Tuesday, January 25, 2011

In which I attempt to take my own life with cheese filled burgers...

Oh lordy. I had a Jucy Lucy twofer over the weekend that damn near killed me.
On Friday night Beth and I scored tickets to the Current's 6th Birthday Party at First Avenue. We wanted to go out to eat beforehand and it was early enough that Matt's sounded like a great idea. At 6:00, we got the last available table. Nice! Of course, they were up to their usual high standards. My Jucy Lucy had an unfortunate blow-out on the grill but it had been expertly patched. We headed off to the concert with our bellies full of beefy cheesy goodness. Then we stood and watched awesome local bands for 6 hours. You have to stand at First Ave, since they only have about a dozen chairs and 6 of them were reserved for the Mayor and his posse. We got home around 2:00 and crashed.
Until...the phone rang at 9:00 AM. It was Beth's brother Ted. He wanted to know what time we were going to the Blue Door Pub? I completely forgot we talked about doing that. Ted saw it on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and wanted to check it out. We decided to get there when they opened in order to get a table. Which meant I found myself facing down another cheese filled burger less than 24 hours after the last. Eeek!
In such a predicament, I went whole hog, of course. I ordered the Cowboy Blucy--cheddar and bacon stuffed patty topped with more cheddar, barbecue sauce and onion rings. Then, Ted ordered the Spam bites as an appetizer. They consist of chopped up Spam and pickles rolled into a ball of cream cheese somewhere between the size of a golf ball and a billiard ball, battered and deep fried. They are served with a sweet and sour dipping sauce that sort of cuts through the insanity of it all. They were good, but we could only eat one each. And the burger was awesome. The Merriam Park Blucy is still my favorite, but the Cowboy Blucy makes for some stiff competition. There's something about the combination of really good cheddar, zippy barbecue sauce and beef that is irresistable.
Well, not completely irresistable. Try as I might, I could not finish the whole thing. Maybe I should have skipped the beer...

Thursday, January 20, 2011

A Happy Accident

Everett's was out of bulk Italian sausage when Beth went to buy ingredients for lasagna. Not to worry, they sell the same sausage as links in the freezer! And there were enough to save a couple for sandwiches, of course.
I simmered the sausages in tomato sauce, then laid them on soft French bread and melted aged Provolone on top. Finally, I added some muffuletta olive salad on top because we were out of giardiniera. Yum yum yum!

Monday, January 3, 2011

Well, hello there!

The New Year sneaked up on me! It must be all the snow. I'm looking forward to a new year of sharing sandwiches with you. But I'm in a reflective mood, so let's look back at the highlights of 2010.
My resolution to blog everyday ended on January 6. ( I know, lame.) But trying to blog more often got me to try some new things and take a look at my stats. I learned that my most popular posts involve recipes, so I'll be including more of those this year.
We finally made the Philly roast pork sandwich and it was fantastic. We seriously considered quitting our jobs for a moment and making those full time from a food truck.
I finally discovered the secret sandwiches at the Minnesota State Fair. The turkey sandwich from Turkey to Go is my new must eat at the Fair
But the most important sandwich discovery of 2010 for me was the St. Paul Cheese Shop. They make such fantastic sandwiches! I'm filling up my punch card. Pretty soon I'll earn a free sandwich and I'm hoping they'll have a short rib special on the menu. Their short rib, marscapone, and pickled scallion special was one of the best sandwiches I ate in 2010. Mmmm....