It's catching on...

My friend Molly hosted a Sandwich Night last week and she's never even been to Sandwich Night at my house! I'm a trendsetter!

Molly and her husband Ralph were inspired by Ralph's south Jersey roots and chose to make a Philly Cheese Steak. That's a sandwich we haven't attempted yet, so I was excited to try their version. They did some pre-testing (what a concept!) to get the components just right. They considered a couple bread options, including the French rolls used for banh mit, before settling on Mexican bolillo rolls. One day old bolillo rolls, to be exact.

Bolillo rolls are soft, yet strong enough to stand up to wet ingredients. They are just slightly sweet, like a good white bread should be. They are lovely for Cubans, too.

With the bread squared away, the rest was easy. Thinly sliced ribeye, sauteed green peppers and onions, provolone, and Cheez Whiz. I have to admit, I was a little skeptical about Cheez Whiz. I know it's the right way to do it, but it still seems wrong to put Cheeze Whiz on a sandwich with such great ingredients.

I decided to do a side by side comparison. I made my sandwich with provolone and Beth made hers with the Cheez Whiz and we shared them.The provolone was tasty. I layered it under the rest of the ingredients so it would melt. This was a fine sandwich.

Beth layered the Cheez Whiz over, under, and around the other ingredients for a deliciously messy cheesy explosion. This was an amazing sandwich! I'm a convert! Bring on the Whiz!

There's a truck made of grilled cheese???

I knew I had to find the Grilled Cheese Truck when I was in Los Angeles last week. It's mobile fancy grilled cheese kitchen! They go everywhere. You can follow them on Twitter. They make a sandwich with macaroni and cheese AND pulled pork in it. How could I pass that up?
I couldn't, of course. They even made it easy for me, parking a mere 10 minutes from my parents' house on a day when we had no lunch plans. Can you see my excitement?

I had carefully studied their menu online and was wavering between getting the cheesy mac and rib or the brie melt. Then I found out about their special of the day: the fried chicken melt. What's that? It takes the classic L.A. meal of fried chicken and waffles and improves it with lots of melty sharp Cheddar. Oh my goodness! We got there soon after they opened shop and had to stand in line for almost 45 minutes just to order. We had another 20 minutes to wait for our order to be ready. Yes, the sandwiches were worth the wait.
We were feeding a small crowd back home so we were able to get a variety of sandwiches. That's the brie melt in back. It has brie, fig paste and almonds on black peppercorn potato bread. In front, we have the delectable fried chicken melt. It comes with maple syrup for dipping. We also got the cheesy mac and rib and the smores melt. (I didn't get a picture of them before they were devoured, unfortunately.) They were all great, but the fried chicken melt was the standout. The sweetness of the waffle mixed well with the slightly spicy cutlet and gooey cheese. The maple syrup tied all of the flavors together perfectly. Mmm...now why didn't I think of making sandwiches out of waffles?

Thanks, Grilled Cheese Truck!

One for the secret menu

In-n-Out, like many fast food joints, has a "secret menu." You can order extra patties, no patties, or extra condiments. But how about this one?This is what you do when your 4 year old orders a hamburger and only eats the meat. What to do with the bun and all the fixings? Add fries, of course. You only need to call it a shamewich if you eat the whole thing after you have finished your own Double Double. You should also only let it be recorded for posterity if your sister promises to hide your identity.

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...

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!

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....

Make meatballs while the snow flies

You may have heard that we had a little snowstorm in the Upper Midwest over the weekend. I grew up in Southern California and my only idea of Minnesota winters came from reading the Little House on the Prairie books. I thought blinding white out blizzards where you had to feel your way to the barn with a rope were a regular occurence. It was a little disappointing to discover that that doesn't really happen, especially in the city.

I did get to experience the famous Halloween Blizzard of 1991. I lived on my college campus and I didn't have a car so I simply enjoyed the sheer immensity of all that snow. It was incredible. I didn't know that I would have to wait almost 20 years to meet another storm of its magnitude. Bring it on, Snowpocalypse 2010!

Spaghetti is a lovely thing to make when you are snowed in. What's better than letting a pot of sauce simmer on the stove all day? And whates better than a meatball sandwich when you get tired of eating the sauce on pasta. Not much!

Beth made her awesome meatballs and was able to get to the store Monday to pick up rolls and provolone cheese. I spread garlic butter on the rolls, toasted them, then layered on cheese, meatballs, and a little sauce and toasted them some more. I finished them off with a little hot giardiniera peppers.

Mmmm--this makes hours of shovelling worth it!