It's What's Between

Our three-supermarket sandywar continues with another entry in the peppered turkey and colby on sourdough with tomatoes and mustard showdown.

Albertsons finished second in the Supermercado Sandy Spectacular’s first round; how will it fare in round two?

This was the question in my mind as I loitered near the Albertsons deli … scanning, observing. Before I approached the counter, I got a metaphorical taste of what I was about to experience. A somewhat timid and confused man, who spoke only Spanish, walked up to the counter and asked the sandwich artist (whom I will refer to as Jack from here on, as he looked like a Jack and I didn’t get his name) a question. Jack responded with a sunny “Si, Si!” and took the man over to the imported cheese island, where I was lurking and pondering a hummus purchase while I watched and waited. Jack found the exact cheese the man was looking for, and said several words in Spanish, one of which I believe translates to “Tuesday.” The stranger was visibly grat…

Supermercado Sandy Spectacular II Turbo is now underway with King Soopers' attempt at our SSS2T template sandwich.

I was immediately put off by the confusing chalkboard menu array. I saw lots of assorted prices, something about salad and a drawing of a bowl of piping-hot soup. Eventually I located the sandyprice, or rather, the formula for calculating the sandyprice. It said made-to-order sandwiches cost $5.99 per pound of meat and/or cheese. Not being a math whiz, I found the need for sudden calculations disconcerting. I estimated I would need approximately one quarter pound each of meat and cheese. My lunch associate, a healthy-eating pixel artist, advised asking for less cheese. He was right; a quarter pound would have been way too much. In the end, I asked for a QP of peppered turkey and a couple slices of cheese, which worked out well, I feel.

The Breakdown

Overall Taste: Solid. The Soop delivered; this was just what I expected.

Bread: A tame, thinly sliced sourdough. I believe i…

Our friends at Subway World Headquarters (SWH) were gracious enough to provide It’s What’s Between with quick answers to our questions. Do not let it be said that Subway doesn’t care about the sandwich concerns of its customers — it most certainly does.

First, we must cop to a mistake we made in our last Olivewatch post. The people who make your sandwiches at Subway restaurants are not “sandwichmachen” as we called them; they are actually called sandwich artists. We regret any harm our error has caused the sandwich community.

Now, what we learned, direct from SWH:

1. How many olives you get is not up to the whim of each store, as each franchisee is subject to “stringent regulation” regarding its coherence to companywide “product formulas.” If you feel, as we do, that the formula calls for too few olives, SWH suggests the following: “If you feel that you would like more of a certain fresh vegetable, simply ask the sandwich artist for it.” This doesn’t address the issue of sandwich artist …

Fearing round one was unfair, we aim to make things right in the Supermercado Sandy Spectacular's second round. The first round saw perennial favorite King Soopers trounced by a pair of unspectacular competitors. The lopsided defeat was largely due to Kings’ godawful cream cheese and cranberry slopfest, which we suspect wasn’t indicative of the formidable supermarket deli’s typical offerings.

Thus, a more objective round two. This time, we’re not ordering any wrapped prêt-à-manger BS. This time, we’re ordering the same approximate sandwich — prepared on the spot — from all three supermarket delis. That way it’s apples to apples and the whinebags at Kings can’t complain.

The Round Two Template Sandy:
Bread: SourdoughMeat: Black-peppered turkeyCheese: MuensterVeggies: TomatoesCondiments: MustardIn another feeble attempt at establishing standards, we will qualitatively grade each supermarket deli in five categories. Then, using computers “borrowed” from the sandylab last night, we will …

Sorry about that title. As penance, we present to you: Olive 3D.

As Olivewatch ’07 enters its third month, It’s What’s Between is learning more, but has come to no definitive conclusions.

Our go-to Subway is averaging six olives per sandy. Members of the It’s What’s Between team visited the upstart northern Subway this week, which recently launched an ill-conceived and easily exploited promotion wherein they broke into our office and left dozens of free sandwich coupons in the lunchroom. In a move that’s still paying off, our art director Michael took a healthy stack and we’ve been enjoying free sandies ever since.

Our fact-finding mission revealed fascinating new data. First, I received a record 13 olive slices on my Cold Cut Combo. I believe this may have been due to my ordering method. Check it out: I ordered my bread, meat and cheese, and once it was veggie time, I began staring at the open sandwich and said slowly and deliberately that I would like olives. I then closely watched the…

Church’s Chicken Sandwich

First, I always thought it was “Church’s Chicken,” but it’s not. “Churches Chicken” makes much less sense to me. It’s like calling a place “Schools Burgers” or “Houses Pancakes.”

Never mind. I just checked their site and it is “Church’s.” My receipts are just misspelled. I should start this entry over, but whatevs.

Here's the deal: I ordered the Spicy Chicken Sandwich combo, which includes a Spicy Chicken Sandwich, regular Coke and crinkle fries. They fared as follows:

Fries: A touch tepid, but great overall. They’re crinkly like the frozen bagged ones you bake. They tasted almost exactly like Chick-fil-A’s waffle fries — a good thing, as C-f-A is the undisputed fast food champion of the chicken sandwich and fries combo. Church’s fries are salty and oily right up to the point of being too much so; they are maximum strength fries. They are pale yellow with golden brown accents. Like the best of fries, they possess a crunchy exterior and are all soft and potaoe…