It's What's Between

Happy Hanukkah! Sated from today's Free Sandwich dinner, I'm ready to blog. Gas station sandwich reviews were a big part of this blog's early days, long before the tragic intern incident of '08 and It's What's Between's subsequent Icarus -like skyrocket to superblogdom (pending). I don't eat many gas station sandies anymore, namely because I don't own a car and therefore rarely require gasoline. But I noticed one of my local bodegas sells a sandwich equivalent -- frozen microwavable sammies for the cheap and incredibly lazy. There's little justification for buying them because generally, another bodega on the same block will sell a proper, freshly made Boar's Head sandwich for a buck or two more. But a pizza sandwich caught my eye the other night. I considered my lack of motivation to cook and, while wondering what a pizza sandwich is, bought the thing and zapped and ate it. What follows is the result. The term "pizza sandwich" c

So I wrote the novel. According to NaNoWriMo.org , that makes me a winner. Indeed, I won at the game of spending all my free time in November writing about a dude working in a movie theater, and it feels ... well, I hesitate to say good , but it feels better than bad. Despite reading the rules and knowing better, I was hoping my victory would bring me some kind of sweet prize. At the very least I was hoping for a copy of Madden '10 for Xbox 360. Instead, I received an image file, and a tiny .png at that. I prefer .jpgs, frankly. But enough griping -- I went into this thing with open eyes, and I can't say I regret doing it. Since I won this major award , I might as well display it. There it is. Aligned right because it looks better over there. You may be wondering whether my 50,000 words of frantic literary spew included a lot of sandwich content, and it's a great question. The answer is no, although there is excessive description of the protagonist eating a sandwich at a b

It's hard to compete with Christmas' presents, but Thanksgiving makes a strong case for Best Holiday . I'm thankful for a lot of things, but right now, I'm thankful for Thanksgiving itself. Kinda meta in a folksy way. I'm listening to Talking Heads and awaiting a traditional home cooked turkey meal prepared by my mom in Connecticut before heading to Denver to see my dad and eat more. I'm also procrastinating on my NaNoWriMo novel, but this is important. Thanksgiving plays an important role in sandwichdom. It's the only holiday that generates sandwiches, and that's worth noting. Thanksgiving is awesome because it revolves around a meal. July 4th and its fireworks are hard to beat, but a holiday that's centered by eating a giant feast is too rare in the U.S. If there's ever a holiday named after me, I want it to be known that I wish it to be celebrated by eating as much as possible and watching not football, but hockey. I went on to Flickr to fi

OK, today's Serious Eats newsletter put me over the top. I have to say something. Today's SE email had a link to their article about Bleecker between 6th and 7th Ave., what they call New York's "Sandwich Alley." I've never dined there that I recall. They talked about Murray's (where I've only eaten ice cream) grilled cheeses, lobster rolls (my most memorable came from McDonald's in Boston) and what they claim to be "the best sandwich in Sandwich Alley." Oh I am slacking. Why? Lots of reasons. I do have about six sandwich articles hibernating in my drafts pile. They're waiting for me to edit them, but I've opted not to for the last few months, citing business reasons, also, laziness. If you're curious, my most recent ones unwritten posts are about pregnancy, Hawaiians and peanut butter. They may never see the light of day. Meanwhile, my tomato sandwich post is completely outdated, having passed its seasonal relevancy for 2009

Chick-fil-A is doing a Labor Day promo today where you get a free Original Chicken Sandwich for wearing something with a sports logo on it. Uncomfortable as I am with shilling for Big Sandwich , their Original Chicken Sandwich is in fact one of the best sandies on the market. Go get a free one and get it with Polynesian Sauce. Pro Tip: Only sauce the sandy with about half the container. Use the whole thing and you WILL over-sauce your sandwich and ruin it. I'm serious. Now I need to figure out where the closest Chick-fil-A is. For some reason, the only one east of Colorado I can think of is at the Orlando airport. Through tempted, I don't think I'll be making the flight just for this promo.

Courtesy of Viet-Nam Banh Mi So 1 . Review pending. Initial thoughts: delicious. Heavy on the pork and cilantro but no problems there. Ordered it "spicy" but it only had a slight kick. Overall: excellent sandy.

This is the by-product of a long subway ride with nothing interesting to read. " Double down or hit me?" When meat supplants bread And sandies' order's denied Is anyone safe? " What would Plato eat ?" Sandwich perfection Which is better: less or more? Consider Katz's "Tomato sandwich" Minimalism Seasonal fruits sliced, piled high Let their taste shine through " Banh mi " Radishes that mock Our lunch monoculture Ban me from turkey " Free break room sandwich " Where did it come from? Sandwich wizards suspected Thanks, mundane Merlin! " Mayo vs. mustard" Creamy or spicy? Dijon, stone ground reign, but still Not an easy choice

It's What's Between founding member Michael alerted me to the KFC Double Down, as reported by Food Geekery , who kindly supplied this photo. Make no mistake, this is the third horse of the sandwipocolypse, the first two being The Sandwich of Knowledge . What is it? It's two pieces of fried chicken, two kinds of cheese, bacon and the ominous "Colonel's Sauce." What about the bun, you ask? The fried chicken IS THE BUN. Playing devil's advocate , yes, the fried chicken is breaded, making it bun-like . Is bun-like good enough, though? No it is not. This is a mutant, and not in the next evolution of sandwiches sense. This ... thing ... must be destroyed . This is unnatural. This is wrong. Dammit, I must slay this unholy beast by going to KFC and eating it dead. This is my lot as a sandwich blogger, and a self-destructive one at that. I will eat it, or die trying, or eat it and then die later of related causes.

Sandwich aficionado Stu told me about a Spanish sandwich called the flauta d’ibéric d.o. jabugo, which New York Times food writer Mark Bittman said was the best he’d ever had . I recommend reading Bittman’s article for context here. En route to Spain for the running of the bulls, Stu visited Café Vienna in person to try this special sandwich. He was also good enough to share his thoughts on the sandy’s spot in the search for sandwich perfection and weighed in on the less vs. more debate. In Stu’s words: As far as sandwiches go, the Spanish believe that less is more. Most of the bocadillos we came across were simply meat and bread. Some had a thin layer of tomato spread across the bread in the same fashion you would spread butter and some had a light drizzle of olive oil. They are all about their meat, and pork dominates. You see legs of Jamon Iberico hanging everywhere. It felt like the Spanish treat the sandwich as more of a snack than a meal, and that could be a big reason for the

I've always preferred gray areas, so I've never had much use for the idea of perfection. But lately I've been seeing and hearing a lot of claims about the perfect sandwich. I hadn't thought much about the perfect Ideal since Philosophy 101 until now. If there is an Ideal sandwich? How could that be possible with everyone's subjective taste? After thinking far too much about this problem, I narrowed down the question. It's this: Is less more, or is more? In other words, which would make a better sandwich: one with the best meat, the best cheese, the best bread and a touch of the best mustard, or one with four of the best meats, two of the best cheeses, your five favorite veggies and your two preferred spreads? A perfect grilled cheese or a perfect Dagwood? Along with my sandwich associates, I've been exploring this question over the past month. The search for Truth has thus far been confined to Brooklyn and Barcelona, but it extends much further in theor

For the sandwich faithful, certain holy sites are mandatory visits for the truly devoted. I'm told Miami has the best Cuban sandwiches outside of their namesake. Pittsburgh is home to Primanti Brothers' mandatory meat/slaw/eggs/fries/etc. sandwich. And in New York City, one has lots of choices, but I'd heard the top sandy destination is Katz's Deli for their pastrami on rye. With visitors Kyle and Jamie (who took the picture ) in town, the time had come to pay homage to Mr. Katz and his fabulous sandwiches. We went, and it was better than I'd dreamed. Have you had a pastrami on rye? Pretty good, right? Especially with some Boar's Head meat. But it's not even in the same league as this thing. It's not the quantity Katz gives you, although that's impressive, but the hot juiciness of the meat. Here's the deal. You get a ticket, and walk up to the sandwich counter. The sandychef asks you what you want, and you say a pastrami sandwich. He carves a

No, it definitely doesn't. But that didn't stop the Chicago Tribune from giving credence to a mayonaise-funded study linking sandwich preferences to personality types. In theory, I like this. This sentence, in particular, really appeals to me: "Forget the fact that you're a Scorpio or that you were born in the year of the ox, and see what sandwich matches your personality and romantic compatibility." As far as romantic compatibility goes, I put more faith in sandy-tastes than I do in what month people were born in. But this study is idiotic. According to Hellmann's (east of the Rockies)/Best Foods (west of them) mayonaise, ham and cheese eaters are "curious and intuitively oriented," chicken salad fans are "the perfect spouse" and tuna salad people are "competitive and driven." Bullshit. But fun study, nonetheless. Being an egg salad lover, that makes me "entertaining, lively, energetic" and I "thrive a

KARE11: NJ man says bear attacked him for his sandwich I don't have much to say about this. Anyone who's watched a good number of Hanna-Barbera cartoons understands that bears love sandwiches. Anyone who's anyone knows that bears, in real life, are the stone cold crazy badasses of the animal kingdom. So this article comes as no surprise. A dude in Jersey had a sandwich. A bear wanted that sandwich and took it. Simple bear-logic in action. If you watch the video, you'll see the victim's telling of the story. He says: "I weigh 180 pounds and this thing knocked me down like nothing ... like a rag doll." I think the lesson here is, don't let your guard down, because at any moment, you can be betrayed by nature . If you venture into the wild depths of Sussex County, for god's sake keep an eye on your sandwiches, people.

Hi, everybody. I figure it's about time to start blogging about sandwiches again. I have a bunch of unpublished drafts sitting around, so I'm going to start (barely) polishing them up and posting them before writing anything new. What's new? Well, I ate a gravy and cheese turkey sandwich today, for one thing. That was pretty good. It was excellent, in fact. What else? Not much. I'm still living in New York City and still eating lots of sandwiches. I'm trying to eat more salads despite the fact that I kind of hate salads. I won't let that get in the way of this blog. Here's my review of DnD's waffle sandy. I'm going to go ahead and just publish the notes since they're already organized and because I've no motivation to deal with paragraphs right now. But basically, this sandwich was kinda crappy . Not everyone feels this way, but from my sandwich-learned viewpoint, it's a case of the whole being less than the sum of its parts – not a good

Dunkin' Donuts has been tempting me lately with its ads for its Waffle Breakfast Sandwich . I dispute its claim that it represents a "homemade" taste. Maybe it's just my home, but it's never occurred to me to use waffles as bread before. Granted, I used to eat waffle tacos in college, but that's different. Waffle Tacos recipe: Toast two waffles, apply a moderate amount of maple syrup to their centers, then fold in half, taco-style, and enjoy, preferably with white wine for maximum alliteration. This waffle sandwich is something else. It's not my first encounter with such a thing; I've eaten a similar breakfast sandwich once at Le Peep I believe. But that was on a whim. Now I'm faced with this thing every morning at my hungriest hour (from 8 to 9 a.m.) and my will is weakening. Expect a review soon.

I awoke this morning to some unsettling news from The Freakin' Deacon of The Church of What's Happening Now . The Sandwich of Knowledge has arrived. Its appearance indicates that the sandwipocolypse is nigh. This beastly pile of protein counts for at least two of the requisite four horsemen. According to This is why you're fat , TSoK is built as such: "The bottom tier contains eight strips of bacon, six sausages and four burger paddies; followed by a second tier of black pudding; topped by a third tier comprised of two diced chicken breasts and six fried eggs." It took me several readings to understand the entirety of this creation. The gospel comes from one known simply as "Luke." I'll attempt to walk you through it. Bottom tier : Bacon (eight strips), sausage (six links) and burger patties (four). That's the equivalent of two double bacon hamburgers and one hearty breakfast. In other words, three square meals, all at once. In one layer! Madness

I said I'd explore more breakfast-as-lunch options and I did not lie . I've found a better option for Bacon and Egg Salad Sandwiches in the Kew Gardens area thanks to the ever-wise Bryan, who ordered an egg salad sandwich with bacon from our office's friends next door last week. Although not perfect, Friends offers several advantages over Redwood's comparable mega club sandwich. Such as ... 1. Humility. Redwood is all pomp and circumstance with its giant dish, quartered wedges, coleslaw in the middle, etc. Friends' version is wrapped in paper and foil and tossed in a paper sack. Simple, effective. 2. Price. $3.80 for the egg salad on a roll plus $1.50 for bacon. Admittedly, this is too much money just to add bacon, but all together, it's still cheaper than what you get across the street. 3. No portion ambiguity . This one's abstract but important, so allow me to explain. Friends gives you what is clearly one meal's worth of food. Redwood gives you about

I'm not normally a fan of the club sandwich , but I couldn't resist today. I walked into Redwood Deli knowing I wanted two things: egg salad and bacon . It's as if I were pregnant and egg salad and bacon were pickles and ice cream. I had a feeling Redwood might have something along those lines, since they have about 20 menus on display. They added another one recently — the "stimulus" breakfast menu, featuring pancakes and something containing acai berries . Eventually I found what I believe was called the Bacon and Egg Salad club, and of course ordered it. Despite being tainted with hateful amounts of filler lettuce, I enjoyed Redwood's bacon-egg sandwich thing with pickles. The bread was toasted and the egg salad was plentiful. It occurred to me that an egg salad sandwich with bacon and toast is essentially breakfast for lunch. While I refuse to eat lunch or dinner for breakfast (see reheated pizza), I wholeheartedly support breakfast meals for all-hour cons

For someone who considers himself a huge fan of both sandwiches and Vietnamese food, I've been slacking on the bánh mì front. The bánh mì is the definitive Vietnamese sandwich and its popularity soared in 2008 judging by the number of times I read about it in food geek blogs and articles. Well I tried it and I liked it. In San Diego, a local expert took me to Hamilton's Tavern , where they dish up the "Banh From The Pubs" sandwich. My understanding of the bánh mì is that it must be made of a baguette stuffed with Vietnamese ingredients. By this possibly inaccurate definition, Hamilton's sandy probably meets the standard. As the menu says, it was a (sic) "lovingly crafted version of a Vietnamese Banh Mi. it's tasty, its cute, its healthy, its a mix of CUCUMBERS, CARROT AND DAIKON SLAW, RED ONION, FRESH BASIL, CILANTRO, daveys PCS SAUCE and oh yeah ITS VEGAN!!!!!! With PUB CHIPS whooo!" Excessive excitement aside, the sandy tasted good. It was like I

To any of the kind people out there who follow or publish the feed to this site, the current URL is http://sandwichreviews.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default. I'm using FeedBurner and am assuming I'm doing it correctly, but if not, let me know and I'll fix it. Thanks!