The Lunch Encounter

BIG ED
While I have meatloaf on my mind…

The best meatloaf sandwich in the world (and my favorite all time sandwich) can be had at Big Ed’s in Reno, NV. There is a large slab of delicious meatloaf, chutney, cheddar and pepperjack cheese on sourdough bread. It is then grilled so the cheese is all gooey. My brother actually ordered this sandwich with bacon once—I figured why tamper with perfection.

Both my brothers live in Reno and when I visit, the first thing we do when they pick me up at the airport is to head to Big Ed’s for lunch. One time, they had run out of meatloaf by the time I got there so we had to go the next day.
Paula J

And more from Paula’s brother:
Big Ed’s has been around for about 20 years (the building housed the Depression Deli before that). It is nestled between the Alturas biker bar, DbarM saddlery, and the strip joint across the street. It attracts a mixed clientele from state senators, lawyers, to the average working Joe. Professional cowboys are known to frequent it when the rodeo is in town.

Casual atmosphere—booths and tables, wood floor, wood bar, wood paneling.TV with sports on above the bar. Photos and beer stuff on the walls. Seasonally appropriate decorations (e.g. I bet there are some Halloween things up now.)

Photography Renee Comet
Foodstyling Lisa Cherkasky

What we did for fun yesterday.

Resuming the liverwurst musing.

Must be signs of seasonal change. The days get shorter, my fingers itch to knit, and the braunsweiger looks so tasty in the refrigerated case. So nicely stacked in its wrapper too, like a perfect row of stockinette stitch.

Can you be a domestic goddess and still love the wurst?

Would you like that on toast, miss? I’ll just pop it into my knitoaster.

Toaster knitted by Mara Cherkasky

Knitting food? Look here and here. Knitted marzipan. V charming. Patience level? 11.

Writes Jennifer Steinhauer in the New York Times yesterday:
IS there any pain quite as sweet as the one caused by a steaming drip
of cheese oozing from between slices of just-grilled bread and onto
your lower lip?

Much sweeter than the agony of that cheese dripping onto your silk-covered right breast. There is no drycleaner up to that stain.

Ms Steinhauer’s story covers the Los Angeles Grilled Cheese Invitational.

Read more here.

What I did this morning.

Photo by Renee Comet
and I did the styling.

Tomorrow I’m gonna use the leftover figs in a sandwich with proscuitto, sage, gorgonzola and I don’t know what all else yet. Gotta dig through the bin.

Do you get the reference? Do I need to ask? Are you insulted?

I have found a love match in my dad and my friend Mimi. Their meatloaf banter is a harmonic convergence, although they have never met.

Mimi writes:
I love meatloaf sandwiches. I love to have a warmed, thick slice of leftover meatloaf, on a good hard roll with ketchup and and red onion. Sometimes with sweet relish. I like the roll to be untoasted, because I like the temperature contrast with the warm meatloaf. Not that complicated, but yummers. I suppose the whole trick is in the quality of the meat loaf. I can’t imagine not liking ML

And from my dad:
And leftover ML is a great cold sandwich on fresh bread or a nice crispy semmel or Kaiser roll. (Gotta be crispy, so no Safeway pre packaged rolls, please). Mustard for me in this case, but with lots of crispy HEAD lettuce, not the kind of lettuce that is nutritious. That would spoil the intent of that particular sannitch. By the way, along the same lines, meatball sandwiches are great, too, but a lot juicier to eat.

And they are both so familiar with the stuff. ML! Something like calling Martin Scorcese Marty. Or Deniro, Bobby. ML indeed!

Love Match and Meat Loaf have a pleasing syllabic synchronicity and inside-out illiteration. LM and ML.

Mimi and my dad are in the school of contrasting texture. Meatloaf on a crunchy roll. They are renegades. Most meatloaf sandwich disciples favor soft bread. I am thinking that the hard roll/soft bread line is drawn similarly to the mayo vs mustard camps.

So far in my meatloaf investigation no one has mentioned a particular recipe. Most remarks have been about engineering the sandwich properly. More to come on this topic.

I’m not gonna lower myself to making fun of Spam. How 20 years ago.

Spam Museum (for real)
1937 Spam Blvd. (also for real)
From I-90, take 6th St. NE exit South
Austin MN 55912

Tel/Fax: 1-800-LUV-SPAM, 507-437-5100 (I made this up. Just kidding.)

Mission: 16,500 sq. ft. focused on how Spam is made, canned and distributed, and its role in WWII. Interactive exhibits, old Spam ads, a recreated Monty Python Spam skit

Admission Info: Open Monday through Saturday, 10 am – 5 pm; Sunday, 12 – 4 pm

Other Info: Part of Hormel’s marketing program. Their main office and a packing plant is in Austin. Also have a catalog that offers Spam memorabilia.

All food museum information courtesy of Shirley Cherkasky/Food History News Museum Directory.

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MEATLOAF SANDWICHES

Meatloaf and ketchup.

Susan D

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(meatloaf was spelled wrong on this post for about a day. why didn’t someone tell me? waaah.)

Speaking of bliss, bliss on a bun….

Meatloaf and Bliss do not a match in heaven make.

Nothing against meatloaf, exactly.

To make matters worse, this recipe is called Stomach Bliss Meatloaf. Eck.

I like meatloaf. Sometimes. Stomach Bliss Meatloaf (SBM) has a secret ingredient – prunes. Like I said, eck. Don’t get me wrong, I like prunes, especially since they have updated their image and become dried plums, and I’ll bet they work some magic on a meatloaf. Still….the thought.

Maybe I am a pru(n-OR-d)e. Bliss, stomach, prunes. Turns my stomach a bit actually.

A meatloaf sandwich, now that’s a delicious beast.

It seems like meatloaf is one of those things people “love to hate.” It sort of baffles me. I mean, I wouldn’t eat it every night, but a nice meatloaf with mashed potatoes is total comfort food. And it is one of the very rare foods that I really love to have ketchsup on.
Sez Cindy O

(I know that that spelling of ketchup is wrong, but it looks so right, so ssssssaucy with that “s” in it.)

>>>>>Adding a note after the fact: I am NOT making fun of the speller of ketchsup. That spelling looks charming to me and appropriately consonant loaded.However, the speller called me on it and called me – jokingly ahem – a midnight snake. Funny.<<<<<

I understand there has been much eating of meatloaf sandwiches around their house recently, particularly by Jon. Cindy had one and was done. Satisfied and done.

A meatloaf sandwich is on white bread, only. White bread from my dad’s bakery, now defunct, is the proper white bread. Firm, not sweet, pretty dark crust on top.

A friend name Elena, someone I knew a long time ago, was a very quiet girl who would go to great lengths not to step on anyone’s toes. When she was a schoolgirl Elena liked meatloaf sandwiches, on white bread, with ketchup. Her mother, not so into being a mother and looking to expedite her chores, baked up a big meatloaf, sliced it all up and assembly-lined a batch of sandwiches. White bread, ketchup, slice of meatloaf. She wrapped each one and froze them.

Each morning Elena’s mother would drop a frozen sandwich, plop, into the bottom of a brown lunch sack. On the first day Elena unwrapped it. Horrors! Bread soaked through with ketchup, meatloaf still frozen in the center. Each following day Elena removed her sandwich and dropped it in the trash.

She never said a word to her mother.