School Is In Session

Greetings, Readers!

How are your sandwiching lives post-Thanksgiving? Did you eat your fill of turkey on the big day and in leftover sandwiches the days after?

I did my own leftover sandwiches throughout the rest of the extended weekend too (more on that towards the end of this entry).

In a break from the holiday sandwiching and relaxing, I joined up with some friends in downtown Los Angeles at Public School 612.

The dimly lit pub is a great place to pull up a chair, enjoy some quality craft beers and still be able to chat with friends without having to scream at each other.

I decided that after a holiday that essentially promotes gluttony, that the best thing I could order would be a thick, juice burger. Scanning the menu I settled on the Colorado Lamb Burger.

This thick lamb patty is stopped with cranberry jam (appropriate for the holiday time period), a handful of fresh arugula and a thick slab of brie.

Wow. Seriously, this was an amazing burger. Cooked to medium, this burger was filled with flavor and was so juicy, it dripped with every bite. Despite the juiciness of the burger, the bun also held together incredibly well until the end, even though it didn't add much in way of flavor.

 The fresh arugula changed up the texture of the sandwich and added a little peppery flavor while the cranberry jam added some contrasting sweet and bitter flavors. Top that off with the pungent cheese flavor of brie and you have an amazing burger. Seriously excellent.

As for my own sandwich creation post-Thanksgiving, I buttered two slices of wheat bread, and filled the space between them with white and dark meat turkey pieces, mashed potatoes and stuffing and then set it in the over at 350 until the bread had become nicely crisp toast. The only thing that was missing was a bit of cranberry sauce (but we had run out from the holiday).

What creations did you make for leftover weekend?

Until next week, Readers...



Colorado Lamb Burger
**** 1/2 Stars
Public School 612
The Corner of 6th and Flower Streets
Downtown Los Angeles, CA
http://www.publicschool612.com/

Pre-Thanksgiving Ponderings

Greetings, Readers!

Your faithful Sandwich Man has been sidelined the past few days with a heavy cold that is just now heading out the door, so sadly I have not been sandwiching this past week.

But thankfully I am recovering right before the best sandwich holiday of the year: Thanksgiving.

Yes of course, the holiday meal itself is excellent, but the best food comes the day after, when creating a sandwich during a fridge raid.

My choice for a delicious Thanksgiving sandwich consists of a thickly sliced rustic bread, hearty chunks of dark turkey meat, a layer of stuffing, a layer of cheese mashed potatoes, and then spread on whole berry cranberry sauce as a spread on both slices of bread.

So what's your go to homemade creation for Friday after shopping in the morning?

Until next week, Readers...

The Chevre Challenge

Greetings, Readers!

This past week I decided to finally do something that I haven't done in awhile.

Eat a meatless sandwich.

I know, I know, with the sandwiches I review, you're probably thinking that you've ended up at the wrong blog this morning, but fear not.

Looking to make a quick stop after work one day, I did a bit of research on Toluca Lake on Yelp.

The search results for that are becoming slimmer as I have hit up so many of the restaurants in that area already. This time though, Studio Cafe Magazzino popped out to me. The only problem was that I would have to rush there after work as it closed at 4pm and was not open on weekends.

Studio City Magazzino sits right across from Warner Bros. Studios on Pass Avenue (which is why this place is really only open during normal office hours). A small cafe with a rustic Italian feel, this place offers a wide variety of sandwiches, soups and salads.

The one sandwich to catch my eye though was the Chevre sandwich. A fancy name for goat cheese, Chevre may be one of my favorite cheeses and is joined in this sandwich by sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, house vinaigrette and lettuce on a ciabatta roll.

The sandwich is simple, and the Chevre provides a solid punch of smooth, yet pungent, flavor. I also thoroughly enjoyed the ciabatta, which was a bit thick and rustic, providing a tougher texture than the ingredients inside of the sandwich. If you're looking for a simple, fresh and easy sandwich to enjoy, this should definitely be your go to lunch time destination.

My only disappointment with the sandwich is not that there was no meat to be found, but that the other ingredients didn't add much to the sandwich. I didn't even realize there were roasted red peppers until the end of the sandwich, and of course lettuce doesn't add much in terms of flavor. The sun dried tomatoes were present, but it's hard to keep up with as powerful a flavor as goat cheese.

Regardless, still an enjoyable journey into a less heart attack inducing sandwich realm.

Until next week, readers!



Chevre Sandwich
*** 1/2 Stars
Studio Cafe Magazzino
109 N. Pass Avenue
Burbank, CA 91505

The Hills Are Alive...With Deliciousness

Greetings, Readers!

How are you faring now that the election season is finally over?

Did you have a sandwich to celebrate the fact that it will be at least a week without political ads before the next election season begins?

This past weekend, wear of the draining political ads on TV, I made my way out to Agoura Hills to visit a place I had only recently heard about: Ladyface Ale Companie.

Besides the sandwiches, the other draw to Ladyface for me was their in-house beer menu. Starting with a pumpkin pie spice flavored bock and moving to the Belgian tripel, I was thoroughly convinced that their beer was equally well crafted and delicious (especially the tripel).

My sandwich decision was not as easy to decide on. I had looked at their menu a few times the entire week before I had even gone, and was still undecided as to which sandwich I would pick. Finally though I had settled on the croque-monsieur, mainly because of my intrigue with the sandwich ever since watching Gordon Ramsay make one on the UK version of Kitchen Nightmares. 

Between the lightly grilled pieces of bread of this croque-monsieur rests two thick slices of Niman Ranch ham, Gruyere cheese and bechamel sauce. The Gruyere cheese was thoroughly melted proving a slightly smoky, slightly salty flavor. The two slices of ham provided a slightly sweet flavor to the mix as well as having its definitive ham flavor.

For a person who is not a huge fan of this particular pork product, this ham was delicious and some of the best I've ever had, outside of Porto's cubano.

The grilled bread was lightly buttered, lightly toasted, and highly delicious, keeping the sandwich together until the end.

Overall, my experience at Ladyface was highly positive and delicious. Their beer paired with their delicious food offerings (also tried the mac and cheese and house pretzel: both top notch!) make for an excellent meal away from the city on a Sunday afternoon.

Definitely worth a trip to Agoura Hills.

Until next week, Readers...


Croque-Monsieur
**** 1/2 Stars
Ladyface Ale Companie
29281 Agoura Road
Agoura HIlls, CA 91301
http://www.ladyfaceale.com/menu.html