I Got That Summertime, Summertime Sandwich

Greetings, Readers!

I hope this latest blog finds you well and full of sandwiches. The past week has seen the start of the new Baseball season, which is officially the start of spring, not some random day in late March.

And with the start of the Baseball season, comes the return of ballpark-inspired foods, and I'd like to talk about one of my favorites today (besides the classic hot dog).

Pulled Pork.

A pulled pork sandwich is one of life's great treats. You could have it spicy, sweet, or smoky. You could have it on a bun, or saddled up next to some potato salad on a plate. You could even just take a fork of it straight from the pot to your mouth.

Any way you shred it, it's a great way to prepare pork for the summer time. Especially paired with a crisp summery beer.

I've done a lot of research of finding the perfect way to make pulled pork and I've certainly tried a few styles, but today I'd like to share with you a recipe I've recently come across that makes excellent pulled pork. You'll need a slow cooker (one of my favorite inventions of all time!) for this one, and the good part of a day to make this.

You'll want to start with a five pound cut of pork. I've used pork shoulder both times I've cooked this. Start by cutting up two medium sized yellow onions into thin slices and four cloves of garlic (more if you want it really garlicky). Line the bottom of the crock pot with this mixture. Pour in one cup of chicken stock so you have the beginnings of a delicious hot tub for your pork to rest in.

In a small bowl, combine one tablespoon of dark brown sugar, one tablespoon of chili powder, one tablespoon of kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin and 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Mix this up well and then rum this mixture onto the entire pork shoulder. When you're done, place it in the slow cooker and set on high for six to eight hours. Shred and remove any bones or fat.

I've also added a cup of the liquid in the pot to the final shredded pork for some extra flavor.

The resulting pork has a little bit of smoke flavor, and a noticeable sweet kick to it that brings out the natural pork flavor as well. By getting sweet slider buns, I've made mini sandwiches out of the mixture which are easy to consume with one hand while holding a light colored beer in the other.

If you wanted to counteract the sweetness and add a little crunch to your slider, i'd suggest making a jalapeno slaw (regular cole slaw would be too sweet), or for fun add some potato chips for a saltier addition. Barbecue sauce is also a good ingredient to use, port-cooking, in order to add a smokier/tangier flavor.

Anyway, if you try this out, let me know what you created and added to the pulled pork sliders. I'd love to hear your ideas.

Until next week, Readers...

A Horse Thief Among Us

Greetings, Readers!

Today, before I even get to discussing the sandwich of the week, there's something I must get out in the open. This week's blog is an incredibly special milestone, one that I could not have achieved without all of you reading my blog each week.

This is the 200th entry on the blog. Seriously. 200.

That's insane. When I first started this blog, I couldn't have imagined that the blog would still be going this long, despite my strong love of sandwiches. So I owe a great deal to you and your readership.

Now, onto the sandwich of the week.

While in downtown Los Angeles this past weekend, I stopped into one of my favorite spots to eat down there: Grand Central Market. It had been a little while since I last visited, and the changes that have happened since then were noticeable.

The market still had lots of its old taco stalls and produce sellers, but now there were a few newer places that had opened. One of the most noticeable was Horse Thief BBQ, on the edge of the market.

On this warm and sunny Saturday afternoon, the idea of authentic Texas barbecue with a refreshing lemonade sounded like a spectacular idea. When I saw that there was a brisket sandwich on the menu, I couldn't pass it up.

The bun here is nothing special, but really would I have expected it to be? The bread simply serves as a delivery mechanism for the delicious brisket. It's obvious through the taste that this brisket was given ample love through the cooking process. The meat was full of a deep, rich and savory flavor with a smooth infusion of smoke and burnt ends. Each bite pulled apart easily and nearly dissolved in my mouth while chewing.

All brisket should be made like this.

For the sides, I chose the cornbread (slightly sweet with some crispy edges) and the absolutely phenomenal bacon and blue cheese potato salad.

Yeah, I said that.

The blue cheese imparted its characteristic flavor, but not with the usual punch that accompanies it. This is a good thing though as too much blue cheese flavor would have been way too intense. Along with the crispy bacon bits and well cooked potatoes, this was an excellent side to have along with the brisket.

If you're downtown in LA, I would always recommend stopping for lunch at Grand Central Market. Now with the revamp, along with the classic taco stands and produce sellers, I recommend it even more. A visit to Horse Thief BBQ should be your first stop.

Thanks again, Readers, for your following over these past 200 posts, I hope to keep you engaged and hungry for 200 more and beyond if you'll allow me.

Until next week...



BBQ Brisket Sandwich
**** Stars
Horse Thief BBQ
324 S. Hill Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013
http://www.horsethiefbbq.com/

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

It May Be Winter, But It's BBQ Time

Greetings, Readers!

I must admit that only a few weeks into the new year, and I've already broken some of my resolutions.

Mainly the one with trying to eat more pork.

This past week I visited a place that has been on the back of my mind ever since they went under renovations last year: Kansas City BBQ Company of North Hollywood.

Now I know you may be skeptical. How could any place in North Hollywood create BBQ as good as the city it's named after, which itself is a bastion of delicious BBQ?

Well, bear with me for a moment here, because you may be surprised.

Back to my breaking of resolutions...

When I arrived at Kansas City BBQ, I had planned to order the sliced pork sandwich and it was on the tip of my tongue when I was asked for my order, but at the last moment I ordered the sliced beef brisket sandwich (hey it's listed as one of their most popular items!).

The sandwich is impressive in size. A double-decker sandwich with three slices of standard white bread, the sliced brisket was delicious. Cooked in their barbecue sauce for twenty (yes TWENTY) hours prior, this thinly sliced meat falls apart in your mouth with each bite.

The brisket is full of smoky (from hickory wood) and spiced flavors (a secret combination of in-house spices) that just permeate your being. The white bread isn't even a factor in this sandwich really. It holds together, but its true function is just to serve as a vehicle for the brisket to be eaten.

So does it live up to the standard of true Kansas City barbecue? Well, I'm sure that if you sat down to a traditional barbecue place in that area, you'd find some pretty amazing restaurants, but honestly The Kansas City BBQ Company does an amazing job at creating delicious barbecue sandwiches far away from the area generally associated with the style of food.

For sides, definitely get some of the baked beans (full of smoky flavor and shredded beef) as well as the potato salad (a mildly spicy mustard based style). You won't be disappointed.

So Readers, I'll be wrapping up for a bit here in Los Angeles, as I will be back east next week and sandwiching in Philadelphia, New York and possibly DC. I have some ideas picked out, but if you have any suggestions, I would gladly take them.

Until next week...


Sliced Beef Brisket Sandwich
**** 1/2 Stars
Kansas City BBQ Company of North Hollywood
10863 Magnolia Blvd.
North Hollywood, CA 91601
http://www.thekansascitybbqcompany.com/

So long Summer, So long Ohio

Greetings, Readers!

This post is a little bit bittersweet, as it contains the review for the last sandwich I had on my Ohio trip this time around.

Like I had mentioned in the first post of this trip, I was in Ohio for a wedding which took place at Mapleside Farms in Brunswick, OH.

If there's something I miss with living in Los Angeles, it's living closer to apple orchards (the closest ones are more than an hour and a half east of here), so it was great to not only visit one, but to witness a wedding there. I can only imagine how gorgeous the trees would look in late October, but for today is was sticky, hot and humid.

But luckily, no rain.

Sitting down in the cool air conditioning at Melrose Grille after the ceremony I was looking for a good summertime sandwich. The Beef brisket sandwich stood out to me immediately.

I figured with the summertime coming to a close, this might be the best way to end my summer sandwiching adventures.

The thick sliced brisket starts off by being smoked by applewood from the orchard's trees. After being slow cooked in the house barbecue sauce, the brisket is piled onto a bun and topped with cheddar cheese and cole slaw.

The brisket was excellent. The apple smoke gave the brisket a nice smooth smoky flavor, while the barbecue sauce gave a strongly tangy flavor to the sandwich creating an excellent contrast. The cheese also played into the smoke flavor with its own mild and smooth contribution while the cole slaw added a slightly sweet flavor to the mix. All of this contrasting and complementary flavors played off of each other to create an amazingly delicious summer sandwich.

The bun could have been a bit better as it tended to be soggy towards the end, but it did its job for the most part thought it had nothing spectacular in the way of flavor.

It's just a shame that this place is so far removed from Cleveland that it's not actually easy to get to, unless you happen to be in the area.

Ah well.

On our last night in Cleveland we stopped at a highly recommended bar called The Beer Engine in Lakewood. This place is a beer lovers heaven. The menu is thick both with beers on tap as well as bottles/cans. The first one to stand out to me was a beer that I had been wanting to try forever, Southern Tier Brewing Co.'s Pumking Pumpkin Ale.

This beer smelled like warm pumpkin pie and tasted like it too, with just a hint of vanilla.

Definitely a great way to end a trip to Ohio, and definitely a great way to begin the transition to Autumn food and drinks.

So now with the Fall officially beginning this weekend, what sandwiches are you looking forward to having the most to get you in the mood for the season?

Until next week...


Beef Brisket Sandwich
**** 1/2 Stars
Melrose Grille
294 Pearl Road
Brunswick, OH 44212