
A Field Guide to the American Sandwich - dnetesn
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/04/14/dining/field-guide-to-the-sandwich.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
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bayonetz
Anyone else on the West Coast, who's lived on the East Coast, feel a void in
the sandwich shop culture there? I've been living in Santa Monica / LA for a
while now and there is basically nothing. People go nuts for this place called
Bay Cities but it would just be a 'meh place on the east coast. I'm talking
humble sub shops here. Of course there are some good artisan food trucks and
jewish delis, but nothing much better sub-shop-wise than chains like Jersey
Mike's or Subway. I guess this article made me hungry. And sad. Good night.

~~~
whalesalad
I like Bay Cities a lot but Canters and Langers are pretty great spots too.
Mario's in Glendale is really rad. Berges in La Cañada puts an interesting
spin on things with Armenian style bread. I think you just gotta leave your
East Coast mentality at the door and be a little more optimistic. There are
plenty of good places to eat out here.

Of course you're never gonna be able to find everything everywhere. That's
what makes all these parts of the world unique.

~~~
bayonetz
Langers is good sure. Plenty of good food in LA no doubt but my point is just
good sandwiches in the east are everywhere; dime a dozen. Surprises me no one
has tried to capitalize on it more - I'm sure the demand would be there.

~~~
fit2rule
More foot traffic on the East Coast. In LA you've got to drive around to find
the great places to eat.

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wbond
I wonder how prevalent distinctly regional sandwiches are in different parts
of the US.

I've grown up on the North Shore of Boston and around here we have "Roast
Beef" shops. From what I understand, the roast beef you get is distinctly
different than anywhere else I've visited. The meat is served warm and very
thinly sliced on a burger bun or onion roll. Many people order it topped with
barbecue sauce and possibly some cheese, horseradish or mayonnaise. The "beef"
sandwiches usually come in two or three different sizes, such as junior, large
or super. A common combination of barbecue sauce, cheese and mayo can be
ordered by the phrase "three-way."

There tends to be distinct loyalty to your favorite roast beef place. Some
roast beef shops also serve pizza, "subs" or possibly fried seafood, but the
best tend to focus on roast beef.

There is one chain of roast beef places called Kelly's, but most of the roast
beef places seem to be independent.

Here is a slideshow of what to expect:
[http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/10/where-to-eat-the-best-
roa...](http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/10/where-to-eat-the-best-roast-beef-
sandwiches-boston-slideshow.html)

What are some other distinctly regional sandwiches?

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talmand
I grew up in the Southeast, lived in the Southwest, and currently live in the
Southmiddle. I would say there are regional tastes in sandwiches but many
things seem to be universal.

For instance, the sandwich you describe I've had in variations everywhere I've
lived. It's just a roast beef sandwich. The only real differences I suspect
are the use in locally obtained ingredients that have a huge potential to
making the sandwich different from region to region. That may be why what is
essentially a universal sandwich could be better in one place than another. I
shall have to remember your recommendation if I ever find myself in the Boston
area.

As for your question, growing up in the Southeast the best I can offer off the
top of my head is the pulled pork sandwich. There are far more variations than
you describe for your beef sandwich. I've seen the sandwich offered in the
other areas I've lived, obviously, but not as prevalent as in the Southeast.
My wife claims nothing matches pulled pork sandwiches from this one place from
her childhood in small town Alabama. I can't say which sandwich for the
Southwest as I lived in Vegas and that place is not based in reality. As for
Southmiddle, gourmet hamburgers seems to be the current sandwich fad.

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wbond
Whenever I've ordered a roast beef sandwich anywhere else, the meat is served
cold. This has been echoed by acquaintances. You've had warm roast beef
sandwiches in the south also? Mostly just curious!

I completely understand something being less prevalent in various areas.
Certainly barbecue places are generally few and far between here in MA, NH &
ME.

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talmand
I've had both, but I prefer heated. I think it depends on the type of
establishment. Also, whether it is being prepared fresh for you. Pre-packaged
(or pre-sliced, but not universal) tends to be cold while fresh tends to be
warm. Then there's toasted which obviously comes out hot.

I guess it could also depend on the definition of cold sandwich, which could
be different region to region.

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scott_s
The first thing I thought of was this bit from 30 Rock
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7eq7O4SbJk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7eq7O4SbJk)):
"All of humankind has one thing in common: the sandwich. I believe that all
anyone really wants in this life is to sit in peace and eat a sandwich."

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alelefant
I disagree with the declaration of open faced sandwiches not being a sandwich.
You're telling me smørrebrød isn't a sandwich? I realize it's not American,
but it's a sandwich, baby.

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juliangregorian
It's absolutely not a sandwich. "Open-faced sandwich" is a travesty of a name
for a lone slice of bread with something on top. We should call it what it is.
A disappointment.

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m_mueller
Disappointment? I beg to differ. Over here everyone likes Canapes [1]. I agree
they shouldn't be called sandwiches though.

[1]
[http://www.confiserie.ch/media/catalog/product/cache/2/image...](http://www.confiserie.ch/media/catalog/product/cache/2/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/a/p/apero-
canape-rund-rechteck.jpg)

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ascorbic
The sandwich (by that name) may have been born in England, but damn you guys
over the pond perfected it and made it your own. I am so hungry now.

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monk_e_boy
My first introduction to a USA sarnie was in a little supermarket in Hawaii.
Picked up a 'sub' or what we'd call a soft baguette. When I started to eat it
my brother and I fell about laughing at the shear madness of it. There was SO
MUCH MEAT in it, like more that 3 packets of ham all squished in. Enough ham
to feed us for weeks.

In the UK we generally put one slice of ham into a sandwich. In USA they put
two or three packets of ham into a 'sub'. That one sub pushed me and my
brother down a road of extreme subs, more meat, more hot sauce.

Oh God, and Taco Bell. I received my order and to my astonishment it looked
nothing like the picture over the counter. I kept saying the the lady behind
the counter "I didn't order this brown slop, I ordered that delicious looking
meal up there."

~~~
talmand
Not all subs are created equal. Some chain places don't serve traditional
subs, they serve lettuce heavy salads on bread with a slice or two of meat. I
do not visit these places. One of my previous jobs offered a free meal to
coders on a project and I refused after finding out that the sandwich was from
one of these locations. I have standards; I don't eat crap even if it's free.

But a sub from a little supermarket is not a good indicator of what I would
say is a typical American sub sandwich. You have to go to a proper deli. The
difference is that a proper deli is not using low quality meats. If the
sandwich is stuffed with meat then chances are it's cheap, low-quality meat
that you probably shouldn't eat anyway. Then there are the other ingredients
that a proper deli would have.

Also, for future reference, almost all American fast food chains lie in their
presentations.

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gensym
Great guide, but Chicago's best sandwich, the jibarito
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jibarito](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jibarito))
was overlooked.

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nemo44x
It's not a sandwich as it isn't made with some form of bread. At least
according to the criteria the article uses - which I agree with.

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dilap
Oh man, seeing that avocado sandwich brought back visceral memories of my
childhood growing up in the hippy enclaves of Mt Shasta CA and Ashland OR.

Should you find yourself in San Francisco, as I do now, I strongly urge you to
visit Darwin Cafe and try some of their sandwiches. They are always
interesting, almost always good, and sometimes transcendent. (They only do
like 4 sandwiches at a time, and mix them up every couple of weeks.)

Oh, and I agree with another commenter: to me, open-faced sandwiches are very
very much sandwiches. How can a salmon tartine not be a sandwich? Or spanish
tostas? Madness!

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zorpner
Some opposing viewpoints from the Guardian:
[http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/03/is-a-
ho...](http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/03/is-a-hot-dog-a-
sandwich-nature-america)

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Haul4ss
This is a great article that celebrates the best of the U.S. as a "melting
pot". So many of these sandwiches are a mishmash of the cultures from all over
the world that influenced them.

Also, this article made me pine for a good Jewish deli were I live. I haven't
had a proper Reuben in years.

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slvv
Interesting to see how many of these sandwiches I (a Canadian) have absolutely
no experience with, and which ones are super familiar. (Anecdotally: most of
the sliced bread ones are familiar, a lot of the hard & soft roll ones are
new.) Cool!

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baking
You take a sub roll, split it in half, slather it in mayo, layer on meat and
cheese, then throw it in a pizza oven until the bread is toasty and the cheese
is melted, then add the veggies. That is a grinder. Everything else is just a
sandwich.

~~~
monk_e_boy
Oh wow, when my friend explained grindr to me he got it completely wrong.

~~~
CDRdude
Surely he explained the part about meat in between buns?

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ohazi
I like how "Avocado" is a category. My kind of sandwich.

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tdicola
Put avocado in a grilled cheese sandwich some time. It is amazing!

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princeb
when I saw "avocado" sandwich the first thing I thought of was mashed
avocadoes with diced tomatoes, onions, and coriander wrapped around tortilla
chips.

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pca2
I'm generally not a very patriotic American, but boy did I feel a certain
amount of pride looking at all of these sandwiches that have been crafted in
America.

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blt
there's a lot of fucked up things about my country, but our sandwiches aren't
one of them.

never trust anyone who doesn't like a sandwich.

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thethrows
Why is the image loading so poor on this website?

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wtbob
There were images? Must be loaded with some weird JavaScript—all I saw were
chunks of white space.

~~~
yareally
Yeah, it's one of those lazy loading js implementations that tries to be too
clever. It's not only lazy loading them, but it's trying to load different
sizes based on the client. Not sure if anything they do would be better than
just using optimized jpegs and settling on one size.

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oliv__
I just read the article on my actual newspaper but damn seeing it on the web
really is a completely different experience: those big, crisp (and colored!)
pictures are so much nicer online it made me hungry! This is where their
website really shines, imo.

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Stratoscope
A tip for any photographers out there: When you're shooting food, don't do the
wide aperture no-depth-of-field thing like this article. Get the entire plate
in focus. Otherwise the food just looks kind of weird and dizzying.

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davidw
Panini is just Italian for sandwiches. Panino being the singular. You can put
what you want on them but popular things here would be one of prosciutto,
speck, salami, cheeses like mozzarella or (locally) Asiago, and maybe
tomatoes.

~~~
cbd1984
> Panini is just Italian for sandwiches.

That's Italian. In English, it denotes a specific kind of sandwich.

~~~
saraid216
It's American English. For Americans, the word we just stole means _whatever
the fuck we want_.

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cbd1984
That's how every language works. Every language borrows and repurposes words.

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davidw
Some of them are certainly odd for native speakers of the borrowed word
though: "panini sandwiches" for instance. Sometimes languages "borrow"
nonexistant words, like "footing" for jogging in Italian.

~~~
pluma
Or "pepperoni" being a salami. Cue confused Americans complaining about their
pizza being too damn spicy and not having any meat on it.

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davidw
Yep!

Peperone is actually a bell pepper in Italian, so no meat, but not spicy
either. Peperoncino is the spicy one.

~~~
pluma
Funny. "Pepperoni" in German generally refers to chili peppers (though
recently I've heard it being used to describe salamis, likely due to US
influence). Which confused the hell out of me as a child when I heard that the
most popular pizza in the US is the "pepperoni pizza".

Bell peppers and some other non-spicy peppers are called "Paprika" in German
(whereas apparently in English "paprika" refers to a spice made from chili
peppers).

Amazing how these words tend to evolve to take on entirely contradictory
meanings in different languages.

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ozten
Using, primarily, the bread doesn't feel like the right way to create a
sandwich taxonomy.

I think it would be a cluster of characteristics and the most prominent
example of that category (say, the hamburger) would often be the category
name.

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surge
Nit-picking southerner: Pimento cheese has pimentos, not red bell peppers,
which are not the same thing. It's the little red thing you see in olives.

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toastking
I love how they use such fancy language to describe sandwiches.

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pluma
Interesting what American call "hard" rolls.

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stox
Town Hall Deli! I miss you so much.

