Best and worst sandwich

Ok---was reading thruogh the sandwich forums and was reminded of the worst and best sandwhich i ever BOUGHT.Oddly enough they were at opposite ends of the country.Worst---when i first went of to California--back in 68--i ordered a corned beef sandwhich at what was called a "Deli" in San Francisco--what i got was dry corned beek in chunks that were fried on a hot grill and seved on white bread with salad dressing with soggy lettuce and a cardboard tomatoe.I almost started to hitchhike home to Boston.

the Best-----MIT's student union served the most magnificent Rueban i ever ate----huge-perfectly cooked with butter,kraut that wasnt soggy but still crisp,wonderfull swiss cheese and on Marbled rye that was hand sliced of HUGE loaves. Im going home to viset this year for the Christmas holidays----wonder if they still have them!

You know now that i think abit maybe the best was that Muffalatta in Norlins----or wait----the pastrami at Arts in La or maybe the.........
damn----this is harder then i thought.

Any---whats your best and worst?

Some of the worst sandwiches I have ever been served have been on airplanes. It's perhaps not really fair to turn this into a discussion of how bad airline food can be, but I have been lucky with sandwiches my entire life. Never had a glaringly bad one that I ordered. One of the worst offending airline sandwiches was also corned beef. It was served on a perfectly respectable kaiser roll, but the slices of corned beef had that shiny rainbow effect. I pointed this out to the stewardess who brought me another one, but it, too, suffered from prismatic persecution. She said they were all like that and she assured me it wasn't spoiled. I've seen this in deli meat sometimes - anyone know what causes it? Anyway, the sandwich did not taste rotten or anything, but it was the dullest, most flavorless corned beef you could imagine. I managed one bite and asked the stewardess for extra peanuts instead. She was embarassed and brought me 2 bags of peanuts and some honey mustard pretzels. Honorable mention for worst sandwich also goes to a BBQ beef sandwich served in the sky. It was on yellow roll, and the BBQ beef was not at all smoked, but was chopped grisly roast beef drenched in sickly-sweet BBQ sauce that tasted worse than 99 cent supermarket BBQ sauce. Makes me shudder to even think about it.

Best sandwich ever? It's a tie between the Chicken Parmesan sandwich served at the Corona Heights Pork Store in Corona, Queens and some of New York's best meatball heroes with melted mozzarella. When done properly these meatball subs are both soggy from the sauce and crispy around the edges from being heated in a pizza oven (usually) because often it is pizza parlors that do them best. There is no one best in my opinion for these meatball sandwiches, because several places turn out great ones which get it exactly right. I like when they leave the meatballs whole and use the bread to crush them a bit but not completely. Often I will ask them to leave the meatballs whole, and I may offer to pay a buck or two extra if they say that leaving them whole means they will have to use more meatballs to insure I have some in every bite. Some places serve them whole to begin with. I love it when restaurants get my sandwich exactly right. If it looks right, it has a better chance of tasting right, I think.

*drool*

Best Sandwich is a no-brainer. I'd heard about this new place in Seattle called Salumi. All I knew was that they only served lunch, the owner was Mario Batali's dad, and there were lots of "variety meats" - read "snips and trimmings and parts".

I came in, the place was packed (which takes all of six people), and there's this guy behind the counter slicing these succulent deli meats and handing out slices to the people in line. The depth of flavor was astonishing; I'd never had anything like that on the west coast. After ordering about $40 worth of meats to go, I ordered an oxtail sandwich. He split a bolo roll from one of the better local bakeries, spread it with pesto, and topped it with meat pulled off long-simmered oxtails with a hint of orange peel, and smothered the whole thing in sauteed onions and peppers.

I got out to the car, and prepared to get on the freeway. As I started to eat the sandwich, my eyes bugged out. I had never had anything this good between two pieces of bread in my life. It was like all the collagen in all the beef in the world had come to find my sandwich. I was in tears. I actually pulled off the road to eat the rest and nearly licked the wax off the paper trying to get the last succulent drops of juice.

The *worst* sandwich I ever had was also one of the most plentiful. Due to crappy scheduling, a former employer had me on 9 Delta "snack" flights in three days, and on *every single one* of them, the snack was "half a turkey sandwich on a bagel, slice of cheese, apple, SunChips, mini-Snickers Bar". By flight 7, I was reaching in, removing the Snickers, and returning the rest to the Flight Attendant. Erma Bombeck once wrote of carving her name into the hard roll at a hotel in Europe and sending it back, only to have it show up again three countries later. I am utterly convinced that, had I a Sharpie, that sandwich would have followed me like papparazzi following J.Lo.


As for the rainbow effect, it's caused by oxidized oil films on the surface of the meat. I'm pretty sure McGee explains it in his book _On Food And Cooking_.

Eric

The worst sandwhich I ever had was a rueban at the local Friendlys This past January. It was made by my waitress because they were short of help in the kitchen (alarms should have gone off when I was told this) It tasted so so, it had all the ingrediants plus one. This sandwhich gave me food poisoning. Definitely the worst sandwhich I've ever had.

The best sandwhich is a tuff one, I've had some good ones. I'll have to say though the best was eaten at home. Freshly made shrimp salad on fresh rye bread. The shrimp in big chunks & piled high. I've got some shrimp in the freezer, maybe I should....

Maybe I talk about it too much, but the stuffed crab sandwich at Felix's in New Orleans is the best sandwich in the world! Here in LA, it would have to be the Gumbo Pot's blackened catfish sandwiches with paper-thin slices of lemon inside.

The worst: I was racing between jobs and grabbed a plastic sealed packaged tuna sandwich in a gas station snack shop (what was I thinking?). I ended up having to pull over (I'll spare the details)

There is a place called A & A Deli in Lincoln Park New Jersey. This place is simply incredible and fantastic!
My favorite is their Eggplant, fresh mozzarella, roasted peppers, broccoli rabe in garlic and olive oil,
all wonderfully tucked into focaccia or "wrap style" in a tortilla. Simply the best deli I have seen in
north Jersey. I think the worst sandwich I've had was from 7 Eleven, one of those pre made things.
It was dry bread, and the turkey breast had a "funky"ness, that prevented me from eating it.

quote:

Originally posted by kangolpimp

Some of the worst sandwiches I have ever been served have been on airplanes. It's perhaps not really fair to turn this into a discussion of how bad airline food can be, but I have been lucky with sandwiches my entire life. Never had a glaringly bad one that I ordered. One of the worst offending airline sandwiches was also corned beef. It was served on a perfectly respectable kaiser roll, but the slices of corned beef had that shiny rainbow effect. I pointed this out to the stewardess who brought me another one, but it, too, suffered from prismatic persecution. She said they were all like that and she assured me it wasn't spoiled. I've seen this in deli meat sometimes - anyone know what causes it? Anyway, the sandwich did not taste rotten or anything, but it was the dullest, most flavorless corned beef you could imagine. I managed one bite and asked the stewardess for extra peanuts instead. She was embarassed and brought me 2 bags of peanuts and some honey mustard pretzels. Honorable mention for worst sandwich also goes to a BBQ beef sandwich served in the sky. It was on yellow roll, and the BBQ beef was not at all smoked, but was chopped grisly roast beef drenched in sickly-sweet BBQ sauce that tasted worse than 99 cent supermarket BBQ sauce. Makes me shudder to even think about it

I was flying from New Orleans to LA and they had some pizza thing that was so incredibly bad I was praying we would crash so I could eat my fellow passengers instead. I asked the flight attendant, "Is this the worst thing ever served?" She responded, "Oh no, we have BBQ beef sandwich that is disgusting. Everyone hates it."

quote:

Originally posted by EliseT

Maybe I talk about it too much, but the stuffed crab sandwich at Felix's in New Orleans is the best sandwich in the world! Here in LA, it would have to be the Gumbo Pot's blackened catfish sandwiches with paper-thin slices of lemon inside.

The worst: I was racing between jobs and grabbed a plastic sealed packaged tuna sandwich in a gas station snack shop (what was I thinking?). I ended up having to pull over (I'll spare the details)

Felix's!!!!!God how i miss that place!!Lived there in 72 and would stop there every day on the way to work for oysters----and i can taste that sandwhich now!!!! Thanks for the memories!!!---(and thank you Bob Hope for the line---you will be missed!)

I do not think you have to worry about airline food much longer. I fly Delta almost exclusively and you have to fly almost coast to coast before they serve anything anymore.

I never did like airline food or their sandwiches, but I used a portion of it as an appetizer with my adult beverage

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

My friends call me the sandwich Queen.....I made some good ones out on the boat last weekend.......freshly baked ciabatta bread with homemade olive spread, prosciutto, roasted peppers, fresh mozzarella, garden tomatoes, basil leaves. They were yummy. A good pulled pork sandwich with North Carolina BBQ sauce is killer too.
Mother's in NO gets my vote for best sandwich not made in my kitchen.......a debris or oyster po'boy....hard to beat that except maybe a pastrami or corned beef in a real NY deli.

I was in Charleston, West Virginia and staying at a Holiday Inn back in 1965. I was in a hurry and needed to grab a quick lunch. I checked the menu in the motel dining room and decided to order the "Kosher corned beef" sandwich. When it arrived, it was on white bread, slathered with mayonnaise, and topped with American cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion. I lost my appetite, paid the check, and headed off for my appointment.

My friend Susan's dad who worked at deli counters in NYC is quoted "Don't buy pastrami outside of NYC."
My favorite sandwich might have been a Hot Turkey Sandwich (with green gravy) at Rose's diner on Rt 40 in Elkton, MD circa 1960 or a meatball sandwich at a bar just off the boardwalk at Ocean City when I was about 13.
I had a very memorable concoction in the UK this Spring, a pub in Winterborne Gunner and I don't know if it was their creation or not: cranberry, Stilton, and bacon. I can't forget the cheesesteaks on South Street, Philly or Mrs Proffitt's barbecue at the Ridgewood.
The worst: maybe the hot pork sandwich at a Greek eatery/counter on the docks of NYC awaiting an Australian aunt on the Queen Elizabeth.

I say don't buy a cheesesteak outside of the Philly/So. Jersey/Central Jersey/Delaware area. The best sandwich is a cheesesteak from that part of the world and the worst is a cheesesteak (or steak and cheese as it's called everywhere else) made anywhere outside of that area.

this is embarrassing!! Hasn't anyone been to Arthur Bryans in KC or Katz's deli in NYC for a pastrami? How about wrapping your lips around one of Legal seafood's soft shell crab sandwiches in beantown?
I find I cannot continue, I must seek out Mel's Hotdogs(Tampa,FL)for some spiritual fortification

Yep, Legal Seafoods has a great soft shell crab sandwich. Whilst in Beantown, go to Yankee Lobster and try either the lobster roll or crabmeat roll.......both the lobstermeat and crabmeat are hand picked on the premises. Best lobster and crab in New England.

As for the rainbow effect, it's caused by oxidized oil films on the surface of the meat. I'm pretty sure McGee explains it in his book _On Food And Cooking_.

Eric



I won't eat "shiny ham", but my brother insists that iridescence is evidence of proper aging and many gourmands will not eat meats until they attain iridescence. The gourmands can have it.

-Elise, whose mother thinks she's fussy and spoiled when she won't eat the white ends on the cheddar cheese.

Easy question.

The best: the Reuben at Kahn's (or Alfred's) in the Village in Houston. Michael Kahn's father opened Alfred's in the Village in 1948; Michael carries on in a hole-in-the-wall deli just down the street from the original location. Everytime I've had one, Michael himself makes it. Corned beef piled high with sauerkraut, swiss and Russian Dressing on rye. It's $7.50, but one is easily enough for two people, especially along with Kahn's excellent potato salad, a kosher dill half (and a Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray tonic).

The worst: the 'original' Schlotzsky's (or whatever they call it) on my one and only visit to one of those places. Why on earth anyone would want to eat a sandwich on bread as hard and tough as the fiberboard they use in place of plywood, I don't know. This was also around Clara Peller's heyday and I was tempted to shout out 'Where's the filling?'

not an easy thing,this best and worst,but here goes
the best(I must name 3) ,pastrami at NYC's 'Katz's...roast beef sub at Tampa.fl 'SUBWORLD'......and dear old mom's(may God rest her soul) open faced grilled cheese with bacon and tomato
the worst?......burger kings chicken fiasco

Never met a sandwich I didn't like. Best sandwich ever was the 1.25/Lb Lobster Tails I used to put on Toasted and Garlic Buttered Hotdog Rolls I ate as a Chef apprentice. Some days I would eat three-four using the rest of the lobster for appetizers and salads. The resturaunt owner never caught on as half the kitchen staff stuffed themselves with prime seafood. Only more decedent were the U8 Shrimp we used to Scampi followed by Fresh Chucked Oysters and Vodka Shooters.

quote:

Originally posted by familydok

One of my favorite wiches was a Muffalata (sp?) in The Big Easy at (I think) Frank's Place. Of course most anything in New Orleans is good!

I believe "Franks Place"only existed as one of the coolest TV shows ever about a)New Orleans b) The Real Life Chez Helene Restaurant. But, as per usual, I stand waiting to be corrected

I like the muffelettas from Central Grocery, The Napoleon House, and oddly enough Vasquez (a cuban grocery and restaurant on the Northshore as well as in New Orleans). I am pretty sure that the key is the olive mix, which in these three cases all comes from Central Grocery on Decatur.

Dearfolk,
Last week, I had a barbecue beef sandwich with homemade slaw on it at Normaltown Cafe in Athens. It was soooo good that I almost ordered and ate another. The barbecue sauce was just one notch too sweet for my taste, and their slaw is just tart enough that the combination was utterly fantastic. Such chemistry is not always in evidence in North Carolina, though, where you have to request "no slaw" on your pig sandwich, or - plop - there she be.
The hamburger at The Euclid Avenue Yacht Club in Atlanta runs that sandwich a close second for my favorite, especially with homemade pimento cheese spread. They refer to that as an "Ort.-burger" there.
The worst sandwich I ever had was out of a vending machine somewhere and tasted like a home ec class experiment gone bonkers. It was so bad it was a joke. The comedian Stanley Myron Handleman (where is he now, anyway?) used to have a joke about his cooking school cake that he used slices of for doorstops; this was the real thing. Slalg.
Perhaps the worst imaginable sandwich is livermush with bananas and sour pickles. Or creamed corn with meatballs.
In my Great American Novel, a Greek family-owned cafe' offers to put any menu item into a sandwich. This guy comes in and orders a chef salad sandwich. It catches on, and they still serve them - albeit inside hollowed-out bread - 30 years later. Can anyone come up with something more idiotic, but still doable?
Sandwiching Myself In Tightly (The Library Is Fixing To Close), Ort. Carlton in Now I'm Hungry Athens, Georgia.

quote:

Originally posted by clothier

I spent my freshman year of college at Syracuse U. There was a little pizza place called Zorba's, off of Marshall Street, the main drag. Perhaps this is a memory clouded by too many Genny Cream Ales, but they used to have the best sandwiches. Fresh roll, mayo, roast beef, pizza spices, pizza cheese, onions, then they'd toss it in the pizza oven for a few minutes pull it out and run it through the garden. Man, was it tasty.

Another fav is the BLT at Tony's in Birch Run, MI. They cook their bacon in the deep fat fryer, and the BLT comes with a full pound of bacon on it.

I try to forget all the bad ones...

Oh man...I remember Zorba's. When were you enrolled at SU? I was there fall '76 - spring '81. Spent many a night wolfing large roast beef subs there, before stumbling back to Lehman Hall to pass out. The guy who owned Zorba's closed up the bizz and moved back to Greece. Were you around when The Taco Lady was in business? She was right next door to Zorba's, in the same building, which is no longer there. She made some excellent Mexican. Not like the stuff you get from Taco Bell.
The pizza of M street was great, also. You couldn't beat Cosmo's Special. It was loaded with toppings, and dirt cheap. Cosmo's also had the famous State Fair Steak Sandwich. Real shaved steak, grilled with onions and a grilled garlic seasoned sub roll. It came, and STILL DOES, with a huge scoop of mac salad, cole slaw, or Johnny V's to die for potato salad. The Varsity, on E. Adams was good from NY style, by the slice or whole.

just a post to remove that word from the "last post by" line

aha--i see had had nothing to fear--thanks again moderators!

Best sandwiches: a tie between the White House Sub Shop's Sausage Parmesan, and a lobster roll at the Lobster Shack in Cape Elizabeth Maine. The worst: a turkey and cheese sandwich I had at a 7-eleven once. Absolute crap.

Best: DiBella's Subs in Rochester, NY. Chewy rolls with a crisp, sesame-flecked surface, a to-die-for oil dressing, plentiful meats and cheese. Also beef on weck in Buffalo, sheer beef perfection with a salty caraway kaiser roll, can't remember the name of the place we went to though.

Worst: tie between Schlotsky's and Subway. Skimpy on the fillings and tasteless meat. And the "bread" at Schlotsky's is truly scary...airy, dry and a very weird taste. ick.

Worst sandwich: a sub that I had in the early 80's while attending Upsala College in East Orange. Cheap, fatty ham, chunks of American cheese, dried out clumps of lettuce with thick pieces of bad tomatoes covered with oil and vinegar AND mayonnaise. So bad, I remember it 20 years later.

Best sandwich: well, I like 3. A reuben at Syd's in Union, N.J. A cheesesteak at Philly Grill in Elizabeth, N.J. I've never been to Philly to have one, but someone told me the owners are from Philly and he likes it better than Pat's or Geno's. Easily the best I've had in Jersey. And my favorite sandwich is an Italian Hot Dog from Charlies Famous Italian Hot Dogs in Kenilworth, N.J. This type of sandwich is only available in Jersey (mainly Essex and Union Counties in North Jersey) and consists of 2 deep fried all beef Best brand hot dogs put on a half a loaf of round pizza bread (sort of like a pita) and topped with deep fried peppers, onions, and thin sliced potatoes. Also called a Newark style sandwich because it originated in Newark and the dogs are from Newark.

Frank's is on Decatur, near Sydney's.

http://www.americascuisine.com/neworleans/franks.html

It's difficult to pick the best ever sandwich but the first time that I had a debris po boy from Mother's stands out in my mind!

quote:

Originally posted by EliseT


I was flying from New Orleans to LA and they had some pizza thing that was so incredibly bad I was praying we would crash so I could eat my fellow passengers instead. I asked the flight attendant, "Is this the worst thing ever served?" She responded, "Oh no, we have BBQ beef sandwich that is disgusting. Everyone hates it."

*sigh*...and such pride in craftsmanship is so rare these days...

My mother should be alive to tell this one...

When I was a kid, back in the 1960s, we were coming home from a trip, and were passing through West Virginia. We stopped in this little diner for lunch, and when we ordered, they were out of everything -- EVERYTHING -- my mother tried to order. Mom was a trouper; she finally settled on a BLT, which they apparently DID have.

Our lunches were served, and Mom took one look at her sandwich and burst into laughter. Not only was the bread stale, there was no B or T on her BLT--just a limp and very unhappy-looking leaf of lettuce topped with some suspiciously separated-looking mayonnaise.

She flagged down the waitress. "We were out of bacon and tomatoes" was the reply.....

We left and found a McDonald's....

Muffeleta at that Italian grocery place in N.Orleans. Smoked meat on rye at Scwartze's in Montreal. Two temples of sandwich.

To echo some previous postings, airlines are truly the worst sandwich providers in the world! (although Super America ranks a close second)
I had a turkey wrap on Northworst( not an spelling error ) Airlines a couple of years back that would have made a buzzard puke!
Nothing like the venison summer sausage, lettuce, tomato, and onion with mayo sandwich I will be having!!! That is when the deer I shot yesterday is processed!!!

Originally posted by tiki

Ok---was reading thruogh the sandwich forums and was reminded of the worst and best sandwhich i ever BOUGHT.Oddly enough they were at opposite ends of the country.Worst---when i first went of to California--back in 68--i ordered a corned beef sandwhich at what was called a "Deli" in San Francisco--what i got was dry corned beek...

Oh, Poor Dear Tiki,
They served me one of those once and it was all yellow and crunchy. The worst part was that one piece had a pointy-like thing on the end of it....
Ornithillogically, Ort. Carlton in Athens, Georgia, Where The Bird Is STILL The Word (Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow).

my favorite muffaletta in NOLA is at Franky and Johnny's... it's served hot! MMM!!!

favorite sandwich: The "Wild Bill" at d'Bronx Deli in KC. It's a twist on a reuben... hot salami, cole slaw, provolone, and spicy mustard on an onion bun. Fabulous!

Worst has been well covered by all. One of the best things about my current job is very minimal travel, so my experiences with airline 'food' and convenience store plastic sandwiches are now pretty minimal. I think Ort. has an imaginative worst with the livermush (which I actually like by itself) banana's and sour pickles.
Best is alot harder since I've had so many great ones over the years. An oyster po-boy at Lloyd's in Baton Rouge, the Thanksgiving rollup at the Wood Road deli in Braintree, MA. (real turkey, stuffing and cranberry raisins in whatever flavor rollup with shredded lettuce and snow peas. I had a contender last week at a new Greek seafood place near I work. The menu called it a calamari po boy (which it wasn't); consisted of very fresh lightly fried calamari on a fresh sub roll with cole slaw and shredded romaine. This was served at Seafood Express on Main St. in Medway, MA. Worth the trip from a couple of towns away. Great thread!!

Best sandwich.... from a combo deli/gas station in Mogan City, LA (an offshore oil town, other than the food, the ***hole of the known universe ).... fresh, in house baked bread, stuffed w/ mayo and freshly caught, fresly breaded and fried shrimp. The debris wasn't bad either.

I was once told that the "rainbow" effect on preserved meats such as ham, roast beef, etc. is preservative....believe me, it doesn't help keep you looking younger. Now I get skin rashes when I eat food containing preservatives. I've eaten so many bad sandwiches in my lifetime I don't want to think about it....maybe it's why I now avoid fast food places & spend too much $$ trying to get "safe" food. One of the less "safe" but most delicious sandwiches was a sub with deli meats (which I won't touch anymore, alas), mozzarella & tomato sauce all heated up to melt-in-mouth stage. A healthier version & delicious was freshly-baked roll with baked eggplant slice, fontina cheese, white raisins, sauteed onion & tomato sauce....yumm. The carry-out that had that is gone, sad to say.

There's so many different types of sandwhich, it's hard to pick one "best"- even if I just stick to my home town of in NYC. For a classic Italian-American style Italian Combo, Faicco's Pork Store on Bleecker Street makes the best I've ever had. They also do a great job with all Italian meats and chicken cutlets. I also love the real Italian style panini at 'ino on Bedford Street. For old fashioned Jewish deli, I love the pastrami at Katz's and the brisket at Second Ave Deli. For bar food sandwhichs, I like Cody's on Hudson Street in West Soho, Salty Dog in Bay Ridge makes a mean sandwich and is pretty cheap, and the Waterfront Ale Houses (both in Manhattan and Brooklyn) do a great job, too. I'm a big fan of the chicken salad from Union Picnic in Williamsburg. I really miss the sandwhiches for lunch at recently closed Grange Hall.

Outside of NYC, I'm a sucker for a good mufaletta (sorry if I butchered the spelling) and pulled pork BBQ (Bad Wolf in Roanoke, VA is a favorite place).

There are SO many bad sandwiches, it's impossible to begin.

One of the great sandwiches is a Northern New Jersey specialty: the Sloppy Joe. This is not the ground meat in sweet tomato sauce combo of the same name. The true Jersey thing is a deli sandwich. The meat is any combination of turkey, ham and/or roast beef, served on thinly sliced seedless rye with swiss cheese, russian dressing and cole slaw. You really don't find it anywhere else in the world than Passaic, Essex and Bergen Counties, which may explain why cardiac care is so good in that region.

The worst: when I was in elementary school, they used to serve a cold cut sandwich that they called a hoagie. Good thing I later went to college in Pennsylvania, and learned that hoagies could be good, even occasionally transcendent.

No airline food tales here, thank goodness...

I love the Albequerque Turkey and Navajo Chicken sandwiches at a Charlottesville chain called Baggby's.

The Albequerque has thin-sliced turkey on a sub roll, BBQ sauce, sauteed peppers and provolone cheese...all toasted so the cheese and the peppers and the sauce run together.

The Navajo has grilled chicken strips, avocado and a spicy mayo. White bread is buttered and the whole thing's grilled up.

Worst sammich is anything with too much gloppy mayo or American cheese.

in Montreal the best sandwich in town is a Reubens made with Montreal Style Smoked-Meat instead of pastrami, and like a true Reubens it is served on Pumpernickel bread, thick and roasted

The best place to eat one is actually called Reubens on Ste-Catherine street downtown

worst sandwich was at a friend's house when I was a teenager, 1 slice of processed cheese with salt and vinegar chips for a crunch and pickled relish for the color

Alain

No question, the basic hero at Manganaro's (not Manganaro's Hero Boy) on Ninth Avenue in New York is the best sandwich I've ever had, but that was partially due to the circumstances: towards the end of about the most cramped, miserable bus ride I've ever been on, coming back to Boston last August after we saw Sparks play a free show in Central Park.

Worst...I dunno. I tend to block out the really nasty things.

One of the best sandwiches in recent memory is the turkey sandwich I got at Lexington Market. There is a booth there that slices the turkey off the bird...it's like the big, overstuffed "day-after-Thanksgiving" sandwiches we all make. They slice to order. I got dark meat (so yummy and fresh!) with mayo, lettuce, salt and pepper. On my choice of bread. I was boring and chose white, which ended up being thick, study slabs. Very inexpensive and just divine!

Worst are the sandwiches sold at the pharmacy school I attend. There is a coffee stand, with all the requisite latte-type drinks, and they sell pre-made sandwiches and salads. After finding some strange stuff in the tuna salad, I haven't bought there again. They sell a lot of food because they have a "captive" audience, but the food is terrible. Hence the trips to Lexington Market!

The worst gets blocked from memory.

The best is the BBQ shrimp from Pascals Manale in NOLA served only at lunch time.

But then I insult the . . .

Italian beef/sausage combo with hot giardenara from Al's BBQ in Chicago
Oyster po' boy dressed from Danny & Clyde's in NOLA
Chicken parmigiana from Shank & Evelyn in Philly
Thanksgiving sandwich that I had at some diner around Boston
The BBQ brisket at Serious Texas BBQ in Durango

The best: I'd give a lot to have another brisket sandwich from Arthur Bryant's in the old days, or from the old Boyd's barbecue on Prospect in KC.

The worst: During a vigil at the KU Med Center years ago, I decided to chance the hospital cafeteria for lunch even though I'd heard the food there was lousy. A placard at the counter read "Special: Cheese Dogs." How bad can a cheese dog be, I wondered?

So I ordered a cheese dog. Behind the counter, this woman who looked like a pro wrestler grabbed a caulk gun -- a caulk gun, I swear -- and SQUIRTED a disgusting line of some cheeze whiz-like substance into a hot dog bun. There were tiny bits of shredded hot dog embedded in the cheeze whiz. Oh god, it tasted gross. And it was cold!

One of my favorite sandwiches: The reuben. I don't know how it "should" be done. I only know how I like it. Grilled rye, THIN sliced corned beef, sauerkraut, swiss cheese and a dab of 1000 Island on the toast. Is that wrong? If it is, I don't care.

My least favorite sandwich: any that you will find pre-packaged in the grocery deli section. Hoagies, croissants, whatever they want to call them. With the little squirt packages of mayo and mustard in the saran wrap, as if that will make them tasty.

One of the best I had recently was the "Fat Mess", from a cheesesteak shop near me. It contained (all on one roll) steak, mozzarella sticks, provelone cheese, mozzarella cheese, french fries and pizza sauce...messy as all hell to eat, but it was heaven!!

One of the best sandwiches I had recently was just roast gammon in a port sauce -- delicious.

But I still like peanut butter and grape jelly on 'wonder bread', maybe because it's so hard to get grape jelly in the UK!

Doug

quote:

Originally posted by dweller

One of the best sandwiches I had recently was just roast gammon in a port sauce -- delicious.

But I still like peanut butter and grape jelly on 'wonder bread', maybe because it's so hard to get grape jelly in the UK!

Doug

dweller, what exactly is gammon

Take a look here:
http://www.britishbacon.com/gammon.htm

To be honest, I don't know exactly what they were calling gammon in the sandwich I ate.

Doug

Has anyone ever had the $4 peanut butter and jelly sandwich at Panera Bread? Just wondering if it's worth it.

quote:

Originally posted by Ballpark Roadtripper

On a recent trip to Philly, I had the pleasure of indulging in a roast pork sandwich with roasted hot italian peppers with provolone at Dinic's inside the Redding Market. It was so good, that I had 2, and skipped the traditional cheesesteak. Absolutely delicious.

As for the worst, I've eaten a lot of those crappy 7-11 triangles at 3am driving through one town or another. I've also had too many airline sandwiches that are soggy and hard at the same time. UGH.

I'm glad you had a roast pork sandwich from DiNic's. It's Philly's secret great sandwich. Everyone has heard of our cheesesteaks, but our roast pork sandwiches are great. DiNic's, Tony Luke's, a bunch of places in South Philly including Pat's all serve great roast pork sandwiches.

I don't know if it was the worst sandwich I ever had, but it certainly caught me off guard. I was working in Pittsburgh and some coworkers invited me out to grab a bite. I hadn't been living there long and was not accustomed to how they do things in The 'Burgh. They suggested a sandwich joint down the street where we could grab a hoagie and a beer.

I ordered and waited for a nice Italian hoagie, only to get something with HOT lunchmeat and MELTED cheese on a TOASTED roll! Aigh! Almost a decade later I still recall the total horror that swept over me like a wave on the beach.

As for best sandwiches... the Bay Cafe here in Baltimore makes a mean Shrimp Salad sandwich (though the market price can sometimes cause sticker shock), I'm a fan of the Meatloaf Sandwich at Cafe Hon in Hampden, the Catfish Sandwich at McNasby's in Annapolis was a thing of beauty, and I have an undying love for Philly area cheesesteaks and a nice COLD Italian hoagie.

quote:

Originally posted by tiki

Ok---was reading thruogh the sandwich forums and was reminded of the worst and best sandwhich i ever BOUGHT.Oddly enough they were at opposite ends of the country.Worst---when i first went of to California--back in 68--i ordered a corned beef sandwhich at what was called a "Deli" in San Francisco--what i got was dry corned beek in chunks that were fried on a hot grill and seved on white bread with salad dressing with soggy lettuce and a cardboard tomatoe.I almost started to hitchhike home to Boston.

There certain things I'd urge anyone to avoid in SF. ANYTHING alleging to be Kosher (or "Kosher-style") tops the list. I've lived here for 22 years now and have yet to find an acceptable Kosher deli and that definitely includes any of the well-known local Max's chain.

It's off-topic, but just so you know:

-Also bad (by east coast standards) is SF pizza. It's amazing how many places claim to have "New York style" pizza--but they miss the mark by a lot.

-Surprisingly, this Chesapeake-raised guy isn't a fan of the local seafood (with the BIG exception of salmon) either.

-If you're from the midwest or northeast, you're going to be disappointed by the beef and if you're from the south, you'll gag at what passes locally for BBQ.

Bottom line--when I go out here, I usually go for some kind of Asian food, French (or Californicated French) or fru-fru/Northern Italian. Those are hard to beat anywhere else in the country. So is anything comprised mainly of fruits or vegetables (except tomatos--still looking for homegrown tomatos like back east).

Josh -- I had the pbj at Panera's. It was made with white bread, peanut butter and grape jelly.

The only way it's worth $4 is if that's the only thing you want and it's the only place you can find it. There was one lunch hour when I did crave it, and it was okay. And any lunch under $5 was considered cheap.

But it's not a real value.

There are few things I like better than a good sandwich. It was always funny back in grade school, I'd pack my own lunch. I made sandwiches that were 3-4 inches tall with roast beef, turkey, ham, pepperoni, mustard, pickles, lettuce, swiss cheese, onions and Italian dressing. My classmates would sit with their pb&j and be like what the?? My youngest nephew is carrying on in the big sandwich tradition, apparently he brought a pretty impressive one on the last field trip.

The worst I've ever had was in a deli in Manhattan Kansas. Down across the street from the music conservatory. It was like a tiny amount of meat and cheese severed on a huge 3 pound dried out loaf. I need like 3 gallons of water. They did have a sub shop down by the bars that I really liked, can't remember the name of it.

quote:

Originally posted by Craig328

Never met a sandwich I didn't like. Best sandwich ever was the 1.25/Lb Lobster Tails I used to put on Toasted and Garlic Buttered Hotdog Rolls I ate as a Chef apprentice. Some days I would eat three-four using the rest of the lobster for appetizers and salads. The resturaunt owner never caught on as half the kitchen staff stuffed themselves with prime seafood. Only more decedent were the U8 Shrimp we used to Scampi followed by Fresh Chucked Oysters and Vodka Shooters.

OH BOY-- reading that made my mouth water-- lobster tail sandwich? yummmmmm and fresh oysters.. you really know how to make a person hungry!!! :)
sounds like the stuff my brother used to get-- he drove a seafood delivery truck-- delivered fresh/frozen stuff to restaurants and places like that.. sometimes some of the 'goods' would happen to make it in to mom's freezer! we never questioned it or complained-- just made sure we had plenty of napkins to clean up the melted butter!!! :)

for worst, lest we forget, the horrible pressed turkey soybean hunks, dumped on a slice of stale wonderbread, and covered in lukewarm, neon yellow gravy. a.k.a. the public school lunch. even at twelve, i knew better.

Worst idea for a food stand - a stall on Bourbon Street in New Orleans that sells only corn dogs

Worst sandwich idea - a boudin rouge (blood sausage) corn dog that a very drunk local was trying to order at the stand

Best sandwich? Pastrami sandwich on rye at the Carnegie Deli in NYC

Check it out-open weblink below, scroll to bottom & click on the sandwich photo to enlarge.

http://www.carnegiedeli.com/index.html


Rick

Rick - How could you induce me to enlarge that Carnegie Deli pastrami sandwich photo?

YOU FIEND! YOU TORTURER!

- Rusty