Porchetta with salsa verde, Meat & Bread, Vancouver

Meat and Bread opened up right around the time I started having health problems. One doesn't consistently blog about sandwiches without paying a price. I had to stop eating meat for a while, which was pretty shocking to my closest friends.

I remember at the time a friend was taking a picture of the new window lettering when one of the owners came out and asked him what he was doing. My friend said he was taking a photo for his friend (me), who loved meat and bread. The owner smiled, but then my friend added that he was taking the photo because I couldn't eat meat and bread anymore.

My health has improved since, but the association of Meat and Bread with health complications have been intertwined in my mind since. I have tried to go, but they also close at 5 and are usually lined up out the door.

Today, at around 3 p.m., I finished a coffee meeting across the street and knew today was the day. The porchetta with salsa verde is the first choice, though I stood at the till watching them prepare the meatball sandwich which will be another time. I saw them lift the crispy skin to cut away the tender meat, but I found myself asking aloud for the extra skin.

Presentation gets top marks on the custom made slab of butcher's board. The dollop of hot mustard goes oh so well with the porchetta, which is just another version of the suckling roast pig found in most Chinese BBQ houses. The top tier restaurants will also offer the suckling pig with the same mustard, to dip that bit of meat in as it's all about the crispy skin.

I devoured the sandwich in no time, and it was everything I expected it to be, if not more. The miso shitake soup also smelled amazing and I'd very curious about their bacon maple ice cream sandwich (a sandwich is still a sandwich). I hear they are opening a second location just off Burrard, so the only thing I could hope for is new inspired staff as from the looks of things, the existing staff are stressed out and overworked.

I'm glad I can eat meat again, and at their prices, I will have to eat Meat & Bread in moderation.

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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