A Place Like Home

Greetings, Readers!

Lately, I've been in the process of working on the changes coming to the blog here, and os have had less time to actually pursue new and exciting sandwiches.

But that doesn't stop me completely.

Nearly three years ago, I wrote about a place called HyMart in North Hollywood. It's a great Mediterranean sandwich shop tucked into a strip mall at the south end of the North Hollywood Arts District.

It's a fantastic place, and while I've visited it numerous times since my review, I've never had the urge to write about them again since because I usually get the same sandwich.

While different from the initially reviewed sandwich, The Chicken-iliki is a real stunner. It contains hummus, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, pickles, cucumbers, Greek olives, avocado, feta cheese, lemon, olive oil, mint, basil, pepper, tzatziki yogurt, and tahini sauce all on display with the delicious and tender pulled chicken.

The sandwich is an explosion of flavor in your mouth. Each flavor complements the other without being overpowering, and the chicken is flavorful, tender and
juicy. Despite the amount of ingredients, this sandwich is light and refreshing, perfect for a summer afternoon in valley heat.

I could go on about the sandwiches here at this excellent small business, but really the amazing added touch, and the other reason why I will always share the secret about this amazing sandwich shop, is the service.

The people who run and work in this shop always offer up a happy greeting when you walk in. From the second you step inside their door, everyone is happy to see you, as if you're a member of their family and they haven't seen you for weeks. Every time I walk in their, one of the owners always greets me by name (though most of the time it's not the right name, I thoroughly appreciate the extra welcoming).

If you get a chance to check out HyMart (also known as Georgi's Place), definitely stop in. Not only are the sandwiches delicious, but you'll immediately feel at home.

Until next week....



Chicken-iliki
**** 1/2 Stars
HyMart Sandwiches
4795 Vineland Avenue
North Hollywood, CA 91602

A New Summertime Favorite

Greetings, Readers!

As I showed last week with revisiting two places that I had eaten at and reviewed previously, there is an inherent problem with this blog: While trying to bring you all fresh new experiences and sandwiches each week, I sometimes don't get the chance to repeat at some of my favorite places.

Take for example Sweetsalt in Toluca Lake. I love this place. It's fantastic, with a great atmosphere, and it's right in the middle of a lot of great shops and stops on the main street of Toluca Lake.

So on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, we headed back to this quaint lunch spot.

The previous sandwich I reviewed from them, their duck confit, is still a standout sandwich, but this time around something new caught my eye. Something I've been wanting to try for quite sometime anywhere I could find one: A lobster roll.

Stacked between two halves of a brioche bun, this sandwich is packed with thick chunks of Maine lobster, topped with cucumbers, shallot, dill, and sundried tomato aioli. The creamy smooth texture of this sandwich is punctuated with the pop of lobster chunks and the crunch of the fresh, green cucumber. The lobster is smooth without an overpowering seafood flavor, and the cucumber helps to cut through all the other flavors offering a complementary taste.

The brioche bun, with its buttery flavor, held together until the end.

Overall, this was excellent and gives me hope for the future of lobster rolls to come. So if it's a beautiful Sunday afternoon (which for the next few months here in LA it will be), drive on down to Sweetsalt, pick up a cool drink and a refreshing summer sandwich like their Lobster Roll.

Until next week, Readers...


Lobster Roll
**** Stars
Sweetsalt
10218 Riverside Drive
Toluca Lake, CA 91602

A Hidden Gem

Dearest Readers!

I've learned on this wonderful sandwich journey thus far, that sometimes the best sandwich places are very deceiving in looks.

What I mean is that sometimes, the fancy, five-star restaurant on 5th Avenue is not always the best place to get a delicious sandwich. Sometimes the best place is somewhere you'd walk past until you're told about it.

Visiting downtown LA recently, I was instructed to visit a small deli in the lobby of the Lady Liberty Building at 843 S. Los Angeles Street. A very unassuming lunch counter is a marbled lobby that you wouldn't even notice if you didn't stop to look around.

All of the sandwich options sounded delicious, but after having eaten a bunch of not-so-healthy sandwiches lately, I thought I would go for the healthy turkey option...with the works.

This sandwich had delicious Boar's Head cracked pepper turkey, with onions, lettuce, provolone cheese, tomatoes, banana peppers and cucumbers, mustard and mayo, all on top of a freshly baked baguette.

Wow. The turkey was unbelievably delicious. Probably the best turkey I've had to date. Just fresh and with a great smoky flavor and a slight pepper taste. Delicious.

The baguette had just come out of the over and was so delicious, I could have just eaten that alone and been entirely satisfied. It was a little bit flaky on the outside, but warm and soft on the inside.

The one flavor that took me a few minutes to figure out was the cucumbers. Mixed in with the other vegetables and the two spreads, the flavor wasn't as prominent as cucumbers can be, but mixing in with these other flavors, it provided an entirely new, creamy flavor that worked wonders with this sandwich.

Overall this was an excellent sandwich, and a true delight to find a great deli, though it may be far removed from the majority of Los Angeles. This is definitely a sandwich I will be trying again.

Until next week readers, keep up the good fight, and find that DANGER sandwich!

**** Stars

Peppered Turkey Sandwich

New York Deli

843 S. Los Angeles Street

Los Angeles, CA 90014