Sandwiches « Two Fat Bellies

Posts Tagged ‘Sandwiches’

Big Nick’s Pizza & Burger Joint

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009 by virginia

Since Amadeus Pizza was such a bust the last time, Josh and I continued on our quest for finding the best go-to pizza place. This time I perused delivery.com and found a 20% coupon for Big Nick’s Pizza & Burger Joint. We got our standard order of a large cheese pie, a chicken parm hero, and garlic knots.

Everything arrived hot, which was a huge plus. The pizza looked a little disheveled as a result of being transported, but it was appropriately browned, not like the pale pie Amadeus sent us.

A slight disheveled pizza

Josh and I had differing opinions about Big Nick’s pizza. He thought the crust was too thick, a big no-no for him. I thought the crust was a bit thicker than most but it was far from a pan pizza, and it had a nice crunch to it. I also really liked the sauce, which had a lot of herbs mixed into it that gave it more flavor. While not amazing, I thought this was a pretty decent pie.

Underside shot

The chicken parm on the other hand was pretty gross. I don’t know if they served it on a whole wheat roll (which was an option, but I didn’t select that option) but the bread just tasted weird. It definitely had a wheat flavor and was way too sweet. The flavor of the roll clashed with the flavors of the chicken parmesan. They also wrapped the sandwich in a way that all the cheese stuck to the foil and pulled off when I tried to open it. It was just a bad version overall.

A pretty bad chicken parm sandwich

The garlic knots were also just eh. They were a bit cold and stale and didn’t pack much of a garlic punch.

Just ok garlic knots

The overall verdict for Big Nick’s Pizza? Thumbs down. While I enjoyed the pizza, it was not so spectacular that it overcame the faults of its chicken parm hero and garlic knots. Josh didn’t like the pizza because he hated the thicker crust, so basically this was a no-brainer. However, we didn’t try the “Burger Joint” part of Big Nick’s, so maybe we’ll stop by there one day to check out their massive list of burger offerings. But as for the pizza, our quest continues and we’ll be ordering in from a new place next time.

Big Nick’s Pizza & Burger Joint
70 West 71^st St. at Columbus Ave.
New York, NY

Tags: Delivery, Pizza, Sandwiches, Upper West Side
Posted in Restaurants | 1 Comment »

Another Trip to Coppersmith’s

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 by virginia

The $6.95 lunch special at Coppersmith’s is quickly becoming a favorite for me and Rodney. It’s still a bit of a hike for us during our lunch hour but the food is consistently great and the quiet bar is a nice place for us to chat and catch up.

I recently tried the grilled chicken sandwich with buffalo sauce, which was two thin but large pieces of grilled chicken covered in a nicely tangy buffalo sauce. The sauce has a nice vinegary kick to it but it isn’t too spicy. The chicken is served on a kaiser roll and topped with lettuce, tomato, and red onion.

Grilled chicken sandwich with buffalo sauce

The kaiser roll really works well with this sandwich, as a regular bun would not be sturdy enough to contain all the fillings and the sauce. I always get a container of bleu cheese dressing on the side and slather that on as needed. I’m not the hugest fan of bleu cheese but sometimes I use it to temper the spiciness of the buffalo sauce. The sandwich also comes with a big pile of their always perfectly cooked french fries.

Autopsy shot

Out of all the bars in our neighborhood, Coppersmith’s is quickly becoming my favorite. They have a nice selection of beers on tap and lots of big tv screens to watch games on. There is also a lot of seating, which I find important in any bar. It’s just a great place to grab a bite, have a drink, and hang out.

Coppersmith’s
793 9^th Ave. between 52^nd and 53^rd St.
New York, NY

Tags: Bars, Lunch, Midtown West, Sandwiches
Posted in Restaurants | Comments Off on Another Trip to Coppersmith’s

Margon

Friday, July 17th, 2009 by virginia

DSCN1283

One of my favorite lunch places is Margon, a little Cuban restaurant on 46^th St. There are seats in the back and at the counter, but the place is really tiny so we always take our order to go. Josh and I usually get Cuban sandwiches and an order of tostones. The food is really heavy and filling, and I always feel a bit guilty after eating it but their Cuban sandwiches really are the best. They add salami to them, which is not a traditional ingredient (though that has been debated). It adds an extra layer of flavor to the already packed sandwich, which has roasted pork, ham, cheese, pickles, mayo, mustard, and garlic sauce.

Cuban sandwich

My major issue with Margon is that their sandwiches are inconsistent, especially when you go during prime lunch hours. There is often a crowd waiting at the sandwich counter and I think it gets a bit overwhelming. Too often the sandwich is either overly toasted or underdone, as the lone man operating the sandwich press is also the one who has to put all the sandwiches together. When he gets its just right, however, the sandwiches are incredible – crispy, ooey gooey, salty, sweet, garlicky and mustardy. This time though, my sandwiches ended up a bit underdone, as the bread was still too fluffy and didn’t get a chance to crisp up. The fillings were hot though, and the cheese was still nicely melted.

Sandwich innards - the bread isn't as pressed down as it should be

After I picked up my sandwich, I ordered tostones from the woman running the register. I asked for garlic sauce (mojo) on top, and she nodded and went to get the tostones from the steam table side of the restaurant. She returned with a container, sans mojo. As she rang up my order, I again asked for garlic sauce, and she claimed they didn’t have any. Seriously? A Cuban restaurant doesn’t have mojo? Total BS.

Sad and dry tostones

I didn’t know what else to say, and there was a long line of people waiting so I just took my order and left. I don’t know if the woman just forgot about the mojo initially and then was too lazy to go back and get some, or what, but Josh and I get tostones all the time and they always put mojo on top of them for us. Their tostones without mojo are just dry, greasy, and flavorless. I wouldn’t have ordered them if I had known I couldn’t get any garlic sauce.

Luckily Josh’s coworkers leave around bottles of hot sauce at the office, so I played with a few varieties to top off the sadly dry tostones. My favorite was made from tomatillos and roasted garlic, which was nicely tangy but way too spicy for me. Next time I just won’t order the tostones until I confirm that there is mojo sauce available.

Roasted garlic and tomatillo hot sauce couldn't save the bad tostones

One bad tostone experience aside, I really do like Margon and their Cuban sandwiches. The sandwiches are gooey and greasy, but that’s what makes them so delicious. But it also means that they’re only an occasional treat for us, because contrary to popular belief, we do try to watch what we eat most of the time. At $6 each, they do make a really cheap and filling lunch.

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

Tags: Cuban, Lunch, Midtown, Sandwiches
Posted in Restaurants | Comments Off on Margon

Vegas Reprise Day 2 – Lounging by the Pool

Sunday, July 12th, 2009 by virginia

DSCN1152

As the temperature was close to a staggering 110 degrees, we opted to relax by the pool at The Signature rather than sweat it out on the strip. We ordered lunch from the pool menu, which doesn’t offer great variety but has the benefit of being delivered right to your lounge chair. And of course we had to have frozen cocktails, a mango margarita for me and a pina colada for Josh, though they melted rapidly in the heat.

Pina colada and mango margarita

We shared an order of chicken tenders and fries, which came with bbq sauce, honey mustard, and ranch dressing. You can’t go wrong with fried foods, although the chicken tenders were a bit heavy on the breading.

Chicken tenders and fries

We also split a grilled chicken panini with pesto sauce and mozzarella cheese. I wish it had been toasted for just a bit longer, as it wasn’t quite warm and melty enough, but it was pretty tasty and the serving size was fairly substantial.

Grilled chicken panini with pesto

We ordered another round of drinks later in the afternoon – a twisted pink lemonade for me and another pina colada for Josh.

More frozen drinks

Overall it was not really a great meal, and pricey for what you get, but I wasn’t expecting great or cheap food to be served at the pool. We had a wonderful day lounging by the pool and reading, only jumping in the water when the heat was too much to bear. And the lounge chairs are really comfortable – I took the most delicious nap in the late afternoon and woke up just as the sun was starting to set. It may not have been an exciting day in Vegas, but it was just perfect for us.

Tags: Las Vegas, Sandwiches
Posted in Restaurants, Travel | Comments Off on Vegas Reprise Day 2 – Lounging by the Pool

Back in Seattle – Le Panier

Sunday, June 28th, 2009 by virginia

DSCN0915

We docked back in Seattle early in the morning after our Alaska cruise was over. We got off the ship as soon as we could to avoid the crowds but we still had a few hours to kill before our flight back home. So what did we do to kill the time? Go back to Pike Place Market of course.

Case of delicious looking sweet pastries

We stopped into Le Panier, a french bakery, for some breakfast. They had delicious looking tarts and pastries but all we could focus on was the bread.

Savory tarts

The french baguettes looked and smelled incredible, and we couldn’t wait to rip into one. We saw a case of sandwiches made on those beautiful baguettes, and we headed straight for them. Josh and I both wanted a ham and cheese sandwich. We placed our order, and as the bakery worker was handing over the wrapped sandwiches, Josh looked at them and asked if she was sure they were ham and cheese, because the meat looked a bit pale in color and there was lettuce on the sandwich, which wasn’t in the ham and cheese description on the menu. The worker looked at them and said yes, they were ham and cheese. So we said ok and left.

Assortment of baguette sandwiches

While we were eating the sandwiches, I kept looking for cheese but didn’t taste any. The meat was also still really pale and kind of stringy in texture. I realized we had received turkey sandwiches, not ham and cheese. Not that the sandwich was bad. It was actually pretty tasty, and the bread was fantasticly crispy and chewy at the same time. But it was not the ham and cheese we were looking forward to having. It was just annoying because Josh specifically asked her if she was sure they were ham and cheese, and she said yes. Arg.

Turkey, not ham, and no cheese

This being Seattle, we also got some coffee for Josh and a iced mochaccino for me. I don’t usually drink fancy coffee drinks but I was in the mood for something cold. This was actually really good, not too bitter and not too sweet, with a hint of chocolate.

Hot coffee and iced mochaccino

Despite the sandwich mistake, I really liked Le Panier. I take my bread very seriously and I’m still craving their baguettes. The other bakery offerings also looked really good but I wasn’t in the mood for sweets that morning. I would definitely come back here and try some other stuff. The macarons were decently sized and pretty cheap, relative to NYC. And I loved the mochaccino I had. The coffee there was so good that Josh’s mom went back and got another iced coffee after she finished her first. I definitely recommend it for anyone who might be going to Seattle.

Le Panier
1902 Pike Place
Seattle, WA

After we filled our bellies with the wrong sandwiches, we walked through the outdoor portion of the market and drooled over all the beautiful produce.

Mushrooms galore

Piles of cherries

All in all it was a great way to spend a few hours before heading to the airport and taking the long flight back to NJ. We didn’t get home to NYC until after midnight but we really had a great trip overall.

Tags: Sandwiches, Seattle
Posted in Bakeries, Travel | Comments Off on Back in Seattle – Le Panier

Sunrise Delicatessen

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 by virginia

DSCN8064

Sunrise is pretty much a generic midtown deli but it offers a quick and reliable sandwich for those days when you don’t have time to linger over lunch. It’s located right across the street from Josh’s office and therefore makes it a convenient go-to place. We usually split two sandwiches – turkey and swiss on a roll with lettuce, tomato and honey mustard, and “The Godfather”, which is a huge Italian hero (salami, ham, provolone) with roasted peppers, lettuce and tomato. The honey mustard though is the thick gooey kind that packs a punch on your sinuses if you eat too much at once, and therefore I love it.

Turkey and swiss on a roll with honey mustard sauce on the side.

One of the best features of The Godfather is the bread that it’s served on, which is a quintessential chewy Italian bread with sesame seeds sturdy enough to contain the sandwich contents but not stale or too tough to bite through easily. A container of oil and vinegar on the side, drizzled on right before eating so that the sandwich doesn’t get soggy, is the perfect complement.

The Godfather

The Godfather, which includes a side of potato chips (sometimes slightly stale but always better than no chips at all, especially if you’re feeling a bit peckish), is really a great deal at $7.25 (the turkey and swiss sandwich clocks in at $7.50). If you didn’t have two fat bellies like us, you could definitely save a half for dinner and still be satisfied.

Sunrise Delicatessen
575 7th Ave. between 40th and 41st St.
New York, NY

Tags: Deli, Lunch, Midtown, Sandwiches
Posted in Restaurants | Comments Off on Sunrise Delicatessen

Posts Tagged ‘Sandwiches’

Big Nick’s Pizza & Burger Joint

Another Trip to Coppersmith’s

Margon

Vegas Reprise Day 2 – Lounging by the Pool

Back in Seattle – Le Panier

Sunrise Delicatessen

Pages

Archives

Categories

Tags