You Say Sandwich, We Say Yeah!

A mid afternoon Reuben before an early office dinner seemed like a bad idea, but the rush hour traffic getting out of the core was so bad that I was for once the only person not starving at the table. Still, I ate the most at that dinner, but my stomach had been contracted with this medium sized sandwich, light on the slaw, with fries and gravy extra, and some special Greek deserts thrown in. One of Avenue Diner's better hot sandwich offerings, I may ask for extra corned beef next time, just for good measure. PS. good pickle. wish I got two!

Irresistible to a smoked meat sandwich, I got one to go from Avenue Diner on Camden Street. Generous in proportion, and kept in a hot steamer for extra moisture, the flavours were not as deep as I would have hoped, but the double mustard gets it an extra point. Coming in at around seven dollars, it's one of the most expensive items at the diner, and one of the cheapest smoked meat sandwiches I have ever had.

The Camden Diner, or more generally known as Avenue Open Kitchen on Camden Street, is a classic greasy spoon near my new work place, and already I'm trying to limit my visits to once a week. This classic breakie sandwich of generous proportions of eggs and bacon on white toast came with a couple packets of ketchup, delivered fresh on morning before an early film screening during TIFF. With few and far between options around that festival, this sandwich was a treat and sustenance to carry me through another long day of sitting in dark, windowless rooms.

A Hero sandwich is very American. Basically, a hero sandwich comes on an Italian submarine, so, when you get the chicken parm hero, you're getting a venerable slab of crusted chicken in marinara sauce on a bun the size of your arm. Yes, it was amazing and delicious with every mouthful, but I will also share that I got sick later that night. Perhaps I wasn't ready to eat an entire chicken in sandwich form, or that the sauce and cheese were a bit too rich to go in one sitting, but whatever the case, I have no regrets. This is what one of my dining companions had, the Meatball Hero. I took a big bite. And yes, I would do this all over again too. 5th Avenue Diner , where you can still get a cup of homemade soup for under $2!

I've been to Winnipeg twice and I've stopped into the White Star Diner twice. Nestled within the Exchange District, White Star Diner serves up a pulled pork sandwich that satisfies. The key to their success may be in their coleslaw, that goes RIGHT INTO THE SANDWICH, which as both texture, temperature, and flavour, provides a great balance to the meaty bites of pulled pork heaped onto a fresh bun. Going for the double oink, the slices of thick cut bacon on the mounds of sweet and savoury pork was absolutely heavenly. I thought it would be too much, but of course excess has never stopped me, and yet, it wasn't too much. Scaling back the pork for the other pork, the double oink gets my vote! The nice couple next to me, who I actually knew from another town, were mauwing down the hamburgers, which is something I will have to try next time, because their recommendation, or rather, their insistence that I visit the Manitoba Museum was solid gold, and if the museum is even a frac...

Driving through Saskatoon, the stop made on the way was at the soon-t0-be moved Mendel Art Gallery. Nestled in the beautiful river valley, we stopped in at the Gallery Cafe for a bite to eat, and a soup and sandwich combo was really the only option. A tasty tomato cream soup was basic and classic, and I had the Italian panini which unfortunately had a thick spread of tomato paste between the mozza and cold cuts. Otherwise, it would have been perfectly delicious, or maybe a simple replacement of vegetable spread would have done the trick. On our way back, we stopped on Broadway and checked out the Diner. I call it "the" diner because it's the oldest one, with a full on Elvis shrine, which of course is important to this blog. I had the daily special of pulled pork with a salad, which seems like a contradiction, but I couldn't stomach another plate of greasy fries. The sandwich filling was surprisingly good, probably because it was saturated with sugar, and the bread was...