InVenTabLEs
Thank you PaT.
I say we all put on a transparent apron, get under our Hard Day’s Night umbrellas and shoot toast outta these things at anything that moves.
I say we all put on a transparent apron, get under our Hard Day’s Night umbrellas and shoot toast outta these things at anything that moves.
I am in the business, and art, some might say, of faking you out. In defense of inedible food, without taste, smell and touch, the eyeful must fill you up. As a food stylist, walking the line is what I do.
When has the food gone too far past reality and become an “over-promise”, a disservice, a hazard to the cook? Perhaps that destination is when the food can be mistaken for real, but is absolutely unachievable. The place just before it is discernibly plastic.
Once plastic, the fake-out is in the safe zone. We all know it’s just playin’.
Photos by Steve-Kun
Posted in Burgers, Food sculpture, Japanese fake food, Uncategorized
From L Roy, a prodigious sandwich inhaler and friend.
I just inhaled one of the most delicious/grotesque sandwiches ever made I only eat one of these every two years, though I can’t seem to eat it slowly, as much as I want to savor it.
It’s the Egg Bomb from Nicola Pizza, Arlington, MA. I may have submitted this WMD a few years ago, but The Bomb is known to cause memory loss as well as numerous other debilitations.
Read and weep:
Scrambled egg
Sautéed mushrooms
Grilled onions
Green peppers
Pepperoni
Sausage
Cheese (American I think, but as I said, it went down too fast)
I had to eat this in a nearby park because,
– the shop had just mopped its floors (though it was hard to tell) and smelled of ammonia
– too messy to eat anywhere except the great outdoors
There were children playing on the swings nearby and I feared arrest for exposing a minor to obscenities. Whatever, part of growing up.
As Red Sox fans like to sing, “so good, so good, so good.”
Time for dessert…
Posted in Uncategorized
Why do we love tiny things? I found an ungooglable quandary. Why o why do we love miniatures? Got a theory? I’d love to see it, here on my tiny monitor. Clue me in. I’ve got a grilled cheese the size of a postage stamp waiting for you in my panini press, if I can find it (the sandwich).
Theories, off the top of my tiny brain:
1. Tiny things turn our sense of wonder upside-down and open up our “awe” factor.
2. We are all, at our most primal, seeking power over our world.
3. Dink is so frackin cute. Gives one that swooshy feeling and we LIKE it.
Posted in Uncategorized
Vegan food makes me nervous. And gluten free, too. I’ll take my food with all the parts, the whole dog and pony show, all the bells and whistles. Meat, butter, bread, cheese. I’ll take it in broad strokes. Don’t wanna break it down to a sludge test, dissecting and rejecting.
That’s just me. You, a person, or persons, anyone could and should do whatever you/they want. Not that they/you asked for my permission. You didn’t? Oh yeah, you didn’t.
It’s just food after all. Just the thing that binds and bonds us, ties and minds us, makes us who we are, individually, autonomously and en masse. It’s just food. So yeah, each speck and spectral counts, doesn’t it? Each part and particle.
I had lunch at Sticky Fingers and it was deluxhiouss. A grilled cheese with soy cheese. Who’s to say that that is not cheese? It was de-freaking-luxhiousss.
So, am I taking a stand here? On the balance beam? Cheese is cheese is cheese, yes? I don’t know. It’s a greasy, non-buttery, slippery slope. Have we evolved beyond animal foods? My visceral self says no. En Oh. Time will tell.
And then there is the baconless, hamfree club. How do they do that? And do we want them to? I dunno. Weigh in, people!
Posted in Uncategorized
File under Expressions I Cannot Use Without Cringing: It’s all good. Using it now without even a slight shudder. There is NO SUCH THING as the best sandwich. They are (almost) all good. People like to vote. That’s how they (File Under Expressions I Do Not Use) roll.
Personally, I would rather do the “Dog Breed Personality Quiz”. (Bernese Mountain Dog. Thanks for asking.) Watch for the upcoming “Sandwich Personality Quiz, PB & J or Club, How Do You Stack Up?”
In the meanwhile, here at The Lunch Encounter, all sandwiches are number one. You don’t have to be a winner to be number one. With me. Trophies all around!
Lunch Bag Art by David LaFerriere
Posted in Uncategorized
Jon said, “I’m not sure this is particularly funny, or maybe it’s just that I don’t get it. But, all things sandwich must be forwarded to you.”
I’m withya, Jon. A sandwich on me to the first person who can explain why this is funny.
My favorite unfunny joke:
Q: What do an elephant and a dog have in common?
A: They both have trunks……..
………………except the dog.
I’ve always been a big admirer of the unfunny joke.
What’s the difference between a duck?
Is it further to New York than by train?
Do you walk to school or carry your lunch?
Thank you, Jon. Keep the all-things-sandwich coming!
Posted in Uncategorized
Please make the man salty and smoky, seasonal and ripe, tough enough to stand up to pumpernickle, tender enough to yield to one’s bite. Dress him up with green leafy stuff and serve with chips. Then draw me a cold one to wash him down.
There is a deli renaissance in our future and I hope it rolls over us all in a big way. Stalzy’s in Madison, Wisconsin, is a beacon of delis to come, a rebirth of what was beloved and has been (nearly) lost.

At Stalzy’s they corn their own beef, and make their own pickles, and pastrami and rye bread. Oooh. An outfit of such deep endeavors can do no wrong by me. None. 
2701 Atwood Avenue, Madison, WI 53704 | phone: 608.249.7806 | hours: Monday – Saturday 7:30am-9:00pm Sunday 7:30am-2:00pm
Want to witness an epic battle, up close and personal? The angels versus the devils in hand-to-hand combat. Raise a child. Watch them break your heart with sweetness, and tear your heart out with worry. Till you are reduced to dust.
Here he sat, like an old man engrossed in the paper, distancing himself from the goofy, giggly, gaggle. Girls? What girls?Until the check arrived…
We did okay, on our own, no boy-man as chaperone. We did okay. Stalzy’s had us at
.
Posted in Delicatessens, Uncategorized
Tagged Corned Beef, Deli, Pastrami, Pickles, Reuben, Rye Bread

Slogging through February, with an extra day, a wintry addendum. We were not gifted with a snow day this year, a day when time stands still and the air is electric with light. The daffodils have popped, three weeks ahead of schedule they say, but my spirit has not popped with them. The Ides must have it, stowed in their root cellar, letting the starch turn to sugar, sweetening me up for my vernal emergence.
Come out, come out, wherever you are!
Posted in The Lunch Box Project, Uncategorized