Breakfast Sandwiches with aioli, Charlottetown and Halifax

Being on a mission, and hungry as hell for no other reason than being on holiday, I ventured out into the small capital town on Prince Edward Island for a decent espresso and breakfast that is not hotel related. Drinking at the hotel bar the night before, the bar keep who grew up on the island recommended I try Casa Mia Cafe, as she said they were doing the basics, but doing them really well, and with a twist. In fact, unprompted, she said that their breakfast bagel was her favorite thing on the menu, and that was reason enough for me to try it out.

Above is my dear Americano with three creams, the breakfast bagel on bottom right, and being greedy, a benny on the run sandwich in the upper left. I should have just stuck with the bagel, as the twist was an aioli that had a kick to it, green if I am remembering correctly, perhaps pesto mix, or just a healthy dose of fresh herbs. Whatever it was, it was sorely missing in the benny on the run, which was just a poor man's McMuffin without a hint of hollandaise.

Not thinking I would get a repeat stellar sandwich, I had one more breakfast sandwich in the Maritimes, this time in Halifax at the Foggy Googles, and while it was pretty subpar, the sandwich also had a spicy kick of aioli, this time more recognizable in the semblance of sriracha and mayo, but I gotta start putting aioli on my breakfast sandwiches from now on!

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Monty’s Bakehouse wrap, Air Canada

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Madrid Sandwich, Trans-Europe Cafe, Glasgow

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Haloum Grille, Depanneur Le Pick Up, Montreal

A friend and I agreed the personality of the sandwich changes with each person who prepares it, and today we felt something was a little less than parfait with our Haloum Grille. Folks at Le Pick Up seemed stressed . The longest wait ever, and our lunches sat around too long. Temperature of the cheese is important to experiencing haloumi’s firm the texture and the release of its saltiness, and I prefer when it’s grilled directly before entering the sandwich. Creamy spicy slaw of red cabbage, carrot, and kale soothes the major crust burn associated with the crispy multigrain toast. Ideally it’s the bread that should be soft and the haloumi that gets to shine as the crispy grilled champ that it is. Nevertheless, we stayed for hours at the back picnic tables, chatted with the servers, overheard some drama about the evening closing procedure, broke a dish, and spilled a coffee. A good day.

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