Toad in a Hole, The Early Bird, London, Ontario

I have to begin by saying that The Early Bird serves a sandwich called "The Fat Elvis" which struck fear in my heart, so I did not order it. I chickened out, and J.D. Salami may never let me live this down. I generally tend to be the 'safe' veggie-sandwich-ordering pussy here at You Say Sandwich, and sometimes I do have a little shame about that as J.D. waxes eternal on the deliciousness of meat fillings.

Note the smoked bacon on this plate. Carrying on.

The Toad in a Hole was more like a Toad in a walkup apartment. Huge. Served with a knife stabbed in to help tackle the thing, a very convincing psycho-billy touch for this punk styled diner.

Now that I am compiling my impressions on this towering toad palace, I wonder if the avocado tempura is supposed to be the toad, peeking out from under the bread. It sure looks like one! Regardless, there are a lot of mixed metaphors happening on my plate, but the unfortunate thing about the deep-fried avocado concept is that it basically destroys the texture and creaminess of the avocado. One important reason to put an avocado in a sandwich in the first place is to help integrate all of the flavours as they meld in each bite. Things completely broke down when I realized that each component of the sandwich was either so huge or so weirdly prepared that there was no flavour melding whatsoever. I think the cooks subbed in fresh tomato for the tomato chutney that was advertised on the menu, so there was nothing wet and/or creamy enough to cohere in my mouth. Even the chevre felt cloying, like too much peanut butter sometimes does. So it was more like a pile of unrelated things that someone decided to call a sandwich.

The hole itself, punched from the thick-cut French bread of the main was included as a 3rd side dish, beside delish smoked bacon and chips. Come in Fat Elvis, I need backup! Or perhaps a sandwich intervention. I will eat you next time.

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