Sandwich Celebrations

Greetings, Readers!

You know, when people find out that I write a sandwich blog, I am quite often asked which sandwich is the best I've ever had, or at least the best in Los Angeles. Sometimes particular sandwiches stick in my head as favorites (pulled pork or cubanos) but sometimes it depends on the mood I'm in at the moment (I could be feeling pastrami-ish on a Wednesday).

But the thing I usually tell people about what makes a sandwich experience exception is the company.

Sure, exploring places on my own is a fun time because i'm still experiencing great food in great places. but the people who join me on my excursions help take these trips to the next level.

Take for example two weeks ago when my wife and I went to The Fat Dog in Hollywood to help our friend Ross propose to his girlfriend, Katie. Under the ruse of filming a video segment for this blog (there will eventually be some in the future!), we filmed the build up to the proposal and the actual proposal itself.

Following such a life-changing event, could the sandwiches at The Fat Dog be memorable in themselves?

Ordering the Braised Short-Rib French Dip sandwich I braced myself for what could be a sure winner. I've eaten a lot of short rib sandwiches, as well as French Dips from classics like Cole's and Philippe's, so this sandwich had a lot to live up to.

Braised short rib, Gruyere cheese, and caramelized onions sit nicely between two slices of buttered and grilled toast.  The short rib was delicious and well flavored along with the mild, creamy Gruyere. I really enjoyed the buttered and toasted bread (it held together better with dipping) but along with the salty au jus made for an overpowering experience that hid the greatness of the short ribs. While enjoyable, the salt was a little much for me.

The ambiance and experience here at The Fat Dog warrant a second look at their menu. Off topic of sandwiches, it seems like their Fish and Chips would be an excellent choice for an evening there, and a lot of their other options sound equally tasty. My next time around though I'd probably just stick to trying their burger.

Until next week, Readers.


Braised Short Rib French Dip
*** 1/2
The Fat Dog
801 N. Fairfax Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90046

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

I Love You, Tokyo

Ohaiyou Gozaimasu, Readers!

I have returned from my 8 day journey to the wonderful capital city of Tokyo, Japan.

Granted, I didn't eat many sandwiches there as the numerous options of delicious sushi and various types of noodles took precedence while there, but I did happen upon a sandwich dealer while walking through the neighborhood of Ginza.

Tucked beneath the tracks for the local JR Yamanote train line, The Beat Diner can be hard to find if you're not looking for it.

Also being tucked beneath a subway, every so often during your meal the entire place rattles as the train passes overhead. It definitely adds to the atmosphere of the place.

And speaking of atmosphere, the place has it in handfuls. A rugged brick interior with walls adorned by classic American rock records, it's a tribute to 60s and 70s America, right down to the classic american food: The Hamburger.

Every burger is listed in two different sizes, essentially 1/3lb and 1/4 lb options, and for this time out I decided to go with the straight up 1/4lb Cheeseburger.

While not expecting much out of sandwiches in Tokyo, and having had so many great ones recently in Burbank, I was blown away by how delicious this sandwich was.

After being given a small paper bag to wrap the burger in (a la West Coast style) I dove right in and was hit with a delicious beef flavor and a well rounded, melted cheddar flavor. A little bit of crisp lettuce tops of the burger added a freshness as well as textural crunch.

The fries were also excellent, and I wish there had been more. Very flavorful, lightly salted, and with a bit of crispiness on the outside.

This was really a fantastic burger, not just for Tokyo, but for any burger love in general.

As I've found with many sandwiches over this journey, sometimes the best ones appear to us through accident. Here we were, hungry and looking for lunch after touring the Imperial Palace grounds and we happen to pass by a local restaurant that mostly neighborhood locals would know of. We didn't expect much, and were absolutely blown away by this find.

If you're ever in Tokyo, and you should definitely make sure you are at one point in your life, you should absolutely try to find this for a break from the country's delicious sushi and udon offerings. You will be thoroughly rewarded for doing so.

Until next week, Readers...


1/4lb Cheeseburger
**** Stars
The Beat Diner
Tokyo, Japan

Straight Outta' Steel City

Greetings, Readers!

It seems that lately I've had some luck finding restaurants or food trucks that I have been trying to get to for awhile.

It turns out that one of these sought after food trucks, Steel City Sandwich, happens to hang out in my neighborhood every Thursday night, and somehow I've never known this until the other week.

Well obviously I remedied that problem quickly, and on a Thursday night headed out to finally try their famous Yinzer sandwich.

Named after a slang term for a Pittsburgh resident, the Yinzer is stacked high with your choice of meat, Italian slaw, tomato, fried egg, provolone cheese and french fries.

Now, the size of this sandwich surprised me. It's an absolute monster and isn't exactly easy to take a bite out of because of all of the ingredients stacked as high as they are.

But it is a very tasty sandwich nonetheless.

The bread was thickly cut and rightfully so as a tough base was needed to hold this sandwich together until the end. The Italian slaw added a nice crunch to the sandwich in contrast to how thick and soft the bread was. The tomatoes were fresh and not mealy at all, and the french fries added a great seasoned flavor with a different textural contribution than the other ingredients.

At first I felt like the fried egg was an odd choice to add to this sandwich, but upon eating it  I was greatly surprised by the flavor contribution and how well it blended with the rest of the ingredients.

My main complaint about this sandwich would be with the meat. Don't get me wrong, the turkey that I had on the sandwich was good, but I had showed up a little later in the evening only to find out that my intended choice of pastrami had sold out.

One of the driving factors to visit this truck was seeing Primanti Bros. featured on an episode of Man vs. Food in which a pastrami sandwich topped with french fries was the main course.

I guess my problem this week is that Steel City Sandwich has become pretty popular. So applause is still handed out to these sandwich purveyors, and next time I'll make sure I'm first in line to get a pastrami Yinzer.

So Readers, in the coming weeks I will be heading back out into Burbank along with writer Bryan Mahoney to find some of the best burgers the neighborhood has to offer. You may remember from last year we worked together to find some of the top delis in Burbank (Deli 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). While those places were great, we are now focusing strictly on burgers as that seems to be the the unofficial sandwich of the city.

So for a little preview on our massive burger outing, Bryan has written an excellent intro here. Check it out and make sure to come back next week to see the beginning of a double digit burger tour.

Until next week, Readers...


The Yinzer
**** Stars
Steel City Sandwich truck
http://www.steelcitysandwich.com

Burger Time!

Greetings, Readers!

I've lived in the Toluca Lake/Noho Arts District area for a little bit and I have consistently been pleased by the number of great eateries that are available in this fun little pocket of the Valley. One place I have always been interested in trying, yet have somehow avoided for months, is Jack's Classic Hamburgers.

Even more odd is that we share a name and I somehow didn't jump on going there.

Jack's is a tiny burger stand crammed onto the corner of Tujunga and Camarillo/Riverside right up against the 170 freeway (sounds like a lot of directions if you're not from LA). Even though the shop may be small, the servings are quite large.

I've tried a lot of burgers in my time, so this place had a lot to live up to, but I was quite satisfied with what Jack's had to offer.

Now let's get something out there first: Jack's is not reinventing the hamburger. You won't find ostrich meat or alligator bacon with some obscure cheese on top. What they do is present to you the stripped down original version of this sandwich. They just happen to do it very well.


The cheeseburger combo that I ordered had a large patty topped with cheddar cheese, lettuce, onions and tomatoes with a side of fries. The one thing that caught me off guard at first was the deceptive thickness of the entire sandwich. I thought the patty took up more room than I originally though, but it's actually the large stack of vegetables they pile on. There is a ton of lettuce and onions (which you can ask them to leave off) that make each bite a mouthful.


This doesn't take away from the sandwich though, as it adds a nice crisp and fresh contrast to the greasy burger underneath.

 Greasy and delicious.

The cheddar was perfectly melted on top of the delicious beef patty, completing the classic cheeseburger taste.

So if you find yourself in the W. Toluca Lake/Noho Arts district area, whether it be by visiting our local park, or by stumbling out of a bar late one Saturday night, Jack's is definitely a stop you should make.

Cheeseburger Combo
*** 1/2 Stars
Jack's Classic Hamburgers
11375 Riverside Drive
W. Toluca Lake, CA 91602