August 19, 2009

• i really wouldn’t mind a bacon, egg, and cheese on a roll with salt, pepper and ketchup right now.  but you know something?  this is going to sound a little unholy to some, but restaurant bacon is kind of a let down.  you know almost all places pre-cook their bacon right?  so, if you order bacon on your sandwich, it’s most likely been cooked a few hours ago, and has been sitting there drying up and cooling off.  that’s why when it comes out the bacon is only slightly less hard and chewy than your average concrete sidewalk. 

  it’s still delicious though.  but imagine how toe-curlingly awesome your chicken sandwich would be with home-cooked bacon, made to order.

  this sandwich place i go to has a grill top and they apply the oil with a brush.  one morning i saw where that oil comes from.  everyday, several times a day, they unwrap a giant head-sized block of butter/margarine and drop it into the metal receptacle on the grill top where it melts and becomes the oil for the grill.  delicious, yes.  healthy, no.  makes me think twice about that mayo or russian dressing that also comes on the sandwich. 

  a buddy of mine owns a great little deli on 6th Ave below Central Park South (59th St) right behind the Ritz called Angela’s Rock N Roll Deli.  i can’t remember if i mentioned it before or not.  anyway they make delicious sandwiches.  when i went to visit, my friend made me try like 97 different sandwiches and i noticed that strangely all of them were delicious, and all had a common je ne c’est quoi goodness about them.  i stopped to think about it and noticed that the rolls he used were really tasty.  i asked him about it, and he said, indeed, the rolls were the very expensive kind.  he didn’t skimp. 

  it’s weird.  people usually don’t give a second thought to the bread when they order up a sandwich, but quality rolls made such a big difference there.  i mean isn’t that why people are willing to pay like $39 for a sandwich at Cosi?  the bread?  it isn’t the fillings, that’s for sure.  Cosi’s chicken and turkey taste like they were created in a petri dish by guys wearing lab coats and goggles. 

  the buddy with the deli also invented a great new sandwich called the Beastie Boy.  it involves lots of hot pastrami and corned beef served up very creatively and deliciously.  i don’t want to spoil the surprise.  if you’re from nyc, i think you might have an appreciation for this.  it’s a little hard to eat, but, oh, so worth it. 

  i once went to this place in Boston called Thornton’s.  they have this great steak sandwich.  two things separate this steak sandwich from others.  1.  the steak isn’t thinly sliced.  they are thick, juicy slices of grilled beef.  you’re actually eating a steak.  2.  the bread is garlic bread!  oh yeah and it was like overflowing with slices of real cheese.  no cheez whiz.  so that’s three things.  delicious.  basically every step of that steak sandwich screams “Real Food!”  hearty food. 

  i always see Katz’ Deli on tv but i’ve never been there.  in the world of food porn, those episodes on Katz’ Deli are the Hustler.  straight to the goods and plenty of it.  everytime i see it on tv, i cry a little bit because it looks so damn good and i’m usually starving.  (i might have also been crying because i chewed my hand off and swallowed it.)  egads.  those mountains of hot, thick sliced pastrami with mustard on fresh rye bread…  you can see the steam rise off the meat as they cut off your portion!  *sigh*  next time. 

  holy shit.  have i really spent all this time talking about nothing but sandwiches? 

  • 10:11 am
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