Investing in Pastrami Futures at the Deli Duel and the Stockyards

What's the capital of Jewish India?  New Deli


Even before Tom Davis opened his now famous "Stockyards" Restaurant on St Clair West, I began following his progress thanks to a Chowhound post and a link to his catering blog.


The Stockyards bills itself as a "modern day interpretation of the family diner/ BBQ joint". It features the city's BEST Fried Chicken, fantastic ribs available only on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays (and get there quick b/c these things sell like perfectly smoked hotcakes) and a couple of fantastic Sandwiches. 


The Deli Duel


While I had been there several times already, my first exposure to The Stockyards Pastrami (which was sold out during my first four visits), was at The Stop's Deli Duel, pitting three of Toronto's best Smoked Meat Sandwiches:

First up was likely favourite and Rye-Toast of the Deli-Town, Caplansky's

For my impression of Caplansky's, see volume 2 of my deli guide


Next up was Goldin's Smoked Meat.  I first heard of Goldin Smoked Meat from some wowed reviewers on chowhound. Originally, the Goldin brothers sold their meats only via a mail-order system where you could purchase the meat cryo-vacuumed, and you would be instructed to re-steam it yourself. 

(Source: user duckdown on  Redflagdeals.com)

More recently, Goldin's smoked meat has been available at the thematically-Jewish but far from Kosher Free Times Cafe. Free times is a bar and eatery mostly famous for their "Bella did ya Eat?" Klezmer Brunch, as well as a live music venue. 


I ordered the Goldin's Smoked Meat Sandwich at Free Times and was very disappointed. While the meat had great flavour and spice, it was very poorlycut and clearly hadn't been properly resteamed. While I wanted to love the Sandwich, I found myself very put-off my chunks of meat that were so dry they tasted like Smoked Meat Slim-Jim:

  


When I got to the Duel, I noticed that the Goldin Bros themselves were manning the stand and I found myself eating an entirely different product:  You can tell just how much jucier this Sandwich was then at free times: 

When properly cut (by hand, with good thickness and a nice balance of meat to fat) , Goldin's Meat was meltingly tender with the same great spicing and flavour profile that reminded me a lot of Snowdon Deli in Montreal.  Like most other Toronto Delis, it was served on Silverstein's Rye 


Overall Impressions: 


Free Times Version - 4/10 Opas 
Smoked Meat Duel Version - 8.5/10 Opas




The Final Stop at the Deli Duel was at The Stockyards

The Pastrami had a strong sense of smokiness and had some excellent spicing but unfortunately there was simply not enough of this delicious pastrami for me to really sink my teeth into it. 

So a couple of days later I rounded up my Sandwich-friends Jeremy and Natalie and headed out to the Stockyards with Pastrami on my mind. I should note that I called ahead to ensure that they had pastrami in stock as I have been disappointed in the past. 


Jeremy and myself ordered the Pastrami while Natalie skillfully went with porchetta and a sauteed rabe add-on (From the website - "Fennel and garlic scented pork loin, belly and cracklings served on a baguette with garlic aioli"...)

The Pastrami featured the same rich smokey taste and reminded me of the smokiness in some of Zane's earlier briskets. It had a great texture with sufficient amounts of both tender and chew in each bite. Occasionally some bites felt a bit overpowering in terms of spice but overall a very good Sandwich.

What really blew me away at The Stockyards was the Porchetta. The Porchetta sandwich, which is seemingly experience a renaissance (due to Porchetta-only Sandwich shops in NYC and Toronto). 

Every single aspect of this Sandwich worked elegantly together: 

- the Pork was extremely tender. Using different parts of the pig (loin, belly, cracklings) gave a fantastic layered taste. 

- the rabe was an amazing addition. The rabe added some much needed garlic (despite its presence in the aioli) and just a hint of bitterness that really paired well with the creamy aioli. Also the rabe gave a good snap/crunch to the Sandwich

- this was a rare case where I felt a Baugette served its roll (get it) prefectly as a Sandwich Conduit, it was soft on the inside with a nice crust too it. Very little Sandwich spill off was observed. 

While I was mowing down on the Sandwiches, a photographer from Toronto Life asked my group if we were willing to be in some picutres for the magazine's guide to St. Clair W. When she asked, I immeadietly was struck by the notion of Canwiches getting some shine in a traditional media source. 

Unfortunately we didn't make the final cut, but after some emails, to Jessica Darmin the extremely talented photographer, I managed to get some copies to share with you all. I think they truly give a sense of the full-body experience I give in reviewing all these deli-licious Sandwiches: 

Overall Impression of the Stockyards: 9.5/10 extremely smoky Opas!

Law-Wiches Volume 2: Amici Sandwichicius (friend of the Sandwich)

As I stated in volume 1 of this post, throughout my initial forays into the legal profession, I am CONSTANTLY asked about my favourite Sandwiches in Toronto's Financial District. As such, here are the rest of my Sandwich reviews in the general vicinity (e.g. walking distance from King & Bay where I worked this summer) of the Financial District. 

Entry #4: Petit Four Bakery 

Petit Four is the sister restaurant of Four Bistro and is located in Commerce Court. The main attraction of these Sandwiches are the freshly baked and occasionally-eccentric Foccacia breads that serve as a conduit for Sandwich deliciousness. 

The first Sandwich I sampled from them was the California Turkey Sandwich: 

The Sandwich featured tender roast turkey, avocado, tomato and lettuce. What really piqued my interest on this Sandwich was that it was served on Bacon Foccacia. I wondered what this meant: was bacon going to be ground in and baked in? Was the flour bacon flavored? or was the foccacia simply inspired by Bacon's salty deliciousness. Turns out it was NONE OF THE ABOVE. It had large strips of bacon laid on top of the loaf:

Keeping the Bacon separate and above the Sandwich fillings was actually a little bit of genius. It kept the bacon crisp and prevented mushiness from setting in (which definitely would have happened with the mayo and avocado in the sandwich)

This Sandwich came with a mixed salad and was around $10 bucks, a very reasonable price for Bay Street.

I also sampled a terrific Smoked Salmon and Egg sandwich with shoestring onions on a more conventional whole-wheat Foccacia. The boiled eggs were perfect degree of well-done (just a shade below hard boiled) for a Sandwich. The Smoked Salmon was fresh but lacked the wow factor of say Russ & Daughters Salmon

 

Overall  Judgment: 

8.5 Opas/10 

Definitely one my favourite Sandwiches in the district. 

Entry #5: Mustachio's

Mustachio's is the well-known Veal Sandwichery in the basement of the St Lawrence Market. 

Some of my older readers may recall I made a passing reference to it in the Great Back-Bacon Bonanza Post  , where I sacrificied my body in the name of ascertaining the best Peameal on a Kaiser @ SLM. 

Mustachio has its crew of fans who constantly harangue me about missing it my 2 volume Veal Sandwich treatise (volume 1  and volume 2). It also has its haters. 

In my opinions it has some notable advantages over other Veal shops and some areas where it is lacking: 

Pros: 

• They offer the option of the Veal/Eggplant Combo
• Free carmelized onions (... I think)
• Nice crispness

Cons:  

• Bland tomato sauce (can't compare with California Sandwiches, Vinny Panini and the rest of the top of the pack)
• My eggplant seemed a bit dried out

Overall Impressions: 

I think that it was a solid Sandwich, but clearly I am biased towards this type of Sandwich (as I've already reviewed like 6 other veal Sandwiches in the city). I think that it probably ranks closest to San Francesco in the Veal Sandwich pantheon. 

As such, it deserves 7 Opas/10

Entry #6: The Sandwich Box

As Canada's premier (and possibly only) Sandwich blogger, I would be remiss to avoid any place with the word Sandwich featured prominently in the title. However, when it comes to the Sandwich Box, I was a little bit shy about reviewing it.

 Why you ask? 

I have always found it hard to review D.I.Y Sandwiches. If you gets a bad Sandwich where you get to pick your choice of meat, bread, toppings, is it truly the restaurant's fault or does the blame lie on the Sandwich eater? 

As such, I resolved to review the Sandwich Box by trying their "Sandwich of the day". 

The Sandwich featured chopped Bacon, roast Chicken, Swiss Cheese and if I recall correctly some sort of flavoured Aioli. 

It was alright. The bread was fresh and the meats were perfectly serviceable but not otherwise noteworthy. 

While around the same amount of food/$ as Petit Four, I felt that I got a much better value at Petit Four. 

Overall Judgment: 6.5 Opas/10

To close, some Sandwich humor for you all: 

A Sandwich walks into a bar in a seedy neighborhood bar and tries to order a drink. 

The bartender replies "I'm sorry we don't serve food in this bar". 

Sandwich Times - Volume 10

1. Dear Mayor Ford:

Please SAVE OUR SANDWICHES

I know you have a heavily anti-gravy train. As such, I can imagine that the thought of an open-faced Hot Turkey Sandwich MUST be repugnant to you. But the $48,000 you will save from cutting Sandwiches from the board is a drip in the Sandwich Ocean of City Councillor expenses.



2. If you are going to a shop to get a Sandwich, DON'T lose your 1.2 million pound Stradivarius violin in the process

3. Recently Zachary Garcia googled himself, something all of us can identify with. He found out that he was mistakingly wanted for murder. When asked to comment on it, Garcia  noted false accusations of murder ≠  screwing up someone's :


Everybody makes mistakes, I mean I work at Publix and I might get somebody's sub wrong. But for somebody to get, you know, that wrong? It's not a sandwich, you know, it's somebody's life you're playing with."

4. I have a Desert Sandwich beef with ColdStone Creamery. Why can't I purchase a single Ice Cream Sandwich. 

SERIOUSLY

5. Wilco popped into one of  Canwiches' favourites Sky Blue Sky. Way to go Chad!

6.  While more of a quasi-Sandwich, a few months back, Buddha Dog shuttered its Roncesvalles' windows.  It featured homemade smoky dogs, with all sorts of fantastic sides and cheese (below we can see guacamole and swiss, pepper jack w/ chilli and sweet chili and mayo:

7. A little Sandwich Youtube Love:



8. I've been thinking a lot today about Sandwich underdogs. The kind of Sandwich that comes with limited exceptions that wow you nonetheless?

Tongue on Bread at Au Pied de Cochon

This was my "light appetizer" at one of the most epic, foie-gras stuffed meals I've ever had. As a result of my deli infuenced habits, the tongue is by no means at exotic choice of meat. What was different about this tongue was that it wasn't sliced like at Pancer's. It was just a cross section of a tongue, that still looked like a tongue. So much so that when our tongue's first met, I questioned if I was being over-eager on a first date and should have just started with a kiss on the beef cheek.

Still , it won me over with its deliciousness. It was incredibly tender and the rustic bread was just perfect for it.  Once I had a few bites, and it looked less like a tongue, I was extremely happy I ordered it.

The Dutch Sandwich

Once again, I have gone absentia from my blog. Unfortunately, the only Sandwich I've really engaged with due to the exam crunch is the old Dutch Sandwich tax evasion shelter.

As well, as a result of a micro-USB crash on my Sandwich Phone, I lost a bunch of Sandwich pics. As such I thought that this would serve as an opportunity to clear out some of my archives for some long overdue Sandwich reviews.

When I found out my dad was driving to Buffalo to pick up my sister, I figured it would be a great opportunity to enjoy near parity exchange rates and pick up a much-lauded Beef on Weck at Schwabl's. The Beef on Weck is a Buffalo super-regional Sandwich featuring thinly hand-carved roast beef on a special caraway seed and coarse pretzel salt bun called a Kummelweck. This joint has been serving for so long that it's entirely possible that William Lyon Mackenzie could have eaten one of these after he fled to Rochester in 1839 (I ain't Lyon!). It

I had to borrow Buffalo Chow's picture to try and make up for my lost pics, all credit due:

I thought the Roll was fantastic but frankly wasn't overly impressed with the Roast Beef. If this was typical Sunday brunch Roast Beef, I'd imagine I would be satisfied but for a place that's supposedly famous for the product I thought rare would be much more tender and flavourful. The Au Jus gave a great chewy soft contrast to the already delicious and very salty roll. The Saltiness also led to 2 very quickly downed Black & Tan's. Also the 1 hour wait kind of killed it.

Overall Impressions 7.5/10 Opas.

Ba Le 2

Ba Le is an unassuming Banh Mi shop on Dundas just West of Spadina.

Banh Mi is by far my favourite culinary by-product of Colonialism (but then again Curry isn't too bad either)
With a crusty baguette and a combination of fresh tastes like cilantro, thai chilis, cucumbers daikon and all sorts of delicious deli meats, pates and roast meat, the Banh Mi can hit just about any taste you want it to.

This time I ordered a Mixed Sub (featuring sliced pork, chicken roll and head cheese

And a classic Roast Pork:


















Overall Impressions:

• Great crusty roll made for excellent even bites throughout. 
• Nice dressing 
• Very fresh ingredients 
• Very tender roast pork. 
• Relatively expensive (but within the extremely cheap and affordable Banh Mi ballbark of under $3.00 after tax)

Overall 8.5/10 Opas and my favourite Banh Mi in downtown China town (stay tuned for a Banh Mi ho-down in Chinatown East)

My final review for the day comes from one of my all time favourite watering holes, the Victory Cafe.  

The Victory has one of the best patios in the summertime, a delicious beer list with a running roster of delicious cask ales and way above average pub food. 

Sometime ago, I went for their Grilled Cheese Sandwich. The Victory's version featured three very convetional ingredients (thick cut French Loaf bread, cheddar and gruyere) and one innovative ingredient (red pesto). 

To me, this sort of felt like reinventing the Sandwich wheel. The Sandwich would have worked perfectly without the pesto, as the cheese was perfectly melted and the Bread was near idyllic for a grilled cheese. However, the red pesto added an almost jarring aftertaste to a hitherto excellent grilled cheese.

Overall Judgment:

Bites that had the pesto: 6/10

Bites without pesto 8.75/10.

That's it for now folks. Stay tuned for the 2nd entry of Lawwiches, a guide to Bay Street's best Sandwich offerings as well as my pictures from this summer's Smoked Meat Battle and the Sandwich Pics that were almost published in Toronto Life.

FA LA LA LA LA LA FA LA LA Great Canadian Sandwich Fraiche!

Sandwich Times - Volume 9 - National Sandwich Day, Sand-tube and A meal to tickle your McRibs

1. Today is National Sandwich Day in the U.S. celebrating the anniversary of the Earl of Sanwich's invention (tho peep my 2nd entry for some commentary on the issue)

I recommend you celebrate that fantastic event with a fantastic Sandwich, an album of Sandwich Show-tunes and maybe even a lengthy reading of Canwiches back posts!


2. In my neverending quest to bring you the world's most heart-stopping Sandwich Catastrophe I bring you this

Two dudes from Montreal teamed up to bring you The Angry French Canadian, featuring:

"20" french toasted Parisian baguette, poutine, a quebecois steamay, bacon sandwich covered in 100% pure maple syrup from the tit of The Mother Maple Tree."




How does this compare to Conan's Version?





2. Celebrity Chef Sandwich Lust over at the Huffington Post

3. From the Wacky Sandwiches in the news pile, a customer at a Connecticut Subway  recently called 911 after not getting justice over some allegedly burnt meatballs.

4. The McRib is Finally Back, and it couldn't be sooner for Jack Osborne (let's hear it for early 2000's reality tv references hoo-wah) .

I recently was able to Sample the McRib at a D.C McDonalds (As part of Rally to Restore Sandwich Sanity/Fear Tour... More Sandwich Details to Follow...).

This was my first ever experience with the McRib. That is not to say the concept was entirely foreign to me. I had an early high school love affair with the Subway BBQ rib. The concept is pretty brilliant. They took a Sandwich that was probably neck-to-neck with the Filet-o-Fish (The Fish Mac for Continental European Canwichites) in sales and turned it into cult figure. It's kinda like the Rocky Horror Picture Show of Sandwiches or the Disney Vault. The 'boneless rib cutlet' is right up there with imitation crab in terms of faux food pyscho-outs.

The Sandwich features a boneless rib cutlet, brought you proudly by The Boneless Pig Farmers Association, smothered in BBQ sauce, and topped with Vidalia Onions and two pickles (as opposed to say Chick-Fil-A were the magic pickle number is 3).

Overall Impressions:
Honestly, I kinda liked it. The tangy bbq sauce worked really well with the sweetness of McDees' pickles and every bite had a nice mix of flavours to it. That is not to say the McRib is necessarily worthy of the having its own Jonestown-style following but if I'm at McDonald's and the mood strikes me just right (I'm thinking at 455 p.m, at Union Station, about to board a train to Ottawa) and it were on offer I would seriously consider out over the McJesse (aka a McDouble w/ Big Mac Sauce.... yeaaah!)


7/10 fast-food scale Opas

5. Yesterday was my birthday. My devoted friend and sometime Sandwich-associate Chris Reineck presented me with  "Great Canadian Sandwich Blanket",a fleece blanket with images from this site:

Here are some other not so subtle suggestions for yours truly from amazon.com: (

















HAPPY SANDWICH DAY ALL!

Grand Slamming the Double Down

Guys honestly I can't hear any more about the Double Down. Since this hype-generating monstristy emerged in the U.S. I have been bombarded with calls, texts, wall posts, smoke signals, smoked meat faxes etc. This Sandwich is famous in a way that Paris Hilton and Snooki have made the norm in the 21st century.


I hereby agree to NEVER review, eat, or otherwise discuss the Double Down on this blog.   


And besides,  if you want a pure monstrosity of artery-clogging Sandwich Hare-Kare, I offer you this recent monstrosity I had at Denny's. Despite the silly political wrangling over the issue, the Double Down seems like lo-cal fair in comparison to  THE GRAND SLAMWICH!!!!.


The Grands Slamwich consists of: 

• Scrambled Eggs
• Sausage
• Bacon 
• Ham (therefore it contains the Pig Trifecta)
• Gobs of Mayonnaise 
• Processed cheese

All between two pieces of maple-glazed thick toast. 

A peek inside the Pork Trifecta 

Here I am  smiling while awaiting the inevitable  Pig-Coma

This thing pretty much equals death weighing it at a COLOSSAL 1230 Calories, with 89!!!!!!! grams of fat. 

vs. the pitiful in comparison Double Down:  

Sandwich	Calories	Fat (g)	Sodium (mg)
KFC Original Recipe® Double Down	540	32	1380

Impressions :

• Really Pork-y. I'm pretty sure "Babe" spoke to me on the third bite. 
• Due to the varied contents of the Sandwich, each bite offered a different mixture of tastes, textures & salt... lots of salt. 
• Decent maintenance of Sandwich Integrity. 
• Sluggishness began to set in by 2nd half of Sandwich.
• Scrambled eggs reminded me of warming tray eggs at a Holiday Inn Express complimentary breakfast. 
• WAY too much mayo.
• Real cheese would have added a much-needed sharpness to this Sandwich. 

Overall Judgment: 

4.5/10 

Law-Wiches Volume 1

Roughly one year ago I had a discussion with the then Director of Career Services at Osgoode.  I had recently sent her a copy of my Curriculum Vitae and was meeting her for a mock-interview for the O.C.I (On-Campus Interviews) recruitment process. When I got there, the first thing she remarked was:

"I noticed you referenced creator of  'The Great Canadian Sandwich Blog' in your interests section. Is this something you REALLY want to convey to corporate law firms"

I responded
"Well, I'm pretty sure I couldn't work for a law-firm that exhibits an inherent anti-Sandwich bias".

Throughout the recruiting process, my conversations with lawyers were EXTREMELY Sandwich-oriented. One of the most frequent questions was: What's the Best Sandwich near Bay Street. Luckily for me, I managed to snag a job at a terrific firm on Bay Steet. Over the course of the summer I challenged my Sandwich Taste Buds and I now present to you:

LAW-WICHES - A Survey of the Financial District's Tastiest Sandwiches:

Entry #1 - Osgoode Hall Dining Room

Within my first week as a summer student, I was taken on the obligatory tour of Osgoode Hall.

In addition to creating a great deal of location as to the location of the Law School I attend, Osgoode Hall also houses: The Ontario Court of Appeal, the divisional division of the Superiour Court of Justice, the Law Society of Upper Canada and what will be focused on for the purposes of this blog, the Osgoode Hall Dining Room. 

The dining room is run by the Law Society and feels sufficiently lawyerly. Unfortunately, its Sandwiches are more  1st-year associate rather than equity partner.

I ordered a Club Sandwich and was woefully underwhelmed with the result. 

Although the Sandwich was visually appealing, this only contributed to my later disappointment.  The Turkey was dry. The Cheese was underwhelming. The Bread was overly-toasted which gave an extremely unpleasant mouth-scraping sensation. The Bacon was sufficiently smoky but felt overcooked.  The only thing I actually enjoyed about this was the fresh tomatoes.

Also at $16 bucks, I'm pretty sure one needs to bring their Sandwich A-Game to a much higher level than this tepid, uninspired Club. While several of my dining companions thoroughly enjoyed their sweet potato ravioli, clearly the Sandwich did not, on a balance of probabilities, satisfy this court of Sandwich Jurisdiction I feel that this Sandwich could/should be the subject of a complaint under s.23.04 of the L.S.U.C Guidelines - "the prohibition against Sharp Sandwich (bread) Practice".

Overall Judgment: 4/10 Opas.

Entry #2: Petite Thuet 

Petite Thuet is Celebrity Chef Marc Thuet's attempt to bring the patisserie concept to Downtown Toronto. Featuring delicious baked goods such as classic Macrons  (fancy french desert or colourful mini-hamburger... discuss), tasty shots of espresso and of course

SANDWICHES:

The Sandwiches, as seen above, are prepared in a centralized locations, briefly thawed in the microwaved (to bring it to room temperature) and then perfectly grilled on the Panini Press resulting in a criss-crossed of Sandwich near perfect symmetry.

Over the course of the summer I visited Petite Thuet and enjoyed many of their Sandwiches.

My summer selection included but was not limited to

Chicken w/ Provolone, Speck and Pesto (also seen above)




Roast Beef w/ Saurkraut and Swiss on Pretzel Bread:

Comments:

• Although pre-packed, these Sandwiches taste INCREDIBLY fresh
• Fantastic bread
• Great Content/Topping pairings
• Very reasonable price for locale (10 bucks gets you a Sandwich and salad) 
• No ability to customize, for those Sandwich connoisseurs who NEED to have some element of control 

Overall Judgment:
9/10 Opas

I think this place was probably my favorite Sandwich destination within the Financial District. Also there are more locations in Rosedale, Bath & Eg and the St. Lawrence Market District, so you don't need to be on Bay St to eat like you are.

Entry #3 - Pumpernickel's 

Pumpernickel's is primarily known for their deli-ish offerings as well as some decent catering.

While there was a bustling Pumpernickel's in First Canadian Place where my office was located, I preferred the more relaxed location in the TD Centre.

I only went for a Sandwich of theirs once, a VERY serviceable Philly Cheesesteak:

Comments: 

• I was extremely impressed with the crusty roll. It held up PERFECTLY to the cheese-steak. Definetly a better roll than the ones' offered at previously reviewed Reggie's and my cheese-steak goto Great Steak and Potato. 
• The beef was clearly the same beef that was used in the roast beef feature. As a result it was tender but far too thick and chewy for an authentic cheese-steak experience. This was the biggest 
• The cheese, stringy mozzarella, melted perfectly but didn't A) add the flavor of provolone or  B) The Gooey creaminess of Whiz 

Overall Judgment: 7.5/10 Opas 

Canwiches' New York Trip Vol 4(1) - Cleaning out my Sandwich Closet

Sometimes writers block, even for a only quasi-serious Sandwich blogger, requires extreme forces in order to break through.

In this case it took a bad cold, 2 doses of cough syrup and an urge to move on before my memories fade.

So without further delay, I present to you the rest of my NY Sandwich Trip


1) Entry #1 - Second Ave Deli:

The recently re-opening of the 2nd Ave Deli, no longer famously located just off "3rd avenue", led to a major sigh of relief for NYC Deli lovers. While lacking the international clout of Katz's,2nd Ave Deli throws down classic NYC deli meats along with the rest of the Ashkenaz classics that frequent readers will now occupy a special place in my heart (namely one of the already partially clogged arteries).  2nd Ave opened in 54, but closed in 2006 following the tragic murder of Deliman Abe Lebewohl and an unfortunate rent dispute by new proprietor Jack Lebewohl.

2nd Ave Deli represents everything great and classic about NYC deli. Tradition, tasty smoked meats, and all the right fixins, toppings and noshes.










I was joined on this mission by noted Fressers' Lindsay and her surname-as-first-name BF.

We started off with the Chopped Liver as modeled by Barnett above. It was creamy and rich, with a prominent tastes of schmaltz and onions throughout.  They were served with plates of Pickled Peppers, Full Dills, Half-Sours to round the forspeis  selection
















A powerful start indeed.

Next up was the Main Event for me. The Pastrami Sandwich:

The meat featured a nice mild smokiness, fantastic notes of pepper, garlic, salt and even a mild sweetness. The marbling was absolutely fantastic. The rye bread held up very well with very little content push-through.

As well I even enjoyed the portioning of this Pastrami compared to the Herculean offerings at Stage, Carnegies.

As expected, fantastic selections of mustard.

Barnett ordered the Corned Beef, which looked just as tasty. While I only had a small piece it seemed like it had a whole other range of subtle and delightful tastes to pick up on:

Overall Judgment: 9.25/10 Opas

Entry # 2 - The Smile 

At my sister's urging, I visited the coffee shop she works at, the Smile. In what I can only reluctantly describe as a exuding breathlessly Manhattan charm, the Smile serves excellent coffee, formerly housed a Tattoo Parlour, and serves up some extremely tasty food. 

I tried two Sandwiches there:

Thinking outside the usual Sammy template, the Smile's iteration features  Harissa Honey Roasted Breast, Red Peppers, Manchego and is served with Presererved Lemon-Mayo on a fresh Baguette. 

The result is a nice, somewhat gooey, fresh tasting Chicken Sandwich. The flavours worked well, if not mindbogglingly well together and the bread held up well to the condiment. Perhaps it was the Manchego and lemon-mayo but it felt like a very springtime appropriate Sandwich, and one that would be equally good on go. 

The Sandwich I was most interested in at the Smile was their Manouri Cheese & Fig Sandwich. Featuring Manouri, a semi-soft Greek Cheese (think of it as Feta's creamier, less salty cousin), a delicious fig preserve, always deliciously decadent truffle oil, pear & arugla served on toasted Sour Dough. 

The textures of the Fig preserve and the pears matched perfectly with the softness of the Manouri. The cheese velvety texture seemed to push the preserve to every piece of the Sandwiches' surface area (SSA for short).  The whole Sandwich had a very delicate, exquiste taste to it and makes for a perfect lunch IMO. My only complaint was that I found the crust on the sourdough a little tough for my tastes

Overall Judgment: 8/10 Opas