You Say Sandwich, We Say Yeah!

I've ordered this all across Canada, and my data from at least 20 samples confirms that every Tim Horton's outlet makes their veggie bagel sandwich differently. Some places have it on the menu, and some places are veggie bagel deniers, so you have to walk them thru it. In that case, it may take five minutes to order one, because apparently no-one ever does and it's confusing to hear the words “veggie bagel” out of the blue like that. Maybe they are trying to tell me something, and yet I persist in ordering this non-remarkable sandwich at rest stops and airports because it is only $3.50 and often surrounded by equally uninspiring choices.  I tend to opt for a multigrain bagel, toasted, with swiss cheese, mayo, honey mustard, tomato, lettuce and cucumber. When these are fresh, it's quite good. A cautionary note that some locations will give only 1 slice of  tomato, so if that is not acceptable to you, be sure to specify that you want lots of tomatoes. One person...

I have to begin by saying that The Early Bird serves a sandwich called "The Fat Elvis" which struck fear in my heart, so I did not order it. I chickened out, and  J.D. Salami may never let me live this down. I generally tend to be the 'safe' veggie-sandwich-ordering pussy here at You Say Sandwich , and sometimes I do have a little shame about that as J.D. waxes eternal on the deliciousness of meat fillings. Note the smoked bacon on this plate. Carrying on. The Toad in a Hole was more like a Toad in a walkup apartment. Huge. Served with a knife stabbed in to help tackle the thing, a very convincing psycho-billy touch for this punk styled diner. Now that I am compiling my impressions on this towering toad palace, I wonder if the avocado tempura is supposed to be the toad, peeking out from under the bread. It sure looks like one! Regardless, there are a lot of mixed metaphors happening on my plate, but the unfortunate thing about the deep-fried avocado conce...

The avocado and tomato in this chicken sandwich are extraordinarily fresh, and the whole works was free because of a VIA Rail train delay, yet something doesn’t add up. Part of the issue is the rubbery flatbread, which looks and seems satisfying at first but is actually disappointing and tasteless. The chicken has a pallid reheated flavour. Two hours from my destination still, I want to believe in finishing this courtesy sandwich, but I simply cannot. And that makes me feel like a picky jerk. 

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. 

A friend and I bumped into each other one sunny afternoon and instead of going to get that raw vegan power shake we've been texting about, we headed for Meat &Bread , which I have been to a few times . We had both been getting over different forms of illnesses, and while a power shake would have been great, life is short. However, I abstained from their meaty meat goodness and tried their grilled cheese, which I've always eyed, but never made a priority. Using crumbled aged cheddar with freshly shaved purple onion, it could have used another 60 seconds under the press. With bits of cheese unmelted and the onion not doing its job of bringing that sweetness to the mix, I only blame myself for getting the vegetarian option at a place called Meat & Bread. On the side was some form of bacon pea soup with kale. It was good.

You know it's been busy when I can't even find the time to update this sandwich blog, despite how many sandwiches I've been consuming. This one here is from Jeffrey's Cafe in Grande Prairie, Alberta, where I stayed for about a week in June and ate out for almost every single meal at some form of chain restaurant. Jeffrey's had the freshest options, but somehow, they consistently screwed up my sandwich and/or salad order every single time that I am only going to share this one sandwich that they could not mess up, and that is the hot egg breakfast sandwich. I don't remember much about it, except that the egg was hot and the bread was too big for what it was carrying, but it was nice to eat a fresh tomato and basil with my eggs for a wee change that week. I could only have recommended that they let the cheese melt on the bread as it would have provided some form of cohesion in textures and flavour. Still, better than Denny's. That is all.

This place seems to get better with each visit. Located on a street that I have no reason to walk on unless it's to go get some of this Railtown Cafe has no problem filling up their seats and handling endless line ups out the door. Doing made to order sandwiches, soups, and salad bowls, it's the kind of casual eatery I never knew I missed until it showed up in my life. It's in the set up: up front as you order is the presentation of its daily meat specials including slabs of moist braised brisket, a Jenga-style tower of thick cut "72 hour" bacon, and perfectly roasted brown chicken breasts on display in enviable cookware. I don't even know what happens between the time of payment and the arrival of sandwiches, though I recall some form of self service involved, but I would have stood in a corner to eat this melt in your mouth reuben, a sandwichland classic that I rarely indulge, but here, makes me trust in the classics once again.

I need to start taking better notes (or start taking some form of notes) to accompany these sandwiches as I am having a hard time remembering what was what and where. Definitely a sandwich had at the office, I have been staring at this sandwich photo for five minutes, examining the quality of the bread to the melange of fillings to wonder what it is and where I got it from. The bread seems of a higher quality than the usual suspects around my office, but the excess of what appears to be slaw and chicken make me wonder if this was something I had ordered for myself. The mystery isn't so much a mystery as it was a mistake. One rainy day I popped into Piknik, a place I keep walking by endless times, but never trying. I was told they had good things, but I should have trusted my chalkboard instincts. I feel like a lot can be discerned from an establishment's sidewalk chalkboard menu, and their daily specials never ever spoke to me. But alas, the soup drew me in, and to go...