Most perfect sandwich?

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Apropos of nothing, I am now mentally singing "Fried Bologna" to the tune of My Sharona.

 

I blame the thread about undesirable cars.  And Weird Al.

I bought bologna at the the store the other week and selected the beef variety. I had this song stuck in my head the rest of the day.

It's not necessarily my favorite, but when a new deli opens up, I usually try the chicken salad first. 

I figure that you can make a pretty fair assessment of how good a place is going to be based on the quality of their chicken salad. If it's really good, then you can generally expect quality across the board. If it's bad, or even just meh, it tells me that they don't really care that much. 

I used to just eat chicken salad sandwiches straight up, but then started having them add lettuce and tomato (sorry Trent). Then one day I asked them to put bacon on it too, which I guess makes it a chicken salad BLT. I'm not sure if that's an actual thing or not, but it's a pretty tasty combo and I order it all the time now. 

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

I see what you did there

In reply to wae :

I can't believe nobody went there first

Woody (Forum Supportum) said:

It's not necessarily my favorite, but when a new deli opens up, I usually try the chicken salad. I figure that you can make a pretty fair assessment of how good a place is going to be based on the quality of their chicken salad. If it's really good, then you can generally expect quality across the board. If it's bad, or even just meh, it tells me that they don't really care that much. 

I used to just eat chicken salad sandwiches straight up, but then started having them add lettuce and tomato (sorry Trent). Then one day I asked them to put bacon on it too, which I guess makes it a chicken salad BLT. I'm not sure if that's an actual thing or not, but it's a pretty tasty combo and I order it all the time now. 

Ah yes, the chicken Salad club sandwich. Delicious.

Finding good delis is a huge part of life in the firehouse. And when a place is good, we become very loyal customers. 
 

Also, I prefer Portuguese rolls. 

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to wae :

I can't believe nobody went there first

Not all of us have a million dollars.

In reply to Marjorie Suddard  :

A blt is like a grilled cheese, it's just a starting point. I like mine in PBLAT version; pimento, bacon, lettuce, avo, tomato (and of course mayo of your liking).

My thoughts on the BLT is to wonder why you wound want to ruin a perfectly good bacon sandwich by putting lettuce and tomato on it? :)

As for personal favorite, I like subs with provolone and assorted Italian hams.  Skip all the produce.

I like egg salad with lettuce and tomato. Or PB&J. 

I simply cannot choose just one.
Club sandwich, pastrami on rye, BEC on a bagel, chicken parm, italian sub, veggie wrap, chicken salad, grilled cheese, PB&J... they all deserve their flowers. Different sandos for different moods, of course, but I hesitate to name a sandwich encounter that I haven't walked away from happily. 

That being said, a sandwich that holds a special place in my heart is thin-sliced prosciutto on Cuban bread, served with a cup of Pepsi. The sandwich of countless summer lunches at my grandparents' kitchen table.

If I had to, I think I could live on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Woody (Forum Supportum) 

then started having them add lettuce and tomato (sorry Trent). 

Hey, I'm not gonna yuck your yum. 

I am all about the lettuce on a sandwich though. I prefer to cut a half inch slab from the center of a head of iceberg and set that bad boy down in the sandwich. All about that CRUNCH! Peeling leaves off the head is for suckers. Nobody wants that limp leaf E36 M3.

Do breakfast sandwiches count? I was recently introduced to this creation (thanks AClockworkGarage!) and as far as I can tell, it might just be the most perfect sandwich:

A giant cinnamon roll that has been French toasted as the 'bun', then piled inside with ham, bacon, hash browns, and American cheese. 

In reply to Trent :

Man, I started reading this thread much earlier and unsurprisingly I was on board with your summary. There is no one sandwich. However, on the tomato thing I have to differ. But I am picky as hell about not just the tomato, but the preparation. It should be sliced so thin (and then sprinkled with kosher salt) that it is less of a topping than a condiment. Just a little acidity, a little vegetal tanginess. I guess it's kinda the same role as ketchup, but makes sense in places ketchup would be gross.

To the original question, I dig a BLT, but I can never make myself order them. It always feels like it won't be enough food (which isn't actually usually the case), and it's one of those ones they can screw up so badly by having subpar tomatoes (which is most of them), bacon, or even toast. They can be so good, but they can be so disappointing. Nowhere to hide when making a BLT, which startles me in the context of using it as a safe bet...

Grinder, banh mi, torta, cubano, reuben, burger, sausage inna bun, cheesesteak... I even had a really good grilled veggie and mozzarella the other week. A schnitzelwich! A well-executed turkey sandwich... Bocaditos, awesome breakfast on a single-serving baguette-ette (EDIT: berk; I always talk myself backward on the bocadillo/bocadito thing; I was thinking of the Spanish bocadillo, not to slight the apparently Cuban bocadito, I just haven't had one). Is a Monte Cristo a sandwich, a cry for help, or performance art?

I think tomorrow I might see if I can just do sandwiches for every meal. Kick things off at Fried Egg I'm In Love.

First choice - fried oyster po boy on a fresh roll.  Second choice - a legit Muffaletta.

I'mma go with Cuban. Even a mediocre Cuban is still a high-level overall experience, and a good Cuban is world class fare. 

On the simper end, it's hard to beat anything with the suffix -melt. Tuna melt with white American. Ham and Swiss melt on seedy rye. Turkey and provolone melt on sourdough. All super simple and big payoff.

Followup question: Is a patty melt a sandwich or a burger?

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

I feel like I'm stepping on a philosophical land mine, but to me, the patty makes it more of a burger than anything else, even if it feels like noting that a platypus is more of a mammal than anything else. Between the two threads we're already playing pretty fast and loose with whether there's even a distinction.

Just had an interesting sandwich experience.  

When you were a kid and you poked a hole in the bread with the Tupperware cup and fried an egg in that, did you ever think to make another and build a sando with them? This food cart did.

I would say their execution was not to my tastes but the idea is solid and I plan on firing up the blackstone tomorrow and giving this idea a go with avocado, turkey, bacon and dressed arugula. 

Speaking of patty melts, I've been known to order a "grilled chicken patty melt" from time to time, which, to me, seems fairly simple. It's a patty melt, but instead of a burger patty, it's a piece grilled chicken. I am SHOCKED at how many times I have to explain it in great detail. "Like, make a patty melt, but instead of a burger patty, use a piece of grilled chicken. Or, alternately, make me a grilled chicken sandwich, but instead of a bun put it on rye bread with cheese and sauteed onions then grill the whole thing." Seriously it doesn't seem so hard.

One place finally put it on the menu, so I guess I got through to someone at some point and made an impact, but, geez. This is not a complicated ask, people.

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

All burgers are sandwiches, not all sandwiches are burgers.

A patty melt made with a burger patty is a burger, made with a chicken patty is a chicken sandwich. 

A "chicken burger" or similar is a chicken sandwich, not a burger. See also; "plant based" burger, Turkey burger, salmon burger. Sandwiches, not burgers. 

Is a taco a sandwich? 

In no particular order....fried all-beef garlic bologna....grilled cheese and tomato.....BLT.....fried egg on white bread.....roast beef on white, with a couple of green onions and a draft beer (I learned to love this at the Airliner Hotel by the Calgary airport close to 50 years ago. It was $1.25)

In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :

I’m with you on the chicken salad. (Had that for lunch yesterday, in fact.) That’s my go-to when trying a new diner, with the fries being crucial.  

Yesterday’s sandwich was okay but the fries were kinda meh. 

Grill cheese.  Double slices of cheese, bacon grease instead of butter.