101 Sandwich Project (Sandwiches 1-10)

I sure do love a good gimmick. And if it involves lists, even better! After seeing New York Magazine's list of the city's 101 best sandwiches, Alexa and I decided we needed to try every one of them. Will we actually do it? Probably not. But we shall certainly try.

These will mostly be brief reviews...for better descriptions read the actual list from NY Mag. We've tried a few of the sandwiches in the past, so I've lazily decided to grandfather them in. These include:

#1: Porchetta, Porchetta Sandwich
A delicious porchetta sandwich with some herbs and spices. Nothing complicated, but with some high quality pork. Best part is the crunchy skin pieces mixed in-these provided some good texture.

#2: The Meatball Shop, Pork Meatball Hero
A good but not great meatball sandwich. Points for the bread not being soggy and the spicy sauce, but otherwise nothing extraordinary.

#3: Katz's Deli, Pastrami Sandwich
A mountain of pastrami on two pieces of rye bread. Jewish meat sandwich incarnate.


New sandwiches we've done so far:

#4: Vanessa's Dumplings, Sesame Pancake with Beef
I live around the corner from this place, so I've enjoyed their insanely cheap and delicious food before. Their vegetable sesame pancake is a staple of my diet, but I had never tried it before with beef. Deli quality roast beef adds a lot to it, and for $2.50 is a great value.

#5: Sunny & Annie Deli, P.H.O. Real
An unassuming corner store in Alphabet City, this place serves some serious sandwiches. The P.H.O. Real is basically a roast beef sandwich with some veggies and some heat, but it is done really well. I'm usually not a huge fan of very spicy food, but this worked well. I'm excited to try some more of their constantly rotating sandwich options soon.

#6: Bark Hot Dogs, Crispy Pork Sandwich
It felt weird to get a sandwich at a hot dog place, but this selection was keeping in line with the basic idea of a hot dog. Case in point, when I bit into this concoction, I was greeted by pink meat and a squirt of grease onto my plate. The texture of the patty was a little weird, but there was a good balance of flavors, with some jalapeno peppers providing some needed crunch and kick.

#7: Russ and Daughters, Super Heebster
This is one of the oddest sandwiches on the list. On paper it sounded a little chaotic and intimidating, but in practice it worked just fine. The sandwich consisted of dill cream cheese, white fish salad, and wasabi-infused roe on a bagel, and yes I know, that sounds ridiculous. You're either someone who likes the crunch of fish eggs or someone who doesn't, and luckily I am the former. I don't know how, but all these tastes managed to go together really well, and made for a very satisfying breakfast option. Having said that (Curb reference!), Russ should invest in some better bagels, and the sandwich was actually upstaged by a second bagel we got, this one with vegetable cream cheese and baked salmon.

#8: Georgia's East Side BBQ, Fried Chicken Sandwich
This was a really solid sandwich. The chicken was incredibly moist, and the batter was tasty and not overly crispy. The pulled pork sandwich we got was kinda dry, though, and the service left a little to be desired.

#9: Fatty Crab, Tea Sandwiches
This was the first major disappointment we've experienced. To be fair, the tea sandwiches on the list were with pork, while these had lobster salad. Still, at $13 a pop, I would expect much more than a so-so tiny lobster sandwich on white bread. Luckily our main course of mussels saved the meal.

#10: 99 Miles to Philly, Cheesesteak
The second major disappointment. I should've known better though. Getting a cheesesteak outside of Philadelphia once you've had one there is never a good idea. It just never lives up to the quality you expect. This was no different. The meat was good, and there was the appropriate amount of grease, but they skimped on the whiz and produced yet another average NYC cheesesteak. And yes, I know I am a cheesesteak snob.

That's all I got for now. More to come as I consume more bread, meat, and veggies.

Some Housecleaning

Alexa and I have a big project coming up that we've already started (will start posting about it soon, maybe even tonight), but in the meantime there have been a few meals that I've found noteworthy over the past few months.

I've been checking out the Hester Street Fair almost every weekend since it's opened, trying a new vendor each time. No perfect meals, but a nice sampling of some of the good, low-concept food from the area.

Mile End: I actually had my best meal at this simple deli. I got a Brooklyn sesame bagel, with the works, which was basically cream cheese, lox, and capers. Although a little pricey ($8 for a small bagel) it was very delicious. I can't honestly say the Montreal bagel tasted any different than a regular bagel (maybe a little sweeter and softer), but the very fresh lox was what really set it apart. A great breakfast meal.

Luke's Lobster: This was somewhat of a disappointment. Again, somewhat pricey for a street fair and a small portion. I got a pretty basic lobster roll, and it was in no way life changing. Not that I particularly expected a lobster roll to change my life, but I've consistently been hearing great stuff about this place. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt that I got my roll away from the main store, and towards the end of the day, but for a better roll, stick with the Blue Plate Special at Mermaid Inn.

Malbon Brothers BBQ: A tasty, but dry, pulled pork sandwich. Another place I had high hopes for, but was pretty let down. Their baked beans were pretty good though.

Sigmund Pretzelshop: Had a great cheddar cheese and truffle pretzel dipped in real mustard. Not much to say about this really, other than it was good. I tried my friend's blue cheese pretzel at a later date...wasn't as much a fan of that one, but mostly because I've had some traumatizing experiences with blue cheese (I guess that's what happens when food smells like a foot).

Last week I also tried Eddie Huang's of Baohaus sample from his upcoming restaurant. It was a really good cold noodle dish. I'm sure I'll do a full review when the restaurant opens.

Let's see, what else...

Had some great avocado fries at El Almacen in Williamsburg last week...a tasty mango and peanut covered hot dog at Asiadog at the Brooklyn Flea Market...some good free vanilla ice cream courtesy of Blue Marble Ice Cream at the same market...and a few more things I'll get to in my next post.

Accompaniments (idea stolen from Aaron Turner of the (soon to be late,) great Isis...plus you knew I'd find a way to include music into this thing anyway): Helms Alee "Night Terror", Isis "Wavering Radiant", How to Destroy Angels "s/t", The Black Keys "Brothers"