You Say Sandwich, We Say Yeah!

A sad looking roll really, but I recall devouring it greedily as I stood waiting for the Overground at Queen's Road Peckham station, calling at . . . Picking up the roll at Blackbird Bakery below, along with their delicious Scotch eggs, the English roll is far inferior to the Scottish roll, and yet, the English Scotch egg is always far better. Cholesterol conundrums.

While I never got on board with peameal bacon, this thick cut smoked bacon is something I still get thirsty just thinking about! From one of the first vendors near the main doors, they carve the bacon for you to take away or for immediate sandwich eating. Sharing this salty beast, the verdict was: "Glad we tried it, but I'd rather take home the bacon." Main reason: their bun sucks bad. A floppy oversized hot dog bun at best, it could barely hold the substantial salt of the bacon, let alone the fatty parts. It's been about two years, and I have still not gone back. I have passed by, and as long as they are using this cheap bread, I will continue perusing elsewhere for my meat salts.

I can't remember which trip this was from, but it was in an airport, I even think the Vancouver airport. Probably this was eaten en route to Edmonton, unless this was the last sandwich I ate before I left the West coast, I can't remember anymore. I do know that this was better than I expected, with the bacon extra crispy and the egg very fluffy. Simply sliced brown bread. If they put it on a foccacia they could have doubled the price. I am glad they didn't.

  After passing up a $30 open-face sandwich toppling with an impressive vertical assortment of dilled shrimpies, caviar, and a generous lemon slice, I opted for this miserably flat $9 boxed sandwich. There’s not much to say here through the tears. So instead, I post a picture of the one that got away, as a reminder to all readers: if in doubt, spring for the real deal. Post Script: thankfully, our correspondent in Norway made good this summer and became well acquainted with the classic Scandi-sammie, the glorious open face piled high with various seafoods.

I ended up frequenting four pubs on my last day in Edinburgh before getting on the sleeper train down to London. I bunked in and waited until we pulled into Euston. I arrived with no confirmed plans on where I was going, if I was going to be picked up, where I was to head to, and I didn't even know if my phone would ever work in these United Kingdoms. It turns out when you need it to, and I settled down for this grease mess before the next leg of city trains to the very South West of the city. This sad looking breakfast sandwich would be my first meal in London and my worst meal. So, it did get better. For the curious, that slab of pink on the left is suppose to be bacon and that bit on the right is sliced up sausage links with some scrambled egg sitting on a bed of catsup. Travel food takes advantage of those too tired and hungry to care, but c'mon people, standards must be set somewhere.

The classic bacon and egg roll. I want one. Every time.  This beaut comes from Bijou's , down in the Leith Links, during a rare Scottish heat wave.

I have to begin by saying that The Early Bird serves a sandwich called "The Fat Elvis" which struck fear in my heart, so I did not order it. I chickened out, and  J.D. Salami may never let me live this down. I generally tend to be the 'safe' veggie-sandwich-ordering pussy here at You Say Sandwich , and sometimes I do have a little shame about that as J.D. waxes eternal on the deliciousness of meat fillings. Note the smoked bacon on this plate. Carrying on. The Toad in a Hole was more like a Toad in a walkup apartment. Huge. Served with a knife stabbed in to help tackle the thing, a very convincing psycho-billy touch for this punk styled diner. Now that I am compiling my impressions on this towering toad palace, I wonder if the avocado tempura is supposed to be the toad, peeking out from under the bread. It sure looks like one! Regardless, there are a lot of mixed metaphors happening on my plate, but the unfortunate thing about the deep-fried avocado conce...

So this fella here won some award or mention in Toronto for being the best new sandwich in town. As I was headed that way, I thought I'd poke my head in to see what all the fuss was about. A familiar face stood behind the bar, and the staff and owners were generally very chatty and friendly. We do good food, is what they kept saying, so having just got off a plane and survived an evening nap, I went for the sandwich to go with the lot of bourbon. The chicken thigh was moist and juicy, and the skin was crunchy, but I guess I was expecting a bit more seasoning. The shredded pickled carrots was a great touch, the roll could have been fresher, but I didn't leave a morsel left for inspection either way. I would be back for another, and I would order bacon to go with it, as that would have been just enough salt content to bring this sucker home. I made the bacon suggestion aloud, too, and hopefully, it was remembered.

Whole pieces of freshly roasted turkey, made in house, thick and still sizzling crispy bacon that melts in your mouth like chocolate, mayo, crisp lettuce and real tomatoes. Yep, this is the real deal. I really appreciate when bacon goes into my sandwich hot. Other sandwiches on offer include a straight up BLT, Grilled Cheese, Steak Florentine and Pear and Gorgonzola, with loads of great desserts, beer and breakfast to boot. No one seemed shy about having a craft beer with lunch on a Saturday at noon. Felt a little chintzed by the tiny side bowls of chili, but I've had a very satisfying full bowl of that before, though it seems the recipe has changed since to include more rice or barley.  The Grove is across from SFMOMA and the Museum of the African Diaspora, making it the perfect museum lunch that's not actually in the museum. 

Yikes. Presentation was never their strong suit, but these clear plastic AND paper bags kept the sandwich visible while it started to sog up as I raced for the train. Those days are now over, but I will never forget that tin foil is still the best sandwich wrapper invented. I believe this was a bacon and brie with cranberry sauce panini.

This may tip off another round of an ongoing debate here at You Say Sandwich , but I am throwing my endorsement behind this plate of heaven as the Best Sandwich of 2010. It may not even qualify as a sandwich for some, but put together Dauphin cheese, sun-dried strawberry jam and jowl bacon on a wee crostini and the arguing of semantics will cease. This bacon comes from a locally-raised pig's cheek and is then fried to perfection. Unlike other favourite bits of pork, jowl bacon melts like chocolate on the tongue, hitting the soft creamy cheese with a little salty depth. The chef at http://www.farm-restaurant.com/ even dished us up another plate of the sublime little piggy bites after the last course of 2010 was done and the kitchen was in cleanup mode. Have bacon for dessert and an extra walk around the block. New Year's resolutions start tomorrow anyways. -Young Elvis

Lord help me with my love for breakfast sandwiches. I was rushing off to a morning meeting, but I needed to eat a breakfast sandwich from Stella's before the day ran away from me. Ordering it to go, and just packing up the potatoes, I sat on Osborne St. wolfing down their delicious breakie sammie. A freshly fried egg, on ham or bacon, with cheese, on perfect sourdough. This sandwich was not pressed, but assembled, which is rare in the land of good breakfast sandwiches, that often reheat pre-made eggs, which is possibly the worst idea ever. Oh, Stella's, until we meet again.

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...

When my friend said we were going to a sandwich place inspired by Wilco, I didn't quite expect this. A very homey down to earth shop, they were playing Wilco (of course), and a long list of sandwiches named after Wilco songs were available plain or grilled. My companion had been craving the One Wing sandwich, which is basically turkey, cranberry, and stuffing between cranberry bread. I had a bite, and the stuffing was pretty damn good. I went for the How To Fight Loneliness sandwich, which was mostly just bacon and apple, with a custom replacement of turkey instead of chicken. It also had a hint of dijon, which was not entirely necessary, but it's kitschy gourmet stylings was a nice touch. The most surprising part was how simple it all was. Get your sandwich grilled, otherwise the bread may be disappointing. Definitely nothing special going on here, but the concept seems to be working for them. It wasn't busy when we stopped by, and the guy behind the counter was more tha...

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. Naturally, breakfast sandwiches are items of lust and intrigue. A sampling of recent breakfast sandwiches are as follows: A ll Day Breakfast Sandwich from Wild Flour , Banff Often the first thing I eat when I arrive and often the last thing consumed before I leave this mountain town again, this breakfast sandwich from Wild Flour haunts me in a similar way to the vivid dreams I dream in Banff. A savory, fluffy frittata with specks of green onion and bell peppers, stacked with a slice of monterey cheddar cheese (If I am recalling correctly), always adding the optional strips of sliced bacon, all this goodness pressed between baked on-site sourdough, and melted into a delectably crispy and oozy and warm bite of morning goodness. There is absolutely nothing more perfect than that first corner bite, as the waiting time for this sandwich can be close to ten of the longest minutes of your life. Italian surprise Breakfast Sandwich, Leva Cafe , Edmonton...

Sandwiches at BUNK are announced by a long, hand-scrawled chalkboard menu, and an even longer lineup outside the door. During lunch-hour, it stretches down the block. The place is loud, crowded, air almost thick with the grease of frying meat, and the sandwiches are messy. Good thing they come on trays lined with butcher paper to catch all the fillings dripping, falling and squishing out the sides of the overstuffed snacks. 621 SE Morrison St, Portland, OR At BUNK I give the thumbs up while Mack MacFarland of PNCA tries to get out of the shot, the Italian cured meats sandwich, the roast poblano chile and pinto bean sandwich and mini Mexico flag with a side of apple coleslaw that did me in at BUNK. -Young Elvis

The best sandwich shops in Portland seem to be under the loving and enthusiastic jurisdiction of the city’s old punk rockers. Of the three sandwich holes I visited, the ethic of each was DIY, unpretentious, and like all Portland food destinations, adored and raved about by all. They each serve up our favourite snack in a different way, with an intensity and a specificity that inspires Portlanders to trek across town for. Meat Cheese Bread offers the most up-turkey sandwiches of all the spots we surveyed, with special additions to the menu like a fine selection of sodas and microbrews, handcrafted chocolates and desert! For lunch! The bright, sunny windows are filled with kids, hipsters and sandwich-seekers of all sorts. 1406 SE Stark St, Portland, OR - - Meat Cheese Bread enthusiasts Namita Wiggers, Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Craft, and daughter Leila, BLB (bacon, lettuce n' beet), Leila and Calder biting the roasted turkey, havarti and bacon. -Young Elvis

You know you’re close to laying hands on a “waffle sandwich AKA Dutch taco” when you see a wooden hut in gravel parking lot fenced off with barbed wire and chain link at the corner of Mississippi and NE Freemont. In a more pretentious culinary scene, this trash palace of sorts certainly isn’t a spot that would be venerated in local food guides. But FLAVORSPOT is emblematic of things that are great about many Portland eateries: food is excellent, cheap, and served up without a side of snobbery. Locals seem to embrace delicious eccentricity instead. Amen!  My sweet cream and jam number was delish, my friend's MB9 had so much bacon spanning both sides of the 49th parallel that we offered a slice to a passing dog. Is it a sandwich? A taco? Who cares, it is pure brilliance or something.