Porchetta with salsa verde, Meat & Bread, Vancouver

Meat and Bread opened up right around the time I started having health problems. One doesn't consistently blog about sandwiches without paying a price. I had to stop eating meat for a while, which was pretty shocking to my closest friends.

I remember at the time a friend was taking a picture of the new window lettering when one of the owners came out and asked him what he was doing. My friend said he was taking a photo for his friend (me), who loved meat and bread. The owner smiled, but then my friend added that he was taking the photo because I couldn't eat meat and bread anymore.

My health has improved since, but the association of Meat and Bread with health complications have been intertwined in my mind since. I have tried to go, but they also close at 5 and are usually lined up out the door.

Today, at around 3 p.m., I finished a coffee meeting across the street and knew today was the day. The porchetta with salsa verde is the first choice, though I stood at the till watching them prepare the meatball sandwich which will be another time. I saw them lift the crispy skin to cut away the tender meat, but I found myself asking aloud for the extra skin.

Presentation gets top marks on the custom made slab of butcher's board. The dollop of hot mustard goes oh so well with the porchetta, which is just another version of the suckling roast pig found in most Chinese BBQ houses. The top tier restaurants will also offer the suckling pig with the same mustard, to dip that bit of meat in as it's all about the crispy skin.

I devoured the sandwich in no time, and it was everything I expected it to be, if not more. The miso shitake soup also smelled amazing and I'd very curious about their bacon maple ice cream sandwich (a sandwich is still a sandwich). I hear they are opening a second location just off Burrard, so the only thing I could hope for is new inspired staff as from the looks of things, the existing staff are stressed out and overworked.

I'm glad I can eat meat again, and at their prices, I will have to eat Meat & Bread in moderation.

Monty’s Bakehouse wrap, Air Canada

I’d rate this wrap as strange. Its packaging created expectations of a more appetizing experience, which it was not. After a vastly superior egg salad sandwich from London Heathrow, I could not greet this airplane freebie with serious interest, but at least it was hot, and at least I could review it for this blog. Steaming contents were oozy and largely undistinguishable, but suggested some kind of red pepper or sundried tomato origins.

Specialty Sandwich, Amtrak train dining car

Advertised as the "Specialty Sandwich" on board the Oakland to Los Angeles Amtrak train, this $9.75 grilled cheese seems a safe vegetarian bet, just as a bagel and cream cheese does when faced with weird processed meat choices aboard the VIA Rail in Canada. The specialty allegedly features gruyere and smoked cheddar, however each cheese was tasteless, plastic, and greasy, cooling to reveal six slices of highly processed cheese product. The crisp, somewhat grainy bread absorbed cheese sweat from inside, completely obliterating any relief that the mustard or tomato could have provided, and was thoroughly saturated in a meaty residue from the grill on the outside. This sandwich leaves the kind of mouthfeel that a glass of water cannot wash away. Note: pack toothbrush in carry-on.

Kim Anh Subs, Calgary

It's no secret I'm a fan of the Vietnamese sub. Hell, they've prevented my vegetarianism . But I do enjoy the vegetarian option now and again, especially when it's warm marinated soft tofu rather than the shredded fake meat variety. In Calgary one weekend, a friend and I found ourselves stranded in the city due to a snow storm, so lounging around 17th Avenue, cold, tired, hungry, and near broke, we popped our heads into Kim Anh Subs where he had ventured once before. Offering a whole wheat sub bun option, Kim Anh's subs were a bit more expensive than what I'm used to for a sub of this style ($3.50 is my price range), but it's Calgary, so what can you expect.

You Say Sandwich, We Say Yeah!

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