Tuesday, July 31, 2007

New LOVE

Something new has eclipsed my favorite Buon Giorno sandwich, the North Beach.
Yes, it is ....... the South Beach!
What's different?
While the North Beach is on French Bread with turkey, bacon, fontina, romaine, tomato and aioli, the South Beach is on ciabatta with turkey, ham, bacon, fontina, romaine, tomato and aioli.
And I thought you couldn't top the deliciousness of the North Beach. Well, you can.
Try it if you are in the neighborhood!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Best Pork Sandwich?

Beth is out of town this week—she and our friend Ben are on their epic bicycle tour of Wisconsin, AKA “the ride for beer.”
So, I figured I would settle into doing what I usually do when I’m single for the week—eat take-out junk food and watch tv. (I finished Harry Potter already.)
Yes, I know that it may seem like that’s all I do from reading my blog, but it’s not, I swear!
When I drive home from the gym, I often pass a drive-in place called Porky’s. This is the kind of place where classic car people gather on Friday nights and ogle each other’s chrome plated engines while eating cheeseburgers. It is also the place that proclaims from a large sign in front to have the Twin Cities’ best pork sandwich.
You can imagine that I have been intrigued.
I have managed to resist all of these years since Beth is not really a pork sandwich fan and I can’t really come home with a sammie for myself and no dinner for Bethy, can I? Also, it feels super duper naughty to pick up a pile of cholesterol on your way home from a workout, doesn’t it? At least from the half-assed workouts I engage in these days.
So here’s how it went down:
I pulled up to the drive in speaker and commenced the following exchange:
Speaker: wahwahwahscrhehcnewahwa
Me: silence (was that “just a moment?”)
Speaker: wahshcehrwahshrcherwah?
Me: I’d like a pork cutlet sandwich with fries and coleslaw, please.
Speaker: schewahwahcrrshwah?
Me: (thinking I’d been asked if I wanted anything else) No, that’s all.
Speaker: whashcrwahscherchchcwashnine
Me: Thanks!
I pull forward, ready pay some amount ending in nine. The woman at the window is frazzled and not much more intelligible. I pay her, pull forward, and get my food. At the next red light, I peek at the sandwich (after jamming a few lava hot French fries down my gullet) and it’s a breaded pork cutlet, between two pieces of white toast. There’s an onion ring on top. That’s it. No condiments? Does “schewahwahcrrshwah?” actually mean, “would you like anything on your sandwich?” Do they always serve them dry?

I waited to try it until I got home (no camera in the car, the lengths I go to for my public!).
Best Pork Sandwich? I don’t know. The cutlet WAS lovely. Tender and juicy with good seasonings in the crispy breading. But totally boring on plain white bread! I added some mayonnaise and lettuce and it was pretty good. Until I find out if they serve it any other way I will have to reserve judgement. The French fries were fantastic, though.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Busy...

I got my copy of Harry Potter on Saturday (even though I opted for the free shipping from Amazon. Whoopee!)
I've been trying to be a good girlfriend and pay some attention to Beth during all of this. Which means I haven't finished yet.
So no new sandwich entries until I get the HP monkey off my back.
Gestalt! (That's for "anonymous," Ethan.)

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Recent Sandwiches of Note

Beth and I just got back from a two week tour of South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. In short, we had a blast, got to see my aunt in Hamilton, MT, and spent lots of time geyser gazing (but not Geyser Gazing) at Yellowstone.
We didn't have too many memorable sandwiches along the way, but I have two of note.

I know, that's not a sandwich! Rather it's a lovely city park in Sheridan, WY where we ate sandwiches I made in the car from Everett's sliced roast beef, dill havarti, and Trader Joe's ciabatta rolls. That's it. I made them while Beth was driving, then we decided to drive around Sheridan to find a park where we could picnic and stretch our legs. By the time we had located said park, they had been sitting on the sunny dashboard for about 20 minutes. Which was perfect. Mmmm..the cheese had softened up, the meat had lost its chill from the cooler and the ciabatta was the perfect container to get all that melty goodness to our mouths. Try it. Better than cooking a brisket on the exhaust manifold!

Once we got to Hamilton, I tracked down the BACK DOOR DELI! That's the birthplace of my sandwich love! And it's still there! Beth and managed to swing by one afternoon before it closed. I didn't want to jinx my memory of the perfect pastrami sandwich so we ordered the Bacado instead.

That's freshly microwaved bacon, swiss cheese, avocado, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise on a wheat sub roll. Pretty close to perfect, if you ask me. It was fantastic--one of those sandwiches where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Gestalt!