Tag: tomato

Tasty Sandwiches at Vero Italian Sandwich Co.

Published on by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Vero Italian Sandwich Co.
Location: 477 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://verosandwich.ca/

All restaurants are Italian sandwich shops now.  Don’t like it?  Sorry, them’s the breaks.

But you know what?  Based on the quality of places like this and Alfie’s, I for one welcome our new Italian sandwich overlords.

Vero Italian Sandwich Co.

They have a handful of meaty sandwiches on the menu (and one vegetarian).  I went with the Gabagool: “Capicola, Mortadella, Fresh Mozzarella, Giardiniera, Tomato and Arugula.”

Vero Italian Sandwich Co.

Yeah, that’s a top-notch sandwich.  The bread is great (it’s got a nice balance of chewiness and crispiness), there’s a generous amount of good quality cold cuts, it’s nice and zippy, and the fresh mozzarella adds a nice creaminess that rounds things out.

Vero Italian Sandwich Co.

It was a little greasy (it was dripping with oil) and the flavours don’t quite pop like in the best versions of this type of sandwich, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit.

Italian Pesto Chicken Sandwich at McDonald’s

Published on by Michael NusairLeave a comment

McDonald'sLocation: 5310 Dixie Road, Mississauga
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.ca

Next stop on the World Taste Tour: Italy, with the Italian Pesto Chicken Sandwich.  This is a McChicken patty topped with a pesto aioli sauce, shaved parmesan, arugula, and tomato.  It’s served on a “toasted focaccia bun sprinkled with rosemary.”

It’s actually not bad.  It’s definitely a lot better than the Chinese Szechuan Burger, and probably about on the same level as the French Creme Brulee McFlurry.

Like with the Szechuan Burger, the biggest issue here is with the meat itself.

McDonald's

The chicken patty is what it is.  It’s spongy, salty, ultra-processed, and has about as much resemblance to an actual piece of chicken as a Hyundai has to a Ferrari.  They’re in the same general ballpark, but they’re really not the same thing.

It’s junk, but then anyone walking through the doors of a McDonald’s knows exactly what they’re going to get.  Again: it is what it is.  It’s fine.

And everything else was pretty good.  The pesto aioli sauce has a surprisingly vibrant pesto flavour, and the shaved parmesan isn’t bad at all.  Parmesan, pesto, and peppery arugula are a boffo combination, and McDonald’s doesn’t mess it up.  The whole thing is aggressively salty, but other than that it tastes pretty good.

There wasn’t much rosemary flavour from the bun, but it was fresh, hearty, and a little bit chewy.  It suited the sandwich nicely.