You Say Sandwich, We Say Yeah!

Disappointing bread, fascinating combo of fillings. Your usual roasted veggie sammie's got red pepper, zucchini, tomato, possible mushroom, possible cheese, and onion, but it's often pretty predictable. This number opens up to a bunch of unexpected delights, including curly green kale softened by oil and marinade, and what appears to be julienne broccoli stems. It could be a big disaster, but about halfway I'm digging the crunch, and I notice a further unifying element... some red sauce squeezing out from under the veg. "Is that? No, it cannot be ketchup?!? It must be homemade tomato jam of some sort, I see seeds," I say to myself. Regardless, I'm into it.

This is round two for Air Canada's veggie option, and it's a much better sandwich this time. Same kinda deal, boring roasted pepper, zucchini, tomato, arugula, and black olive combination, but in equal proportion to one another and more flavourful. The peppers in particular were meaty, not squishy and deflated, and even the arugula looks fresh. I didn't check the best before date, but it seems time was on our side here.

I’d rate this wrap as strange. Its packaging created expectations of a more appetizing experience, which it was not. After a vastly superior egg salad sandwich from London Heathrow, I could not greet this airplane freebie with serious interest, but at least it was hot, and  at least I could review it for this blog. Steaming contents were oozy and largely undistinguishable, but suggested some kind of red pepper or sundried tomato origins.

Obviously I ate more than just these two pannes while in Venice for 3 days, but this is a pretty accurate summary of what I would eat midday between  ripe piches for breakfast and mind-melting pastas and pizzas for dinner. I also eat gelato all day long, but that should be a whole other blog unto itself. Running around for La Biennale di Venezia , food must be quick, and food must be sustaining. Once inside though, the food is awful and overpriced, so my only advice is to sneak inside sandwiches from nearby streets that are a fraction of the Euro and much tastier in freshness.  Vegetarian options are plentiful alongside the cured meats. My cohort Young Elvis may think I am a voracious carnivore, but if the veggies are flavourful, I eat them all the same. Pictured top is a roasted veg panne with lots of eggplant just the way I like it, and below is prosciutto and young mozzarella from within the airport. Admittedly, I prefer the latter.  

With every bite, I look at this sandwich deeply, trying to penetrate the meaning of it. I chew mechanically and question whether "Vegetarian" is delicious or just soggy and underwhelming. I probably ask myself this ten times and have no answers. The bread is chewy with cartoon-like grill marks. Fillings appear to be hummus, red pepper, the kind of black olives that come from a can, arugula and possible tomato or zucchini. The canned olives are many. I imagine a huge spoon scooping into an suitcase-sized vat of prepared veggies and coming up with little regard for the olive to tomato ratio in my particular sandwich. So, there are too many olives in this tightly shrink wrapped meal. That's a problem, but I'm a captive audience. Airplanes are confusing. Early morning flights too. I'd eat this again. All bets are off. 7 bucks. Plastic only.

This focaccia fella already had spinach, tomato, roasted eggplant, roasted red peppers and grilled portobello mushrooms, so why the hell not add some thinly sliced roasted yams? Focaccia sandwiches (that are not subjected to the panini grill) are such a delight because the soft inner bread absorbs some of the moisture and flavor of squishy roasted ingredients without becoming soggy. For a college cafeteria sandwich, this combination had an impressive freshness, fantastic and integration of flavors. Deep bites of grilled mushroom work so well here that the yams might be overkill. My bad.

These guys are such nerds. Sandwich puns, earnest enthusiasm, hand-done signs, lots of thumbs up icons and evocations of good vibes. But, it's all true. The sandwiches themselves are pretty good. There's a certain ambiguously satisfying greatness in a simple toasty, and it seems difficult to say exactly why, but for the sake of accuracy let's start by saying these sandwiches are warm . Maybe that's it. Both the Potbelly Mediterranean and their Turkey had a fair creaminess to them, due to hummus, melty feta and mustard, mayo respectively, which also lent flavour integration to each bite. The bread enclosed the ingredients without bracketing them or being a wrap per se, and the ingredients like cucumbers and tomatoes were sliced thinly enough that their crunch didn't dominate, meaning that no one bite involved too much bread, or individual tastes that popped out above others.

A Scottish chain cafe that is a bit of a deli meets speciality gift and wine store, Peckhams has got locations all over the place, but the one I stopped in was the Union Square Mall in Aberdeen. With about 30 minutes in between transit changes, my travel companion and I stopped for a tea, and I ordered a roasted vegetable sandwich, asking if it'll be ready fast, while she ordered a bag of wasabi peas. The peas were all but eaten by the time I went up to see if the sandwich was ready, and I had to get it wrapped to go by then. In the short time span it took from wrapping to eating it en route, the heat of the roasted mushy vegetables had sogged up the underside of the bread. The vegetables, which mostly tasted of eggplant more than anything else, was rather bland, which always disappoints me in a hot sandwich. A poor panini appears popular in this country as I have yet to taste a good one. I may just have to have another go at the toastie , as at least my expectations are...

Of all the sandwiches on their extensive menu , why did I pick the Roasted Vegetables? Walking past Reggie's on King St just before noon, I popped my head in to see what was on the chalk board. I wasn't even really that hungry, but I knew I had a long day ahead of me and I still haven't met a sandwich I can say 'No' to. The table in front of me was devouring a selection of sandwiches, and so after ordering and turning down a free sample of their inhouse carrot cake, I sat down awaiting my own basket of roasted veggies. The sandwich was a mouthful of perfectly grilled zucchini and red peppers, a bit heavy on the eggplant, but the real gold here was the tomato pesto against the good crisp bread. If I had only know the bread was this good, I would have gone for the grilled cheese filled with aged cheddar. Alas, by the time I finished this beast, the place was crawling with suits, and I'm not really sure if this place was really my sort of digs. I must confess: I on...