You Say Sandwich, We Say Yeah!

1. Nick and Tony's Meatball Sandwich I ate two of these meatball sandwiches in one week it was so good.  I want to try them all. And I will. 2. Veal Sandwich, California Sandwich I wish I had put a pencil next to this sandwich to give a better sense of the size of this monster.  Each half was a two hander and I went through a stack of napkins the size of this loaf. It was so spicy and I had immediate heart burn and I liked it.  3. Veal Sandwich, San Francesco Foods I was less impressed with San Francesco.  Over sauced soggy bread. This was not finished. 

When Buna's opened up I thought my lunch woes were over. After a few visits, however, I have gone back to bringing my lunch more often than not. While delicious, each lunch has costed around $20, and I'm just mildly satiated.  Above is a "comfy" duck hot sandwich, which as a combination is great mixing slices of fatty duck with a fried egg and arugula. It's real picturesque, but the flavours don't actually work that well together in my mouth. The bun was also not working for me, which is too bad, because they are really trying to do something different. The tomato soup was too salty, but I think almost all soups are too salty. However, if the soup is saltier than the sandwich, that is an imbalance on the palette especially when with duck and egg, the flavour desired is pepper, or some heat, which you think the arugula would provide, but these rocket greens were immediately weighed down by the duck fat and ceased to be peppery. Big points for presentat...

Wandering down to St. Lawrence Market Antique Market for the first time as I had only visited the farmer's market in the past, I didn't know what sort of food options would be available. I had come with expectations of a peameal or one of those crazy thick cut bacon sandwiches, but instead I went to the corner food vendor that resembles most kiosks of skating rinks and community centres, and ordered a veal on a bun with cheese. Made fresh to order, this sandwich was good. Real good. A juicy crisp slab of veal on a lightly toasted bun with the cheese still melting, it was an amazing snack to have as you wandered the aisles, which was not the most appetizing environment, but that clearly did not stop me.

Baos have really become all the rage and I first wrote about this during a Taiwanese food festival that I stumbled across in Vancouver a few years ago. The steamed bun sandwich, or bao, has made its way across North America as the latest sandwich craze following the rise and plateauing of the banh mi, including Mean Bao , which already has two locations in Toronto and dedicated to all things bao. Sampling a bao and some dim sum one afternoon, the baos were heftier than I had imagined. Incredibly filling and large for a bao, this pork belly and cucumber number definitely has satisfies appetites with North American sizes and Taiwanese flavours. My dining companions were very pleased with their selections, which included the Tofu and Enoki bao and the Pulled pork bao. The sui mai dumpling shared amongst us was subpar at best. As I work pretty close to both Mean Bao locations, I have surprisingly not returned, as the soft bun is something I associate with desserts or best on thei...

I never order vegan. Ever. This is more Young Elvis territory, and yet, I found myself at a vegan restaurant, the Loving Hut,  which a colleague loves as it was his one saviour as he traveled through Indonesia. Ordering their tofu club that uses tempeh as the bacon substitute as well as tofu, I thought it would be at least edible. It was not. I had to take out all the slabs of tempeh as its marinade overpowered the entire sandwich. The tofu did not taste fresh, which is how I prefer tofu if I am to eat it, or lightly battered and fried. Their french fries were decent, and good ketchup, but having the tables turned, I should have just eaten fries as many of my vegetarian dining companions have had to do at BBQ joints.