You Say Sandwich, We Say Yeah!

The third and final stop of the MB sandwich tour July 2016, Mtl ended at Wilensky's. A place I have seen on various food channel shows, the light lunch counter serves primarily the "wilensky special," a fried bologna sandwich with or without swiss or cheddar cheese and mustard.  Seemingly nothing to sneeze at, the crispy round bread is really comforting to bite into, making this ultimately a comfort food. Warning us that we could share one special, but that they won't cut it, we took turns biting through the tower of fried bologna and chopping down the sour pickles and a fresh cherry soda. The bread remains hard to define, not a regular bun, or like two bottom patties of a corn or egg based recipe, it was more of a shell than a bun.  Overhearing the counter conversation, which I'm sure they have said over and over again, this will be the last generation of Wilensky's running the counter, and I'm just very appreciative that I got to try this li...

A stray photograph was found in my downloads folders as some necessary Fall clean up was underway, and lo and behold, a random shot of a half assorted deli from Spolumbo' s and a plate of pickles! This was sent in from my friend Sarah, who I shared this sandwich with, and who I gave all the extra pickles to, as I believe I ate my half in the car on the way to the airport. Another Spolumbo's sandwich was eaten, the hot veal parmigiana, on the same trip to Calgary, but that photo along with other delicious sandwich photos was lost when my phone got soaked in Barton Springs this summer. Thanks, Sarah!

I often avoided A Bread Affair on Granville Island due to the perpetual pan flute didgeridoo jam going on directly outside its doors, but hungry and not feeling like heading into the market, I slipped in during a musical break to see what was on offer. As a go to bakery first introduced to me over a decade ago, I have never taken note of their sandwich display. It makes perfect sense to offer sandwiches as the freshest market ingredients are right across the way and they are already home to some of the best bread in the city. Going for the pickles and porchetta option, I was extremely pleased to find generous spreads of fine butter visible on the bread, pairing well with the tartness of the pickles and the salty and not at all too fatty porchetta inside a perfect torpedo bun. The real winner was the mix of spicy fresh greens, whose leaves I could not all identify, but had the body texture of baby kale and the after burn of Japanese mustard leaves. I was unfortunately in a...

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.

A near-centimetre thick piece of gouda, big pat of butter, two perfectly tiny pickles, and ample grainy mustard on a bun. Everything about this loosely arranged plate of ingredients was perfect. This was the first of many sandwiches, sides of pickles, salty pretzels and other Germanic comfort foods that were ordered. As soon as one was done, someone at the table got another. Google tells me that some beer halls in Brooklyn are cool and frequently host DJs and jazzbands along with their wurst, but the place that serves these straight up sandwiches doesn't appear to be on the radar of the internet. 

    Pret A Manger , or just Pret, are everywhere. It is because of their ubiquitous presence that I avoided them for so long. However, I caved upon boarding a nine hour flight and picked up a cheese and pickles baguette, a combination I knew I would not find on the other side.  Fairly affordable and fresh, Pret has really cornered a market on sandwiches on the go. I watched somebody bee line it for a Pret, and then mange it while walking through the busy Tube station. While I protested that she sit down and eat, she refused, but saved a last bite for when we switched trains, savouring at least a bit of that sandwich away from that windy tunnel.  I myself ate the sandwich a quarter of the way into the flight while watching Toy Story 3. Only then was I slightly road weary.  I have mixed feelings about Pret, after all, as maybe they are just too convenient.

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.

I found myself at Costco, and in the back of my mind, I remember an old acquaintance going on about how great their smoked meat sandwich really was. He was in the restaurant business, and has braised enough pork belly to have serious health concerns, so when he talked meat, I have tended to listen. Only, I generally find Costco to be overwhelming and gross. The excess of everything is less than appetizing. But there I was assisting someone at Costco and she wanted to have a snack. I should have known. This was a terrible smoked meat sandwich. Over-steamed (if such a thing was possible) on a wedge of focaccia-like bread. The portion was over generous horizontally, but the best smoked meat sandwiches show their strut in verticality. The pickle was also rank. If I ever see that acquaintance again, I am probably going to shove him into a meat freezer.

True to culinary fashion in queer circles, the grilled cheese sandwich at Montreal's Cagibi was accompanied by a mini salad with grated beet and pumpkin seeds. The soggy appearance of the side pickle, perhaps not so much, but a sign of things to come: from wholesome lesbionic salad to  crispy grilled  seedy bread, that bracketed an also soggy marriage of cheddar and mozza cheese, pesto and tomato. By soggy marriage don't mean to evoke anti-assimiliationist critiques of the institution, but I do mean complete integration into a unified and undistiguishable new flavour. This is probably satisfying, like porridge, or baby food, but not particularly refined or exciting. It does in a pinch, but other cooks, like my new fuck buddy, have revived this old standby far beyond the pleasure of easy and comforting.