The Art of the Sandwich
An Ode by the Cuisines Staff
Fri., May 18, 2001
Nice is certainly not the only city with its own particular sandwich. Plenty of people visit Miami for the Cuban sandwiches found there, while others wouldn't dream of spending time in New Orleans without loading up on muffalettas and po'boys. There are longstanding feuds about who makes the best cheesesteaks in Philadelphia -- Pat's or Gino's -- and people who frequent St. Louis know just where to get the best Hot Browns. Considering Austin's barbecue heritage, the logical choice for our city sandwich might be a fat, juicy link of hot sausage wrapped in a fresh flour tortilla or a pile of heavily sauced chopped beef with pickles and onion on a warm, soft bun. A good case could be made that a fully dressed beef fajita taco, a thick corn gordita stuffed with refried beans and cheese, or a crispy corn taco shell filled with spicy picadillo should be the portable meal to represent a city famous for its numerous Mexican restaurants. We should probably also consider the fine wares of our locally grown sandwich chains, Schlotzsky's, Thundercloud, Texadelphia, and Delaware Subs, even though in many cases what they prepare are credible local versions of other cities' famous hand-held wonders.
In my search for the definitive Austin sandwich, I investigated around town and even updated a "Second Helpings" column (see p.53) on deli sandwich options from two years ago to widen the parameters of my search. I queried food staffers Rebecca Chastenet de Géry, Rachel Feit, MM Pack, and Mick Vann about their sandwich preferences, and they weighed in with some mouth-watering selections. What follows is the Chronicle ode to the art of the sandwich, those portable handfuls of sustenance that, when ingeniously made, offer the perfect combination of breads and condiments, meats, cheeses, or vegetables. Perhaps Austin's signature sandwich appears in this list -- we'll let you be the judge of that. Try them all and let us know what you think. And if it's not in these pages, we're counting on you to tell us where to find it. -- Virginia B. Wood
Hot Roast Beef Sloppy Po'Boy
Gene's New Orleans Style Poboys & Deli, 477-6600
1209 E. 11th
Mon-Sat, 6:30am-7pm
Gene's offers a little slice of Crescent City heaven right here in River City, folks. He's got the po'boy sandwich scene covered from hot to cold, oyster to shrimp to catfish, and everything in between. Now that proprietor Gene Tumbs has found a source for the perfect po'boy baguette (crisp crusty exterior, soft interior) at New World Bakery here in Austin, he doesn't have to make so many shopping trips back to New Orleans. Now he can concentrate all his energies on preparing mouth-watering soul food and soul-satisfying sandwiches for his loyal clientele. On a recent visit to Gene's, I took a chance on the hot roast beef sloppy and struck gold. This baby sports thin slices of tasty roast beef in rich brown gravy that are loaded into a baguette dressed with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles and double wrapped to prevent leakage. Order a mess of French fries and have a seat on Gene's pleasant new deck to chow down on this bad boy. And no matter how sorely you're tempted, don't unwrap it and try to take a bite while you're driving home or you'll be wearing gravy!
-- Virginia B. Wood
Fried Oyster Po'Boy
Quality Seafood
5621 Airport, 454-5827
Mon-Sat, 8am-7pm
A reliable way to bisect the world is between those who love oysters and those who don't. I never met anyone who was indifferent. For those who do, the fried oyster po'boy sandwich at Quality Seafood is a $5.50 meal made in heaven -- six plump succulent bivalves flash-fried in a crisp corn-meal crust, nestled in a split, grilled, skinny white bun with lettuce, sliced tomato, and just a slap of mayo. Tartar sauce on the side. For those in the anti-oyster camp (or when oysters are out of season), the fried catfish and fried shrimp po'boys are also major treats. -- MM Pack
The Entire Sandwich Menu
The Little Deli
7101-A Woodrow, 467-7402
Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm
From time to time over the years, I've opined that the roast beef sandwich at this little north central neighborhood jewel is the best one in town, and that opinion hasn't changed a bit. I'm still wowed by the slices of rare premium beef paired with cheddar cheese, lettuce, and tomato slathered with piquant horseradish sauce. All that's happened is that I was encouraged to expand my knowledge of the menu here. I discovered that all these sandwiches, prepared on bread delivered fresh daily from New World Bakery, are exemplary. Take, for instance, the Italian sub, loaded with ham, salami, and pepperoni, provolone cheese, and a tangy olive dressing, or the hot meatball sub with toothsome meatballs in a hearty marinara sauce. Mama mía, what great sandwiches! The homey egg salad and chicken salad are more likely the kind of comfort food your American mama might have made and they're great, too. Hot pastrami, ham or turkey, the veggie with avocado and artichoke hearts, you name it, they've got it, and it's well worth the trip. -- Virginia B. Wood
Lamb Gyro
Cafe Mia
3573 Far West Blvd., 342-9570
Mon-Fri, 6:30am-9pm; Sat-Sun, 7am-9pm
3663 Bee Caves Rd., 327-1795
Mon-Fri, 7am-9pm; Sat-Sun, 8am-9pm
The build-your-own sandwich bar at this Mediterranean cafeteria-style restaurant presents the possibility of hundreds of meat, cheese, and sauce combinations on grilled focaccia. However, no matter how sorely I'm tempted to create some new concoction from all the choices offered, I invariably go home with at least one of the house special Lamb Gyros ($6.75). Here's the procedure: Shave an enormous serving of lamb from the leg turning slowly in front of the stand-up rotisserie cooker, split a half-moon of fresh, homemade focaccia, spread it with tangy yogurt sauce, and pile it high with tender slices of lamb, crumbled feta cheese, crisp leaf lettuce, crunchy chunks of cucumber, and fresh Roma tomatoes. This is a big, loose, two-fisted sandwich, surrounded by a few big, deliciously salty kalamata olives. It's entirely possible you won't be able to eat it all at one sitting, but it makes a great midnight snack, take my word for it. -- Virginia B. Wood
The Schlotzsky's Original
16 locations in Austin
So what if it comes from a chain? The Schlotzsky's Original sandwich is still one of the tastiest sandwiches in town. Basically a reinterpretation of the muffaletta, the Schlotzsky's Original has ham, salami, melted cheddar, mozzarella, and parmesan cheeses, garlic butter, olives, onions, tomatoes, and lettuce. A little vinegary hot sauce on top gives it just enough pucker. But what really makes the sandwich special are the chewy, spongy rolls that are more like a good greasy focaccia than any regular sandwich bread. The whole ensemble is anything but healthy, but somehow the Schloztsky's near Lamar and Riverside has managed to make serious inroads among Austin's Town Lake exercisers. Look out New Orleans: Texas' homegrown muffaletta may just rival the Crescent City for this sinful, baroque specialty.
-- Rachel Feit
Carved Turkey Sandwich
Portabla
1200 W. Sixth, 481-8646
Mon-Sat, 8am-8pm
Sweetish Hill's clever, second West Austin venture offers a tempting array of made-to-order rustic pizzas, grilled panini, and overstuffed sandwiches on bread from their own bakery just a block down the street. I developed a taste for their stellar carved turkey sandwich ($6.50) soon after they opened and have no intention of kicking the habit. This is a serious contender for the most Austintatious sandwich in the entire list and here's why: The ingredients are as fresh and local as it's possible to get. The bread is Sweetish Hill's Sixth Street sourdough, and the flavorful cornbread dressing and sweet-tangy cranberry mayo are homemade. The thick, moist slabs of roast turkey are from naturally raised, hormone-free turkeys from the local White Egret Farms and pack incredible turkey flavor. Order a carved turkey sandwich, wash it down with a bottle of Good Flow lemonade or Boggy Creek Farm Tomato Tonic, and you've consumed a totally local Austin meal, one for which we can all be thankful. -- Virginia B. Wood
Antone's Original
Antone's Famous Po'Boys & Deli
600 Congress, 474-7649
Mon-Fri, 7:30am-6pm
9070 Research, 206-0881
Mon-Sat, 7:30am-6pm
In Houston, Antone's po'boys are the stuff of legend. My own Sixties childhood visits to Antone's Import Co. were glimpses into a different world -- one containing barrels of aromatic olives, exotic cured meats, cases of wine, and sandwiches. When Antone's Deli opened in Austin last year, I approached the Antone's Original sandwich with trepidation, sure that it couldn't measure up to my taste memory. I was wrong. The combination of hard salami, ham, and provolone on a crusty loaf dressed with mayo and the tangy signature chow-chow was perfect. Different era, different town, different owners. But Antone's Original? Same as it ever was. -- MM Pack
Hot Meatloaf Sandwich
The Kitchen Door, 236-9200
2504 Lake Austin Blvd.
Mon-Fri, 8am-7pm; Sat, 8am-6pm
The Kitchen Door has been serving up delicious sandwiches made with their signature chicken salad on fresh baked bread at one West Austin location or another for most of the past 25 years. However, it took the mighty Hot Meatloaf Sandwich ($6.50) to finally put them on the national culinary map a couple of years back with a mention in no less than Esquire magazine. The Hot Meatloaf Sandwich is not a dainty, eat-on-the-run kind of meal, no sir. This sandwich calls for serious consideration and plenty of napkins. After you've chosen fresh white or whole wheat bread, the sandwich maker will heat up spicy chunks of hearty meat loaf with some extra onions and mushrooms on the grill and then dress the sandwich with your choice of mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomatoes, and even offer to heat a little cheese to hold it all together. They'll wrap it securely in foil-lined deli paper to resist spilling any of the tasty filling during transport to the house or the table. Let the ladies eat chicken salad; this sandwich can definitely handle a hungry man. -- Virginia B. Wood
Smoked Whitefish on an Onion Bagel
New York Deli
712 Round Rock Ave. (620 and I-35),
in Round Rock, 246-1108
Mon-Thu, 9am-7pm; Fri, 9am-9pm; Sat, 9am-7pm
The New York Deli in Round Rock is one of the best sandwich purveyors around, and it is challenging to pick just one to rave about (26 available at last count). However, because I once almost wrecked my car due to the euphoric experience of biting into the smoked whitefish sandwich, I choose that one. Mary DeBellis' secret-recipe whitefish salad is piled high on a toasted onion bagel and topped by a generous slice of crunchy onion. Try a bite of this combination with a bite of kosher dill pickle, and you, too, will need one of those rapture bumper stickers. -- MM Pack
Eggplant and Brie Sandwich
Sweetish Hill Bakery
1120 W. Sixth, 472-1347
Mon-Sat, 6:30am-7pm; Sun, 6:30am-5pm
98 San Jacinto, 472-2411
Mon-Fri, 7:30am-4pm
Good bread is absolutely essential to any sandwich. So it's no surprise that a bakery would offer some of the best sandwiches in town. Sweetish Hill Bakery's freshly baked baguettes form the foundation for their roasted eggplant, red pepper, and brie sandwich. The blunt, almost dull tones of roasted eggplant mate sweetly with the feisty flavor of red peppers. The two Mediterranean fruits form a natural marriage. And yet this happy couple seems to have made room for an iconoclastic third partner. Creamy, northern brie cheese melts into the unclaimed spaces in this sandwich, fusing flavors, accentuating both hearty and fruity facets. A pesto-kissed baguette enfolds all three in an assertive, crusty shell. The whole menage forms a beautifully balanced study of form, texture, and taste -- an edible opus in Old West Austin. -- Rachel Feit
Char-Grilled Pork Sandwich
Tam Deli and Cafe
8222 North Lamar, 834-6458
Wed-Mon, 10am-8pm
Although we tend to think of fusion cooking as a relatively new thing, banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) are a legacy from the French presence in Vietnam that began in the mid-19th century. Tam Deli serves one of the best anywhere -- a fresh, warm, perfectly crusty mini-baguette loaded with tender strips of grilled pork, julienned pickled carrots, jalapeño, cucumber, cilantro, mayonnaise, and a few glass noodles added for good measure. The resulting mouth experience interweaves complex combinations of soft and crisp, sweet and hot, spicy and cooling. This sandwich delivers. -- MM Pack
Sloppy Joe
NeWorlDeli
4101 Guadalupe, 451-7170
Mon-Fri, 11am-7pm; Sat, 11am-5pm
Fax: 451-Dine
In Where the Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein offers a straightforward "Recipe for a Hippopotamus Sandwich." Not your typical lunchtime fare, for sure, although the only problem the whimsical poet sees with his unusual creation is the "biting into it!" The same might be said for NeWorlDeli's sloppy joes. The sloppy joe ($5.95) is my favorite Austin sandwich by a long shot. Although its name might conjure memories of dripping ground beef soaking into a spongy white bun, NeWorld's sloppy part comes from its sheer size. Practically a hippo sandwich in its own right, the sloppy joe is a triple decker of turkey, ham, or roast beef with Swiss cheese, coleslaw, and Russian dressing piled high on fresh Jewish rye. Getting around it gracefully isn't easy, and the sandwich's slightly piquant Russian dressing does dribble down its mammoth sides, but the mess is most definitely worth the trouble.
I've written about NeWorld's sloppy joe before, raving about the fresh, practically crunchy homemade slaw that tops it (even though I generally shun coleslaw at first sight), and praising the house-made Russian dressing that seals the layers of meat and cheese to the chewy slices of rye. What I haven't made clear, so say my friends who've gone in search of this über-sandwich on my recommendation, is that you've got to be really -- I mean really, really -- hungry to get around the whole thing by yourself. The men behind the sandwich, who, legend has it, devoured similar sandwiches as teens in New Jersey, have finally realized that the sloppy joe is more than most appetites can handle. They've created the "Wimpy Joe" for the lesser appetites, offering all the fixings of the sloppy joe sans one of the sandwich's thick, moist "decks."
What makes NeWorlDeli's sloppy joe shine is difficult for me to decipher in precise terms. One bite into the dripping mass, and you know that the marriage of the ingredients is right. NeWorld's combination of meat, cheese, slaw, sauce, and bread is more than a sandwich that just "works." Its parts come together in a satisfying, greater sum, becoming a meal in the process. -- Rebecca Chastenet de Géry
Sambet's Deli and Fiery Foods Store
8644 Spicewood Springs, 258-6410
11am-8pm, daily
Sambet's is both Cajun grocer and cafe in the finest tradition of New Orleans. The muffaletta is the best in town, and stacked high with ham, cheeses, and salami on muff bread, with a delicious olive spread for $4.50. Try the tasty catfish, oyster, or shrimp po'boys for $6.45, or the unctuous gator tenderloin or mudbug versions for $7.95.
Ba Le Vietnamese Bakery and Deli
8624 N. Lamar, 491-9188
8am-8pm, daily
Ba Le is one of the premier sandwich shops in Austin. They serve delicious Viet-style sandwiches on excellent French loaves, laden with cucumber, carrot, daikon, onion, and jalapeño. They come in a variety of manifestations (chicken, gourmet, meatball, pork roll or shredded, Xa Xiu, BBQ pork, or combo), all in the $2.25-$3.50 range. Fabulous!
Marakesh Cafe & Grill
906 Congress, 476-7735
Mon-Sat, 11am-10pm
Marakesh is an oasis of sandwich choices smack in the middle of downtown. The lunch menu offers a choice of 22 different sandwiches and wraps with prices ranging from $2.99-$4.79. Not to be missed are the massive chicken or beef shawarma ($4.25), the fantastic falafel ($ 3.69), and the superlative hummus and artichoke heart ($3.69 ... and they're all humongous and splitable).
Kismet Cafe
411 W. 24th, 236-1811
Mon-Sat, 11am-8:30pm; Sun, 11am-7:30pm
Kismet is wildly popular with the faculty, staff, and students at UT. They offer 14 different sandwiches, many in the Middle Eastern vein, at prices ranging from $3.25-$3.95. Our faves are the chicken shawarma and the gyro, and our vegan friends prefer the falafel, the eggplant gyro, and the veggie sub with zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, and onion (especially good with feta added).
Phoenicia Bakery and Deli
2912 S. Lamar, 447-4444
Mon-Fri, 9:30am-7pm; Sat, 9:30am-6pm
4701 Burnet Rd., 323-6770
Mon-Sat, 9:30am-7:30pm
Phoenicia serves the most moist and flavorful chicken sandwich in town, if not the entire state. Malek and crew dish up an amazing array of world-cooking supplies, the best Middle Eastern breads and sweets, and dynamite sandwiches. The pita wraps are all under three bucks and include the chicken, gyro, shawarma, falafel, and kafta. Huge subs on 8-inch French loaves for a song, including the prosciutto for $3.60, and the roast beef for $2.85. Can't beat it!
