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Amighetti Special Amighetti's is a landmark sandwich shop in St. Louis' Italian neighborhood, known as the hill. Leading the menu is one called the Amighetti Special, which is ham, roast beef, salami, a couple of cheeses, a spill of hot pepperoncinis, and – the kicker – Amighetti's tangy-sweet house dressing. The dressing is great on almost any hearty cold-cut sandwich, and can be refrigerated for several days (although it loses its punch over time). This recipe, which we believe pretty well duplicates Amighetti's proprietary one, makes about 1 cup. That should be enough for 3 or 4 foot-long heroes.
Bacon & Egg Breakfast sandwiches are ubiquitous, and it's rare to find one that's really bad. The combination of buttery eggs with bacon or sausage and perhaps cheese can't go wrong. Some of the best breakfast sandwiches you will eat anywhere are in New York, at a street cart called Tony's, which parks at Nassau and Wall starting about four am, Monday through Friday. The difference between Tony's sandwich and most others is that it's bigger and the bread is better than an ordinary hard roll. A hard roll can be relatively fluffy; but the nature of a New York-style long-roll sandwich depends on a tubular length of bread that has real muscle: less a matter of crust than of chew. That kind of character is needed to absorb all the juiciness of this luscious breakfast.
Bierock We've heard all sorts of explanations for the name bierock, including the fact that one of these pocket sandwiches tastes great with beer. Historically, the bierock, like the trademarked Runza, goes back to the Volga Germans who settled on the American plains about a century ago. The portable meals (similar to the Upper Midwest's pasties) were a favorite lunch among farm workers; and today they are ubiquitous at Church suppers and fund-raisers throughout Nebraska and Kansas.
Butter Burgers Milwaukee's great flavors include wursts and sausages of every kind, dreamy custard, fish fries, and wondrous German, Czech, Polish, and Serbian dishes found in few other cities in America. Milwaukee also happens to be hamburger heaven, its unique specialty the butter burger. This recipe calls for 6-8 tablespoons, but as the accompanying picture (of a butter burger -- with cheese -- from Solly's Grille) shows, there is no such thing as too much butter on a Milwaukee butter burger.
Chicken Caesar Wrap The Sand-Wege is a small storefront near our house with a big sandwich menu. One of its most popular items is a chicken salad in a tortilla wrap of spinach, tomato, southwest spice, honey wheat ,or plain. These are big ones, over a foot across, and we've noticed that one of the things distinguishing them from other versions is just how tightly they are rolled. Even the messiest sandwiches – and this one can be pretty messy – tends to hold together as nicely as a hand-made cigar.
Chivito The chivito is a flabbergasting hot Dagwood that combines the triple joy of a BLT, a cheese steak, and a ham and cheese sandwich all on one bun! Fernando Peryera, who was inspired to offer this sandwich at his restaurant, The Olive Market, in Georgetown, Connecticut, recommends serving the monumental creation with French fries; but chips are perfectly appropriate.
Country Ham Biscuit Vandyland was a counter-and-booth sweet shop near Vanderbilt University in Nashville; a staff member once told us that its name came about when the owners bought what was then called Candyland and wanted to change signs with minimal expense. It was the ham biscuit that first won our hearts to this place, which finally closed its doors in 2006: classic buttermilk biscuits sandwiching sizzled pieces of quarter-inch thick country ham, each slice rimmed with amber fat.
Crab Melt The better the crabmeat, the more delicious the sandwich. At the Cottage in LaJolla, California, rock crabmeat is preferred. Dungeness crab would work fine, too. If using canned crab, be sure you rinse it well and drain away any excess water.
Croque Monsieur Food historians believe the croque monsieur originally was served early in the 20th century in a Paris cafe. Since that time it has became a favorite quick, inexpensive hot meal for students, travelers on a budget, and goopy cheese lovers.
Dakota Burger Junellia Meisenhoelder, chef and proprietor at the Sport Bowl Cafe didn't tell us why this delightfully simple beef sandwich is known as a burger, but there is no point quibbling about labels. Since getting the formula from her, we think of Dakota burgers any time we have leftover roast beef or, better still, pot roast. The more tender the meat, the better! While it is possible to make a Dakota burger on an interesting bakery bun or even a Portuguese roll or small foccaccia, we highly recommend using supermarket-bought hamburger rolls. This is a case where you want bread that is little more than a soft muffler for the meat inside. And the fundamental gentleness of the beef precludes using bread that would require serious chewing.
Fried Bologna There us balogna, then there is balogna. At G&R Tavern in Waldo, Ohio, the house-made lunch meat is sliced thick and is seriously flavorful stuff, a pork and beef blend that is garlic-scented and fatty enough that when it sizzles in a skillet, it develops a wickedly savory crust enveloping the moist meat within. G & R loads it into a sandwich with sweet pickles and onion (a great condiment combo), or your choice of mustard, mayonnaise, or tomato. Fitting side dishes include a variety of deep fried vegetables and curly fries.
Green Tomato BLT Of all the variations on the classic theme of the BLT, the Loveless Cafe's version, layered with crisp fried green tomatoes, is one of the most beguiling. The tang of the tomatoes and their brittle crunch provides extraordinary balance for the savor of bacon and gentle notes of mayo and lettuce.
Grilled Ham & Cheese At the S&S Dugout, ham and beef are sliced to order for every sandwich, and they are available either cold or hot. We definitely recommend the latter. A key element in making a ham sandwich the S&S way is to slice the meat ultra-thin and mix it up well. Reminiscent of the chip-chopped ham of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the pale pink leaves must not be layered flat, but should be clumped together like the petals of a rose.
Ham & Beef & Cheese Double Decker While lesser known than chili outside of Cincinnati, the double decker is every bit as big a deal to Queen City chowhounds. As the name suggests, it is a variation of the club sandwich: three slices of bread interleaved with multiple ingredients, almost always constructed in such a way that the sandwich is taller than it is wide, defying the most wide-open jaw. Ingredient choices for double-deckers range from bacon and egg to hot ham and cheese, turkey, beef, and bacon, all generally piled in with lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard, pickle, etc. We are especially fond of hot ham, which is sliced thin and loaded into the bread in moist clumps, and generally paired with American cheese.
Heroes' Hero Throughout the mid-Atlantic states, no self-respecting hoagie shop is without a wall of fame where pictures of famous clientele gaze down on sandwich-eaters. Several years ago, at a Philadelphia eatery called Ragozzino's, we spent an afternoon studying the sandwich makers' art and came up with the following blueprint for the archetypal hero sandwich. Of course, the ingredients can vary, but the roster listed here are what many sandwich menus refer to as the "Italian classic." More important than the specific list of cold cuts and/or cheeses included is the bread itself. Bread makes or breaks a hero sandwich. Spongy cotton loaves cannot be redeemed by the finest capicola and Provolone. You want a fresh, crisp-crusted, brawny-crumb, full-flavored torpedo that is sturdy enough to contain a double-dose of oil and vinegar condiments.
Hoosier Tenderloin Nick's Kitchen lists its tenderloin on the menu with a challenge that's ironic considering its culinary history: "Bet You Need Both Hands". Two hands are barely adequate for hoisting the colossal sandwich, which is built around a wavy disk of audibly crunchy pork that extends a good two to three inches beyond the circumference of a five-inch bun, virtually eclipsing its plate. Please note that prep time is only ten minutes, but that the tenderloins should marinate in the refrigerator overnight before preparation.
Hot Lobster Roll While the typical hot lobster roll comes with the meat already gilded with melted butter, the Maine Diner's version is even simpler than that: plain, warm lobster piled into a toasted bun, presented with a cup of drawn butter on the side. Proprietor Dick Henry explained, "We found that if we served the meat already buttered, the bun fell apart." So it is eater's choice: either pour all the butter all over the sandwich, risking bun disintegration, or simply pick chunks of meat and shreds of toasted bread from the plate and dip them in the cup of butter as you wish. While not essential, New England split-top hot dog rolls with flat surfaces on each side are by far the best kind of bun to use. They are made for grilling … in butter, of course!
Hot Pork Ann Sather is best known for breakfast, but its reprtoire of comfort-food lunch and supper is impressive. This hot roast pork sandwich requires some serious preparation and demands sitting down with a knife and fork.
Italian Beef Just like the hero and hoagie shops of the Delaware Valley, the Italian beef stands of Chicago display pictures of celebrities who love them. At the original Al's #1 Italian Beef in Chicago, the wall holds an 8x10 of Jimmy Durante standing with his arm around Al Ferreri, inscribed by The Schnozola, "To Al's and Baba [Al's nickname]: Jink-a-dink-a-doo. What a beef sandwich!" Surrounding that are a picture of prize fighter Michael Spinks grinning with a gleaming set of dentures and a glamour shot donated by a local beauty queen. Several proprietors of beef stands have told us about celebrities who like the razor-thin, garlic sopped beef so much that they have it Fedexed to them overnight. An alternative is to make your own.
Local Hero Before K.C. Scott opened up Magnolia's in April, 1999, it took a long while to come up with the right name. Then one day, standing in her kitchen, she found herself looking at one of the antique signs she had collected … for Magnolia Dairy Products. "I like Magnolia because it has a slow, Southern feel," she explains, noting that her goal in starting this seductive little restaurant was to create a place that provided quality food at a reasonable price in a setting that was as relaxed as a friend's kitchen. Her "Local Hero" sandwich, named for a movie she likes, is made on Magnolia's focaccia and dressed with Magnolia's vinaigrette, but if you are not quite that industrious, these ingredients can be store-bought.
Meaty Chili and Cheddar Sandwich Clementine is a neighborhood bakery-cafe in the Westwood/Century City part of Los Angeles that celebrates Grilled Cheese Month (April) with a festival that features a different grilled cheese sandwich every day. Chef Annie Milar's favorite is meaty chili and cheddar, variations of which sometimes include a hot dog and go by the name of Coney Island Grilled Cheese. She describes the sandwich as "gooey, sloppy, and delicious." She also noted, "This recipe makes enough chili for about 6 sandwiches, so that is what I have made the rest of the recipe for, but you could make fewer sandwiches and just freeze the leftover chili for future use."
Mighty Ity As its name suggests, Super Duper Weenie is primarily a hot dog place. But it is also a great source for cheese steaks as well as for a superb Mighty Ity Italian sausage sandwich. When chef Gary Zemola gave us the recipe for that one, he said that he felt the key to making it great – beyond using excellent ingredients – is time. "Don't rush anything when making a Mighty Ity," he said. "Let the flavors meld."
Monte Cristo The Monte Cristo sandwich arrived in America from France considerably some time in the 1930s. Most historians agree that it was based on the croque monsieur, a French sandwich made of Gruyere cheese and ham and fried in butter. It first appeared on menus and in cookbooks as the "French sandwich," and it is believed that it got its name, Monte Cristo, some time in the 1960s in Southern California. This recipe is from Bakers Cafe, in Charleston.
Muffaletta The name "muffaletta" once referred only to the bread, a chewy round loaf turned out by Italian bakeries. New Orleans grocery stores that sold the bread got the fine idea to slice it horizontally and stuff it, and the muffuletta sandwich was born. It has become a signature dish of The Big Easy, but, like the po boy, has become known nationwide. It depends on good bread and cold cuts, but the soul of a muffaletta is its olive salad. This is the recipe used at the wonderful All-Star Sandwich Bar in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Real Italian Sandwich Colucci's Hilltop Market makes two kinds of Italian sandwich: a "real Italian," which means salami and provolone topped with tomato and green pepper, pickles, onions, olives, and oil; and a regular Italian, which features ham and American cheese. The big issue among Portlanders is not so much lunch meat or seasoning, but bread. Unlike hero sandwiches of the Mid-Atlantic states, Portland's Italians are made on soft white loaves similar to the kind of bun that traditionally encloses a lobster roll … but about four times the size.
Rodger's Big Picnic Michigan is farm country, a source of superb fruits and vegetables from spring berries through autumn apples. One of the best places to get to know the Michigan bounty is the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market on Detroit Street, open every Saturday throughout the year on Wednesdays, too, May through December. Here you will find farmers selling fresh-picked produce as well as maple syrup, jams and jellies, eggs and cheese. Rodger's Big Picnic is Zingerman's Deli's vegetarian ode to the market from which many great sandwich ingredients can be bought. Specifically, this sandwich depends on good asparagus, preferably Michigan asparagus. Zingerman's Ari Weinzweig says, "I love roasting (as opposed to steaming) asparagus because it concentrates the flavors so nicely."
Roque's Carnitas "Carnitas" usually means little pieces of fried pork or beef. At the edge of the Plaza in the heart of Santa Fe, New Mexico, it means a delicious lunch. Roque's Carnitas Wagon parks here between Easter and Halloween and dishes out a hefty sandwich of grilled beef in a tortilla. It tastes best if you can cook the beef on a tight-knit grate over an open fire, but a hot skillet will do fine. Make the salsa in advance, as you want to eat this sandwich good and hot. Note also that the meat needs at least an overnight marinade before being cooked.
Sheboygan Brats Beyond top-quality sausages, preferably those made in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the fundamentals of a brat sandwich include good hard rolls and a grill with white-hot charcoal briquets or hard-wood charcoal. Some time back The Sheboygan Press suggested that the sausages be boiled in doctored-up beer before getting grilled, as suggested in this recipe.