La Bottega, Ottawa

Oh, La Bottega, how I miss you even though I hardly knew ya! I miss fresh deli sandwiches like you wouldn't believe since relocating to Vancouver. There are delis and butchers all around, but few do a sandwich. I have heard about a place over on Commercial and 1st, but I rarely make it over there during the week, and I wouldn't be caught dead at a deli counter on a weekend.

La Bottega is easy and simple. Pick a bread, pick a meat, pick a cheese, and then the fixings. The whole time the two ladies were preparing made to order sandwiches, the barista not 3 ft away stood in a transfixed concentration over his crema.

This here below is a provolone and spicy salami sandwich with fresh onions and olives. You don't need spread when the bread is so soft that the toppings squish into the bread and every bite. From fresh focaccia to baguettes and buns, it's a lotta sandwich for five bucks. Like a good sandwich does, I carried it in my bag for a few hours while I downed a few brewskies, and then ate it when my stomach started to growl. Two thumbs up!

Comments

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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