Italian Centre Sandwich, Edmonton

A staple to any good Edmontonian, the Italian Centre Sandwiches (hot or mild) are the go-to meals for anyone who enjoys their cold cuts. As an assembly of everything from capicolli to mortadella, the real secret in my opinion is the slice of provolone and the thick spread of the red vegetable spread and an olive oil marinade they brush into their baguettes. There were the days when you had to order them at the deli, until they caught on and started premaking them. While that is certainly time saving, the option to change up the ingredients are now gone, which was always a crap shoot to substitute anyways from getting the most delicious concoctions to having someone yell at you for wanting to substitute.

I often grab one with a bag of kettle chips and an orangina or limonata, some sort of citric acid to cut the sodium nitrate. Highly recommended.

Comments

Bill Cosby, Shopsy's Deli, Toronto

I did not know Shopsy's was such a thing, but getting there around 11am before the financial district regulars came in for a hot lunch and protips, I sat down to the Bill Cosby sandwich (hot corned beef AND hot pastrami with swiss cheese) and hot damn if it wasn't one of the best damn (and hilarious) sandwiches I have ever eaten. Very moist, possibly improvised, and incredibly flavourful pastrami and corned beef, both of which are hard to find out West, the double decker treatment makes me wonder why it's not always this way. The usual smoked meat stack a la Montreal style is sometimes obscene, or simply not enough, but here, it's the right combination of meat slope to rye bread softness that made me wonder if I should work in the financial district, because if I did, I would certainly order this sandwich again with an extra pickle.

Hen's Deli, Milwaukee

My mini midwest tour continued to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a place known more for breweries and deep fried cheese curds, but my timing was fortuitously aligned with the recent opening of Hen's Deli . Located in the neigbhorhood of Walker's Point, in a former hole in the wall soup shop, Hen's began at the local farmer's market under the name Clark Street Sausage Co. Establishing a fan base with unusual items (for Milwaukee) such as ramen and a pork pastrami sandwich, their brick and mortar location offered a small, but mighty menu of established favorites along with some new offerings on rotation. I was on my way out of town as I learned about Hen's, which is unfortunate timing for me. Stopping in with some locals in the morning, we got several breakfast bagel sandwiches to go on the everything bagel with sausage. Without a doubt, their house made sausage patties served as the foundation that held it all together. Tucked on top was a slippery little muffin tin egg (...

Cherry Circle Room, Chicago Athletic Association Hotel

This blog has been neglected. I'm sorry, but not sorry, as life took me in a different direction for the last several years, and compounded with the global pandemic, I did not travel for about three years. Homemade sandwiches were made and enjoyed. Many a thick cut bacon and equally thick cut seasonal tomato sandwich on artisanal whole wheat was savoured with a cut of mayonnaise. I became my own favorite lunchtime deli counter, out of necessity. But of course, one tires of familiarity, and eventually, new flavours and textures are desired. In my first 24 hours in Chicago, a night was spent at the redesigned Chicago Athletic Association, formerly a private gentlmen's club. A decadent steak dinner was enjoyed off premise, but breakfast was sampled in its distinctive Cherry Circle Room . As the original name for the private club's longstanding lounge, the redesign of room and menu plays off the old boys' vibe of exclusivity and Chicago's love for wood paneling, and to...

You Say Sandwich, We Say Yeah!

Search This Blog