RUMBLE AT 24TH AND HAMPSHIRE, PT 1: DAGWOOD'S

Both relative newcomers to the block, Dagwood and Scoops and Pal's Takeaway offer the Eastern edge of 24th street different takes on deli sandwiches. Pal's only exists for part of the week, crammed into a tiny corner of a liquor store during weekday (and now Saturday) lunch hours. Dagwood's, kitty-corner from Pal's, is a full-time sandwich shop, but with some assorted groceries and an ice cream counter awkwardly shoe-horned in. Although we had tried both shops before, the fact that we ate at both this week means that a showdown was inevitable! Kicking off this battle is the Holy Mole sandwich from Dagwood's. This chicken sandwich featured chicken, molé sauce, queso oaxaca, slaw, and avocado. The guy behind the counter asked what kind of bread, and if we wanted it toasted. This is a minus to me, because I think that if they came up with the recipe, they should know which bread is best- or at least make a suggestion. It's not a huge drawback, however. We went with toasted sweet roll, which seemed like the most appropriate choice. The end results, unfortunately, were mixed. The molé sauce was very creamy, almost mayo-like, and had a very subtly sweet flavor. In fact, the taste of the molé was so subdued that it was virtually overpower by the slaw. On top of that, the chicken was not chunks of roasted chicken in molé sauce, but rather deli slices of packaged chicken (like Boar's Head or Primo Taglio). In effect, this was not a chicken molé sandwich, but more accurately a sandwich inspired by chicken molé. It wasn't bad, but it certainly fell short of our expectations, and given the fact that it cost eight dollars, seemed very overpriced. Still, it we both agreed it was better the other sandwich we got from Dagwood's that day...