You Say Sandwich, We Say Yeah!

I didn't choose the Fake Philly sandwich, nor have I previously experienced a 'real' Philly, but I did eat half of this vegan-ish version from the cute Crossroads Cafe. The shredded seitan, sauteed onion, green pepper and jack cheese combo was pretty good if slightly forgettable amidst the splendour of Joshua Tree. Accompanied by a side of great fries. Other delicious sounding things on the menu, including 6 meatier sandwiches, and grilled cheese too. What I am getting at here is that I'm not sure I'd ever eat a seitan sandwich by choice, but I'll endorse it for what it is.

Advertised as the "Specialty Sandwich" on board the Oakland to Los Angeles Amtrak train, this $9.75 grilled cheese seems a safe vegetarian bet, just as a bagel and cream cheese does when faced with weird processed meat choices aboard the VIA Rail in Canada. The specialty allegedly features gruyere and smoked cheddar, however each cheese was tasteless, plastic, and greasy, cooling to reveal six slices of highly processed cheese product. The crisp, somewhat grainy bread absorbed cheese sweat from inside, completely obliterating any relief that the mustard or tomato could have provided, and was thoroughly saturated in a meaty residue from the grill on the outside. This sandwich leaves the kind of mouthfeel that a glass of water cannot wash away. Note: pack toothbrush in carry-on.

While visiting Hong Kong, I came across these Crispy Sandwich ice cream products from the Asian division of Haagen-Dazs. While the flavours were standard like vanilla and strawberry along with a green tea option, I was more intrigued by what the "crispy" part could mean. Well, it was like a wafer shell, but way more refined. It did not crack and crumble like you would expect, and the underneath layer was not weird and sticky from the ice cream, but the shell itself was almost space age in material. I still can't figure out what it was, but it stayed really crispy, making this a great and unique ice cream sandwich experience!

A while back there was a Taiwanese festival, which to my knowledge, was just about food. It's known to anyone with taste buds that the Taiwanese have some of the best street snacks in the world, but amongst the array of soups and meat popsicles and deep fried chicken bits, here was a Taiwanese sandwich! Now under colonial rule there was and still sort of remains the popular teatime sandwich, but this ain't it. This was a pulled pork sandwich that reminded me of the Chilean sandwiches that haunt me in my dreams. Here, the "bread" is in fact a large steamed bun, or steamed flat bread, with a mound of pork and cilantro. The bun bread held its contents better than ever expected, but if you read this blog with any regularity, you will note how important the bread is to the integrity of each sandwich. This was more of a delicious meat dish encased in a shell, which some may say sandwich, but I am not convinced. In the same way a Jamaican patty or empanada (Salvadorean...

Artisan bakeries take themselves seriously, right? I am always a little surprised when I see premade sandwiches at these places, as don't they know what happens to their bread once they wrap it in plastic and throw it in the fridge display? I had this frittata sandwich with a bowl of lentil soup, and it was good, but you could tell it would have been great if it had been freshly made. For starts, the homemade focaccia left the plastic wrap so oily that no amount of paper napkins could render the situation better. The cheese had been put on the other side of the frittata, which in theory, should work for a cold sandwich, but somehow, it just didn't. The layer of frittata itself was also incredibly sparse and filled with almost entirely asparagus, which left me sort of sad. Next time, I would buy their bread and make a sandwich elsewhere.

This was a ham sandwich. If you look closely, you can see the ham beneath the medley of fresh carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, and lettuce. Unfortunately, this sandwich was only an incidental experience. I can't for the life of me remember or find the name of this place, except that it was located in a large atrium in downtown Victoria in the same building as an amazing cookery store. I recall having had beer battered fish and chips the night before, and needing something green, I was told this place had really great salads and that you could order up to three different salads to try, like a flight of wine or whisky. Still, I saw a sandwich, so I got one, but I also tried their kale salad which blew my mind, and yes, I am talking salad here, not sandwiches, which is how good their salads were.

Oh yeah, I Instagramed this. The sun was shining, a sweet bicycle was outside, and I'm sure they were playing something local and indie. It seemed right. This was an early morning bacon, egg, and cheese on a toasty sesame bun with a pile of fruit that made me almost miss my seaplane back. While they did not peel the kiwi before they sliced it, or the oranges, which doubled the eating time, the presentation reminded me of homemade lunches on a back porch, with the bacon just a little too greasy and the cheese a little too thick. It was perfect, and I just wish I didn't have to rush off as I would have loved to have sampled their lunch baguettes.