Thursday, March 10, 2011

Sibwiches

After my Fry-filled trip to Steelers Country, I decided to fly to NY to visit my sister on a whim. One of the things I love about going on Sandwich trips with another person is the chance to get two Sandwiches and share them with a valuable Sandwich Associate.

Sandwich Sibs

At this point, I've become pretty familiar with the NYC food blog scene and whipped up a few Sandwich spots on the fly.

Former Pen Pal, Prost Alumnus and overall good guy Adam Rossi accompanied me to my first spot:

Locanda Verde.

The place caught my eye based on their Lamb Meatball Sliders with Goat Cheese.




While probably closer to the Burger spectrum that this blog ventures likes to venture into these delicious morsels were a great start. The meatball was extremely tender with just a hint of spice in the marinara. These little darlings packed a consistent and well balanced bite - crunch from the cucumber, creaminess from the Goat cheese and a great meat:bread ratio.

Next up was the Broccoli Rabe Sausage Grinder. One thing that was really appealing about this particular Sandwich was that it had some of Locanda Verde's signature Sheep's Milk Ricotta. I'm a sucker for the delightful bitterness of Rabe in an Italian style Sandwich.


The Sausage itself was very good. Solid mixture of pork, fennel, spice and herbs.



The best part of this Sandwich was the  Ricotta. Silky smooth with a nice bite of herb.


 The roll was nice and crusty, and for a Sausage based sandwich it mostly retained structural integrity.

Overall Judgement: 8.5/10 Opas

Next up was The Smile, where at my sister's request I HAD to try there Breakfast Sandwich



This is one of the better Breakwiches I've had.

The ham added a nice saltiness without overpowering the Sandwich with grease like Sausage or Bacon often does. The Carmelized Onions gave it a nice rush of sweetness and the Eggs were cooked in a perfect manner for a Breakwich - light and fluffy. The English Muffin was solid but wasn't as above-average as everything else in the Sandwich.

8.75/10 Breakfast Opas


While I was there, I wanted to visit the latest piece of hype Eataly.

Eataly is a HUGE (50000 Sq Feet) marketplace. Here's a sample of the layout:

Source: NY Post

After getting simultaneously claustrophobic (there must have been a thousand people in there), hungry, confused and curious, I settled on the Panini Bar:



I went for a toasted Portobello Panini with Gorgonzola. For a two ingredient Sandwich the tastes were incredibly layered. The nutty almost umami of the grilled portabello made me forget that it was a meatless Sandwich. The gorgonzola melted evenly and was clearly of a much higher quality than I am used to. It got scarfed faster than a hipster in a wind-filled city.

My sister got something, but my Sandwich memory isn't what it once was and I can't recall what delicious Italian deli meat was in there. Pretty f'in tasty though:


These Sandwiches featured fantastic in house baked bread, a selection of delicious and well-aged meats. What more could you want?

9.25/10 Chaotic Opas.

Till next time: Keep your mustard in sight at all time.