New Direction

The sandwich chronicle has gotten out of hand and become something of a burden to keep up with. So, instead of monitoring every sandwich I eat, I will instead make a list of sandwiches/sandwich shops that require my attention. Then I will simply move down the list and report my findings. First up:

Jason's Deli:
I had a turkey sandwich on whole wheat ciabatta with field greens (fancy term for lettuce), tomatoes, guacamole and melted swiss. I'm a sucker for avocados and, by association, guacamole, so this was a natural choice. I was a little disappointed by the portions (too small for a serious lunch) but at the same time it was refreshing to see a restaurant not dish out ridiculously oversized meals. The sandwich, especially the second half, didn't hold up very well in the structural integrity department, a result of the guacamole no doubt. However, the turkey was warm and the cheese melted while the guac remained chilled, which was a good trick. The sandwich looked pretty good, though excess guac sometimes dribbled out of the ends--a negative. There were toothpicks speared through each half of the sandwich, but they still didn't hold the sandwich together, which was the biggest detractor, I think. Overall, a decent sandwich.

general: *
structural integrity:
ingredients: *
effectiveness: 1/2
aesthetics: 1/2
total: ***

Bruegger's Bagels:
Ever since I moved to Denver in 97 I've held Bruegger's as the gold standard for bagels and bagel sandwiches, and I've been meaning to put them to the test since I started on this sandwich journal adventure. I thought that I would find Bruegger's greatness to be more of a sentimental thing, but they delivered a fantastic chicken salad sandwich. Fantastic like four stars, yeah. The bagels were very fresh and very perfect--texture, color, size and shape were all top notch. The chicken salad had almonds and dried cranberries in it, which was a delightful and sweet touch, though perhaps a bit too much mayo, as it was a bit too soupy to remain inside the confines of the halved bagel. Though, for the most part, the structural integrity was better than I expected. The aesthetics were solid--the tomatoes were nice and red and contrasted well against the color of the bagel and chicken, and as I mentioned earlier the bagels were well and uniformly shaped. There was just enough chicken salad to make the sandwich a good size without having most of the innards squish out the ends with each bite. I got two sandwiches, with the intention of saving one for dinner, but I found my hunger unsatisfied by the first, so I was compelled to eat both. So it looses something there, from the effectiveness category. Otherwise, an amazing sandwich. I dare say the best yet.

general: *
structural integrity: 1/2
ingredients: *
effectiveness: 1/2
aesthetics: *
total: ****

Notice that this one scores points in every category. I think it is the first sandwich to do so.