sandwich – Page 37 – Michael Eats

Cubano Disappointment at La Cubana

Published on April 3, 2018June 28, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 92 Ossington Avenue, Toronto
Website: http://www.lacubana.ca/

I love the cubano sandwich at La Cubana. Or at least, I usually do.

I was going to order something else, but then I realized that I’ve never actually written about the cubano here, and I really don’t need much more of an excuse than that.

And here’s the thing: it was good. It certainly wasn’t bad, per se. That’s the problem with serving truly great food; there’s nowhere to go but down, and even something that’s quite good is going to seem like a letdown in comparison.

The cubano here is normally the perfect amalgam of gooey cheese, savoury meats, and zingy pickles. It’s astonishingly good. Usually.

This time? It was off. Though the cheese was nice and gooey, the pork had a mildly gamy, leftovery flavour, there were almost no pickles to cut the richness of the cheese and the meat, and the bread was dry and overly crunchy. I ate the sandwich as carefully as I could, and it still thoroughly mangled the roof of my mouth.

Has La Cubana gone downhill? Or was the kitchen just having a bad day? I’ll feel bad if it’s the latter — but they served me what they served me, so I don’t feel too bad about it.

Waffle Double Down at KFC

Published on March 28, 2018April 12, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

As ridiculous as the Waffle Double Down looks (and yeah, it is ridiculous), it’s basically just an oddball presentation of chicken and waffles. And everybody loves chicken and waffles. So it follows that this thing must be pretty good too, right?

Right?

Well… it’s not awful, I’ll give it that.

The Waffle Double Down is actually pretty simple: it’s two fried chicken patties encasing a Belgian waffle with maple aioli.

I sort of figured that the aioli would be subtly sweet, but I think it might actually be sweeter than just plain maple syrup. As soon as I unwrapped the sandwich (assuming that this thing even qualifies as a sandwich, which is questionable), the maple aroma hit me in the face like a ton of bricks.

And that was one of the main issues: the sandwich is way, way too sweet. I like the combo of sweet and salty, and I quite like chicken and waffles, but this is leaning way too hard in the direction of in-your-face sweetness. It’s almost dessert.

The other issue is the chicken itself. You can get it regular or spicy; I went with spicy, because if someone asks you if you want something spicy, the correct answer is always yes. And it’s not bad — the exterior was crispy and tasty, with a decent kick. But the chicken was overcooked and dry, and since there’s so much of it, that’s an issue. I had to constantly chug water between bites just to keep my mouth from completely drying out.

The waffle was exactly what you’d think it would be. If you’ve ever had prepackaged Belgian waffles, then you know what you’re getting. It’s fine.

I actually wish that they’d drop the gimmick and just make this a regular waffle sandwich. Because as it is, there’s an absurd amount dry chicken and not enough waffle. The proportion is off. It doesn’t taste right.

Oh, and this thing cost about $10.50 with tax, which is crazypants. It is absolutely not worth that much money.

Tasty Deli Sandwiches at Rose and Sons

Published on March 20, 2018 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

If you were lucky enough to try Caplansky’s at its original digs in the Monarch Tavern, then you’ll know that it was truly something special. One of the things that made their smoked meat stand out was its intensely smoky flavour. This was greatly diminished once they moved to their permanent location and had to start making the meat in greater quantities (and of course, in a sad turn of events, Caplansky’s is now gone altogether).

Well, it looks like Torontonians craving that unique smokiness now have somewhere to go, because Rose and Sons was recently transformed into an old-school deli, and they’re serving up pastrami with a distinctively smoky flavour.

It’s actually quite good — I got the hot pastrami sandwich, and my only real complaint is that the meat should have been a bit fattier (they called it medium, but it was much closer to lean).

That’s an easy fix, though: I’ll ask for it fatty the next time I go, because there’s definitely going to be a next time. It’s a great sandwich, with perfectly thick slices of tender, smoky, nicely spiced pastrami.

I also tried the potato and onion knish, which didn’t fare quite as well. I think this might have been the second or third knish I’ve had in my entire life, so it’s possible that I’m just not a fan — but this was dry pastry encasing bland, crumbly potatoes with a slightly oniony flavour. It desperately needed a gravy or some kind of sauce, or really anything to give it just a little bit of moisture (not to mention flavour). I didn’t care for it.

Nashville Hot Chicken at Porchetta and Co.

Published on March 17, 2018March 17, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 545 King Street West, Toronto
Website: http://porchettaco.com/

I love Porchetta and Co. Their porchetta sandwich? Classic. Best porchetta in the city. Their fried chicken sandwiches? Usually delicious! Their Nashville hot chicken sandwich? Uh…

Hey, they can’t all be winners. And it wasn’t all bad. The fried chicken itself was superlative, as usual: perfectly-cooked chicken with a crispy, crunchy, tasty exterior. It’s good stuff.

Nashville hot chicken is a notoriously spicy dish that involves a post-cooking dunk into spice-infused oil to give the chicken additional flavour and heat. It’s typically sprinkled with more spices, just to kick up the heat factor. Porchetta and Co. appear to have remembered the oil — the sandwich was absolutely dripping with it — but forgotten the spices. The oily coating on the chicken was bland, and worse, it wasn’t spicy. At all. The spice level here never registered beyond a mild tingle. WTF?

The other components of the sandwich — lettuce, mayo, pickles, plain white bread — were fine, though the sugary-sweet pickles were a bit overpowering.

The Diner House 29

Published on March 8, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

I watch a ridiculous amount of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. It isn’t often that I go to a restaurant that feels like it would fit in on that show (we just don’t seem to have a lot of restaurants like that in the GTA). But Guy would be right at home at the Diner House 29 in St. Catherines.

There were a few things on the menu that caught my eye, but I went with Porky’s Revenge: “Roasted Pork Belly on a Toasted Bagel Bun with 2 Fried Eggs, House-made Onion Chutney, Niagara-Peach Mayo & Monterey Jack.”

Pork belly is one of those trendy ingredients that’s popped up on pretty much every menu over the last several years. But I still have a hard time saying no to it.

And the version here is good. I have a friend who teases me over the use of the word “unctuous,” because it’s one of those words that really isn’t in a normal person’s vocabulary. It’s pretty much exclusive to food nerds/writers/bloggers (see also: mouthfeel).

That being said, this sandwich was unctuous AF. Between the rich, fatty pork belly, the runny yolk from the eggs, the mayo, and the gooey cheese, the sandwich screams unctuous. There’s really no other word to describe it.

And yet it wasn’t too rich. The sweet chutney helps to balance things out, and the flavours all work so well together that it never seems one-note.

The bagel bun was quite dense, with a very crispy exterior. It would have been too much for your average sandwich, but there was so much going on here that the hearty bun was just right.

My biggest issue is that the sandwich is so overstuffed and slippery that as soon as I picked it up, it immediately started to fall apart. I panicked, took a quick bite, then set the sandwich down and proceeded to eat the rest with a fork and knife.

The sandwich comes with a salad, soup, or potatoes on the side. I got the rice, beans, and pesto soup; it was absolutely crammed with stuff and had a satisfying pesto flavour. It was hearty and tasty.