You Say Sandwich, We Say Yeah!

Oh, La Bottega , how I miss you even though I hardly knew ya! I miss fresh deli sandwiches like you wouldn't believe since relocating to Vancouver. There are delis and butchers all around, but few do a sandwich. I have heard about a place over on Commercial and 1st, but I rarely make it over there during the week, and I wouldn't be caught dead at a deli counter on a weekend. La Bottega is easy and simple. Pick a bread, pick a meat, pick a cheese, and then the fixings. The whole time the two ladies were preparing made to order sandwiches, the barista not 3 ft away stood in a transfixed concentration over his crema. This here below is a provolone and spicy salami sandwich with fresh onions and olives. You don't need spread when the bread is so soft that the toppings squish into the bread and every bite. From fresh focaccia to baguettes and buns, it's a lotta sandwich for five bucks. Like a good sandwich does, I carried it in my bag for a few hours while I downed a f...

After a conference of sandwiches, how could I eat yet another sandwich? I certainly wasn't craving any more road-weary sandwiches, but I knew for the 5 hour plane ride ahead, I would need something substantial, something that wouldn't take up a lot of precious space, and something that didn't need to be reheated. Plus, the options were really limited in the nether region of the Toronto airport where I had to change planes between Ottawa and Vancouver. There was an Irish pub and a Tim Horton's and there a few cafes way off in the distance. That's where I found this, and upon lifting it, I knew it would carry me over. All the way over. I don't think I even had dinner that night. The bread itself was the main ingredient, a loaded raisin walnut affair that would be fine with a dab of butter unto itself. The slices of brie and pear were not holding up that well out of the cooler, but I ate this over two sittings on the plane and it satiated all hunger pangs ...

It was in our country's clean capital where I first had a taste of a Croque Monsieur, the delightful little ham and cheese sandwich that has warmed the cockles of my sandwich loving heart ever since first bite. It was in fact at the Moulin de Provence in the market, now far more famous for its " Obama Cookies " than anything else, where I first had this treat. I've either imagined it or read up on it, both seem as likely, but I recall this sandwich to have originated as a cupboard leftover fed to the little ones after a day at school or play. I would certainly love it as an after school or work snack, that's for sure. Consisting largely of thinly shaved salty ham with swiss cheese and béchamel sauce, the flavour combination mixed with my memories of first tasting this combination make this still the best Croque Monsieur I've ever had. Sure, it's not much to look at, and they just reheated it up in a microwave, and you have to eat it with plastic cutl...

I was in Saskatoon for a week this fall and without a car. I was spending most of my time The Mendel Art Gallery, but after Day 1 of this, I resorted to my back up plan of eating heavy breakfasts and relying on nuts and hotel fruit and granola bars to carry me through the end of the work day. Prairie style. It's not that this sandwich was inedible, but it was expensive and not satisfying. The bread was nothing special, ingredients loosely assembled and bland, but it came hot. Being hot was the best part. For the price, which was six or seven dollars at minimum, a side of potato chips could have been nice to fill out all that white space of the plate. They are getting a new gallery, and likely a new restaurant or cafe, but this existing cafe in this sweet river valley spot could really kick it up a notch as the rest of the city's restaurants were really good.