Favorite sandwich?

[HyacinthMacaw]

Screw the need for an even remotely academic topic; chances are we're hungry, and if we're not hungry now, we will be soon. We could use some vicarious sustenance. Please spare no detail--feel free to describe your favorite sandwich in as sumptuous and orgasmic a manner as you like.

Burritos, gyros, and calzones count.

For my part, I keep dreaming of this lamb gyro from a guy named Shafiq off Liberty Avenue in Jamaica, Queens, NY. It's a greasy, beautiful mess of dense chunks of spiced meat oozing all sorts of mysterious juices (and lots of salt, probably). It comes wrapped in foil, a $4 brick of a gyro, not anything like its overpriced Manhattan counterparts. Shafiq plasters his gyros with his legendary "white sauce," (a blend of mayonnaise and dill, I think) which the pita slowly absorbs even as it has been lightly brushed with oil to add sponginess. When holding the sandwich vertically, the liquid elements seep down to saturate the bottom end, increasing the unctuousness of the experience with each bite. I've only managed to eat a few in my lifetime, each never less than a month apart. Consuming more of these would constitute self-abuse. Nevertheless, I have never felt so satisfied after eating a sandwich, and I had no idea it could induce such pleasure.

Thank you, and please feel free to share!

[michpc]

My favorite sandwich: turkey, mayo, lettuce, swiss, green peppers, and red onions on a toasted everything bagel.

[thepoorstockinger]

Smoked meat sandwich (fatty ideally, medium is good too, but you'd be a moron to order lean) from Schwartz's in Montreal served with a kosher pickle, french fries and a black cherry soda. One of my favourite meals of all time.

Montreal smoked meat is similar to pastrami... only better. And Schwartz's is an old school Montreal Jewish deli that is always jam packed full of people (think Katz's only much smaller) and smelling delicious.

[pepper]

Can't beat a good BLT

This one is good as well. Snug Harbor in Grand Haven Michigan has a Grilled Parmesan Roasted Beef Club - Parmesan-grilled rye bread layered with roast beef, letttuce, tomato, bacon and swiss cheese....

Edited March 23, 2011 by pepper

[nhyn]

when I first came to the US, I was confused with all the cheese names and am also not fund of generic college-cafeteria cold cuts (even if it's a convenience store/deli that has slightly better food than the dining halls), so I came up with a combination myself that to my roommate at the time was "weird" - but I thought it made perfect sense. All the ingredients usually go together in other dishes (mostly South American dishes), so why not on a sandwich?

- Italian sub or ciabatta

- guacamole

- whole black beans

- mozzarella cheese (the one cut from a ball, not the dry variety!!)

- chipotle mayonaise

- pickles (yes, on the bread)

- if you are so inclined, a slice of bacon is fine, but mozzarella cheese is already protein-y and delicious all by itself

[kotov]

Turkey

Provolone (in generous quantities)

Lettuce

Mayo

Olive Oil

Black Pepper

Parmesan Cheese

on white bread

(maybe cucumbers if I'm feeling it)

[neuropsychosocial]

I have always hated sandwiches and bread. I do not like them in a box. I do not like them with a fox. I do not like them in a house. I do mot like them with a mouse. I do not like them here or there. I do not like them anywhere. (That's a Dr. Seuss reference, for anyone spared Seuss growing up.)

However, I once had this amazing sandwich in Vermont: french toast made from sourdough bread, ham, sharp cheddar, and real maple syrup... yum! I salivate, just thinking about it.

[soupcann314]

A really good Monte Cristo. Delicious. I've only ever had one really good one though, at a restaurant in Florida whose name escapes me.

[Owlie]

Roast beef, lettuce, cheddar, bacon, tomato, and horseradish sauce on a segment of a nice crusty baguette...

[LJK]

My undergrad friends and I have a long standing debate: Do two pieces of bread with butter in between count as a sandwich? It fits the 'any bread + filling' definition.

[Zouzax]

if we're talking about burritos, you can't beat an old-fashioned, Mexican one. I'm talking chicken or steak with mexican cheese, black beans, rice, and salsa. my mouth is watering just thinking about it. i havent had a good burrito since i left NY over 2 years ago. ugh.

[Zouzax]

My undergrad friends and I have a long standing debate: Do two pieces of bread with butter in between count as a sandwich? It fits the 'any bread + filling' definition.

well, it depends, is it a bagel or regular bread? if its regular bread I say yes to sandwich. if it's bagel bread, then it's just a bagel with butter.

[Bobbi]

First Place: Fluffer Nutter (Marshmallow Fluff and Peanut Butter)

Runner Up: Grilled Tuna and Cheese

[waddle]

NYC's 'Dirty Water' Hot Dogs: 'nuff said.

The Hat's Pastrami Sandwich: instant heart attack, on a bun

[LJK]

well, it depends, is it a bagel or regular bread? if its regular bread I say yes to sandwich. if it's bagel bread, then it's just a bagel with butter.

Well why isn't it bread and butter or buttered bread? I think those are as normal of sandwich-independent concepts as a bagel with butter (actually more normal in my opinion, why would you put butter on a bagel when you could put cream cheese on it?)

[neuropsych76]

Taco Bell or anything with jalapenos

Edited March 25, 2011 by neuropsych76

[riceandbeans]

Best = Good bread (not weirdly fresh for a week grocery store bread), sharp cheddar, tomato, grilled onions, salt, pepper, garlic powder and oregano. Pan-fried like grilled cheese.

Second best = egg in a nest (maybe not technically a sandwich since the filling is in the bread, not between two slices of bread).

[HyacinthMacaw]

Best = Good bread (not weirdly fresh for a week grocery store bread), sharp cheddar, tomato, grilled onions, salt, pepper, garlic powder and oregano. Pan-fried like grilled cheese.

Second best = egg in a nest (maybe not technically a sandwich since the filling is in the bread, not between two slices of bread).

I just googled "egg in a nest" and love the idea. Thanks for the discovery!

[PrettyVacant]

For me, it's good ol' pastrami.

[Zouzax]

Well why isn't it bread and butter or buttered bread? I think those are as normal of sandwich-independent concepts as a bagel with butter (actually more normal in my opinion, why would you put butter on a bagel when you could put cream cheese on it?)

why is the world round? why is the sky blue? sometimes these things just are, we don't have an answer

but seriously, its just my opinion... butter on one slice of bread would be bread with butter. but the act of putting the butter in between two slices of bread would make it a little butter sandwich. yum.

in terms of bagels, the terminology is different. even the thought of cream cheese makes me nauseous. im purely a butter girl. us butter people call it a 'buttered bagel' or 'bagel with butter'.

But really, in the end ... you can call it whatever you want

[antithesis]

Anything from Lucky's in Chicago. As is true with all hotdogs, you put coleslaw and french fries into any sandwich and it immediately becomes the most delicious thing on the planet.

[thepoorstockinger]

Taco Bell

That's a joke, right?

[adinutzyc]

Romanian Shawarma. Unlike anything I have ever found in the States (and definitely unlike the traditional shawarma lol).

But, if worst comes to worst, I'll take a grilled chicken sandwich with lettuce, tomato, swiss or american cheese, mayo and mustard (the regular kind not the honey one bleah). I actually like Subway's grilled chicken too, with everything I said before plus cucumbers, pickles and olives. Yum!

Or, the sandwich I've been making over and over for the past two days: grilled roasted turkey breast (you read that right, I like the meat nice and roasty), shredded cheddar cheese, mustard and lettuce, on either a tortilla or a hard roll.

Plus, I love grilled cheese. Only bread and cheese. Yum.

P.S. Whomever said they were confused about all the types of cheese in America: me too! Also, the bread types...

[Owlie]

Romanian Shawarma. Unlike anything I have ever found in the States (and definitely unlike the traditional shawarma lol).

Care to enlighten?

The Middle Eastern restaurant near the grocery store here does very nice pita "burritos." Their garlic sauce is fantastic...

[adinutzyc]

Well...(quotes from wiki):

Shawarma is made by alternately stacking strips of fat and pieces of seasoned meat (beef, lamb or marinated chicken) on a stick—an onion or tomato is sometimes placed at the top of the stack for additional flavoring. The meat is roasted slowly on all sides as the spit rotates in front of, or over, a flame for hours (see rotisserie). Traditionally a wood fire was used; currently, a gas flame is common. While specialty restaurants might offer two or more meat selections, some establishments have just one skewer.

While cooking, the meat is shaved off the stack with a large knife, an electric knife or a small circular saw, dropping to a circular tray below to be retrieved. Shawarma is eaten as a fast food, made up into a sandwich wrap with pita bread or rolled up in an Armenian Lavash flatbread together with vegetables and dressing. A variety of vegetables come with the shawarma which include: cucumber, onion, tomato, lettuce, eggplant, parsley, pickled turnips, pickled gherkins, and cabbage. You have the option to get French fries in some countries including: Jordan, Syria, , Lebanon, Israel, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, also countries in Europe such as Romania, Bulgaria and even the U.K.^[1]

I always eat mine with chicken, some sort of garlic sauce, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, french fries, all rolled in the pita. It might not sound that amazing, but the taste sure is... Come to think of it, maybe this is the traditional way to eat it, but I wasn't able to find anything comparable at Arab restaurants around NYC (it's probably because I hate lamb and that is the staple meat)