You Say Sandwich, We Say Yeah!

While cucumbers make it highly improbable that this is going in the fry pan to become a grilled cheese, the slices of cheese are ridiculously thick for a cold sandwich. Layer of butter protects bread from contact with cucumbers and potential sogg-out. Someone thinks this is a good enough idea to post a high-resolution photo of it on the Wikipedia entry for "Sandwich."

Whole pieces of freshly roasted turkey, made in house, thick and still sizzling crispy bacon that melts in your mouth like chocolate, mayo, crisp lettuce and real tomatoes. Yep, this is the real deal. I really appreciate when bacon goes into my sandwich hot. Other sandwiches on offer include a straight up BLT, Grilled Cheese, Steak Florentine and Pear and Gorgonzola, with loads of great desserts, beer and breakfast to boot. No one seemed shy about having a craft beer with lunch on a Saturday at noon. Felt a little chintzed by the tiny side bowls of chili, but I've had a very satisfying full bowl of that before, though it seems the recipe has changed since to include more rice or barley.  The Grove is across from SFMOMA and the Museum of the African Diaspora, making it the perfect museum lunch that's not actually in the museum. 

This focaccia fella already had spinach, tomato, roasted eggplant, roasted red peppers and grilled portobello mushrooms, so why the hell not add some thinly sliced roasted yams? Focaccia sandwiches (that are not subjected to the panini grill) are such a delight because the soft inner bread absorbs some of the moisture and flavor of squishy roasted ingredients without becoming soggy. For a college cafeteria sandwich, this combination had an impressive freshness, fantastic and integration of flavors. Deep bites of grilled mushroom work so well here that the yams might be overkill. My bad.

The chief attraction of squeezing some fried egg and cheese between two pieces of bread is to maximize the portability and speed of breakfast. So please give me a breakfast sandwich and I'll run off to where I need to be, okay? Arbor Cafe's decent, but not stellar, breakfast sandwich includes the above along with a side of salad in a large takeout box. The solution is to ask ahead of time to put the whole works into a wax paper bag, but in a pinch, lift the lid on sammie, insert salad, close it up and run to work. The egg appears to be expediently prepped as a half-inch deep sheet, with chives sprinkled on top and then cut into squares. Cheese is generous, there may have also been mayo. Slight crust burn.

Airport food is overpriced and usually disgusting. I usually struggle along with coffee, power-bars, almonds, and the occasional yogurt. Today, I'm happy to recommend a super filling and surprisingly fresh burrito that will run you $6.75 at Chipotle Mexican Grill, or 8 bucks to upgrade to a burrito with their super creamy guacamole added. Impressive list of ingredients, including brown rice, black beans, grilled chicken with no yucky tough bits, flavourful sweet corn and tomato salsas, green tomatillo sauce, cheese, sour cream, and lettuce. The claim that whenever possible it's local and organic, with meat free of antibiotics/hormones, and I tend to believe it. This is the first time ever I've eaten airport food that actually tastes real. Big fast moving line means things stay fresh too. A couple hours after I ate mine, the Captain and Stewardess of my plane both arrived at the gate with takeout bags from Chipotle. From people who probably eat more of their meals in airpo...

These guys are such nerds. Sandwich puns, earnest enthusiasm, hand-done signs, lots of thumbs up icons and evocations of good vibes. But, it's all true. The sandwiches themselves are pretty good. There's a certain ambiguously satisfying greatness in a simple toasty, and it seems difficult to say exactly why, but for the sake of accuracy let's start by saying these sandwiches are warm . Maybe that's it. Both the Potbelly Mediterranean and their Turkey had a fair creaminess to them, due to hummus, melty feta and mustard, mayo respectively, which also lent flavour integration to each bite. The bread enclosed the ingredients without bracketing them or being a wrap per se, and the ingredients like cucumbers and tomatoes were sliced thinly enough that their crunch didn't dominate, meaning that no one bite involved too much bread, or individual tastes that popped out above others.

I can recommend  Nick's Wheely Good Breakfast  on the basis of the fantastic Chicken Apple  Cheddar Biscuit Sandwich served up at NOLOSE this weekend, and the loooong lineup of discerning ladies and fellas waiting alongside the foodtruck for their breakfast... for dinner! As the sun was setting on another day of Oakland's annual body-positive fat activist conference, Nick kept the ingenious breakfast inspired combos rolling out, including Maple Glazed Pork Belly Sandwiches, and Steak and Eggs, also packaged in a convenient sandwich form, perfect for standing around and chatting about the day's events!  I added a smashed fried egg onto  Chicken Apple Sausage with Pickled Apples, Aioli, and Arugula on a Homemade Cheddar Biscuit and ran around flirting with cute folks, sandwich in hand. 

Nothing signals gentrification quite like a new cheese shop. Just off of Oakland's popular Telegraph Street on Shattuck Avenue is what appears to be the neighbourhood's first: the Sacred Wheel, established in 2011. Boasting many extremely pricey, locally sourced, and esoteric cheesy treats, the shop also carries all the things you'd want to see on a serious cheese tasting board, little pickles, chutneys, those little wheels of fig pate, olives, and such. I took note of the soft-ripened Bellwether Farms Crescenza, an almond, apricot and fig fruity thing, and a free sample. Just in case a 12-15 dollar hunk of fancy dairy goodness seems steep, thankfully they also have lunch, which is not too pricey at all. For 6 bucks I tried the 1/2 Grilled Cheese Trinity with Tomato and Pabst Blue Ribbon soup. The thinly sliced sourdough and three-cheese sandwich was pretty straight up, but the soup was a heavenly creation indeed. Tangy, lip stinging tomato goodness that balances the grea...

How delightful! SCREAM 's sorbet sandwich really blew me away today, because I realized how old and stodgy my understanding of the classic ice cream sandwich really was. Mind you, I've been treated to many deliciously creamy numbers at Toronto's Bakerbots  and by my delicious date lately, even ones that take on the classic with contemporary salty, spicy, and savory cookies. Today, in Oakland, though, the epitome of my late summer indulgence is hot pink and golden yellow, as it should be when fresh fruit abounds and summer dresses might soon be stowed away for the season. Ready for this? Strawberry lemon sorbet spread between two Meyer lemon cookies. BAM! All previous assumptions about ice cream sandwiches have been officially licked.