No we did not abandon the Summer of Sandwich! We were just slowed down: by travel to see family; by family who didn’t want to eat sandwiches quite as zealously as us; by travel to an area lacking in sandwiches; and by returning home with a family member who *really* didn’t want to eat sandwiches—rather, the interested party voiced a desire for Mexican food. We obliged and plowed through Sonoratown, Burritos La Palma, Guisados, Chichen Itza, and Cielito Lindo in like two days, leading to a quick trivia question:
- Q: What’s better, tacos or sandwiches?
- A: Tacos.
- Q: Always?
- A: Always.
- Q: So why are we still yapping about sandwiches?
- A: Simple. It’s the Summer of Sandwich.
July 21: TJ’s Subs
167 W Arrow Hwy, Glendora
Not great! TJ’s is an amazing little place down Arrow Highway—it’s cheerful just stepping inside with all the strange “art” (kids drawings, we think?), including quite a bit that’s Old Testament-themed. Hey, Modigliani! And sofas!
The sandwiches at TJs confirm two theories: that shredded lettuce + oil and vinegar is a very good (sandwich not taco) thing. And that quality ingredients make the day. We got the very cheap $5 TJ’s sub (ham, salami, mortadella, cheese, oil+vinegar+shredduce—and pickles!) and the almost as cheap turkey-bacon-avocado (look at that bacon!), same fixins. We wanted to like these sandwiches more … but no go. TJ’s! Not the best ingredients, friends! Low-quality meat and cheese = SADwiches. So it goes.
- Overall Balance/Taste: +0 points
- Quality of Ingredients: -1
- Bread: -1
- Integrity:
- X-factor: homey space: +1
Overall: -1 point, or a simple PB&J
July 22: Great Basin Bakery
275 S Main St, Bishop
WE WERE SO EXCITED TO GO TO GREAT BASIN BAKERY. We love this place— on the recommendation of a former Great Basin Bakery employee, it’s become our routine stopping point on our annualish treks up 395 (thanks, Emily!). The Cowgirl cookies: awesome. The toasted jalapeno-cheese bagel with cream cheese: amazing. The $9.45 Italian Veggie Spinach: we thought this had a firm lock for our top 3 vegetarian sandwiches of the summer, given how delicious it’d been in the past. It features tomatoes, pesto, provolone, pepperoncini, avocado, Italian dressing, and, of course, spinach. Served on your choice of sourdough and multigrain bread.
New addition to the Unified Sandwich Theory: sourdough >>>> multigrain.
Ugh, we choked. We totally forgot that we usually get the sourdough and instead got the multigrain, which was very, very nutty, very, very wheaty, and very, very grainy. It killed a usually amazing sandwich. We were sad. We are sad. We will be sad. (Plus now we’re wondering: maybe the Italian Veggie isn’t even that good? The Italian dressing is a bit much—I mean, there’s pesto! Why do both? Anyway we’ll check back next summer.) Thankfully, we also ordered the Mt. Tom Turkey, with turkey, lettuce, avocado, sun-dried tomatoes, and red onion … on, yes, sourdough. Much better. But eesh, everyone: let’s lose sun-dried tomatoes. Just vanquish them from the world. Can we agree on that? Please?
- Overall Balance/Taste: +0 points
- Quality of Ingredients: +1
- Bread: 0
- Integrity:
- X-factor: Bishop!: +1
Overall: +2 points, or a perfectly tasty Pat’s Philly Cheesesteak (wit)
July 24-25: various home-made subs
July 24/25: Reno & King’s Beach
We talked our family into buying a whole bunch of sandwich ingredients! Boar’s Head, at that! We all made our own sandwiches but this is a quick recap: we got: smoked turkey, honey turkey, salami, mortadella, havarti, cheddar, shredduce, oil+vinegar, chipotle mayo, mustard, mayo, avocado, sandwich pickle slices, pepperoncini, tomatoes from the garden, and rolls from the Safeway deli.
Takeaways:
- Don’t get rolls from the Safeway deli. (We ended up tearing most of the bland bread away to better pile on toppings.)
- Don’t go over seven ingredients.
- Really. Bread, meat, cheese, oil, vinegar, shredduce, maybe another thing (spice, pickle)…and that’s all you need.
- Everyone, without knowing it, loves mortadella. You do, too.
- Overall Balance/Taste: -1–>+2 points
- Quality of Ingredients: +1
- Bread: -1
- Integrity:
- X-factor: family!: +1
Overall: +4 points, or a perfectly tasty Pat’s Philly Cheesesteak (wit)