Monday, June 7, 2010

Canwiches' New York Trip: the Sandwich Shop that Never Sleeps. Vol 1

Through a 'perfect storm' of factors ranging from reduced-fare Porter Flights, the law of proprietary familial commons (I have a sister there w/ a winning attitude and trusty couch), and my completion of 2nd year law school, I managed to squeeze in a 6 day New York trip this summer.

Whenever I found myself at the bottom of the depths of writ of certiorari (they never taught me how to pluralize writ) spent a lot of errant time researching NY Sandwiches on the internet. After several conferences with my sister, her paramour and various NYC-Canwiches affiliates, I established a Sandwich plan the likes of which hasn't been seen since George Marshall, George Keenan and William Clayton  were told to decrease stipends of Veal Parm Heros in the revisions to their European recovery plan. I packed my bags, loaded up on statins and headed in search of NYC's Finest Sandwich.

#1: No 7 Sub

The first stop was at No. 7 Sub. I had first head of the original No. 7 in an Esquire Article which waxed eloquently on how manly it was in their rather uncomfortable "How to Eat Like A Man" feature in April 2010 (here's a smidgen: "You've been a bad guy before. Your wife knows it, your girlfriend knows it... You can start to reclaim it by taking your wife or girlfriend to no 7").

As such, I half-expected a pair of Flintstone Ribs sandwiched between a Homo Habilis Hero roll. Instead I found extremely creative, even daring Sandwich combos, assembled in factory form.



The benefit of having an enabler/partner/sister with me is that I was able to order two different Sandwiches.

We started off with the Eggplant Parm.  The Sandwich consisted of Fontina, Fried Yellow Squash, Pickled Jalapenos.



***Getting off a Sandwich editorial aside, I am all for the occasional use of potato chips in Sandwiches, provided they are merely to provide a crispy punch of flavor. I also heartily support the use of Hickory Stix in North American Hot Dogs and Argentinian Supeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrr Panchos.***




Overall Impressions of the Sandwich were as follows:

  • Smooth buttery Fontina added a lot of juicyness to the Sandwich. Melted properly without negatively effecting texture of the bread and rendering it 'crunchy'
  • Probably could have used another Jalapeno for consistent Sandwich spiciness
  • Great Bun (same bun for both Sandwiches tasted). Perfect soft hero bun consistency without feeling gluey. Toppings stayed in Sandwich, no push out effect
  • Squash was tasty in a very conventional sense. Nothing fancy 

Sandwich No 2:

Their Turkey Cubano was a 21st century take on a 20th century product of Sandwich social history classic.
The Sandwich derogated from Sandwich norms by featuring Roast turkey Breast instead of  roast pork/ham, pickled daikon instead of pickled cucumber, Chinese Mustard instead of Gweilo/Laowai Mustard but managed to avoid blasphemy by sticking with Swiss



The Turkey was surprisingly juicy and well balanced against the condiments. I would have appreciated a little smokiness in the Turkey, but with a turnover as intense as this during off hours, I was surprised the Turkey even came pre-plucked.

Other Impressions:

  • Could have used more Daikon 
  • Bread remains fantastic 
  • Overall a pretty flavorful re-imagining of a tasty, if occasionally bland, classic




Overall Impression of No 7 Sub:

What really struck me about this place is that it confirmed what that pigheaded Esquire article suggested about it's Brooklyn sister. This place has got serious balls. Some of the Fusions probably work fantastically, others not as much. But you gotta love em for trying

Judgment: 8.25/10 Opas.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

The Sandwich Times - Volume 7

1. In a major coup for Subway Sandwich/math perfectionists (mathfectionists if you will) every where, Subway has finally started to tesselate its cheese distribution:

According to a leaked Aussie subway directive, the days of overlapping cheese at Subway are over:

 (source: theconsumerist.org) 


2. Here's an excellent treatise on proper sandwich construction:

http://nymag.com/restaurants/features/sandwiches/66297/

Great tips include:  even meat/cheese distribution,  keeping the tomato as far possible from the bread and keep any green in the middle.

If any of my readers should happen themselves to be the next great Sandwich designer, they ought to click profusely on this link and you could become $25,000 richer! It's even open to Canadian residents, but unfortunately is restricted to the two people from Portugal who have visited my blog (I'm got my eye on you Porto)

3.  In the quirky Sandwich news file, a robber was recently reported to have left the cash, but stolen the sandwich at, you guessed it, a Subway

4. For those into barely-legal Sandwich porn, Grub Street recently posted a top 101 NYC Sandwich list (and reviews of several locations are coming soon to a Sandwich visual box aka computer/smartphone/ipad/isandwich screen soon!)

And if a thoroughly biting move (see http://canwiches.blogspot.com/2010/03/great-canadian-sandwich-map-beta.html )  an enthusiastic reader seems to have created his own version of the Great American  Sandwich Map, NYC Style

5. Chick Fil-A recently began promoting the unveiling of its anticipated new spicy Chicken Sandwich in a rather unusual way:


MANDATORY SANDWICH RESERVATIONS

6. Attack of the Killer Sandwiches?



Until next time, I'll continue to keep my finger to the Sandwich pulse.