Category Archives: Sandwiches

Hotfoot It!

Posted on September 5, 2012 | 4 comments

 

The Best Wurst

Texans come by bratwurst honestly, as much as Midwesterners may believe this wurst to be theirs alone in the US.

There was, for many years, in Richmond, Virginia,Texas–Wisconsin Border Cafe, now closed I am sad to report. Austin, Texas and Madison, Wisconsin share an aesthetic and emotional border, methinks, cafe or no cafe. If you are gonna hotfoot it between the two, you best do it in your kitchen or your imagination. The mileage is impressive.

Recently I had the privilege of speaking with Jon Notarthomas, proprietor deluxe of The Best Wurst in Austin, Texas. A charming follow-up email warmed my wurst-lovin’ heart,  signed by Jon thusly, till then, me’new friend. 

Jon’s words are as follows.

Best Wurst is the oldest food vendor in Austin and definitely the forerunner of the Food Cart Craze that has taken off here. I like to say we are the most efficient kitchen in Austin working from a 4 x 5 foot cart that kicks out over 80,000 sandwiches a year. I believe we’ll be hitting the magic  “one million served” mark this year!

I know Chicago Food Critic Heather Shouse recently featured Best Wurst in her book Food Trucks.

She did. Good book. Stash it in your glovebox, take off your kid gloves and get yourself to eating.

My heart is warm for the Texas form, so near is it, and so simultaneously remote from, Wisconsin. The two are bound by a heritage accessorized by a string of sausages.

The Border Cafe was conveniently located between The Great Peanut Tour and home. If you drove as the crow flies you hit the cafe at half past lunch. Those were the days.

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Posted in Austin, Food Trucks, SANDWICH LINKS, Sandwiches, Sausage, Texas

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Heard It On the Clothesline

Posted on August 9, 2012 | 2 comments

That Mickey’s packs a mighty sandwich. And wicked cold bronsons to boot. 
 Mickeys       Tavern  redux.      Doesn’t take a mess of kale to eat well   at Mickey’s.  “Goes good with bacon.” That’s what Jerry said about my tofu BLT, when I opted out on the tofu-bacon and in on the pork stuff.  We brought homegrown juicers. Madison    Wisconsin  If Mickey’s is gonna be deck that bread is gonna hafta be hand-torn.   Hipsters? Overrun with hipsters?   Representing! From the world of plants! From the world of animals! Tofu BLT with bacon!  Tassels, yes. I’ll give you that. Tubular tassels. Foxy.

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Posted in Sandwiches, Wisconsin

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Stacks of Chowski at Stachowski’s

Posted on July 15, 2012 | 2 comments

Braunschweiger

Roast Beef

Stachowki’s is a brand. That’s a good thing, right? A brand is permanent. Seared into being for the life of the beast. I don’t like changes, particularly when evolution means the disappearance of something lovable. Countless beloved lunch  counters, deli cases, mom and pops, corner stores, spots, joints, greasy spoons have disappeared before my eyes. The holes are all still there, the replacements vapid.

Stachowski’s market is not new by DC trend standards. It opened in the former Griffin Market – a very sweet market – in May or so. In DC new is only new tomorrow. By my standards, Stachowski’s is new. New to me is new until hell freezes over and my red parka with the embroidered flame detail has been worn threadbare.

Pastrami

 Jamie Stachowski’s been cooking in DC for countless years, bless his loves-to-feed-people heart. Handmade, small batch salumi went away in America and now is back, thank goodness. And goodness it is. Bratwurst! Bangers! Kielbasa! May they never become extinct. Not in my lifetime, not in the lifetime of the universe.

Coppa, Mortadella, et al

Turkey Club

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Posted in DC, DC Sandwiches, SANDWICH LINKS, Sandwiches

The Proof is in the Macaroni

Posted on July 4, 2012 | 3 comments

The Watchung Delicatessen is a thing, thang, thung. They are famous for the Bennie Mac, so I’m told. I told you the mac and cheese sandwich was a thing.

            

            

Here stands the brilliant technique for loading the Bennie Mac. A chicken cutlet is the landing pad.

There’s things and there’s things. Macaroni is amazing, no doubt, and makes one curtsy to the inventiveness of humans. Peaches we have nothing to do with, thank goodness. They are perfect as they are. Possibly particularly in New Jersey.

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Posted in Delicatessens, Mac and Cheese, New Jersey, Sandwiches

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Smells Like Cheese Spirit

Posted on June 25, 2012 | 5 comments

What was that silly book that came out about ten years ago that chronicled serendipity and accorded coincidence with cosmic omniscience? Not that I read it or anything. Had I read it, my disdain would lack the joy associated with ignorance.

At any rate, I’m getting the feeling that macaroni and cheese sandwiches are about to become a “thing”.  Just a hunch.

Sandwich nerds – snerds, you know who you are – you read it here first. Watch this site for further sitings. My radar tells me that a tipping point is upon us – mac and cheese tipping and dripping into, onto and over bread. Mark my werds.


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Posted in Mac and Cheese, Sandwiches

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No Phone, No Pool, No Pets

Posted on June 12, 2012 | Leave a comment

slippery corned beef

brined by this king of the road

carb/umami bomb

Rina Rapuano’s  story in the Washington Post about the Corned Beef King.

Put down that broom and read excerpts here:

buttery corned beef, sauerkraut that cuts through the richness of the meat, Swiss and Provolone cheeses, and Russian dressing, layered on fresh-baked rye and warmed on the griddle

the flavors and texture spoke to the great care that’s taken with the beef brisket. Rossler cooks the already-corned meat for 11 hours, a process that involves slow roasting and re-seasoning it with his own pickling spices, onions and “secret sweeteners.”

roasting the meat for more than three hours in nothing but garlic, butter, salt and pepper let the taste of the bird shine

corned-beef hash topped with two over-easy eggs (food truck breakfast. woot!)

corned beef to fill my frame
means by no means is my name

third boxcar, midnight train
destination…Bangor, Maine….

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Posted in Corned Beef, DC, DC Sandwiches, Food Trucks, Sandwiches, Sandwiches in the News, Uncategorized

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L’Academie du Sandwich

Posted on June 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

Grilled Wisconsin Cheese

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Posted in Cheese, Grilled cheese, SANDWICH LINKS, Sandwiches, Wisconsin

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Anything Goes

Posted on May 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

Anything goes on bread.  Witness the macaroni and cheese pizza.  at Ian’s. Bread is the carrier, the conduit, head of staff. Bread is beast. Beast of burden. Anything goes on bread. Personally stunned and appalled, shocked not awed, that bread has become maligned. The pendulum will swing, mark my words, and butter will be in search of crumb again. Anything goes on bread. Witness the potato gratin sandwich.

sandwicherie

Please pass the bread.

Buttered thanks to the Sublime Miss M.

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Posted in Sandwich Blogs, Sandwiches

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They Don’t Need No Stinkin’ CheeseWhiz in Whizconsin

Posted on April 1, 2012 | 3 comments

This just in from Dry-Witted Correspondent John in Green Bay:

The New Glarus Hotel in the New York Times

This is an interesting article and I am forwarding it because of the mention of the sandwich available at Puempel’s Tavern at the end. Limburger, onion and braunschweiger on rye for $5.00. You could wash it down with a cold Spotted Cow. I just devoured aged brick and onion on rye and I fear I smell like a dog that has been sniffing and nibbling on aged roadkill.

I want to go to P*****l’s Tavern, but I cannot bring myself to say it out loud. One of those words that make me cringe, along with c**p, b**t, and z*t, all common and all favored by 11-going-on-12-year-old boys. Don’t these boys have imaginations? Oh, of course they do, and imagining anything the teensiest bit disgusting is pure pleasure. What part of the brain is in charge of this function, and how does it assist us in staving off extinction?

Limburger, braunschweiger and onion. Why is this a triumvirate of deliciousness for me, and disgusting – not in a good way – for my son?

BBC Science examines disgust on their Science/Human Body and Mind page. I found this article fascinating, and revolting. I tried to read it without seeing the pictures, which was impossible. Now those images are implanted in the disgust center of my brain. Take my advice, if you are going to click on the BBC link,  have your 12-year-old read the piece aloud to you.

A few quick excerpts:

Disgust might be genetic; hard-wired in our brains and imprinted on our biological code by millions of years of natural selection….The things people consistently find disgusting also make us ill….Upbringing plays an important role in determining what we find disgusting. 

Another vital trigger is our sense of smell. Smell causes such a powerful response in the brain that the US Army has been trying to develop a stink bomb with an odour foul enough to be used for riot-control. 

Anything that reminds us we are animals elicits disgust. Disgust functions like a defence mechanism, to keep human animalness out of awareness….The word ‘yuck’ is similar in languages all over the world. It seems to be a proto-word.

O. K. Got it. And the word Yum, is it not a proto-word? I say yes, based on my vast research.

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Posted in Parenting, Sandwiches, Sandwiches in the News, Wisconsin

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A Triumph Over Death

Posted on March 31, 2012 | 4 comments

is the egg.

By Miriam Rubin

At sundown on Friday, April 6, Passover will begin as Jews all over the world gather around dining tables. They’ll light festival candles. They’ll read ancient prayers and passages from the Haggadah. They’ll sit at tables set with gleaming silver, pressed linens, Grandmother’s china, or maybe just a hodgepodge of plates. Each place will have a wine glass, because drinking wine or grape juice is an essential element of the ceremony. Read on here.

And for all of us, celebrating Passover or not, the surging renewal of spring is upon us and the egg is triumphant.


 
 

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Posted in Eggs, Holidays, Miriam Rubin, Passover, Sandwiches

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