a belated Summer of Sandwich guest post by Vieve: Poppy Cake Baking Co.
328 W Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre https://poppycakebakingcompany.com/
My writing group in Pasadena has a regular bring-your-own lunch meeting, so in honor of Summer of Sandwiches I took July’s meeting as an opportunity to try out a new-to-me sandwich shop: Poppy Cake Baking Company. I called ahead to their Sierra Madre location and let them know 1) I’d like to pick up a to go sandwich in an hour and 2) I was vacillating between the Turkey Cranberry and the Chicken Pesto. The Turkey Cranberry ($9.50) sounded like kind of a lot of ingredients (“Roasted free range turkey breast, soft brie, cranberry relish, dijon aioli, romaine lettuce, tomato,” per their website https://poppycakebakingcompany.com/sierra-madre/ ) but it turns out I can’t say no to cranberry relish, especially with the recommended Rosemary Lemon bread, so I went with it. They kindly told me they’d wait about 45 minutes before assembling my sandwich, so it’d be fresh when I got there. Nice!
I pulled up to Poppy Cake an hour later; Poppy Cake was popping! Customers—and the smell of fresh bread—were everywhere. Since I’d ordered ahead, I went straight to the pickup line where my sandwich was wrapped up and waiting. Fast forward ten minutes and a few blocks, and I was ready to eat (with my only slightly befuddled friends who wanted to know: why are you taking a picture of your sandwich?). The Rosemary Lemon bread was pleasantly subtle (unlike the rather overly rosemaryish bread at The Brick https://anotherseanbernard.com/june-13-16-17-claros-tortas-sinaloa-the-brick/ ), the free-range turkey tasted well cared for, and the aioli and the cranberry flavors were surprisingly complementary. My only tiny complaint: the brie could have been more evenly distributed. I think it would have also been just as good (maybe better?) without the tomato, but even with the tomato the Poppy Cake Turkey Cranberry stays below our 7-ingredients-max mantra. Overall, this sandwich was a win: it felt wholly of a piece in a way that some of our other summer sandwiches hadn’t achieved. Will I take Sean there someday? Yes!
Turkey Cranberry
- Overall Balance/Taste: +1 point
- Quality of Ingredients: +1
- Bread: +1
- Integrity: 0
- X-factor: Successful Solo Sandwich Adventure +1
Overall: 4 points! Or: Vieve is a sucker for good Turkey Cranberry sandwiches