Regular Roast Beef from Arby's

As I stated previously, I am determined not to limit the subjects of my posts to only those sandwiches found in deli's and other places that might be considered more "high-brow" as far as sandwiches go. The subject of today's post should drive that point home with authority - much like Albert Pujols would do to a Brad Lidge slider up in the zone circa 2005 NLCS. After all, sandwiches can be found everywhere - even in ubiquitous fast food joints. Whether they are good or not, well, that is a job for The Task Force, my friends. And so it was a few nights ago that when I found myself with an empty belly and a hankerin' for a quick remedy to that problem, I found myself echoing the immortal words of David Puddy. Indeed, it felt like an Arby's night.

If you've been in an Arby's lately, you'll notice a fairly wide variety of sandwiches, from the roast beef which is their staple to fancy new "gourmet" sandwiches with actual bread instead of sesame seed buns. As I tend to do when faced with menu decisions such as these, I decided to start at the very beginning. That meant ordering the Regular Roast Beef that, along with chips and iced tea was the only thing on the menu when Arby's opened it's first store in Youngstown, OH back in 1964.

As for ingredients, it doesn't get much simpler than the Regular Roast Beef which meets the bare minimum for number of ingredients required to actually be a sandwich: two. Namely, bread and something in between it:

• Type of Bread: Sesame Seed Bun
• Dressing(s)/Condiment(s): N/A
• Toppings: Thinly Sliced Roast Beef

That's really it, basically. A hamburger bun and some roast beef. And, in the interest of fairness, that is how I judged the sandwich. Although, it should be noted that like most people, I tend to dress mine up a little bit. Sauces that Arby's has available to augment your roast beef include Arby's sauce (a bar-b-q sauce variant) and the sinus-tingling Horsey sauce. I usually opt for the latter with some cracked black pepper thrown on as well. With that brief disclaimer out of the way, the scoring for Arby's Regular Roast Beef was as follows:

• Quantity/Value: 4/5 - Gone it seems are the glory days of my youth when the Arby's "5 for 5" promotion (5 regular roast beefs for five dollars) would set off a feeding frenzy that, despite the savings my college student budget appreciated, could only be described as unhealthy. The current promotion du jour is a $5.01 combo meal which includes the sandwich, some curly fries and a drink. I understand that whoever came up with the $5.01 idea probably thought it was clever, but I find it annoying and lame - especially if I was paying with cash. Nevertheless, it's still a decent deal for a decent amount of food.
• Originality: 5/5 - What?!? A FIVE for originality?? While it would seem that fast food is just about the most unoriginal thing out there, what you have to keep in mind is that although they certainly weren't the first to make a roast beef sandwich, Arby's was definitely the first to take the concept of a roast beef sandwich and turn it into something huge. And even after all that, where else can you get a sandwich like this? I can think of plenty of places where I can buy a McDonald's style hamburger or a Taco Bell style taco, but few if any where I can get a sandwich like this one.
• Appearance: 5/10 - Now here is where the fact that this is a fast food sandwich really shines through. One of my favorite things to do is to look at a sandwich or burger on a fast food advertisement and then compare it to what it actually looks like when ordered. It's not only a commentary on fast food, but on advertising in our society as a whole. Too often you're sold an image of an ideal something that is so beautiful, so unbelievably perfect that when actually seen with the naked eye it can't possibly measure up. And then not only does it not measure up, but falls woefully, often times comically short of the image that you were sold. So with that in mind, the picture at the top of this post is what Arby's would have you believe their Regular Roast Beef sandwich looks like: a perfectly symmetrical thing of beauty with a heaping pile of roast beef that is at least as thick as the bun it sits on. Here is what I got in my cute little paper sack:
  

Not quite the same, is it. Kind of a sad little thing with a little bit of roast beef peeking out of a bun that it looks like Han just got done sitting on.

• Quality/Freshness: 7/10 - This is kind of a tricky thing to judge with fast food as well. I mean, for all I know this thing could have been made 3 hours before I bought it. But, I have to say, it seemed pretty fresh. The bun was soft without being soggy from the juices of the roast beef. I'm not a roast beef expert, either, so it might be hard for me to speak to the quality of what they used here. While I'm sure it's not the same stuff you'd find at a high-end restaurant, at the very least upon close inspection it didn't have that weirdly disgusting shine that sandwich meat can get if it isn't used right away.
• Taste: 16/20 - As I said earlier, I judged the taste of the Regular Roast Beef based on how the sandwich was served to me - with none of the aforementioned added ingredients. And I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with the results. There really is nothing quite like a big (even if it's not nearly as big as advertised) pile of super thinly sliced meat in between some bread. The roast beef's juices were enough to moisten the sandwich and keep it from being too dry while at the same time not too much as to result in any detrimental sogginess.

Those scores added up give the Regular Roast Beef from Arby's a total score of 37/50. That number probably goes up another point once I thrown on some Horsey sauce and pepper, too. Is this sandwich the Cadillac of roast beef out there? Of course not. But I don't think it has any illusions of being such. It is what it is. A solid, relatively cheap sandwich that, at least for me, has held up over time and continues to be one I revisit with some frequency. And, fyi, in addition to the Regular size, it can be ordered in Junior, Medium and Large sizes. I'm not sure if the "Large" is the same size as the "Big Montana" version that Arby's peddled for awhile, but that thing was so enormous that the one time I tried it, it killed Arby's for me for a good year. Yeesh.

The Deluxe From Grove Market & Deli

While one of my stated purposes in undertaking this project (and the accompanying blog) was to seek out and discover new sandwiches worthy of inclusion among the all-time greats, another purpose is to give well-deserved praise to those sandwiches that I have already discovered and love. Today's entry is one of those. Grove Market & Deli, thanks in part to its location on a nondescript corner of Main Street in Salt Lake City and it's unassuming outward appearance (if you didn't know any better, you'd never know what was inside) has become one of those "secret" places that attains a near magical quality when you realize the complete and total awesomeness that exists inside the small, plain exterior. I can't believe I'm about to make a Harry Potter reference, but Grove Market is kind of like that portal in the story that takes people to the wizarding world. Myriads of people walk by the place every day, but only a select few enter into the back alley and tap on the bricks to open the door into the wondrous world on the other side. Grove Market is like that. Except instead of entering a pretend wizard world by going inside, you open a portal to Sandwich Nirvana.

I've got a pretty long history with Grove - maybe that's one of the reasons I have such an affinity for the place. I don't remember the first time I went there, but I do remember many times as a student at the University of Utah meeting my dad after class and heading down to Grove for a sandwich. I also remember picking them up before heading a couple blocks up the road to catch a Bees game (what a beautiful coincidence that two of the things I enjoy most - baseball and great food - can be found so close together!) Although my history with Grove Market is long, my first-hand knowledge of their menu is extremely limited - that is because in all the years I've been going there, I've only ever ordered one sandwich - The Deluxe. I fell in love with it from the first bite and have never felt the need to order anything else. I keep telling myself I will, but without fail I always end up back at The Deluxe. Here's what goes into one:

• Type of Bread: Ambassador Roll (essentially an entire loaf of french bread)
• Dressing(s)/Condiment(s): Mustard, Mayonnaise
• Toppings: Ham, Turkey, Avocado, Swiss Cheese, American Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato, Pickle

Even though I made an analogy of Grove being a secret place that not everyone knows about, I should warn you that this is not actually the case. Plenty of people know about it, so if you think you're going to walk right in at lunch time and saddle up to the counter to place an order, you're wrong. Our approach was always to call ahead so our order was ready when we got there. The store is so small that it can get really crowded real quick. But if you play your cards right, the sandwich will be ready when you get there, you can pick it up, grab a cool refreshing beverage and sit outside at one of the tables as you mount your gastronomical attack. You can probably already guess this sandwich scores well, and you're right. You'll find out how I broke it down after one more photo:


By the way, in this photo, you'll notice I've adopted a new visual aid to help with scale. I figured most people know how big a Star Wars action figure is, so you can use that as a guide for how big this thing really is. I chose Han Solo because it seemed to me he'd be the most likely to join you for a refreshing beverage and a sandwich. Droids just drink oil, Luke and Obi-Wan probably eat sprouts and tofu and all that hippie crap and I lost my Chewbacca figure, so there you go. The Deluxe scores as follows:

• Quantity/Value: 5/5 - This one was never in doubt. This is one of the bigger sandwiches I have ever tried. Half of the sandwich is plenty on most occasions. With a price tag of $8.99, it might seem a little pricey, but when you consider it is essentially two meals, it's a great bargain. In my entire life I've only ever completed an entire Deluxe once - back in my early 20's when I was young and spry. Let me give you just one more picture with The Deluxe and Han in action:
  Man, I'm jealous of Han Solo right now. If I was him, I could eat on that thing until I was tired, then just climb inside it and go to sleep. Then if I was hungry, I could wake up, eat a couple bites and go right back to sleep. What a lucky jerk.
• Originality: 4/5 - A couple things stand out here - first is that roll - or loaf, or whatever you wish to call it. I can't think of another place around that uses anything close to it. The combination of meats and cheeses is fresh, as is the use of the avocado.
• Appearance: 9/10 - So, although The Deluxe's looks wouldn't make it feel at home at some high-brow restaurant, they are enough to send my salivary glands into overdrive. The size is of course appealing, and another thing that looks just great is the healthy amount of black pepper on top of the cheese, avocados and pickles.
  
• Quality/Freshness: 9/10 - The meats and cheeses used aren't top top shelf, but the crucial thing is that they were FRESH. The turkey and especially the ham didn't have any of that gross greenish shiny crud that you'll often find on the ham and meats at some places. In addition, the veggies were also fresh - no wilted lettuce, no withered tomato, and most importantly, no unappealing brown avocado.
• Taste: 19/20 - So here's the kicker. Not only is this an enormous sandwich, it also tastes great. There are quite a few ingredients, but they all come together perfectly without losing their individual flavors. The insane crunch of the bread perfectly complements the creaminess of the cheese, condiments and avocado. And then the bite of the pickles and black pepper really put this one over the top. Simply fantastic.

Those excellent scores all add up to give The Deluxe from Grove Market & Deli an enviable score of 46/50! Trying to come up with a way to improve this sandwich is difficult. That is because the most obvious fault the sandwich has is as also what makes it so fantastic - it's sheer size. The Deluxe is so big that it is quite a challenge to eat. The mayo and mustard are applied liberally (my dad says they put it on with a boat oar) which means when you start pressing the sandwich together to fit it in your face, you encounter definite slippage and sliding apart of the sandwich's elements. The other thing that can pose a problem is the bread - it's crunchiness is phenomenal, but the hard outer crust that gives it that can also do a number on the roof of your mouth. But, in the end, these are minor quibbles that I wouldn't change even if I could. The Deluxe may not be the perfect sandwich, but it's awfully, awfully close.

Turkey Cranberry Melt From Iggy's Sports Grill

One of the things I wanted to try for in undertaking this quest for the best thing between two pieces of bread was to order outside my comfort zone. After all, if I just keep ordering the same thing over and over again, how am I every going to discover anything better, right? Hence my decision to go with the seldom-ordered tuna sandwich (see below). That turned out pretty good! So, when our family paid a visit to Iggy's Sports Grill the other night, I decided to press my luck again. More on that in a second, but first a little background on Iggy's. Iggy's is a local Utah sports bar chain with close to 10 locations along the Wasatch Front from Ogden down to Orem. On this particular day, we were in the area, so we stopped at the Centerville location. I'd been to Iggy's a couple times before and had been impressed (the barbeque chicken pizza was especially good). It's a pretty nice sports bar with a menu I'd say is a little more diverse than usual, and, in addition, it's not at all a place you'd be scared to take your kids to.

As I was saying, insofar as I'm making an effort to expand my sandwich horizons, I decided to go with with the Turkey Cranberry Melt. The first time I saw a sandwich with turkey and cranberries on the menu somewhere, I thought it sounded horrific. I don't know why, though - those two things go together perfectly well every Thanksgiving, so why not on a sandwich? And indeed, the first one I tried (I don't recall where) was fantastic. The Turkey Cranberry Melt at Iggy's is made up of the following:

• Type of Bread: Toasted Rye
• Dressing(s)/Condiment(s): Iggy's Sauce (a variant of Russian Dressing)
• Toppings: Sliced Turkey Grilled with Swiss, Coleslaw, Cranberries

The turkey/cranberry sandwiches I'd had before were always cold, so I was curious to see how this would play on a "melt" type sandwich. I'm sorry to report that, although the idea has some potential, the execution on this sandwich was quite disappointing. Before I get to the actual scoring breakdown, here's one more photo with all the sides out of the way:

And without any further delay, here are the scores:

• Quantity/Value: 2/5 - I paid $7.95 for this sandwich which did include sides of french fries, coleslaw and a pickle, but for crying out loud - this thing was minute. I mean, look at the picture at the top of this post. The french fries and pickle are each clearly dwarfing the entire sandwich. I immediately felt a little ripped off.
• Originality: 4/5 - As I said earlier, the concept for this sandwich was original - I can't remember seeing a grilled melt with turkey and cranberries. Interesting idea.
• Appearance: 5/10 - Aside from being really freaking tiny, there were other problems with the appearance of this sandwich. I don't know if you can tell from the 2nd picture, but the combination of dressing on the sandwich itself, the liquid from the slaw, and the grease from the melting process on the grill all combined to leave this sandwich hemorrhaging a greasy liquid mess. Not appealing, brah.
• Quality/Freshness: 7/10 - Aside from the fact that the sogginess I just mentioned left this sandwich with a distinct feeling of not being fresh, the quality of the ingredients themselves left a little to be desired - the turkey was not of the lovely Thanksgiving variety, but instead your run-of-the-mill pressed turkey loaf cut into slices.
  
• Taste: 14/20 - At this point, I think it's important to remember that the name of this sandwich is the "Turkey Cranberry Melt". This name would imply that the important parts of it were turkey and cranberries, no? Well, go ahead an look back at that picture and tell me how much turkey you can spot. Go ahead, I'll wait........yeah, not much, is there. Now, if you looked hard, you may have noticed one cranberry on each half of the sandwich. Those two little guys are important because they were the only ones present! Seriously, I checked. Two cranberries. On the whole sandwich. Couple the embarrassing lack of headlining ingredients with the saturated sponge-like sogginess already mentioned, and, well, this thing didn't taste great. Imagine a Reuben sandwich with no meat that was left sitting in a sauna for half an hour.
  

In summary, while I will probably still return to Iggy's, it won't be to order their Turkey Cranberry Melt which stumbles in with a final SSTF rating of 32/50. Unless of course they rename it something more appropriate. Might I suggest "The Meatless Reuben Snackwich" or "The Coleslaw Melt".

Albacore Tuna from Paradise Bakery & Cafe

So, you might think that since this a sandwich blog, I'd make my first review one of a sandwich from an amazing little local deli that does nothing but make great sandwiches. Well, don't worry - I'll get there, too. But let's face it - sandwiches can be had almost anywhere and everywhere and I don't plan on being too discriminatory when it comes to where I get sandwiches from. That means everything from the aforementioned deli to bigger chains such as this place - Paradise Bakery & Cafe.

Paradise is a national chain with locations in most of the Western states and a couple others as well. As the name would suggest, they specialize in baked goods, but also serve sandwiches, soups and salads throughout the day. My wife loves this place, so on the first day of 2010, I accompanied her to this location and started this sandwich project with, appropriately enough, the first sandwich I saw at the top of the menu - the Albacore Tuna sandwich, which is composed of the following:

• Type of Bread: Multigrain
• Dressing(s)/Condiment(s): Mayonnaise
• Toppings: Albacore Tuna Salad, Leaf Lettuce, Tomato

Let me start off by saying that I typically don't order tuna sandwiches. I guess the reason for that is that it is a bit more of a gamble ordering tuna than say turkey or roast beef. I mean, a good tuna sandwich is wonderful. However, a bad tuna sandwich is just HORRIBLE. If the tuna-to-mayonnaise ratio is weak, the sandwich can turn south into a soggy, uneatable disaster pretty quickly. Thankfully, that was not the case here. Let's go right to the score-card:

• Quantity/Value: 3/5 - I paid $7.15 for my sandwich, which included a chocolate-chip cookie, but coming on standard size sandwich bread, I thought it was a tad over-priced
  
• Originality: 3/5 - Aside from the pizazz that the multigrain bread provided, nothing out of the ordinary here.
  
• Appearance: 8/10 - I know it doesn't help that my photo is pretty washed out by my flash, but this was a good looking sandwich. The tuna salad had celery and sweet pickle to give it some color and the fresh lettuce and tomato provided great contrast.
• Quality/Freshness: 8/10 - As just mentioned, the tomato and lettuce were fresh and appealing. And, since I watched the guy make my sandwich, I know it was fresh. This was important considering the sog potential of a tuna fish sandwich.
• Taste: 17/20 - As I mentioned earlier, the downfall of a tuna sandwich in my mind is when it is a bland, soggy mess. Paradise Bakery avoided this with the celery and pickle in the tuna itself, the lettuce, and the sunflower seeds baked into the bread all providing some level of crunch to offset the softness of the bread, tuna and tomato.

That means the Albacore Tuna sandwich at Paradise Bakery & Cafe comes in with a final SSTF (Supreme Sandwich Task Force) Rating of 39/50. In summary, I would not hesitate to order this sandwich again. I just wish it were a bit cheaper. Oh yeah - the cookie that came with my sandwich was awesomely chewy and delicious.

By Way of Introduction

The sandwich. I'm certain I'm not alone in saying that if you tallied up the number of times in my life I've eaten a certain type of food, the sandwich would be at (or at least near) the top of the list. Throughout the world - in every country, culture and class - sandwiches, in one form or another, are consumed by the millions every day. I know that in my 34+ years on the planet I've sent literally thousands of these gastronomic wonders down the hatch - some, obviously, better than others. And with thousands more destined to meet the same fate, I want to ensure that only the best sandwiches make the cut. With that in mind, I have joined with a couple of like-minded individuals (my father and brother-in-law, to be specific) in a quest to seek out, discover, analyze and devour the finest sandwiches out there. Our mission is to go far and near in a never-ending quest to ultimately identify the greatest creation in all of sandwichdom.

The purpose of this blog, therefore, is to document our findings for the benefit of sandwich lovers everywhere (or at least any that happen to stumble across this thing in the vast sea that is "the internets"). The plan is to provide photo evidence of each sandwich eaten along with a rating describing each sandwich's awesomeness (or lack thereof, as the case may be). The rating will be on a 50 point scale comprised of 5 scoring categories:

1. Quantity/Value: What kind of sandwich bang to you get for your hard-earned buck? (5 possible points)
2. Originality: What (if anything) sets this sandwich apart? (5 possible points)
3. Appearance: Does this sandwich look like the hamburger on the McDonald's billboard or the actual hamburger that gets slammed into the wax paper and given to you? (10 possible points)
   
4. Quality/Freshness: Pretty self-explanatory. Are the ingredients top-shelf and are they fresh? (10 possible points)
5. Taste: Last, but certainly not least, how good does it taste??? (20 possible points)

The score will obviously be joined by commentary explaining the ratings given and the reasons for them. Alright. I think that's enough book-keeping for now. I'm hungry. Let's get started!