Zabo's, Penn Station, New York

Train travel food is sometimes better than airport food, and this is an example.

Zabo's bread basket lured us in one early weekday morning in the hell hole that is Penn Station, and they certainly had an array to choose from.

This classic egg sandwich on an everything bagel took the edge off, but I wish I had been more awake as I would have ordered it with bacon.

Word of advice: when traveling with vegetarians, specify that you are not them.

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Marché Hung Phat, Montréal,

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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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