Espresso BBQ Chicken, Northern Belle, Toronto

Stopping into Northern Belle for a very last minute birthday party for a new friend en route home, I was several drinks in before I realized I hadn't had dinner and couldn't get my bike lock to work. Having a couple more drinks, I ordered the only sandwich available, which was an espresso BBQ chicken on Turkish bread. The fillings were not my jam, being more spicy in the fashion of paprika more than anything else, but the bread was very crusty good. A dense little thing, I had to withdraw from all party chatter until I finished this business here. I should have ordered the cheese platter to share if I was a more social creature, but alas. Looking around, besides the large group I was with, the place was clearly a destination for first dates. I would not recommend this sandwich for a first date.

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Bill Cosby, Shopsy's Deli, Toronto

I did not know Shopsy's was such a thing, but getting there around 11am before the financial district regulars came in for a hot lunch and protips, I sat down to the Bill Cosby sandwich (hot corned beef AND hot pastrami with swiss cheese) and hot damn if it wasn't one of the best damn (and hilarious) sandwiches I have ever eaten. Very moist, possibly improvised, and incredibly flavourful pastrami and corned beef, both of which are hard to find out West, the double decker treatment makes me wonder why it's not always this way. The usual smoked meat stack a la Montreal style is sometimes obscene, or simply not enough, but here, it's the right combination of meat slope to rye bread softness that made me wonder if I should work in the financial district, because if I did, I would certainly order this sandwich again with an extra pickle.

Hen's Deli, Milwaukee

My mini midwest tour continued to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a place known more for breweries and deep fried cheese curds, but my timing was fortuitously aligned with the recent opening of Hen's Deli . Located in the neigbhorhood of Walker's Point, in a former hole in the wall soup shop, Hen's began at the local farmer's market under the name Clark Street Sausage Co. Establishing a fan base with unusual items (for Milwaukee) such as ramen and a pork pastrami sandwich, their brick and mortar location offered a small, but mighty menu of established favorites along with some new offerings on rotation. I was on my way out of town as I learned about Hen's, which is unfortunate timing for me. Stopping in with some locals in the morning, we got several breakfast bagel sandwiches to go on the everything bagel with sausage. Without a doubt, their house made sausage patties served as the foundation that held it all together. Tucked on top was a slippery little muffin tin egg (...

Tuna Toastie, Castle Cafe, Huntly

A classic Scottish fare, the toastie is basically a sandwich consisting of toasted white bread filled with some sort of mayonnaise-heavy melody. Ordering the cheese and tuna toastie one Saturday morning before I went to explore the river, my curiosity is satisfied, and need not be reminded again. The hot rolls, on the other hand, will be for another day, and probably another blog.

You Say Sandwich, We Say Yeah!

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