You Say Sandwich, We Say Yeah!

  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 (...

I have yet to make it to a Caplansky's in Toronto, not even its food truck, but having an extra 45 minutes at the airport, I decided to stop in for a pastrami and matzoh ball soup dinner before I boarded a red eye to Amsterdam. Not as rich as its New York counterparts, but decent flavour and reasonably proportioned. The matzoh ball itself I've had better, but in a pinch, I would go back as there is nothing that quite satisfies when you're craving a matzoh ball. The coleslaw was oily which apparently is a thing here and the pickle I expected better, but I will factor in the airport experience and one day hit the lunch counter on a slow afternoon and see if it compares.

Sneaking in shortly before the lunch hour rush, this here is a hot pastrami with coleslaw in Russian style dressing. Sitting on firm chewy slabs of caraway seed bread, the pastrami was melt in your mouth good and some of the finest I have ever enjoyed. With my host picking parts of the meat that fell onto the plate, which can also come just as a deli platter, she missed the best part, which was the genius combination of the creamy pickled coleslaw cutting through the pastrami with the caraway seed flavour. At a fraction of the price of its NY counterparts, and seemingly beloved by locals and visitors alike, I had a taste of my friend's matzoh ball soup, and it's legit. By the time we left, a line up had formed outside, and if I lived there, I would line up, too.

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.

This magical bakery on Roncesvalles Avenue was a real treat to visit. With friend and her baby and dog in tow, we picked up a couple of made to order sandwiches, a large soup, and some sweet treats to go.  Pictured above is a pastrami on marbled rye with swiss and pickles and a touch of dijon. The layering of cheese, meat and pickle is really quite simple, and done with this simple perfection, this sandwich elevated our quick lunch. It's places like this that make me never tire of seeking out sandwiches, and my god, their butter tarts deserve an honorable mention, too.

I got a new phone and went through my old phone to see if I missed anything. How did I miss this little gem? The pastrami and pickle sandwich at Duchess Bakery is one fine sandwich. The bakery is known for their use of butter, quality high end butter, and their croissants on their own are fantastic. But as anyone who has ever had a butter and pickle sandwich, a buttery croissant with a thick slice of pickle and very excellent pastrami is really a mouth watering temptation. I got the last one, if I recall, and it's nice to remember the good things that have happened.