pommard's chicken sandwich

pommard deli, middlefield & loma verde, palo alto

Pommard's: the best Palo Alto deli that refuses to admit it is a deli and instead tries to convince you it is a pizzeria for some awful reason.  I don't care about their pizza, I don't want their rotisserie chicken, the fries they serve with every sandwich are pretty terrible, but man I do very much enjoy their sandwiches.  This one here was chicken with pepper jack, salsa and avocado.  WAY BETTER THAN PIZZA, POMMARD'S.

burning betsy

pommard deli, middlefield & loma verde, palo alto

I learned something during my trip to the Bay Area- experimenting does not always pay off. Although I ate at some of my favorite sandwich shops, I made an effort to try new sandwiches that I wouldn't have normally ordered... and ended up not enjoying the new sandwiches as much as my favorites (surprise!). I mean, sure it's good to try something new once in a while, but it's also good to balance that out with some old favorites. By the time I got around to eating at Pommard, I was already feeling a little burned by the sandwich choices I'd been making. Still, this sandwich- the "Burning Betsy"- sounded great! Roast beef, pepper jack cheese, roasted red bell peppers and Pommard's honey mustard (the honey mustard, which I mused about on my last Pommard visit, turns out to be an in-house creation- bummer for me, because it's really good and I'd love to have a supply of some)! I was surprised, when I arrived home, to discover that the sandwich was so wet that the bottom slice of bread had become soggy. This, I soon realized, was because the roasted red bell pepper was the type that comes in a jar, and wasn't roasted at Pommard. The wetness was off-putting, and the peppers had a bit too strong of a flavor. It wasn't a huge deal, because there were a lot of other strong flavors in the sandwich, but in the end I felt like I could have done without the peppers altogether. Interestingly, when I arrived at Pommard on this visit, they had further remodeled, and continued to push the "pizza parlor" aspect of their business. I know that they were bought out by some kind of pizza-man in the last few years, but this continues to baffle me- Pommard does sandwiches so, so well, and I can't imagine ever going there to buy pizza. I hope that this schizophrenic business approach doesn't take away from their attention on their sandwiches.

ariel's great idea

pommard deli, middlefield & loma verde, palo alto

Referred to by my family as simply "The Deli", Pommard is I think sadly overlooked by many Palo Alto residents. I've never really seen a busy day there before. It has changed a lot since I was a kid; previously, it was connected to the next door liquor store, and they didn't used to sell pizza. Nor, I think, did sandwiches used to come with french fries. But despite the changes they've gone through over the years, the sandwiches are still as great as they've ever been (my little brother, in particular, swears religiously by this deli, but I haven't been able to coax him into writing for the blog yet). Despite the availability of a wide variety of tasty sandwich options, I can never bring myself to order anything but "Ariel's Great Idea". It is a grilled chicken sandwich, topped with ham, melted swiss cheese, avocado, and a really good sweet mustard. As you can imagine, it's not the healthiest sandwich in the world, but then again, that's also why it's one of the tastiest. I'd really like to know what kind of mustard it is they put on this, because it kind of straddles the line between being dijon and being honey mustard. At any rate, it really ties the whole thing together, adding a necessary sweetness and balancing out the salty flavor of the ham and the savory flavor of the chicken. Perhaps the next time I go back I'll try something new, or coerce other members my family into writing about their favorites (my mom likes the roasted Mediterranean vegetable sandwich, my brother is particular to, I think, turkey and bacon). Pommard's also serves pizza, as I mentioned above, as well as roasted chicken and a full array of deli salads (although their deviled eggs aren't so hot). And one additional reason to check them out, if you are in the area, is that there is a Philz Coffee(!?) that recently opened next door.