Sandwiches « Two Fat Bellies

Posts Tagged ‘Sandwiches’

Banh Mi Saigon Bakery and Di Palo’s Fine Foods

Monday, December 14th, 2009 by virginia

Since we were finally back in Chinatown there was no way we were going to leave without picking up some banh mi sandwiches from Banh Mi Saigon Bakery and some fresh mozzarella from Di Palo’s.

Banh Mi Saigon Bakery

DSCN4998

Out of all the banh mi sandwiches that we’ve tried so far, Banh Mi Saigon Bakery is by far my favorite. It’s located in the back of a jewelry shop so it’s basically just a counter and there isn’t much room inside the shop. The last time we were in Chinatown we had to go to Paris Sandwich for banh mis instead of Banh Mi Saigon Bakery due to the extremely long line and no real sitting area to eat. This time we were there at an off peak hour so there was no line whatsoever. Phew! I was worried that due to all the positive press the place has received in the last few months, we wouldn’t be able to get in. Too stuffed from our dumpling and noodle feast, we picked up some sandwiches to go.

I ended up reheating the sandwiches a few days later briefly in the oven to crisp up the bread. I preheated the oven to 400 degrees then stuck the sandwiches in for about 5 minutes so that the bread was warm through but the fillings remained relatively cool.

Pork banh mi with pate, pickled vegetables, and cilantro

Even left in the fridge for a few days and then reheated, the sandwiches were spectacular. The toasted bread shattered delightfully when I bit into it, and although the pork filling is a bit tough, it’s cut into tiny pieces, which makes it easier to eat. The pate adds a bit of moisture, and the pickled carrots and daikon are sweet and tangy. We requested the sandwiches to be hot so they put on both a squirt of hot sauce and some jalapeno slices. If it gets to be too spicy, I just pick out the jalapenos, plus the cucumber spears in the sandwich are a cool refreshing comfort for my mouth.

Banh mi innards - look at all the great layers of flavors!

Though the debate about the best banh mi sandwich in the city rages on, much like the debates about the best pizza or burger in the city, Banh Mi Saigon Bakery has my vote. True, I haven’t tried a lot of places, like Nicky’s on the Lower East Side, the famed joints in Brooklyn, or the new Ma Peche version in midtown, but of the ones that I have tried (Paris Sandwich, Vietnam Banh Mi So. 1), this one takes the cake. I’ll make my rounds through the other places sometime soon though, I hope.

Di Palo’s Fine Foods

We stopped into Di Palo’s to pick up a ball of fresh mozzarella and some proscuitto for our lunch the next day. The last time I was there, six months ago, the store had moved its wares into the space next door while they were making renovations. Now I see that it has expanded to both spaces, making it huge and spacious. The meat and cheese counters are more spread out, and the imported Italian goods are also spaced out so that you no longer have to be backed up against the shelves while you wait for your number to be called.

Spacious new interior

We got a pound of mozzarella and half a pound of San Daniele prosciutto, which was about $22/lb. It sounds expensive but it’s actually cheaper than the ones you can get at the supermarket, and a million times better. The prosciutto was soft and delicate in texture, not tough or stringy. It had a deep, almost gamey flavor to it, and wasn’t too salty. We put together our favorite spread and noshed to our hearts’ content while watching football the next day.

San Daniele prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, basil, tomatoes, and a baguette

Josh was traveling yet again for work so one night I made a quick and tasty caprese salad with the leftover mozzarella and prosciutto. I simply cut up a tomato and salted the slices, layered on slices of the mozzarella, sprinkled on freshly cracked pepper and thin ribbons of fresh basil, piled on the prosciutto, and drizzled olive oil over the top of everything. Fast, easy, and delicious!

Fresh caprese salad topped with prosciutto

Banh Mi Saigon Bakery
138 Mott St. between Grand and Hester St.
New York, NY

Di Palo’s Fine Foods
200 Grand St. between Mulberry and Mott St.
New York, NY

Tags: Banh Mi, Chinatown, Italian, Sandwiches
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Havana Central

Saturday, December 5th, 2009 by virginia

For Josh’s sister’s birthday celebration with her friends, we joined the party at Havana Central in Union Square. The restaurant has quite a festive atmosphere but it was hard to converse with everyone, as we were seated at a long narrow table in the center of the room so people at either ends couldn’t hear or talk to one another. We still had fun though and the alcohol was definitely flowing.

We started off with pitchers of sangria and mojitos. Both were tasty, if a bit generic. What I didn’t like, however, is that they fill the pitchers with a lot of ice. One full pitcher of mojito only poured four highball glasses, which are tall but much thinner than a pint glass. Considering a pitcher of beer will pour four pints, the ice makes a significant difference. And at $40 a pitcher, it’s not exactly cheap.

We shared a few appetizers, including a few orders of empanada samplers, plantain chips with avocado salsa, and some fried yucca with chimichurri sauce. I think I also saw some ceviche floating around at the other end of the table but it didn’t make it all the way down to us. The empanadas though were my favorite. We cut them up into little pieces so that everyone could try a few different kinds. The beef picadillo was nicely salty with little bits of green olives, the chicken sofrito was a bit milder in flavor, and the Cuban had classic Cuban sandwich fillings of ham, pork, swiss cheese, and pickles.

For my main course I ordered the Cuban sandwich with seasoned potato wedges. The sandwich arrived nicely pressed with crispy bread on the outside but when I bit into it, it was very tough, dry, and bland. Thinking that maybe I didn’t get all of the fillings on the first bite, I took another, but it was the same. I gave Josh a bite, and he thought it was pretty terrible as well. There was no flavor at all, and since I know how a Cuban sandwich should taste, I decided to investigate the fillings. It turned out that the sandwich they had given me was the pernil (roasted pork) sandwich, not a Cuban sandwich. That explained the missing flavors but boy, was the sandwich bad in general. The meat was tough and hard to chew and totally lacked seasoning. Pernil should be tender and juicy, not dried out and stringy. I definitely would not recommend ordering the pernil sandwich here.

Dry, bland pernil sandwich

Obviously I sent back the pernil sandwich, explaining that I had ordered the Cuban sandwich. The server looked a bit confused but he took it back without any issues. Unfortunately I was stuck watching everyone else at the table eat while I waited for them to make a new sandwich. In the meanwhile, I picked at the side orders of maduros and tostones we got. The maduros were sweet and fine, if a bit oily.

Maduros (sweet plantains)

The tostones were much better, with a nice crunchiness and saltiness to them. They came with a chimichurri sauce for dipping that added the garlic flavor I love so much with tostones.

Tostones with chimichurri sauce

I also stole a few bites of Josh’s entrée, chicken in garlic sauce. When I think of chicken in garlic sauce, I think of what you get at most Spanish restaurants, which are big pieces of chicken simmering in delicious garlic oil that you just want to dunk an entire baguette into. This was nothing like I imagined, with flat boneless chicken breast barely covered in a white-ish slightly garlicky white wine sauce. It didn’t taste bad, but it was much blander than I thought it would be, plus Josh’s chicken arrived stone cold. It did come with a nice big pile of rice and beans on the side, but the chicken could have been much better. He was a bit disappointed with the dish.

Chicken in garlic sauce

After everyone else at the table was halfway through his or her entrées, my Cuban sandwich arrived. And they very clearly threw it together in a rush. While I appreciate their hurry, despite the fact that it still took a fairly long time to get to me, I wish they had done a more careful job with it. It was a really silly way to handle the situation. Look, you already screwed up my order, and I didn’t make a scene or put up a huge fuss about it. I just asked that you replace it with the dish that I actually ordered. So I know that you wanted to get me a replacement as quickly as possible, but didn’t you also want to serve me a spectacular version of the dish I ordered so that I would be impressed and forget about the earlier gaffe? Instead, what I received was a sandwich haphazardly thrown together, and it wasn’t even pressed. The bread was cold, limp, and floppy, and the filling was also ice cold. They didn’t even attempt to melt the cheese in the sandwich, so what I ended up with was basically a cold bad deli sandwich with ham, cheese, and pickles, and few dry pieces of pork thrown in for good measure. It was awful – the worst Cuban sandwich I have ever had.

A very sad attempt at a Cuban sandwich

The only saving grace on the plate were the seasoned potato wedges. I do have to give them points for giving me a hot, fresh batch instead of transferring the ones from my old plate to the new plate. The fries are crusted with tons of seasoning, giving them a nice crispy outer shell, and they’re just thick enough to have a soft potato filling but not too thick that it’s too much potato on the inside. I ended up eating mostly just the potato wedges and packaged up the sandwich so that I could heat it up at home and press it myself, which I did the next day. Better, after the bread was crispy and the cheese was melted, but still pretty meh in flavor.

Overall I have to say that I was really disappointed with the food we had at Havana Central. I’ve been to this location before and have even held one of my own birthday parties here, and while the food was never mind blowing or spectacular, it was passable. Kind of like a generic chain Cuban restaurant; I’d compare it to TGI Fridays. The food is ok but not authentic, and you don’t go expecting much. But this time the food was pretty atrocious, and service was laughable.

Any time we needed something it took as at least five minutes to flag down the waiter or another server, whether it was to replace my sandwich or to get another pitcher of mojitos. I know the restaurant was really busy, as it was prime time on a Friday night, but they should know by now how to get their act together. The festive atmosphere means that people usually go there in large groups, and they should be prepared for that. While the food is at least reasonably priced, though drinks are a bit expensive, I still don’t recommend coming here with a lot of people. It’s really hard to hear everyone and carry on a good conversation. I don’t think I’ll be coming back any time soon.

Havana Central (multiple locations)
22 East 17th St. between Broadway and 5th Ave.
New York, NY

Tags: Cuban, Pork, Sandwiches, Union Square
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Victor’s Pizza

Monday, November 30th, 2009 by virginia

When Josh and I are testing out pizza on our quest for the go-to delivery place, we compare them to our golden standard, Victor’s Pizza in Teaneck, NJ. This is the pizza that we grew up eating so maybe that’s why we hold it up on a pedestal, but even when we’re home visiting our parents on weekends, we’ll stop by for a slice or a small pie and it’s always as good as we remember.

But our quest is about delivery pizza, so one Saturday when we were in NJ we placed a delivery order for a large cheese pizza, a chicken parm hero, and an eggplant parm hero. We always ask for our pie to be “well done” so that the crust is golden and the cheese is brown and bubbly.

Large cheese pizza "well done"

As usual, Victor’s delivered the perfect pie, with a crust that’s crispy on the outside and nicely chewy in the middle. The crust has a nice developed flavor but doesn’t taste too floury or yeasty. The sauce to cheese to crust ratio is also spot on, and there’s a nice saltiness to the cheese that complements the sweet tomato sauce.

Underside shot

The chicken parmesan hero is packed with lots of breaded chicken but it usually needs some extra toasting in the oven to crisp up the bread a little bit and melt the cheese more. I wish the “well done” philosophy also applied to their sandwiches. Still, it’s a substantial and pretty tasty version of the hero.

Cheesy chicken parm hero

I’m not the hugest fan of eggplant parm heroes, as I think they’re usually seedy and slimey, but Victor’s actually makes a pretty good rendition that almost makes you forget there’s no meat. The eggplant in the sandwich is more thickly sliced and breaded, which makes it seem much heartier.

Meaty eggplant parm hero

I don’t know exactly what it is about Victor’s Pizza that makes it so delicious, but pizza preference is always a personal taste. The thing about Victor’s is its consistency. It delivers a basic, classic pie that’s always very well prepared every single time we get it. We haven’t found that consistency with any of the places we’ve ordered from in the city. Every place that showed potential disappointed us the second time around. So while our quest for our go-to pizza place continues, I can take comfort in knowing that if I’m truly craving a solid standard pizzeria style pizza, I can just head to Victor’s the next time we’re in NJ.

Victor’s Pizza
540 Cedar Lane
Teaneck, NJ

Tags: Delivery, NJ, Pizza, Sandwiches
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Homemade Cuban Sandwiches on Amy’s Bread

Sunday, November 29th, 2009 by virginia

Josh was on an Amy’s Bread kick one week and would stop there every day on his way home to pick up a nice baguette or some tasty baked treats for noshing. One night he picked up a rustic Italian peasant bread with a sturdy crust and we decided to make toasted Cuban sandwiches using some boneless pork chops that I had been marinating in the fridge.

My method for marinating pork chops is really simple. I liberally sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of two boneless pork chops and place them in a quart sized Ziploc bag. I drizzle some extra virgin olive oil into the bag, enough to coat both chops. Then I use a garlic press and squeeze two medium sized cloves directly into the bag and add the leaves from one small sprig of rosemary. I seal the bag with just a tiny bit of air inside and squish everything all around for a minute or so, making sure all the seasoning and herbs are dispersed evenly on both pork chops. Leave for a few hours or overnight in the fridge.

Marinating pork chops

To cook the pork chops, simply put them on a skillet that has been heated on medium high heat. Cook through on one side, then flip over and cook the other side. The olive oil from the marinade is enough to prevent the pork chops from sticking, so you don’t need to add more oil. The resulting pork chops are seasoned throughout and perfectly juicy from the marinade permeating through the meat.

To make the Cuban sandwiches, we cooked up the pork chops and sliced them into thin strips. I slathered some mayo on one piece of sandwich bread, and yellow mustard on the piece. Then I piled on deli ham, salami, the pieces of pork chop, sliced pickles, and swiss cheese. I closed the sandwich, pressing down hard so that it would hold together, and brushed some olive oil on the outside of both slices of bread.

Constructing the Cuban sandwiches

We don’t have a panini press in our apartment so I simply heated the oven to 375 degrees with my pizza stone inside. Once it was heated, I put the sandwiches directly on the stone, topped them with a piece of aluminum foil, and placed a heavy cast iron griddle on top, pushing down hard on the sandwiches. If you don’t have a griddle you can use a heavy pot or a cookie sheet weighed down with a few oven safe pots/pans.

Once the sandwich was nice and toasty and the cheese completely melted, we were ready to eat. The Italian bread was a nice change from the usual Cuban bread, though it was a bit harder and crunchier in texture.

Heat up the sandwich so that the bread gets nice and toasty brown

Make sure the bread gets nice and toasty brown

I drew my inspiration for the fillings from Margon, as salami isn’t always a traditional ingredient. For a homemade version of the Cuban sandwich, I thought it tasted pretty good and was really quick and easy to make.

Autopsy shot

Amy’s Bread (multiple locations)
672 9^th Ave. between 46^th and 47^th St.
New York, NY

Tags: Cuban, Pork, Sandwiches
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Lansdowne Road

Friday, August 28th, 2009 by virginia

Josh and I both got out of work early on this rainy summer Friday. Our original plan was to meet up with his coworkers at The Frying Pan but the weather refused to cooperate. We headed instead to Lansdowne Road, a bar that we’ve been to several times but mostly for drinks. They have a lot of good beers on tap, including my personal favorite, Magic Hat #9. Since my office is further away, I arrived later than everyone else. Josh had already started on an order of buffalo wings by the time I got there.

Tomato-y tasting buffalo wings

Buffalo wings are one of the few things that I’ve eaten at Lansdowne Road before but for some reason I thought they were very different this time. The sauce was sweeter and more tomato-y than I remembered. It also tasted like the spice came from a garlic chili sauce rather than from a vinegary hot sauce. Though the wings were hot and meaty, I really didn’t enjoy this version of buffalo sauce.

Also different than what I remembered was the burger, which I ordered medium rare with swiss cheese.

Burger with swiss cheese

The burger was cooked medium rare to order but it was ground very finely so that it had a mushy texture, and oddly, it was very sweet. It tasted like they mixed some spices and seasoning with the meat that detracted from the beefy flavor. I’m sad to say that I did not enjoy this burger very much. It really just didn’t taste like a burger to me.

Autopsy shot

Josh didn’t fare much better with his French dip, also with swiss cheese. The roast beef was sliced very thin and way too dry. Dipping it into the au jus helped a little, but even the flavor of that was off. Basically the only thing I really enjoyed from both of our plates was the French fries.

French dip with swiss cheese

Overall I was really disappointed with the food at Lansdowne Road. It was just strange because I’ve definitely eaten there before but didn’t remember the food being bad. Maybe I was just drunk at the time? I do remember having a burger on a previous visit, as well as sharing the Tailgate starter that included sliders, wings, and fries. Nevertheless, I’ll still come back here because of the beer selection, and because they have pool and darts in the back room. The atmosphere is relaxed and there are plenty of seats and big TV screens, which are very important to me. Next time though I’ll stick with the basic fried appetizers – chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, fries, etc. I still think it’s a great place to have a good beer, watch a game, and just hang out with your friends.

Lansdowne Road
599 10^th Ave. between 43^rd and 44^th St.
New York, NY

Tags: Bars, Burgers, Midtown West, Sandwiches
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Revisiting Margon

Thursday, August 27th, 2009 by virginia

I was a bit disappointed with my last visit to Margon but like I said in my review, I know their Cuban sandwiches can be inconsistent depending on how busy they are. So when Josh told me he was meeting up with his cousin at the restaurant for lunch, I invited myself along because I was eager to give them a chance to redeem themselves.

This was my first time actually eating in the restaurant but luckily they weren’t super full so we were able to snag a table. We started out with an order of tostones while we were waiting for the sandwiches to be prepared. These did come topped with mojo this time, much to my relief and delight. And they were better than usual because we were eating them fresh at the restaurant instead of carrying them out in a tinfoil container where they tend to get cold and soggy. These tostones were still warm, a little bit crunchy on the outside, and doused with the deliciously tangy and garlicky mojo. Yum!

Tostones topped with mojo

After we worked our way through half of the tostones, Josh went back to the sandwich counter to pick up our Cubans. At first glance these sandwiches just looked so much better than the ones I got last time. The bread was pressed flat and had toasted marks on top, and the melted cheese was oozing out.

Crispy and hot pressed Cuban sandwich

The verdict? Perfection. The bread was crispy on the outside and the sandwich was still warm enough to burn my tongue a little. The flavors of the meat, cheese, garlic, and pickles just all work so well together. The sandwich guy asked Josh if he wanted hot sauce on the sandwich, to which Josh replied yes, but I didn’t taste any hot sauce. Not a problem, I didn’t miss anything. The sandwich was absolutely wonderful as is.

Autopsy shot

I don’t know if eating at the restaurant was the difference, but maybe now we’ll start eating in more often rather than taking it out! I hope every trip I make to Margon will be as good as it was on this day.

Margon
36 West 46th St. between 6^th and 7^th Ave.
New York, NY

Tags: Cuban, Lunch, Midtown, Sandwiches
Posted in Restaurants | 1 Comment »

Louie’s Charcoal Pit

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 by virginia

Our Singaporean friend Francois wanted to go shopping at the Woodbury Common outlets so we first headed off to NJ to borrow a car from Josh’s parents. We had enough time to grab a quick breakfast with Josh’s mom and ended up at Louie’s Charcoal Pit, of course.

I had my usual breakfast order of two eggs over easy with bacon, french fries, and toast. The eggs were perfectly runny and the bacon was nicely crispy. We always make sure to ask for our bacon well done so it’s never soggy or greasy. The fries were freshly fried and golden brown.

Two eggs over easy, bacon, french fries, and toast

Josh had bacon and egg on a roll, and contented himself with stealing some of my fries.

Fried egg sandwich with bacon

Josh’s mom had a bagel and lox platter, which comes with smoked salmon, lettuce, tomato, and onion. Though the bagel and cream cheese are nothing special (for truly great bagels, just head up the block to Three Star Bagels), they give you a huge portion of lox that is really delicious. The lox is a slightly thicker cut and not too oily. You can really pile it onto your bagel and it makes a filling and satisfying breakfast.

Bagel and lox platter

Louie’s is still and probably always will be my favorite diner. It’s just so familiar and comforting. It’s the kind of place where people greet you by name when you walk in, and the waiters know what your usual order is. The food comes quickly but you never feel rushed; we can sit for hours just chatting and they’ll always keep coming by to refill our coffee cups. I can guarantee that we’ll be back here, and often.

Louie’s Charcoal Pit
510 Cedar Lane
Teaneck, NJ

Tags: Diner, NJ, Sandwiches, Smoked Salmon
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Citi Field – Mama’s of Corona and Box Frites

Friday, August 21st, 2009 by virginia

DSCN1805

Since it was my first visit to Citi Field, we arrived early for the 7:10 game against the Phillies, as I wanted time to walk around the stadium, and I also wanted to make sure we got the promotional sports bags that were offered that night. Unfortunately, it had been raining on off all day, and was drizzling steadily when we got to the stadium. I checked online before I left work but they hadn’t made any announcements about the game being cancelled or delayed, so when we arrived at 6, we already had plenty of time to kill. After making a loop to see all the concession stand offerings, it was finally announced that the game would be delayed until 8:30. Bummer. Luckily, our seats were high enough that they were under the overhang in the top deck so we decided to grab some food and sit out the delay.

As I did with our visit to Yankee Stadium, I checked online for reviews of all the offerings at Citi Field (I keep wanting to call it Shea Stadium still!). While the Shake Shack and Blue Smoke had obvious appeal, I figured that this would probably be my first and last visit to Citi Field this season, so I wanted to try something that I haven’t had before and couldn’t easily access in Manhattan. I remembered reading a lot about the special sandwich Mama’s of Corona on the Feisty Foodie and that’s where we ended up.

The taste of NY concession area, which we walked through but didn't get anything

The Taste of the City concession area, which we walked through but didn't get anything (except Box Frites)

I don’t know if it was because we were early or because of the weather, but the World Market where Mama’s of Corona is located was completely empty. Josh and I weren’t that hungry yet so we decided to split the special sandwich. There were a bunch of them already pre-made and stacked behind the counter so all we had to do was wait for it to be boxed up and we were on our way. We stopped by the Catch of the Day stand to pick up some Blue Point Toasted Lager (I love the range of beer offerings at Citi Field – much better than Yankee Stadium!) and headed up to our seats.

A stack of pre-made sandwiches ready to be packed up from Mama's of Corona

The special sandwich has fresh mozzarella, genoa salami, and black pepper ham on it. Looking at the sandwich, I was disappointed by the thin layer of meat it had. Basically there was only one layer of salami, and one layer of ham. It definitely was not a hearty Italian sandwich that we’re used to.

Not a super stuffed Italian sandwich

The sandwich came with a small container of roasted pepper and a container of marinated mushrooms. We added on both to provide some extra heft and flavor. Even though the sandwich was pre-made, the bread was still pretty fresh and had a nice soft chew to it. Out of the fillings, the black pepper ham really stood out, but it’s not for you if you don’t like the taste of the black pepper. I did take a bite without the extra condiments and it wasn’t as tasty. The roasted peppers and the mushrooms added a nice zing and complemented the mozzarella cheese.

The sandwich was better after adding on the marinated mushroom and roasted pepper condiments

Overall I wasn’t the hugest fan of this sandwich, though it wasn’t bad. I definitely thought the bread-to-filling ratio was off, and the only thing I could really taste from the meats was the black pepper on the ham. At $9.75, it’s a pricey sandwich for what you get, but not so pricey considering the venue. Stadium food is always overpriced, and this was a nice change from the usual hot dogs and hamburgers. I’d probably try out some other foods before I would order this sandwich again though.

As the storm passed, the sky turned an amazing red/purple color

The rain eventually did stop, and the game started around 8:30 as promised. It was a pretty exciting game, with the Phillies taking the early lead but then the Mets pulling ahead. After that it was a nail biter to hold onto the lead, as the Phillies were presented with lots of scoring opportunities. Midway through the game we started to feel a bit puckish, so Josh headed down and picked up a large order of fries from Box Frites.

A large order of fries from Box Frites

Since it was later in the game, the stand had run out of most dipping sauces, which was a bit disappointing. We ended up with the olive and pepperocini sauce, which is mayo based. It didn’t have a strong olive flavor but there was a nice tangy kick from the pepperocini. Josh preferred this sauce (haha bet he didn’t know there was mayo in it) while I stuck mostly with ketchup. The fries were really good though, thick cut, hot, and crispy. I preferred these fries to the skinny Garlic Fries at Yankee Stadium, though the garlic sauce on top of those fries were much better than the olive and pepperocini dipping sauce. The perfect combination would be the Box Frites fries with the Garlic Fries sauce. Mmmm.

Olive and pepperocini dip for the frites

Overall I thought the food options at Citi Field were much better than the ones at Yankee Stadium. I also prefer the openness of Citi Field to that of Yankee Stadium. While both stadiums offer field views from the concession areas, Citi Field just seemed much airier and more welcoming to me. And the Taste of the City area is really a great idea. It’s a nice wide open space with lots of food choices, making it a good place to hang out before the game. And the beer options are also better at Citi Field, making it a complete overall experience for me. Too bad the Mets haven’t lived up to their new stadium this season!

Tags: Baseball, Fries, Mets, Sandwiches
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Fiore’s Deli

Thursday, August 20th, 2009 by virginia

fiore

I don’t watch 30 Rock, much to Josh’s sister’s dismay, but somehow I ended up watching the “Sandwich Day” episode that featured a roast beef and mozzarella sandwich with magical dipping sauce. It was and still is the only episode of 30 Rock that I’ve seen, and I couldn’t get that sandwich out of my mind, or the scene of Tina Fey’s character eating it at the airport security gate because the dipping sauce was over 3 ounces.

I read a post on Serious Eats New York that revealed the sandwich to be from Fiore’s Deli in Hoboken. Even though Hoboken is just across the Hudson, and Josh and I are in NJ fairly often, we could never find the time to get over to Fiore’s to try out this sandwich. So when Josh was assigned to a project in Jersey City and he mentioned that he had been hoofing it over to Hoboken for lunch, I quickly looked up the deli’s address and found that it wasn’t too far from his office. I asked him to pick up some sandwiches for dinner and made sure to tell him that he had to go on a Thursday, as that was when the magical dipping sauce would be available.

So the last Thursday before his Jersey City project ended, Josh made the trip to Fiore’s. He picked up two sandwiches, which are so large that they’re really like four sandwiches, and brought back 1.5 for our dinner that night (he ate a half for lunch).

A crazy big half of a sandwich

He also got a huge container of the magical dipping sauce, which is gravy made from the roast beef drippings. We heated the gravy up on the stove, and it smelled and looked a lot like soy sauce.

The magical gravy dipping sauce

Fortunately it didn’t taste like soy sauce, although I thought a detected a hint of it in the flavor. Maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me since it really looked so much like soy sauce. We also heated up the sandwiches briefly in the oven, since the bread had gotten very soggy from traveling all day. While the bread crisped up nicely, and the cheese got a little melty, I think it dried out the roast beef unfortunately.

Autopsy shot

The dry roast beef wasn’t a huge issue though, as we had lots of dipping sauce on hand. I liberally dipped each bite into the gravy, letting it soak into everything.

Lots of dipping action

Overall I must admit that I was a little disappointed with this sandwich. I know a lot of it was probably my fault in not eating it right away and reheating it in the oven, but the flavors weren’t as good as I thought they’d be; it was kind of one note. The beef didn’t have a huge amount of flavor to it.

Josh did eat half a sandwich right away, and while he said the roast beef was definitely moister originally, the bread was better after being toasted. And I’m sure the mozzarella cheese lost a lot of its fresh taste after being melted a bit. I thought the sandwiches would have roasted peppers on them but maybe you need to specially request them. I wonder if adding those would have helped perk up the flavors of the sandwich.

I think I’ll need to find a Saturday to make the trip to Fiore’s Deli myself, so that I can have a freshly made sandwich and dipping sauce and eat it right away. I don’t think that I can fairly judge this sandwich at this point. I also wouldn’t mind trying some other things that the deli has to offer!

Fiore’s Deli
414 Adams St.
Hoboken, NJ

Tags: Deli, Hoboken, NJ, Sandwiches
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Yankee Stadium – Lobel’s and Garlic Fries

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 by virginia

DSCN1657

I finally got a chance to check out the new Yankee Stadium and lucky for me, the food choices there and at Citi Field have already been blogged about to death. Since everyone else has already done the dirty investigative work, I read up on a few places and weighed our options. Eventually we decided to check out Lobel’s of New York and their famed $15 steak sandwich.

We got to the stadium around 6:30 and took a quick walk around to see everything. I liked the open air structure – you can still see the field while waiting in line at the concession stands. I also thought the food court was a clever addition and helped with crowd control in the walkways. After picking up some decent but pricey beers at the Beers of the World stand, we got in line at Lobel’s. It was probably the longest line I saw out of all the concession stands, and it moved very slowly for some reason. Fortunately we had our beers to keep us company, and we watched the butchers behind the glass window trimming some beautiful pieces of beef.

Beautiful pieces of raw beef behind the glass at Lobel's

We eventually wound our way to the front of the line and watched as they piled the meat onto our sandwiches. We also picked up containers of olive spread, though they told us they were out of horseradish.

Steak sandwich assembly line

By the time we got our sandwiches, we had already missed the first inning. Not a big deal; we picked up some more beer and headed up to our seats.

The cup holders at the new stadium are a brilliant addition

Luckily we didn’t miss much in the first inning, and the game picked up in the second. We dug into our sandwiches right away so they wouldn’t get cold. Josh and I both spread the olive tapenade onto the top bun.

We added olive tapenade to our sandwiches

The juice/gravy from the meat had already completely soaked through the bottom bun. Josh picked up his sandwich to eat it, which was a messy choice. A ton of liquid dripped out all over him and down his arm so he had to eat very quickly.

Close up on the beef and all the gravy soaking into the bottom bun

I didn’t want to mess up my clothes so I ended up holding the container under my sandwich the entire time. It was a clumsy way to eat but I managed to keep myself stain-free. The verdict? Meh. It was just ok. The meat was tender but all I could taste was whatever they seasoned it with. The gravy basically overpowered the taste of the beef. I also thought it was too sweet so I was glad to have the olive spread to counteract that a bit. They do give you a lot of meat, so extra points for that, but I’m not sure I would pay $15 for that sandwich outside of the stadium. Ballpark food is overpriced, and this is no exception. Still, this is probably the best deal out of all the other stadium offerings.

A decent, but not great, sandwich

After an exciting start the game, the Yankee offense really slowed down and the Blue Jays took the lead. It got a bit boring after a while so we headed back down for some more beers and to grab a snack. We head straight for the Garlic Fries stand and picked up a large order to share. We also picked up a small order for our friend, but there wasn’t a huge difference in the size. We were probably better off sticking with a small order, as it was a fairly substantial portion to begin with, and these fries are rich and filling.

DSCN1664 The fries are topped with tons of freshly chopped garlic and parsley so they’re really flavorful, but they were also a bit oily. I enjoyed them a lot but you really can’t eat too many without feeling overwhelmed. And you’ll definitely want a mint or gum afterward. They were really tasty though, and I’d definitely get them again the next time I’m at the stadium.

Garlicky garlic fries

Overall I wasn’t super impressed with Lobel’s or the other options at Yankee Stadium. To be fair, I didn’t try any of the other options but nothing else really appealed to me. Places like Brother Jimmy’s and Johnny Rockets I can get outside of the stadium. I would like to try Mike’s Deli the next time though. I did enjoy the Garlic Fries a lot, and I thought they were a great twist on traditional stadium food. We’ll be heading to Citi Field in a week for my first visit there and I can’t wait to see what it has to offer.

Tags: Baseball, Fries, Sandwiches, Yankees
Posted in Sports Arena | Comments Off on Yankee Stadium – Lobel’s and Garlic Fries

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