the paul reubens

ike's place, 16th & sanchez, san francisco

Ike's Place's take on the reuben, the awesomely named "Paul Reubens", doesn't taste much like an actual reuben. I anticipated that fact before ordering this- after all, it did use italian dressing rather than russian, and perhaps more interestingly, "homemade poppy seed coleslaw" rather than sauerkraut (not to mention that it is served on dutch crunch, rather than rye). The sandwich was very salty in taste, and the italian dressing/dirty sauce gave it a very creamy flavor as well. Although I liked the coleslaw, it did taste very cabbage-y, and I missed the sour bite that sauerkraut brings to a reuben. The lack of the balance that sauerkraut would typically add resulted in the salty meat/creamy sauce overwhelming the sandwich. I felt very full eating this, very quickly. It was a pretty good sandwich, but not the best that I've had at Ike's.