fried veal – Michael Eats

A Great Veal Sandwich at Palma’s Kitchen

Published on November 24, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3485 Semenyk Court, Mississauga
Website: https://palmapasta.com/

I found this place after typing “veal sandwich” into Google Maps while shopping (hey, sometimes you’ve gotta have a veal sandwich), but Palma’s Kitchen has quite a bit more going on than that. There’s the typical Italian hot table, along with a small but fairly extensive supermarket selection.

They have a handful of sandwiches on the menu; I went for the veal, and had it topped simply, with just hot peppers — I don’t think a good sandwich like this needs anything else, and this is definitely a good one.

It’s that sauce. It has such a delightfully rich, savoury flavour; I could eat it out of a bowl like soup.

The veal is served from a hot table, so its crispiness is long gone, but when the sauce is this tasty and it’s really soaked into the veal (which is melt-in-your-mouth tender), you don’t miss it.

The bread — clearly very fresh — suits the sandwich perfectly, with a very light exterior crispiness, and enough heft within to hold up to the saucy veal (but not so much that it feels overly dense). It’s great quality bread.

I wish the hot peppers were a bit hotter (okay, a lot hotter — they’re only mildly spicy), but this was otherwise a seriously great sandwich.

A Great Veal Sandwich at Cosimo’s Cheese and Deli

Published on April 4, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1051 Dundas Street West, Mississauga
Website: https://www.instagram.com/mammaangelinacooks/

Cosimo’s Cheese and Deli is a delightfully old school Italian deli in Mississauga; it’s been around for over thirty years, and it looks like not much has changed since they opened (hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it).

It’s a full deli with the usual assortment of cold cuts, cheese, and Italian pantry items, but it also serves hot sandwiches like veal and meatball.

I went with the veal, which — assuming you ask for everything — comes topped with a mix of peppers, onions, and eggplant, along with a fiery pepper paste.

It came up to $13 even (and it’s a cash-only establishment, so come prepared) and is a seriously hefty sandwich, so it’s a great deal. I was planning on eating half and then saving the rest for later, which obviously did not happen. I mean, come on. I’m sure there are people out there who have the self-control to stop eating a delicious veal sandwich halfway through, but I am not one of those people.

It’s a great sandwich. The veal is super tender, and the sauce it comes with is richly flavourful, with a nice garlicky punch that doesn’t overwhelm. My only real complaint is that this is a hot table place, which means that the veal has been sitting in the sauce. On one hand, that results in a piece of veal that’s really soaked up that tasty tomato sauce; on the other hand, you lose the crispy texture of the fried veal, which is missed.

The sandwich winds up being kind of one-note soft; the veal is incredibly tender, the bread is fluffy with no exterior crustiness, and the toppings are all silky, resulting in basically one texture throughout. But it’s so delicious that is is a very minor complaint.

A Lauded Veal Sandwich at Kantene

Published on October 25, 2019October 29, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1059 Dundas Street West, Mississauga
Website: https://kantene.com/

The Veal Supreme at Kantene was recently named the best veal sandwich in Ontario by a group including John Cattuchi (of You Gotta Eat Here and Big Food Bucket List fame). If that’s not a reason to check the place out, I don’t know what is.

The sandwich consists of “Grilled Eggplant, melted Bocconcini in a fresh tomato based basil sauce with melted Provolone and crispy Parmesan on a soft bun.”

It’s a solid veal sandwich. The breading is nicely seasoned and has the perfect amount of crunch, and the veal is nice and tender (if a bit dry).

The sauce doesn’t quite have the oomph you’ll find in the best veal sandwiches, but it’s certainly tasty enough. And of course, tender eggplant and veal are best friends.

The bocconcini wasn’t quite melted all the way through, but for the most part it was gooey and satisfying. As for the crispy Parmesan, it’s a great idea in theory, but it had a profoundly burnt, bitter flavour that was actually quite unpleasant.

You can get the sandwich mild or spicy; the spicy version features pickled peppers that do a nice job of cutting through the richness of the sandwich. They’re quite mild, however, and I missed the intensely spicy bite of the un-pickled peppers you normally find in a sandwich like this.

The bread is great, with a lightly crispy exterior and a fluffy interior that holds up admirably to the very saucy sandwich.

Its a tasty sandwich — but I don’t think it’s the best in Mississauga, let alone all of Ontario.

Tasty Fried Veal at San Francesco

Published on June 18, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5101 Dixie Road, Mississauga
Website: http://sanfrancescos.com/

There’s nothing quite like a veal sandwich. It’s just a whole bunch of fried veal and rich tomato sauce in a hearty bun. It’s probably not something you want to be eating on a regular basis (unless you’re keen on getting a massive heart attack), but every now and then it has to happen. It’s pure, unadulterated comfort food.

My go-to is California Sandwiches, but a location of San Francesco recently opened near me, so I figured I’d give them a shot.

You can choose from all kinds of toppings for an additional fee, but I went with the basic sandwich and ordered it spicy, which meant it came with a generous amount of blazing-hot jalapenos.

The thing that stands out the most about the sandwich is how incredibly tender the veal is; it might just be the most tender veal I’ve ever had in a sandwich like this. Your teeth glide right through it like butter. It’s amazing.

The exterior is moderately crispy, but not quite enough to hold up to the sauce — it sogs up almost instantly. It’s not quite as good as California Sandwiches in that regard.

Speaking of California Sandwiches, I think their sauce is marginally better; the sauce here is quite tasty, but it feels like the flavour could (and should) be amped up by a notch or two.

I think California has the overall superior sandwich, but it’s very, very close.

The sizes are a bit funny. They have two sizes: baby and regular. I ordered the regular, and my dining companion ordered the baby. As it turns out, I (and anyone with a normal-sized appetite) would be perfectly happy with the baby. Regular is enormous. Baby should really be called regular, and regular should be called jumbo.

Veal Sandwich Greatness at Uno Mustachio

Published on November 13, 2018October 17, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 95 Front Street East (inside the St. Lawrence Market)
Website: http://www.unomustachio.com/

I’m not sure exactly how long I’ve been eating sandwiches at Uno Mustachio, but it’s been at least a couple of decades, if not longer.

Actually, “sandwiches” isn’t right. Sandwich.

As far as I’m concerned, there’s only one thing to order at Uno Mustachio: the veal and eggplant sandwich. The other sandwiches and pastas they have on the menu might be delicious; I’ll never know. I don’t go there nearly often enough to mess around. Veal and eggplant for life.

It’s a simple enough sandwich: a fried veal cutlet, a couple of slices of fried eggplant, sauteed onions, peppers, and mushrooms, a generous ladle of tomato sauce, and some hot peppers if you feel like kicking it up a few notches. It’s all served on a crusty roll that does a great job of holding up to the very messy sandwich without falling apart.

It’s as delicious now as the day I started going there.

You can get fried veal sandwiches all over the city, but (and maybe this is my nostalgia talking), Uno Mustachio is the king. All of the components are so well prepared, and they all complement each other so well.

The simple but rich tomato sauce is great, and — this is key — they apply it to the top and bottom of the sandwich instead of dunking the fried components right in. This allows the sandwich to be nice and saucy, but prevents the crispy fried bits from sogging up.

The creamy eggplant complements the meaty veal perfectly, and the whole thing feels so well balanced despite how hefty and messy it is. It’s easily one of the best sandwiches in the city.