The sandwich was wonderful. First of all, unlike their brethren across the pond, this sandwich was huge. Not American-obscene-huge, but European-huge. The focaccia was soft and fluffy and oil. The Mortadella was salty, wonderfully thinly sliced and *bountiful*. The mozzarella was actually flavorful and not the cold slug you often get. The tomatoes were pretty bland, oh well, three out of four ain’t too bad.

Simple enough to make, but wonderfully tasty ingredients

It’s a quarter loaf!

See, no short changing on the Mortadella

Oddly enough most of these trucks seem hell-bent on serving sit-down food instead of the obvious choice for mobile ingestion: sandwiches! I don’t really get it. My best guess is that they’re trying to stand out by serving food you can’t get as easily as sandwiches, but in the process being incredibly short-sighted. Hell, most dedicated sandwich shops don’t have kitchens much bigger than a truck – talk about a natural (and literal) fit!

Finally I visited Schinitzel and Things (various locations, get the latest on their twitter account) and my dreams of ultra-mobile sandwiching were realized. They serve all kinds of schnitzel (pounded and deep fried meat) with a variety of condiments as a ‘platter’ or sandwich (aka ‘schnitzelwich’) for $10 or $8. This ain’t your regular cart food. It’s just as expensive as any fancy sandwich you’d get elsewhere in the city and I had high expectations.

I got my first wich, sat down and they were met immediately. The schnitzelwich is incredible: the schnitzel is warm and crunchy without being dry, the bread is soft and toasted, the sriracha mayo is gently hot. It comes in tin foil and the process of ordering, sitting down outside and being enveloped in crunchy chicken is fantastic. I haven’t tried the other meats since I’m so taken with the chicken, but I’d wager they are equally delicious. Once, the schnitzel was a little dry and not quite as crunchy, but that never stops me from getting excited when the truck is nearby (most of my coworkers don’t even bother to check their twitter, they just wait for me to get loud about it every week).

Go forth and schnitzelwich! You will enjoy every bite.

Deep fried quality:

Unopened:

Looking Inside:

Not much, I decided. Thankfully I was right, all is well in the limb department. More importantly the little buggers were delicious. L’Orange Bleu (430 Broome St, New York, NY) is a Moroccan-ish restaurant in SoHo that has a wonderful oyster special that I can never resist. They have tables outside that are perfect for watching the parking lot across the street or hoping some anorexic models walk by. After you have a few happy-hour oysters, get these delicious mini-burgers. I expected them to be cooked gray and be a little chewy, after all what do Moroccan’s know about mini-burgers? Everything. These were perfectly cooked to medium, not too greasy and complimented my Sunday fear-test perfectly. Free yourself from the media terror, eat mini-burgers!

(Disclaimer: I have no idea how safe the meat is, but it taste delicious.)

Better quality than I expected for a fairly simple dish:

Fresh:

Upclose (No E. Coli here!):

(Picture shamelessly stolen from a previous post)

Still, when I saw the lobster rolls being dished out at Brooklyn Flea by the good folks of the Red Hook Lobster Pound, I had to have one. These rolls, each being assembled to order, looked so good that I ignored my past apathy (and the somewhat hefty price tag). The dedicated RHLP team trucks in fresh crustaceans from Maine, along with the bread for the sandwiches. They’re at both the Fort Green flea on Saturdays (Lafayette Ave & Claremont Ave) and the Dumbo flea on Sundays (Water Street & New Dock Street), though they do tend to sell out of rolls before the end of the day.

The lobster roll ($13), contains a seriously generous portion of lobster meat, barely slicked with mayo, topped with diced celery, scallions and a light dusting of spices (paprika, I think, though too light to really be sure). The bread, a grilled split-top roll, is the perfect vehicle for the lobster – it resembles Texas Toast, crunchy on the surface, soft in the middle, with a buttery flavor that reflects the decadence of the lobster meat itself. The nearby park (if you’re in Dumbo) might not be the Maine coast, but it’s as good a spot as Brooklyn has to chow down on a heap of seafood.

I think I’ve been a bit rehabilitated by this lobster roll – I get it now. This isn’t a sandwich full of zip, zing or spice. It doesn’t need to be. This is a sandwich that frames one superstar, high-quality ingredient, supporting it with fantastic bread and a slight bit of contrasting crunch. I’m curious though, for an expert opinion – does this Brooklyn/Maine hybrid roll measure up?

A relatively simple recipe with top-notch ingredients, prepared with care (and personally escorted here from Maine) make for lowish strategy and very high execution:

Giving kind of a come-hither gesture:

Minimal mayo, nicely chopped scallions:

(Photos courtesy of Ian Westcott. I was too busy drooling.)

No surprise here:

See our other Blue Bunny review here. Also, check out their weird user-pictures section: I can almost hear the marketing people talking about going ‘viral’…

If you use granola and yogurt, you can make bland packaging (healthy people don’t like colors):

Mmmm, machined fro-yo:

Chunky with a river of corn syrup:

However, my trip wasn’t entirely fruitless. A few days after leaving Texas, I found myself in Portland, Oregon. Specifically, I found myself in a parking lot whose borders were crowded with street food vendors. This wasn’t a special street fair or festival, this was an every day street food paradise, and apparently the city is loaded with similar parking lots. I thought New York had a respectable number of tasty food trucks and carts; I was wrong. Portland is outdoing us by leaps and bounds. This one corner alone had Thai, Vietnamese, BBQ, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Cajun, pizza…and Czech. Of course I had to try Tabor, the Czech cart (SW 5th St. & Stark St.), especially when I noticed its signature item: the Schnitzelwich.

The Schnitzelwich ($6) features a pork or chicken cutlet, deep fried, on a ciabatta roll from a local bakery, topped with lettuce, sauteed onion and both a red pepper spread and a generous smattering of horseradish sauce. Though the two sauces are intensely flavorful, the real burden of the sandwich rests on the meat – if the schnitzel were tough or the breading soggy, it just wouldn’t be worth eating. But Tabor fries each cutlet to order, and the result is a schnitzel that is fresh and crispy, perfectly balancing out the sauces. I wish I’d had room for their other offerings – goulash, dumplings, and a fried cheese sandwich – but the Schnitzelwich was a perfect midday meal, enjoyed in the company of other happy food stand patrons.

Freshly fried schnitzel with memorable sauces puts this sandwich high in both strategy and execution.

Did I mention that Tabor is adorable?

Eating on the street:

See the crispy fried goodness:

What might seem very un-gourmet coming from the Danny Meyer ownedUnion Square Hospitality Group (USHG) is a tasty sandwich that tests everyone’s jaw-dislocating ability. It’s not a hamburger is the UBERBURGER. It sings a song that goes something like this: bun, burger patty, cheese, deep fried cheese filled portabella mushroom, burger patty, cheese, lettuce, tomato, (mustard), bun.  See, it really is the uberburger. Try to order it that way! Say, “one uberburger please.”

The burger is overwhelming. It’s a test. It’s an experiment in hyperbole. It’s delicious. I’d order it again in a heartbeat. Naturally, if you’re not that hungry or are under 5’5″, you probably should stick to a regular (or double) burger. It’s also a good idea to clear your calendar for an hour or two afterward, eating that much meat and cheese induced a class 3 food coma (difficulty keeping ones eyes open, general feeling of warmth and contentment, sluggish verbal response). The burger’s here aren’t as chic as they could be and they’re not the best in the area, but the experience of ordering from a stand and sitting in the park in a safe cocoon of calm is like no other.

The love for shake shack is so big, last year someone started a user-contributed photostream of the line (apparently abandoned) at Shack Watchers.
12/2/200 8EDIT: Looks like Danny M. liked the idea so much, they put it into their website: Shake Shack NYC.

It looks puny from this height:

‘shroom Burger:

The Stack Unveiled:

It looks delicious from this height:

Back to the Herring! It’s served filleted with some chopped onions, boring pickles and a little mayonnaise in a soft hot-dog bun. It’s cold and a bit mushy, but has a refreshing freshness and bite from the onions and pickles that it’s a pleasure to eat. It also helps that it’s incredibly soft and I could probably eat it without teeth. I had one and a half before getting a little grossed out at the lack of texture variation. It’s definitely worth trying, but not something that I’m clamoring for more of. Then again, I’d love to try the same thing made with tuna or salmon…

See the softness?:

It’s soft and fresh from the dryer:

Softness exposed!

Come Closer, Closer…

• blackened chicken
• roasted peppers
• chipotle mayo
• mesclun

It ate smoothly, with decent texture. My only real complaint is that I had to use the counterforce to prevent the chicken from slipping out the back. It’s a common problem with so many slippery ingredients, although the mesclun helps give traction. Overall, a highly recommended sandwich.