Turning Up The Heat With Some BBQ

Greetings, Readers!

Hopefully you all had an excellent Labor Day weekend of pool parties, relaxing, and barbecues.

And maybe a little less heat and humidity than us here in Los Angeles.

It's a rare day indeed when escaping north to Santa Clarita means a break from the stifling heat that was in LA, but this past weekend I went to meet with my friend Justin for a day of comic booking and sandwiching in his hometown.

With the Labor Day holiday in mind, we headed to Rattler's Bar B Cue, a local restaurant with a deep love of good, home-cooked barbecue food.

Everything on the menu looked appealing and I even originally thought I would order a plate of Tri Tip instead of a sandwich, but I finally settled on a good ol' BBQ standard: a Pulled Pork Sandwich.

The thin strands of pork were so incredibly tender and juicy that every bite just melted in your mouth. The barbecue sauce added was exceptionally flavorful with contributions of smoky and tangy flavors. You can tell good barbecue when there is a wide range of flavors attacking your taste buds. Hidden beneath the smoky and tangy flavors, there were light sensations of sweet and spice as well. All blended together for an excellent experience..

Every table is also equipped with a jar of more barbecue sauce that can be used to douse anything you want. In my case, the Fire Fries were covered in the sauce, as well as my sandwich halves.

Let's be honest with ourselves: you can really never have enough barbecue flavoring, right?

I also ordered the sandwich Southern Style, which included a helping of sweet cole slaw on top of the piled-high pulled pork. The crunchy and sweet slaw contrasted well with the tender and smoky pork to create a wonderful experience of competing flavors. I'm sure the sandwich tastes well enough without it, but the addition of cole slaw makes it top notch.

While the French bread roll isn't anything to write home about, it did stay together well until the end, and was an excellent tool to soak up more of the table-side barbecue sauce.

The Fire Fries also come as advertised. I had imagined some spice would accompany this side because of the name, but I was fairly surprised by how much heat each fry provided. If you plan on eating the entire side, I recommend that you be someone who truly enjoys some heat.

Overall, my experience at Rattler's was an incredibly enjoyable one. The meal was top notch BBQ, and the delicious table side garlic rolls and drinks in mason jars added to the enjoyment of the meal.

So that was my Labor Day sandwiching adventure with delicious barbecue. What sandwiches did you have at barbecues this holiday weekend?

Until next week, Readers...


Pulled Pork Sandwich
**** Stars
Rattler's Bar B Cue
26495 Golden Valley Road
Santa Clarita, CA 91351
http://www.rattlersbbq.com

Traveling Down The Golden Road

Greetings, Readers!

You know, sometimes a place makes such good sandwiches (or beer as well in this instance) that you just have to return again and again to have that same meal or to try something new.

In this case, I spent the evening with close friends at Golden Road Brewing, a place I have visited numerous times before and reviewed a year ago

This time, relaxing in the cool evening air with friends and a gut-warming glass of GRB's Barleywine (amazing, try it) I decided to go a little lighter than my last visit. This time I tried a sandwich for all of you vegetarians out there.

This time around I went for the Tomato Caprese Sandwich.

Stuffed into a golden, flaky French roll were thick and delicious slices of mozzarella, sliced roma tomatoes, basil pesto, balsamic reduction and olive oil.

The sandwich, while filling, was fresh, light, and thoroughly enjoyable. A contrast in flavors and ingredients to my previous visit (the delicious pulled pork sandwich), this was an excellent example of delicious on the other end of the food spectrum.

And it's proof that pub food doesn't have to be soaked in grease and made from meat to be enjoyable and easily paired with delicious beer.

As I've stated on the blog before, when tomatoes are on a sandwich that I am eating, I really need them to be fresh and juicy. If a tomato is mealy in any degree, I'll pull all of them off...but this was not the case this time around.

The tomatoes were fresh and juicy, with the balsamic reduction and pesto adding excellent herb flavors on top. Packed inside the flaky French roll, this is sandwich worth eating....again and again.

Overall, with this sandwich I can proudly state that Golden Road is a place where carnivore and vegetarian can eat at the same table and drink delicious beer while both enjoying excellently created sandwiches.

+++++++++++

In related sandwich news, I wanted to pass on this excellent article regarding the inherent danger in sandwiches. They can be so dangerous that even professional athletes can get hurt.  Seems that Tampa Bay Rays relief pitcher Joel Peralta suffered a neck injury on a recent sandwiching adventure in Florida.

Read more about it here.

Do you see, Readers? The danger I put myself in weekly to inform you of great sandwiches?

So take care out there this week, and enjoy your sandwiching.

Until next time...


Tomato Caprese Sandwich
**** 1/2 Stars
Golden Road Brewing
5410 West San Fernando Road
Los Angeles, CA 90039

The Twelve Days of Sandwiching

Greetings, Readers!

I hope that the holiday season has left you in high spirits without completely bankrupting your wallet.

Because otherwise, how would you afford even the most inexpensive sandwich?

Having finished my holiday shopping early (actually in record time this year) Charlene and I decided to stop in for a sandwich on Saturday afternoon to enjoy our relaxing weekend before Christmas.

Again, this is a record first for me.

Spending time in downtown Burbank we decide to stop into the Market City Caffe at the Corner of Palm and San Fernando. This spacious Italian bistro was surprisingly empty for a Saturday at lunch, but all the better for us as we were seated and enjoying their delicious breadsticks in no time.

Looking at the menu, my eyes went directly to the Panini section and stopped at the Panini Salami: goat cheese, imported salami, arugula, olive oil, baby lettuce and tomato on a French roll.

Hearing the word "panini" though I half expected this sandwich to be grilled or warm, but it was not. This was not a disappointment, but actually came as a pleasant surprise. The sandwich tasted fresher than it would have been after being grilled with butter or oil on the bread.

There was a nice amount of salami on the sandwich without being too overpowering for the other ingredients.  The arugula and lettuce added a little bit of crunch as well as fresh green flavors. The goat cheese was a great complement of strong flavor to the salami but was also not overpowering of the greens.

The French roll it was served on was lightly toasted on the outside, fluffy on the inside, and as delicious as the amazing breadsticks the Market City Caffe serves as an appetizer.

I can also guarantee that the sandwich is still delicious as leftovers hours later.

So what about you, Readers? Have you enjoyed any sandwiches over the holiday season? Is there one in particular you are looking to try before 2012 comes to a close?

Until next year, Dear Readers...


Panini Salami
**** Stars
Market City Caffe
164 E. Palm Avenue
Burbank, CA 91502
http://www.marketcityburbank.com

Bird Is The Word

Greetings, Readers!

If there's one thing I've come to realize since I started this blog, it's that sometimes some of the best sandwiches you have just reveal themselves to you.

For example, this past week I was researching sandwich shops in North Hollywood when I came across a place called the Cahuenga General Store.

No one had ever recommended this place to me. I wouldn't have just found it by driving my usual routes. Heck, I wouldn't even have known it existed had I not done my research.

But there it was, a little general store in a somewhat industrial part of town, hidden in a quiet neighborhood. Even the inside looks like this shop came straight from the wild west in the mid-1800s.

Originally opened in 1995 as a place for film productions to rent props for period pieces, the General Store has moved on to sell delicious sandwiches, coffee, and baked goods to the locals.

After salivating over their menu while researching, when I arrived I decided I would choose the Bleu Bird.

This sandwich is packed with grilled chicken, bacon, bleu cheese, fresh slices of Red Delicious apples and glazed onions on a toasted French roll.

I'm going to make a bold statement here, but this sandwich is absolutely, and easily, in my top 3 favorite sandwiches on this blog.

With the first bite I was blown away by the flavor. The chicken was tender, juicy and delicious. The onions added a little bit of tang to the sandwich, while the combination of bleu cheese and thick apple slices was absolutely mind-blowing.

The cheese and apples flavors complemented each other so well with the cheese added it's characteristic flavor and the apples added a sweet, but complementary flavor.

Combining all of these ingredients on a perfectly toasted French roll, it is like the Sandwich god himself came down from the baked bread heavens and handed this sandwich to man.

Oh, and did I mention bacon? Yes, bacon.

This sandwich is amazing, and is absolutely worth checking out if you are in the North Hollywood area.

Well, now that I've had time to recover from this sandwich, it is time to move on and see what other sandwich surprises may come my way.

What sandwiches have you had lately, Dear Readers, that have blown your mind?

Until next week...


Bleu Bird
***** Stars
5510 Cahuenga Blvd.
North Hollywood, CA 91601

The Art of Sandwiching

Greetings, Dear Readers!

This week I took a break from the summer burger hunt and decided to enjoy a warm Sunday afternoon at the LA County Museum of Art.

As if the sandwiches are stalking me, I was greeted with a line of food trucks in front of the museum, each one beckoning me with their delicious works of sandwich art.

After pacing the line for a few moments, I settled upon the Cali Banh Mi Truck (@CaliBanhMi).

Banh Mi is a type of sandwich that I have missed for quite some time now, as my last one was from the time I ran into the Nom Nom Truck in Studio City.

The Banh Mi is such a simple sandwich, sliced pork, cilantro, pickled carrots, cucumbers and jalapenos, but it's flavor is incredible. The pork on this particular version was very tender with a smooth, smoky flavor. The accompanying vegetables all threw in their competing flavors. In one bite you'd get sensations of smoky, hot, sweet, and tangy. It was a full of flavor experience with every bite.

The baguette was delicious, golden, and even was allowed to have its sweet, bready flavor join the flavor parade with all of the other ingredients.

My only complaint, and it's a small one, was that the cilantro stalks were a bit hard to chew occasionally. A minor annoyance, and not something that should turn you away from this truck if you happen to see it around Los Angeles.

Overall, this Banh Mi definitely is sitting pretty near the top as one of the best I've ever tried. There are still many more Banh Mi shops in LA to sample, but I have a feeling that this one will continually place near the top of the pack.

As a side note this week, please head over to LA Weekly's Best of Web poll and vote for The Danger Sandwich in spaces #20 and #21. You don't have to fill in any other categories if you don't want to, but I'd appreciate you taking the time to fill in those two quick entries.

Until next week, Readers!


Cali Banh Mi Truck
**** Stars
https://twitter.com/CaliBanhMi
Los Angeles, CA