Dopamine Bump Anyone?

Posted on December 8, 2014 | 2 comments

From My-Main-Sandwich-Man in Boston, LRoy:

Want to stir up a ruckus? Put together a list of the top any-number of any-thing.  You really want to start a flame war, pick the top sandwiches in New York!

Here’s a list which is making me drool though I just had dinner. Some of these look easy to agree with (and no matter what, I always include Katz’s pastrami), but others – broccoli classic?

I hear ya about the broccoli thingamabob. People talk about it though – the thing at No. 7 Sub. It takes skill to get a broccoli sub on any list other than Best Broccoli Subs.

So many sandwiches…

The 13 Best Sandwiches in NYC

Screen Shot 2014-12-08 at 8.29.51 AMAlidoro

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WE HAVE ICE

Posted on December 7, 2014 | 2 comments

Scan

 

 

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All Manner of Superlative Sandwich

Posted on December 7, 2014 | Leave a comment

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Geoff’s Superlative Sandwiches

Mr. Daaaavid KMetzzzzzzzz sent me this. Whattaguy! Does he know sandwich? Heck yeah, he does!!

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While a student at RISD, one of my fave places to eat was Geoff’s Sandwiches on Benefit Street. It was in the #200’s on that street – less than a block from my apartment… I confess I couldn’t escape their sandwichtational pull!

It was the first place I encountered that had a vast assortment of offerings and great names to many of the sandwiches (this was circa 1973-78) – the Marlene Dietrich, the Jackie Kennedy, “Tosh’s Twister” – if my addled memory serves; hot ham and smoked turkey with melted swiss on rye with saurkraut and Tosh’s hot mayo/ horseradish sauce.

Geoff’s prepares most of their sandwiches in a pressure / steamer thing that melts the cheese and makes the ingredients get happy. Brought tears to my eyes from the heat, which I squelched with a cold Dr. Pepper. It wasn’t the Japanese wasabi mustard served today, but pretty close. There was something called a Bob Tomlinson that I also liked, but 30 years + have erased the memory of that one. Who was Bob Tomlinson?

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One of my favorite combos at home for “sammys”, as my wife calls them, is preserved tuna packed in oil, a slice of hot (or sweet) capacolla, sharp provolone and the light green inner leaves of Romaine lettuce, all served on a widish sourdough baguette. Ooh La la! Preserved tuna is not cheap, but what the hey? Half a jar goes a long way. I don’t make a steady diet of these bad boys.

Don’t you roll your eyes at me, tuna snobs! Make your own canned tuna. Oh yum!

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Toast Poast Number 98.6

Posted on December 6, 2014 | Leave a comment

Toast Mitts

Aaaw. What a girl. What the heck is she hugging? Her macbook? What a smart girl. Inanimate objects offer such steady love. It’s all projection, you know, like the sun and the moon. One glows and one reflects. Girls glow and their stuff reflects.

Boys glow too, of course, but most would not be caught alive and living in toast mitts. A toast muff, I’m thinking, would be swell for clandestine hand holding, hold the butter.

Toast muff. Think of that.

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These Are the Grazing Days

Posted on December 5, 2014 | 2 comments

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Graze is in Madison, Wisconsin, a place that if you know me, you know I daydream about often. It’s my holy grail, existent only in my mind, I suppose. Were I to live there, my fantasy would go up in a smoke, like the odorous haze lifting off sileage.

Even under the cloud of the governor whose name will not grace this page, Madison remains civilized. Maybe even pushing smug. But, you know, they get it right in so many ways, self-satisfaction is forgivable.

Just a narrow isthmus, this town carries a blaze of of appetite-worthy sandwich destinations.

Graze is a little fancy. Check out the pickle plate. Maybe not a place for boys.

I was fortunate enough to have lunch with Joanie and Claire there a while back. We grazed, yes, but felt like fillies, not calves. Still do, we’re deep in our spring chicken phase.

Today, for example, we could have any of these for lunch. Madison is no flyover town, that’s for sure. Land at their sweet airport and catch yourself a Union cab to the square for a sun-bathed lunch. A lazy day…

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In a haze, got the doldrums? Wondering, “Do they make (fill in the blank) anymore ?”  Short daze getting to ya? They do me. Off we go to ~snap out of it~! Taking a graze through a fantasy – southern Wisconsin rolling hills, happy cows, sparkly lakes, a town that tends itself well. Take note – not accepting nays – love thyself, no grays.

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Toast Poast Number 0800 Hours

Posted on December 4, 2014 | 5 comments

Is there life after breakfast? Yes there is! Yes there is!

Breakfast line dancing

Thank you Along-for-the-Ride Heidi.

Is There Life After Breakfast?

And what does Tim Krieder say to this? He says, wisely,

“I am sick of the phrase “first-world problems” — not just because it delegitimizes the perfectly real problems of those of us lucky enough to have enough to eat and Internet access, but because it denies the same stupid trivial human worries to people who aren’t. Are you not entitled to existential angst or tedium vitae if you live in Chad — must you always nobly suffer traditional third-world problems like malaria and coups d’état? If we’re lucky, we graduate to increasingly complex and better problems, and once all our material needs are satisfied we get to confront the insoluble problem of being a person in the world.

Even if we someday solve all our societal problems, people will still be unlucky in love, lonesome and bored, lie awake worrying about the future and regretting stupid things they did and wondering whether it’s all even worth it. Utopia will have an unendurable amount of hassles to deal with, endless forms to fill out, apathetic bureaucrats, taxes, ads and bad weather. Time will still pass without mercy.”

Time will pass without mercy. Yes, there is life after breakfast and it is called lunch.

Thank you, Suits-Herself-Cindy for introducing me to Tim Kreider.

Ray Davies
Lift yourself out of the doldrums
Make yourself a cuppa tea
Drag your emotions out of the gutter
Don’t wallow in self pity
When you wake up, all of a fluster
Thinking life has passed you by
Give yourself a kick up the backside
Jump out of bed and punch the sky
Is there life after breakfast
Full of possibilities
Is there life after breakfast?
Yes there is, after breakfast
So don’t live in agony
Is there life after breakfast?
Yes there is, after breakfast

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Maine Suits Her

Posted on December 3, 2014 | Leave a comment

A sandwich missive from Suits-Herself Cindy on family holiday in Maine LAST WINTER. What took me so long to post this?!?

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On the way from Portland to Bethel, we passed through Poland Springs. Who knew that Poland Springs was even a real place?We were still getting our heads around that when we saw Cyndi’s Dockside restaurant. We were hungry for lunch and it looked like a classic Maine kind of place. So we stopped in.

It was completely charming in a “have-we-stepped-back-in-time?” way. In the summer it is also a boat house that rents canoes and kayaks. In the winter there are ice fishing huts all over the lake.

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As I ate my DELICIOUS fried haddock sandwich, the waitress filled Freya in on ice fishing and encouraged us to take a walk around the “ice road” and visit some of the fisherman. I was a little nervous about it until the waitress said that the ice was at least 14″ thick. The fishermen were happy to explain the mechanics of ice fishing. Super fun and highly recommended.

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ON the mountain at Sunday River, they have a “Bite Into Maine” food truck selling fresh lobster rolls. The lobster rolls were voted one of America’s best by Food and Wine magazine. It was delicious.

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And, it’s completely insane that you can take a break from skiing to buy a lobster roll at a food truck. Usually you get a cafeteria with bad pizza.

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I love Maine!!

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Tablescaping

Posted on December 2, 2014 | 4 comments
The Sublime Miss M sent me this coast-to-coast sandwich escapade. Thank you!
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The James Beard Foundation Word on American Sandwiches

True or Nah??

Weigh in folks.  The Cuban is a sandwich I associate strongly with Tampa. True or nah? How now, the Nuke? Am I alone in my ignorance? You from Alaska, is a Reindeer Sausage Sandwich a standard comestible? Raising an eyebrow over the Baltimore choice – perhaps I am in the dark there, too. Crabcakes do not rule the streets of Baltimore? Now the Runza, Along-for-the-Ride Heidi has whispered to me re: Runza. Believe it’s a kissing cousin, once or twice removed. And you know what blows my mind? The New Jersey Sloppy Joe has not been appropriated by hipster worldwide, inc. And, the burning issue, Mother in Law Sandwich, where art thou?

Should you desire to drill deep into sandwich bedrock, I kindly suggest you click on the links.

1. Alaska                         Reindeer sausage sandwich

2. Arizona                      Navajo taco

3. Arkansas                  Fried bologna sandwich

4. California                 French dip

5. Colorado                   Denver sandwich   

6. Connecticut            Lobster roll

7. Florida (Miami)        Cubano

8. Illinois (Chicago)      Italian beef

9. Illinois                     The Horseshoe

10. Indiana                     The pork tenderloin

11. Iowa                           Loose meat (a.k.a. the Maid-Rite)

12. Kentucky            Hot Brown

13. Louisiana (New Orleans) Muffaletta

14. Louisiana (New Orleans) Po’ boy

15. Maine                   Lobster roll

16. Maine (Portland) Italian

17. Maryland (Baltimore)  Lake trout sandwich

18. Minnesota (Minneapolis)  Jucy Lucy

19. Mississippi             Elvis sandwich

20. Missouri (St. Louis)  The St. Paul

21. Montana (Helena)     The nuke

22. Nebraska (Lincoln)    The runza

23. New Jersey               Sloppy Joe

24. New Jersey              Submarine sandwich

25. New York (Buffalo)     Beef on weck

26. NYC                           Corned beef or pastrami on rye

27. North Carolina            Pulled pork BBQ 

28. Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)     Cheese steak

29. Ohio (Cleveland)             The Polish boy

30. South Dakota (Aberdeen)   Pheasant sandwich

31. Virginia (Williamsburg)          Ham biscuit

32. Washington, D.C.                Half-smoke

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Shameless Self Promotion Number 7 or Is It 777?

Posted on December 1, 2014 | Leave a comment

Styling sandwiches is a kick. A “build”, truly, bottom to top, with an infrastructure and also interior design. And moisture. Always water. 70% for sure, doncha know, just like all things alive.

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Pulled Chicken Sandwich with Peach Salsa

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Italian Herb Grilled Vegetable Sandwich
Photos by Michael Pohuski

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Come For the Wallpaper, Stay For a Sandwich

Posted on November 30, 2014 | Leave a comment

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Truth be told, the sandwich was not earth shaking, as expected. Much ado about the chicken parm on the internets. The floor beneath us was calm, although the wallpaper danced, now, didn’t it?

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Parm is small and cozy and feels old. And not as affectations.

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These three hombres – can you name them (Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle)? I could not but when told, had an apt joke, the one about the talking dog, “Whatsa matter, I shoulda said, Mickie Mantle?”

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Would I/we go back? Yes, said the fine, fine bf. Vegetable sides are mighty fine – Brussel sprouts, giardiniera, unusual cucumber salad – and I did not struggle to put away the chicken parm.  Easy to picture a case of, “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”

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