Sandwich Versus

Sometimes I find it crazy that it is difficult to find simple yet good deli sandwiches around town.

It does not seem hard — good bread, good meat, fresh vegetables and fixings; but how come so many places miss the mark?

I just had a chicken salad sandwich and turkey sandwich today that was quite horrific, and I can still feel it stubbornly remain indigestible after 1.5 hour.

The sandwiches contained white bread that were not wonderful, chicken salad that was cemented with mayo; turkey sandwich with flimsy slice of turkey, and a slice of cheese.

Normally when I have deli sandwich craving, Great Harvest Bread is my spot: awesome soft whole wheat bread, with fresh veggies and meats — but I want to venture out.

Thank goodness for the existence of Delicatus and the Home Grown chain.

Right at a busy intersection in Pioneer Square, Delicatus is housed in one of the many charming historic building with very high ceiling, offers both table service or to-go; whereas Home Grown has been expanding to the current eight-store chain (and, Bellevue and Sammamish Plateau in the works) with counter-order only.

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Japanese Sandwiches and Kanishka

First ever Japanese sandwich place in the greater Seattle area!

Sandwich House TRES took over the former Bellevue Fuji Bakery space; an absolutely simple and no-frills store, there are both sweet and savory sandwiches for sale.

When I stepped into the store, I felt as if I was beamed to Japan!

Some traditional meat offering such as tonkatsu, fried pork cutlet, and fried shrimp, along with western options of BLT and chicken salad.

Vegetarian options include burdock root and potato salad, and very interesting yakisoba; and flavors like red beans and chocolate banana round out the sweet side of the equation.

All sandwiches are made traditionally with crust-trimmed white bread, individually wrapped in their clear plastic wrap.

L: fried shrimp — M: tonkatsu — R: fried white fish

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Noble Sandwich in Austin, TX

If I have to live in TX, I can live in Austin.

It had a Portland-feel with plenty independent businesses, small town vibe, with a Texan twist.

We were there for a very short overnight trip and managed to go to Noble Sandwich Company twice!

Each store’s menu was a little different.

It was well-worth the 2 visits — for lunch and for breakfast.

First store was in north Austin.

Among 11 of the sandwich selections, we opted for cow tongue, smoked duck and Creole catfish.

Sandwiches did not look big yet filling enough.

DH”s smoked duck pastrami was the best (apologize for the fuzzy picture!).

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Good Eats in Remond — Flying Saucer Pizza and Now Make Me A Sandwich

These 2 good-eats places were nestled in business parks in Redmond and were only a block away from each other!

First off, Flying Saucer Pizza.

This funky spaceship-alien themed pizza joint served up delightful pizzas.

I was most surprising to find deep dish pizza — something that was very uncommon here and reminded me of my days in the Midwest.

Flying saucer pizzas offer quite a few different flavors including great selection of vegetarian pizzas along with salads and pastas.

The pizza names were geeky and hilarious, they included Andromeda, the chickenator and crop circle.

On my first visit I had the deep dish Thai fighter without cheese to go.

The crust was made of soft, yeasty bread that carried a light sweetness and baked to a slight crisp.

My pizza passenger along the way home was just taunting me with this sweet savory peanut aroma.

The sauce was sweet, mildly spicy and delicious; the slightly charred thinly julienned carrots and cabbage with sprouts and cilantro gave pleasant and aromatic flavors.

The pizza without cheese was still tasty.

The next trip I had a regular cosmic clucker and a deep dish luau.

The regular crust was bready inside and appropriately dry crisp bottom and top.

I loved their twist of adding artichoke in this bbq chicken pizza; while the luau was Hawaiian pizza with extra bacon on top of Canadian bacon.

I did not skip cheese the second time, and I did find that both the pizzas were too heavy-handed with cheese that was distracting the main flavors and increased their greasiness.

I would go back again for sure and perhaps cheeseless would be my main stay.

Went around the block, one would find Now Make Me A Sandwich every Thursday stationed at West Willows Technology Center.

The guys made very delicious sandwiches.

I loved their unique vegetarian sandwich with roasted yam, spinach, mushroom, peppers and the great addition of manchego cheese and garlic tahini sauce; the best part, it was called Buddha Call.

It was tasty with lots of flavors, fresh and the yam gave texture.

Another one I had and enjoyed tremendously was the Vahalla pork — tasty tender pulled pork, dressed with a coleslaw with a surprising twist – apple jalapeno; sweet and quite spicy, delicious with a crunch.

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International District Finds – World Pizza and Mike’s Noodle

Every time I passed by World Pizza I was already full from dim sum lunch at Jade Garden.

Not this time!

Armed with my empty stomach, I was quickly drawn to the store with its fantastic pizza aroma.

Store was small, with a counter selling pizza by the slice.

There was also a seating area with tables for consuming pizzas in-house.

Upon checking out what laid under the glass counter top, I was strangely attracted to this pizza that had brilliant bright green chunks on it!

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