the fidel

bi-rite, 18th & guererro, san francisco

I'd heard that Bi-Rite made sandwiches, but my broke ass tends to stay away from the posh yuppie haven that Bi-Rite is situated in the middle of. Because of this, I'd never actually tried their sandwiches. Ridiculous! Fortunately, I had a chance to remedy that fact over the weekend. While all of their sandwiches sounded good, I decided to go with "The Fidel", the Bi-Rite version of a Cuban sandwich. Personally I wish they had come up with a more clever name, but a rose by any other name still wouldn't taste as good as a sandwich, right? I think that's how that expression goes. Did Shakespeare ever write about sandwiches? I'm losing focus here. The centerpiece of the sandwich was pork- salty, delicious pork. I can't find a Bi-Rite menu online, and to be honest, I didn't take good note of the ingredients, so I can't tell you what kind of sauce was on this. I can say that it was greasy and very tasty, and that the saltiness of the meat was offset nicely by the sour crunchiness of pickles and (I think?) coleslaw. I suppose my one complaint about the sandwich was that it was fairly small, given its price- but then, you are shopping at Bi-Rite because you are paying for quality, right?

UPDATE:
I found the menu, which wasn't hard to find at all and I'm not sure why I couldn't the first time. ANYWAY:
"Slow-roasted Heritage pork shoulder, coleslaw, pickled jalapeno peppers, dijon mustard, and aioli on a toasted Acme roll. "
So if that sounds good to you, I suggest you purchase this sandwich and then eat it.

philippe's lamb french dip

philippe's, alameda & main, los angeles

Heh, didn't intend this (the follow-up to Philippe's beef french dip) to take so long to post about. What can I say, I'm a lazy, lazy man. Hungry, too. I mostly wish I had gotten around to posting this earlier because, as good as the beef french dip was, this was WAY BETTER. The server carved up some of this roast lamb right there, put it in a french roll, and slopped on some drippings. And daaaang was this a tasty sandwich. So meaty.... so salty.... so filling. As great as the spicy mustard was, I wanted nothing to take away from the flavor of the meat and did without. I had lamb stuck in my teeth for hours afterwards. Next time I go to Philippe's I'm getting at least one of these.