veggies and tartine bread

I was given a loaf a bread from Tartine this week.  This bread is the best!  When I've gotten it fresh outa the oven I can't even make it home without inhaling half the loaf, it's super fluffy and moist and when it's fresh it seems to just melt in the mouth. 

One of the best things about great bread (well good ingredients in general) is that you don't have to do much to make a great tasting meal.  With the weird summer fog San Francisco has been experiencing I've been very lazy in the mornings this week.  I've been staying in bed longer, not wanting to put a lot of effort into prepping food for the day and also I've been running out the door late.  So lunch has been thrown together rather haphazardly.  

This sandwich features Tartine's Country Bread, sliced pink lady apple, spinach, sharp cheddar, dijon burgundy mustard, spinach, and red onion.  I tend to eat some version of this a lot and I really like how balanced all the flavors tend to be, sweet and savory with a hint of heat. 

RUMBLE AT 24TH AND HAMPSHIRE, PT 2: DAGWOOD'S CONTINUED

Called "The Billy", this was the second sandwhich Els and I picked up at Dagwood's. The sandwich is advertised as featuring goat cheese, olive spread, tomato, cucumber and sprouts. We opted for toasted sliced wheat bread. While the Holy Molé was fine if perhaps underwhelming, this sandwich was pretty much just bad. The goat cheese and olive spread were both extemely salty, hiding the other flavors of the sandwich. There wasn't really that much else to hide, however; the sandwich-maker had opted to substitute shredded iceberg lettuce for the sprouts, and hadn't included any tomatos at all. Also, this sandwich cost seven dollars!! This basically sums up my impression of Dagwood's: they have some pretty good-sounding sandwiches, and it seems like a fair amount of thought and creativity went into the menu, but the execution is totally lacking. I'm always rooting for new sandwich shops to be great, but Dagwood's doesn't really seem to have it together yet. Next up: Pal's Takeaway!

it's a pretty good place

After learning of a 3+ hour long wait for Ike's the other day, AW decided to take me to the Sandwich Place on Mission between 16th and 17th.  It's a fairly unassuming lil shop, not much sets it apart from the outside and inside it's pretty tiny.  A large vegetarian menu covers one wall while a meat menu covers the other, both have hot and cold options.  We showed up a little after 2pm on a Saturday and the women running the shop were starting to close up but said if we ordered cold sandwiches they would make them.  I ordered the Vegi Vegi which featured mixed greens, avocado, red onion, swiss cheese and sun-dried tomato mayo.

We walked over to Dolores Park and chowed down!  The two things that really set this sandwich apart from most others was that the ratio of fillings to bread was on the smaller side and that the bread was amazing!!!  Mildly sweet, super fluffy and soft.  While we were waiting at the deli, one woman was tearing a loaf up for bread pudding - I defiantly want to go back to try that!

The prices were great too! It's hard to find a decent sandwich that's satisfying for under $7.  So what I'm saying is, y'all gots ta go! great veggi and meat selections for not a lot and it doesn't seem to be as well known as some of the other places in the neighborhood where you'd likely have to wait an epic amount of time to get lunch.

Avocado + Tomato @ Langer's Delicatessen

So a friend was visiting me in LA and we were invited to lunch at Langer's Deli. For those unfamiliar, Langer's is often spoken of in the same breath as Canter's, which AW has written about several times. True enough, there were a lot of compare and contrast discussions going on at the table, with this group of people leaning toward Langer's mainly. Normally I wouldn't go out of my way to eat an $10 sandwich, and secondly, these places aren't known for their veggie options, but I figured, why not?

There were two veggie options, "Veggie" and "Avocado and Tomato". I picked the latter, and boy they were not kidding, it really was just avocado and tomato with a little lettuce and mayo on top. It was still, like, 5-inches-tall, but there wasn't a lot of sandwich to celebrate. I can't say I was disappointed because I wasn't expecting much, but it was pretty underwhelming for a $10 sandwich. It wasn't even $5 sandwich good. Maybe $2. No hate for the place, just stating facts: This sandwich was bland.

On the flip-side, everyone who ordered meat sandwiches really really liked theirs. I was never the best candidate to review Langer's, but if any other breadxbread contributors want to give it a shot sometime, the pastrami and corned beef come highly recommended. Myself, I actually ended up going to a different sandwich shop later that day to right this wrong. Review for that forthcoming...

EAT cafe, North Hollywood

I went up to North Hollywood this morning to visit some friends. They live around the corner from this place, EAT, a pretty good breakfast/brunch diner place. I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, and I just drove 45 min. and walked in the rain to get here so I wasn't feeling very adventurous. I got the standard veggie sandwich, even though there was another, more interesting veggie sandwich option on the specials menu. No shenanigans today.

I forgot to take a photo at the place so this is actually after I got home and it got kinda soggy and deflated. But it hit the spot! It had the standard veggie ingredients but I'm pretty sure they added honey too [add. I was not wrong, I reread the ingredients and they are such: Lettuce, Tomato, Cucumber, Avocado, Sprouts, Jack Cheese & Honey Mustard Spread on Whole Grain Bread.]. I ended up taking a nap later and waking up wishing I had a 3rd half of sandwich waiting in the fridge. Would do again!

Roxie Food Center

(second image from yelp)

Roxie Food Center, San Jose Ave & Havelock, San Francisco

Liquor store sandwiches are the new big thing in the Mission, but these guys have been making sandwiches in a little liquor store in the Ingleside/Outer Mission area for over 20 years. I had never heard of them until recently, but after reading their yelp reviews, I wanted to try it out. So today I stopped in on my way home. From the outside, this place looks like any other liquor store in the city, and a pretty small one at that. About a third of the store is given over to the deli. Lots of old 49ers memorabilia, old city college sports stuff, and signed pictures of local celebrities.

Their sandwich selection is classic and huge. Lots of different meat choices, lots of cheeses, and lots of breads, including both regular sourdough and extra sour sourdough (!). The people working there were really friendly, and didn't flinch when I ordered my veggie sandwich without mayo and cheese. There's three sizes of sandwiches here. They aren't as cheap as you might imagine from the humble exterior. The junior size was $6, I think the regular was $8, and the large somewhere around $10. I ordered the junior because I wasn't that hungry. But seriously, calling this thing a junior is kind of a joke. Do you see it? It's fucking huge! I can't imagine how big the large must be.

Anyway, on to the sandwich. Great sandwich. You could put just about anything on toasted extra sour sourdough bread and I'd be happy, but this was a really interesting veggie sandwich, not just a meat sandwich without meat. Mustard, pickles, tomatoes, jalapeño, onions, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, avocado and, most surprisingly, kidney beans! I used to dislike artichoke hearts, but I've been coming around to them lately.  The mushrooms were the briney, canned kind rather than fresh dry mushrooms.  Italian flavors.  Rich and tasty.


This place is definitely out there, but it's worth the trip.  Not much of a place to sit but Balboa Park is down the street.  Excellent. Ahhhhhhhhh I will go back.

toasted vegan sandwich

st. francis diner, 24th & york, san francisco

I'll admit it, I had never eaten at the St. Francis before this. I had gone in to buy candy and trading cards (specifically Michael Jackson and Beverly Hills, 90210 trading cards), but in almost five years of living in the area, I had never gotten around to eating there. I know, I know . . . It's kind of like admitting to not having seen Citizen Kane or read Slaughterhouse Five. Anyway, I finally ate there . . . and it was great!

I got the toasted vegan sandwich on sourdough and oooooooooh it was good. So so good. Grilled portobello, tomato, bell pepper, and greens on warm crispy bread. But what made my day was that they put vegannaise on it. I never really buy vegannaise, because I try to avoid fake-y products and also don't make that many deli-style sandwiches at home. But this sandwich made me reconsider, because the fatty creamy taste on this sandwich was really good. Also so many choices for sides! And a pickle spear on the side (200000 extra points!)! All for pretty cheap!

I never would have though this place would have so many non-meat/dairy options (vegan milkshakes! vegan sausage!) and now I will go back there as soon as I have more money and am hungry.

pasta salad sandwich

pasta salad sandwich

I've been thinking about making this sandwich for a couple weeks, and this Sunday I did it. Macaroni pasta with cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, and "bac-un" bits, tossed with italian dressing, on a bun with fake cheese and real barbecue sauce. I figured keeping this sandwich structurally intact would be the main obstacle, so I got a big rounded Semifreddi's roll and hollowed out one side so the bread would hold everything in, like a salad hat.

Sweet and starchy.

veggie torta el primo

tortas el primo, folsom and 21st, san francisco

This veggie torta had lettuce, onions, tomato, guacamole and pickled jalapeño on a nice big soft roll. Normally it comes with queso fresco and mayo, which may have made this sandwich a little tastier (if you eat that stuff), but are by no means necessary, because this was a really nice torta without them. They grill the sandwich after constructing it, enough to warm the bread and crisp up the crust a little bit, but it's not grilled through like a panini. The ingredients were fresh and crisp, and the mellow, cool flavor of the bread and veggies was pleasantly interrupted now and then by nice big pieces of jalapeño. This sandwich was like summer on a bun.

They didn't seem to have a whole lot of other vegan-friendly options, but their menu is pretty big for the meat eaters. I never made it to their second location on 22nd, which recently closed, but their original location on Folsom and 21st is a nice big airy space, with a giant-sized plasma tv and giant-sized mexican sodas.