built. You start with a French-style baguette, pile it high with cold cuts, hot roast beef or fried seafood (usually oysters or shrimp), and “dress” it with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayo. There have been some more famous variations, but when you want something truly unique, Crabby Jack’s is the place to go.
Located in Jefferson, a few miles west of New Orleans, Crabby Jack’s is Jacques-Imo chef Jack Leonardi’s casual lunchtime take-out shack. It has all the New Orleans standbys—but people in the know go straight for the duck po’boy. It’s served roast-beef style, with a generous heaping of warm duck that’s been slow cooked until it is ridiculously tender and then shredded. The po’boy is then topped with “debris," a brown gravy made from the cooking juices, studded with bits of duck meat and fat.
Don’t let the richness discourage you from getting the thing dressed. A po’boy ain’t a po’boy without lettuce, tomato, and pickles—and the mayo mixes with the gravy to make the perfect sauce. The only trick is to eat the whole thing before the “debris” soaks through the bread and turns the entire thing to mush. Somehow, for me, that's never been an issue.
Crabby Jack’s
Address: 428 Jefferson Highway, Jefferson LA 70121
Phone: 504-833-2722
About the author: As the proprietor of Midtown Lunch, Zach Brooks knows sandwiches inside and out.
Posted by Ed Levine, June 4, 2007 at 7:03 PM
Has anyone else noticed that we are in kind of a Golden Age of sandwiches? There are yummy sandwiches to be found in every kind of food establishment there is, from four star restaurants to lobster shacks to food carts. At Serious Eats we decided that it's high time we celebrate the sandwich. So periodically, with any luck twice weekly, we are going to rhapsodize about some sandwich found anywhere in the world. We might opine in a way that some of you might find objectionable, but at least you'll know where we're coming from, a deep and abiding love of sandwiches.
Today, I would like to rhapsodize about the Cubano Sandwich at the Spotted Pig in NYC.
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