The Sandwich List...Installment #4

- Banh Mi, Vietnamese Submarine Sandwiches, Pho 777, North York, Ontario, Canada

A recent discovery when Alex and Grace brought down a whole mess (mess is defined as, more than two, less than ten) of these sandwiches:


Banh Mi are the seemingly unlikely, yet exceedingly successful melding of French (baguette, homemade mayonnaise, pate) and Vietnamese (cilantro, roasted/preserved/rotisserie meats, pickled vegetables) flavors.

Even better, these sandwiches are an amazing value, setting you back only $2.00 to $3.00 each. So they’re an inexpensive meal OR you can buy up a mess and have a full blown tasting extravaganza. Who doesn’t love a good old fashioned extravaganza?

These sandwiches are indeed transcendent, but VERY aromatic. So beware overnight storage in the refrigerator, best to eat them, all of them, all of them for me and none for you, I'll never share, keep you're grubby hands of off my Banh Mi! Sorry, I get selfish around Banh Mi.

Thanks again to Grace and Alex for scoring, sharing these treasures and sending along the photo of amazing goodness. I'm not worthy!

Just giving you guys a heads up, we’ll be back in the GTA in June and I have an extravaganza in mind! Buy 10 get one free! Oh yeah!

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The Sandwich List...Installment #3

- Polish cold cut open faced sandwiches, Makar residence, Stoney Creek, Ontario

Not every perfect sandwich needs be purchased complete and ready to eat, some of the best are made by skilled hands at home.

Witness: fresh ham, pork and turkey cold cuts from either Staropolskie Deli (Hamilton) or Starsky (Mississauga,) Norway cheese, kielbasa, hard boiled egg, fresh tomatoes, snipped chives, sliced homemade dill pickles assembled in sundry combination artfully arranged by Mom Makar on buttered, rye, sunflower and/or pumpkin seed breads.

A platter of these sandwiches reminds me of sushi, they're edible art and tasty beyond measure. Let's just say, you won't believe you ate the whole damned platter...yourself. Best consumed with a tall glass of cold fruit kompot or oranzada (more on these beverages another time.)

I’ll be sure to take and post a photo the next time we sit down for a platter of these bad boys. Yes...I wish to make you jealous, very jealous indeed!

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The Sandwich List...Installment #2

- Cold Cut Submarine Sandwiches, Capri Imports, Schenectady, NY

This one is a childhood favorite. My brother and I used to walk to Capri on Saturday mornings, score sandwiches and head off to Little League practice.

These submarines are comprised of 1/2 loaf of Capri's fresh baked Italian bread and what surely approaches one pound of fresh cold cuts. If you think I jest, check out the photo below of the Italian mixed cold cut (baked ham, capicola, salami and provolone) version of this monster. The picture is courtesy of my friend and fellow food dude, Kevin M. You gotta love people in the lumber business, they're always on the look out for great food and somehow, we always have a tape measure at hand for emergency measuring:


In addition to the bread, Capri bakes it's own turkey, ham and roast beef sliced right onto the bread, so there's never any doubt your sandwich will be completely fresh. Along that line, note the complete lack of limp iceberg lettuce, under ripe or over ripe tomatoes or any other unsavory, poorly executed vegetable accompaniments that might steal the fresh bread and meat thunder.

For most humans, this is a two meal deal for around $6.00, value, volume and tastes great. What more can you ask for? Dessert? Well they make raisin studded fried dough every Saturday just in case you need something sweet after your sandwich.

Capri is a must stop every time I head home to the Capital District, right after Perecca's Bakery for small rounds and pizza. Happy days my friends, happy days.

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The Sandwich List...Installment #1

Awhile ago, Mike, one of the soon to be famous Food Dudes asked about my list of favorite sandwiches. The following posts will be in no particular order. I am willing to wager my head might explode attempting to rank these in any order of preference. Suffice it to say, there's a perfect time and place for each of these sandwiches and at that point in life, it's the number one sandwich.

- Big H, Hero Inn, Riverhead, NY

A moment of silence for the passing of a beloved brother. I haven't had a Big H since the Hero Inn went out of business a few years back. I am infinitely poorer for it.

The Big H was a simple mixed cold cut hero transformed into legend by the substitution of crisp, sweet, shredded green cabbage for the tame,lame assed threads of flavorless iceberg lettuce (Riverhead, NY is Polishtown USA, so they're BIG on cabbage here!) and seasoned with truly sublime Italian style vinaigrette that invariably worked its way through both the sandwich paper around the hero and the paper bag such that it was necessary to transport the bag of sandwiches on a rubber floor mat in the truck or risk deep stains to the upholstery.

The best part? The last bite, when all of the vinaigrette had accumulated and absorbed into the now mushy with deliciousness heel of the sandwich. O my!

Word was that on top of being a damned great sandwich, it was also a serviceable cure for hangovers all sorts. Not that I would know anything about that...ahem.

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