hot pastrami and swiss

arguello's deli, arguello & cabrillo, san francisco

the aim of this blog is not sandwich criticism or comparison, but more just plain sandwich appreciation. so when I come across a sandwich that doesn't live up to expectations, it kind of leaves me at a loss. this is one of those sandwiches. its not that it was bad, per se- it just wasn't, you know, awesome. JoJoJoJo vouched for the hot pastrami and swiss at Arguello's, so I thought I'd give it a shot. but once again, I'd found myself at the deli counter well after the lunch hours, and frankly I don't think the guys behind the counter really have their hearts in it by five in the afternoon. as you can see, this sandwich is on sesame roll- that isn't by choice. it was the only roll they had left. I guess they must have their rolls delivered every morning, because otherwise I don't know why a grocery store would be out of rolls. as is also evident from the photos, this wasn't really stacked with pastrami. that's not necessarily a bad thing, but I think I prefer that the meat in a sandwich not be dwarfed by the bread or other ingredients. and finally.... this was supposed to be a hot sandwich, but it was more luke-warm. swiss cheese doesn't always melt very easily, but the cheese on this was hardly melted at all. it wasn't a bad sandwich, but I'm willing to bet that the same sandwich is a lot better if you show up during their peak hours.