June 15: 303 W Foothill Blvd # 7, Glendora
Plaza Produce is a great little market near downtown Glendora, a market we’d never heard about until we started this sandwich quest. It was recommended by friends—a cute market, good meat and sandwiches, quality produce, excellent wines. And it really is that: a nice little bodega, and we’re admittedly jealous that we don’t have a Plaza Produce of our own in walking distance. (Aldi will have to do.)
The sandwiches? Solid. Similar to many grocery store delis, Plaza has a default checklist: choose your bread, cheese, meat, toppings, spread. They do have a couple pre-set sandwiches, and we went with one of those, the Suzi Special ($7.99) on sourdough, featuring turkey, avocado, mayo, alfalfa sprouts, tomato and swiss cheddar cheese. We were a little bit split on our opinion of the Suzi: the ingredients are solid (Boar’s Head, no surprise), but the sandwich seemed a little simple, if anything—lacking a touch in imagination, ambition, editorial angle. Still: a good sandwich!
Our second was a roast beef ($7.99)—the roast beef they make in house—with mustard, horseradish, lettuce, tomato, and pepper jack on the biggest damn sub roll we’ve seen all summer. So. Much. Bread. We were hoping the mustard + horseradish would give this sandwich some zing, but it was a little flat—the roast beef, maybe? And all that bread.
Quick aside en route to our Unified Sandwich Theory©: we all know the history of the “sandwich,” right? That in 1762, the then-Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, wanted something manageable to eat in one hand while playing cards. A sandwich *should* hold together: that is its essential function. It should not fall apart. Let’s say it again: a sandwich should hold together. (Both these sandwiches held together nicely.)
Is Plaza Produce a place we’ll seek out when we need future sandwiches? Probably not…but if we find ourselves there in need of a bottle of wine and a cheese, or a little prepared food or fresh produce, or, heck, even a better sandwich, we wouldn’t mind at all.
- Overall Balance/Taste: 0 points
- Quality of Ingredients: 1
- Bread: -1
- Integrity: –
- X-factor: bodega!: +1
Overall: 1 point, or your standard PB&J
June 18: 238 S. Lake Ave, Pasadena
Okay. We had high expectations here. Numerous best-of-LA sandwich lists recommend Mendocino Farms, a fairly pricey Southern California sandwich (and salad/soup) chain. Plus, Mr. Rat recommended it to us (or is it Mr. Sandwiches, Mr. Rat?). Plus-plus we were headed to Vroman’s to pick up some books by, variously, Felicia Zamora, Liliana Colanzi, and Raquel Salas Rivera, so why not give Mendocino Farms a try? (This isn’t our one Pasadena shot: We do plan on hitting Roma Market next week, and we’ll definitely get to Europane this summer.)
We left a little before noon and got to Mendocino Farms at 1:30 this particular Friday, so we figured we were in good shape: going in after the post-lunch rush, grab a quick sandwich or two, hit the road, get home by 2:30pm, make it a 2.5 hour trip door to door. A nice efficient Los Angeles County Friday afternoon. Well, no. Mendocino Farms was packed. Insanely packed. Twenty minutes to order. Twenty-plus minutes to get our sandwiches. By the time we left, we were firmly in the 210-East Friday afternoon shitshow, and we’re still there: it’s five p.m. right now and we’re still in traffic, and I’m composing this blog in the carpool lane. (Ha ha. Not really?)
Listen: The sandwiches at Mendocino Farms sound AMAZING. Go look at the menu for more, but here’s a start: One fan favorite is the “Not So Fried” Chicken ($10.95), with “shaved, roasted chicken breast topped with Mendo’s krispies, herb aioli, mustard pickle slaw, tomatoes, pickled red onions on toasted ciabatta with a side of chipotle BBQ and mustard pickle remoulade.” Vieve was excited about The Sandwich Study of Heat ($10.95) “shaved, roasted turkey breast, smoked gouda, smashed avocado, chili aioli, housemade jalapeno salsa verde, tomatoes, romaine lettuce on panini-pressed rustic white served with an extra side of jalapeno salsa verde.” Which: holy crap does that sound good! I planned on getting the Peruvian Steak, featuring “spicy aji amarillo marinated steak with Oaxacan cheese, herb aioli, red onions, tomatoes, shredded romaine on a toasted potato roll.”
Adjectives aside—“shaved, roasted chicken,” “smashed avocado,” “rustic white” (calm down, guys)—these are composed sandwiches, clearly, with intelligent design and interesting ingredients. Oaxacan cheese? Remoulade? Smoked gouda? We were excited.
Then THEY WERE OUT OF THE PERUVIAN STEAK.
So we got the other two. How were they? Fine. Solid. Good. Busynotbusy? Not great? Weird? The meats were good, particularly the “roasted, shaved” turkey. The “smashed” avocado was fairly sober, but it tasted just like avocado. The red onions were indeed pickled if not very pronounced. The “rustic” white bread was nicely grilled. The chicken sandwich almost tasted like chicken salad…which is not really suggested by the menu description, so that’s not great. We didn’t taste any smoked gouda on the turkey sandwich. Was there chili aioli? I dunno. The krispies on the chicken were some sort of fried thing meant to emulate the crunch of fried chicken. Which: Emulate not: Do, or do not. There was, again, barbecue sauce on the side of one sandwich…? Also there was salsa on the side of the other sandwich…? A new entry for the Unified Sandwich Theory©: unless it’s a dip, there shouldn’t be any sauce on the side. You think the Earl wants to be dealing with sauces? Hell no, man’s got pocket kings! Along those lines, the ciabatta was a huge mess—we’re quickly learning that ciabatta does not play well with the Unified Sandwich Theory©.
We’re not holding afternoon traffic or long ordering lines or high expectations against Mendocino Farms–we’re judging these sandwiches for what they were. The Sandwich Study of Heat, while not at all hot, was pretty good, extra side of salsa and taste-invisible gouda be damned. The flagship “Not So Fried” Chicken? More weird than good.
It’s been … oh, gosh … a whole week since we had a legitimately good sandwich! Will we ever make it home … to eat … another … good … sandwich …? Traffic is grim … our hopes are fading … we … need … some … thing … good … to … eat.
- Overall Balance/Taste: 1 point
- Quality of Ingredients: 1
- Bread: +1
- Integrity: -1
- X-factor: BBQ sauce?: -1
Overall: 1 point, or your standard PB&J