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Baby, You Wanna Sammich?
By
Martha Burzynski
Published Oct 26, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Martha Burzynski
Published Oct 26, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Yesterday, Jason Kottke posted what he felt is necessary to the perfect sandwich. After going back to the sandwich's humble beginings, he states:
The keys to a good sandwich are the three Bs: bread, balance, and...ok, there's only two Bs, but they're important. Aside from the main ingredient (turkey, tuna, chicken salad, etc.), the bread has the power to make or break a sandwich. The first thing you taste when you take a bite is the bread, so it had better be good and it had better be fresh.
Balance, or how the various parts come together to make a whole sandwich experience, is even more critical than the bread. Too much meat and the sandwich tastes only of meat....Too much mustard and you overwhelm that beautiful pastrami. The mighty sandwich should not be a lowly conduit for your mustard addiction; why not just eat it straight from the jar?... Make sure the ingredients are distributed evenly throughout the sandwich. You should get a bit of everything in each bite...it's a BLT, not just an L on toast. If the sandwich maker is doing his job right, you should be able to taste most of the ingredients separately and together at the same time.
He goes on to nominate his favorite New York sandwich destination: Mendy's and from the comments come a barage of other choices. We agree with the comments about the Cuban sandwhich at Cabe Habana, pretty much anything pressed together at 'inoteca and Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop (especially as Todd points out, for the all-important pickle accoutrement). We also nominate: the enormous veggie burger at Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop, the grilled cheese, avocado and tomato at the Hampton Chutney Company and the peanut butter and Nutella at Peanut Butter & Co.
Do you agree with Kottke? What makes a sandwich great - and what are your favorite sandwichs in the city? And, for the love of Andrew Krucoff, your favorite cheap ones?
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