Breakfast Sandwiches, Part I

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. Naturally, breakfast sandwiches are items of lust and intrigue. A sampling of recent breakfast sandwiches are as follows:

A ll Day Breakfast Sandwich from Wild Flour, Banff

Often the first thing I eat when I arrive and often the last thing consumed before I leave this mountain town again, this breakfast sandwich from Wild Flour haunts me in a similar way to the vivid dreams I dream in Banff. A savory, fluffy frittata with specks of green onion and bell peppers, stacked with a slice of monterey cheddar cheese (If I am recalling correctly), always adding the optional strips of sliced bacon, all this goodness pressed between baked on-site sourdough, and melted into a delectably crispy and oozy and warm bite of morning goodness. There is absolutely nothing more perfect than that first corner bite, as the waiting time for this sandwich can be close to ten of the longest minutes of your life.

Italian surprise Breakfast Sandwich, Leva Cafe, Edmonton

A late morning surprise as I never knew Leva served breakfast sandwiches, but lo and behold, assorted Italian cold cuts with a slice of indistinguishable white cheese, pre-fried egg and some grilled mushrooms between a sliced croissant, grilled and wrapped up and ready to go!
My guest, who eats these sandwiches regularly, says that it's always a surprise: sometimes they're filled with roasted red peppers, other times like this time, mushrooms--just whatever may be left over in excess. It hit the spot that morning, but on another day, I may have contended the layer of egg, which did not heat up all the way and was cold between the almost burnt crustiness of buttery croissantness. Came with fruit salad. Enjoyable.

Prefab Breakfast Sandwich, Save On Foods, 109 St, Edmonton

Morning meetings are a dime a dozen, yet good, cheap breakfast joints sure ain't as common in E-town. So once in a while, the Save On deli is the place to convene, if you can find a table that is. Quite the place to be amongst the category of "old men who love soup", this little ham and egger on an english muffin was preferred by my companion to the classic Egg McMuffin, and

I feel he is severely wrong on this issue. I say, if you're gonna go for the english muffin breakfast sandwich, do it justice or don't bother at all. This was sub par at best, but the green juice and magazines were comforting.

- J.D. Salami

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.

La Esquina Del Chilaquil, Mexico City

The original spot for torta de chilaquiles, the line-up to La Esquina Del Chilaquil was down the block by the time I arrived at 9:30AM. Workers ran back and forth from their corner pop up tent to an indoor kitchen out of sight to refill bins of red sauce, green sauce, fried meat, and chilaquiles. Only operating for about 5 hours a day from 8:30 to 1PM or whenever they sell out, the hype was strong, and the hype was real. While a torta is your run of the mill sandwich, chilaquiles is a popular breakfast dish of fried tortilla chips served with hot salsa. Some have called this dish a soggy nacho, but I don't think that this description does justice to the level of salsa involved. Yes, the chips are soaked in salsa, but if the salsa is fresh and deeply flavourful, then what's the problem? Apparently, this was the first place to load the torta with a heavy helping of chilaquiles. In my mind, this would be a mess, and in my hands, it was one of the messiest wettest sandwich expe...

Patanisca (Codfish Cake), Brazil Bakery, Toronto

Going from one meeting to a lecture between the 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. time frame, I stopped in at Brazil Bakery on Dundas for one of their ready-made sandwiches. Choosing the patanisca (codfish cake) over the fish filet, even though the filet had a heft to it, I thoroughly enjoyed the codfish, which was not overly salty, and kept its flaked integrity in the generous mixture that was as big as the bun it came on. I actually ate it over two sittings, one right before the talk, and eating the remainder later at home.

You Say Sandwich, We Say Yeah!

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