The Sandwich Man
Anyone who has ever had the dubious pleasure of sitting down to lunch with me knows how much I like a good sandwich. And probably knows how much I complain about the lack of a good sandwich on most of the menus presented to me during that lunch. In a town where the success rate of a new restaurant is roughly one in ten, I think I have the answer. Put a good sandwich on your menu and you might just survive that difficult first year of business.
I can hear you, already, saying, "O.K. , what makes a good sandwich?", and I have an answer in one word. Bread. Did you hear me? I said Bread.
I know about the temptation to try new things, oh lord do I know about temptation, but the basic definition of a sandwich is something, anything, between two slices of bread. White, brown, sourdough and rye, I really don't care but let me state for now and for all of eternity that wrapping the same ingredients in a flour tortilla is not a sandwich. Wraps. What a waste of time.
In all things, care must be taken to indulge oneself and to search out the small things in life that make us happy. People who smile up and down the halls at work don't have a great secret for their happiness, they have hundreds. Every minute of every day contains the potential for a life altering event, and given the proper perspective, I consider the discovery of a restaurant that has a good sandwich to be one of the highlights of my week. I don't necessarily want a stupendous and mountainous stack of meats, cheeses and pickles but I do want something as good as the one I could make at home, waiting for Coronation Street to begin. If I'm going to give you ten bucks to build me one, you'd better do it right.
Its time for a shout out to my current favourite sandwich place. If you haven't tried it, go to the Mayflower on Elgin, at lunch time, and order their daily deli sandwich. They're simple and yet superb. They're straightforward but still made mystical by their rare appearances around town.
I know you've got your favourite too, so out with it. And I don't want to hear about anything that isn't between two slices of bread. It isn't a sandwich.
Thank you for your attention. Now go back to work.
3 comments:
Now your talking my language. The Sandwich is a highly underrated victual, and I have yet to find a restaurant in London that makes one the way I make them at home. Bread that comes out of a plastic bag is not worthy of the Sandwich. Sitting in a fridge for hours defiles a Sandwich's spirit. And, as you mention, a flour tortilla warp may appeal to the low-carb secretaries (although I question that logic) but is not by any means equivalent to the noble Sandwich.
The best Sandwich place in the world, outside my house, is Santropol, on St Urbain at Duluth, in Montreal. You won't regret it.
The country that completely misunderstands the Sandwich most is Japan. Not more than one ingredient must be sliced thin enough to see through and placed between toilet paper bread with the crusts cut off, and then shrink wrapped.
Lest the flour tortilla be offended, I have the utmost respect for the Burrito, but let the Burrito hold it's honour and identity, sing for Mexico, and never include mayonaise.
My friend, truly, you are a sandwich connoisseur. The man who introduced me to the avacado as a sandwich ingrediant.
... yeah yeah, and another thing... the next time a sandwich guy asks me "Butter OR mayonaise", I'm gonna hit him..
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