Mezza Luna's Chicken Club is a New Favorite

Mezza Luna is in Jones Valley, a little far from this UAH group's usual lunch time range, but worth the drive on occasion. The restaurant uses natural, local and organic meat and produce, and claims to infuse its Mediterranean cuisine with southern inspiration. More upscale than some of the sandwich places we've tried, it is still casual and not too expensive - the chicken club we came for is $9.00.

Everything that makes a chicken club sandwich really good, Mezza Luna does better, starting with moist, tender chunks of chicken instead of deli slices. The pancetta is a thick and crunchy, what bacon wishes it could be. Add provolone cheese, roasted red peppers and arugula, top it off with garlic aioli on a dense and crispy ciabatta bun, and you have a great sandwich!

The group agreed this one ranks near the top, along with Papa Gyro's gyro and of course, Lyn's fried bologna.

Mezza Luna also has a lovely patio when the weather is pleasant, and a good wine list (with half price bottles on Thursday evenings).

Papa Gyros is a Hit!

We have been a little slow getting the visit to Papa Gyros posted. I was thinking someone else was going to handle this one since I think everyone was pretty pleased with the experience from the comments during the meal. We lucked out on the day that we went in that the weather was crappy so there seemed to be a smaller-than-usual crowd which translates into being able to get a table. The restaurant is small and typically it gets pretty crowded early. The target for our visit was the "Classic" Gyro. The sandwich is stuffed full of meat (beef and lamb) with veggies and sauce. I'm not discriminating enough to know what all the flavors are in the sauce, but it works just right. I had the fries as a side - very tasty. Others of the group will have to comment on their sides as we had a variety. I rate the "classic" as one of the best of the group thus far, if not the best. On top of that is the staff are very friendly and helpful, and give a family-feel to the experience. There are lots of other interesting looking things on the menu as well which definitely warrants return visits to continue working through the menu. The "classic" and Papa Gryos in general is very much a must-try.

The Next Sandwich

We're over halfway through our 15 sandwiches. What will we eat next? This group is never short on ideas:

Steve suggests the Hot Mafia Sandwich at Kalou's in Providence. Kalou's says, "This wonderful sandwich has spicy salami, capocolla and prosciutto meats with provolone cheese and pepperocinis on an Italian sub roll served with Italian pasta salad." Steve adds, "it was something to rave about, including the pasta salad, which was mostly tomatoes/onions/peppers/olives and a bit of pasta thrown in. (Oh yeah, and a big smelly pickle, though I have no idea if it was any good.)"

Homework for Steve: This was apparently the special that day. Is it available every day?

Helen suggests the Jerk Chicken Sandwich from Happy Tummy at Lowe Mill. This spicy sandwich was a weekly special, but is popular enough to be on the regular menu now. For full effect, try it with pepper jack cheese on the Jalapeno Fred Bred. Personally I prefer the Pineapple Fred Bread if it's available. Happy Tummy is a food cart, and they open at noon on Thursdays, Fridays and weekends only. Seating is outdoors, so good weather is a plus.

We also have a couple make-ups to work in, for the "15 must-have sandwiches" that aren't available on our regular Tuesday sandwich day:

• Kentucky Hot Brown at Monaco (only open for lunch on Friday, I think)
• Hummus Avocado Sprout Sandwich at Garden Cove (only available Thursdays). Only outside seating so good weather is a plus here too.
• Jerk Chicken Club at Mason's Pub (not open until 4pm on weekdays)

Where else should we eat? Add your suggestions here....

The Reuben from Ruggby's

This week’s sandwich was the Rueben served at the venerable Ruggby's Food & Spirits, 4820 University Drive. An establishment steeped in beer drenched history – long known as a hang-out for tenured professors and toady students, pasty engineers and over-pumped jocks, and even an occasional drop-in by everyone’s favorite weather technologist, Bob Barron.

Now I’m a big big fan of the Rueben. I’ve had them from the meat-packing district in Cleveland, and the Carnegie Deli in New York. I’ve even made my share when I was a hotel cook, for all the Jewish snowbirds flocking through Florida in the winter. So I have some preconceived notions about what a Reuben should be: Obscene stacks of corned beef and dripping piles of sauerkraut, with Swiss-cheese oozing everywhere – and paramedics stationed nearby in case of emergency. My father-in-law insists that the rye needs to be of the dark polish variety, and I used pumpernickel when I was a cook, but I think typically most places just use regular old light rye – lest the darker versions overpower the guts of the sandwich?

Anyway, the Rueben is not a sandwich for the faint of heart. Or so it should be. However, we discovered a schism in our group surrounding the Reuben served at Ruggby’s. For me, it was a pale imitation of a full figured Reuben. You could even say it was not Rubenesque at all. So, I found it unsatisfying as a corned-beef based sandwich, but several members of our party thought this trimmed down version was just right. Cara pointed out that it was really a fancy grilled-cheese sandwich with corned-beef thrown in, while others thought the relatively light use of sauerkraut was a welcome surprise. As one would expect, the sandwich was quite oily – being grilled in butter and all, and offered plenty of calories. A side of fries or onion rings rounded out everyone’s plate –also rather oily, but they were all eaten and therefore we can assume they were pretty good. So I think to sum it up, those of us that seek out Reubens as a matter of course were not completely satisfied with this version, but those for which sauerkraut is simply an Oktoberfest novelty, found this version of the sandwich to be quite tasty and well balanced.

One additional note, Ruggby’s is for the most part a bar. It was very smoky. Something everyone in our party had gotten used to not facing on a regular basis.

The Shrimp Po Boy at the Po Boy Factory

The tour-de-sandwich gang was back in action this week visiting the Po Boy Factory on Andrew Jackson Way. The targeted sandwich was the shrimp poboy with the main ingredient being fried shrimp on their special hoagie bun, with lettuce, tomato and mayo. No fancy fixins, but as someone in the group mentioned - it's hard to go wrong with fried shrimp and this sandwich doesn't break the rule. While most of the group seemed to agree the sandwich was "good", I didn't get the impression that most were necessarily bowled-over by it either. The hoagie bun is probably a bit of excess in the bread category, in fact noticed a number of other customers eating the contents and leaving the hoagie behind.

Rather than this particular sandwich the attraction is more the Po Boy Factory itself and the other offerings (http://poboyfactory.com/menu.html). The restaurant provides a glimpse into a Louisiana-flavor of eatery and many of the other menu items are worth the trip. Several in our group branched out and to the ettouffee. I was disappointed that they were out of the gumbo, which has been great on past visits. As we were paying the bill a fresh batch of bread pudding was crossing the counter and was grounds for sitting back down for dessert if we would of had time - smelled and looked great.

All in all, the shrimp and other po boy selections at the Po Boy factory are well worth the trip.

The Kitchen Sink at Stanlieo's Sub Villa

The Tour de Sandwich had to take an unexpected detour when we discovered that the next sandwich in line, Kentucky Hot Brown at The Scene Lounge in Monaco Pictures, could not be had at our regularly scheduled Tuesday lunch time: The Scene Lounge is not open then. We'll have to pick that one up later; we pressed on to The Kitchen Sink at Stanlieo's Sub Villa.

Stanlieo's is an institution, a Huntsville tradition. Plus, check out the ingredient list on this sandwich: ham, turkey, roast beef, Genoa salami, cotto salami, pepperoni, Swiss cheese, capicola, American cheese, provolone cheese, onion, pickles, tomato, salt, pepper and oregano. Seven kinds of meat and three different cheeses?! It sounds like a riot! Clearly the creator of this sandwich embraces the virtue of excess. This reviewer was very excited and expected a sandwich that would give The Godfather a run for its money.

As usual, our group bemused the staff with our identical orders; the anticipation built as the sandwiches arrived one by one. The verdict? Some folks were very pleased with the sandwich. For fans of Stanlieo's, the fresh-baked bread and chopped pickle/pepper mix make this sandwich an esteemed member of the Stanlieo's sandwich family. For me, though, the sandwich fell short. First of all, I hate oregano on a sub. I had forgotten that fact until, halfway through the sandwich, I finally identified the unpleasant flavor. (Obviously I didn't read all the way to the end of the ingredients list! Once I got past the cheeses, I apparently wrote off the rest as "blah blah sandwich stuff whatever.") Also, I found the pickles excessive and overwhelming. Furthermore, the human brain has only 7 plus or minus 2 spaces available in short term memory. When a sandwich contains seven meats and three cheeses, even a very smart brain can't process all of those elements individually, it has to group them somehow. In a well-rounded sandwich, this might take a form such as: salty meats, peppers, cheese and fatty sauces, veggies. For The Kitchen Sink, on the other hand, my brain grouped it as: oregano, pickles, casserole. The flavors failed to harmonize to my satisfaction, ending up as one big muddle (aside from the pickles and oregano, of course). The blander meats diminished the effect of the stronger, saltier meats but weren't strong enough dominate the sandwich themselves. I can't believe I'm saying this, but sometimes less really is more.

The Godfather at Tony's Italian Deli

The next stop on our sandwich quest was Tony's Italian Deli for The Godfather. This sandwich got mixed reviews, to the utter amazement of this reviewer. Personally, I have to say this is the best sandwich I have ever eaten, even surpassing my former top pick, Carl John's Fried Bologna. But then, I am a person of excess. Give me flavor! Give me intensity! Give me more! Why make ordinary chocolate chip cookies when you can make chocolate chip cookies with oatmeal, double the chocolate chips, and toffee bits? Refined tastes, schmefined tastes--give me simple food but take it to the max. The Godfather is just such a sandwich, especially when ordered as instructed: "loaded."



It looks like an ordinary sandwich in the picture, but appearances deceive. Ordered loaded, as I'm pretty sure the photographed sandwich was not, it was so overflowing with goodies, it was nearly impossible to close. The genius of this sandwich is intense, flavorful, salty meat (salami and capicola) in perfect counterpart with the equally intense, somewhat sour kick of pepperoncini peppers. I was concerned that I would find the peppers too spicy, but instead, they were the ideal match for the meat. Backing up the strong harmony between the meats and the peppers were provolone cheese, mustard, and mayo, with lettuce, tomato, oil, and vinegar in the background. This is the most intense, flavorful sandwich I have ever experienced, and it remained in my mind for days afterward. Future sandwiches on the tour have a very tall order to unseat The Godfather as the sandwich champion of all time in my book. Aside from the intensity and excess, what made this sandwich for me was the three tiers of intensity-matched flavors. Many sandwiches have strength or balance among a few flavors, but it's rare to find a sandwich so optimized for both.

As for the atmosphere of the restaurant itself, we visited the Tony's in Madison, which has a straight-forward deli atmosphere decorated with NYC touches. It's not a place I would take a date (unless the date was even more like me than me), but for lunch with coworkers, I found the lack of pretension refreshing. It's the first place I'd to take any and all guy friends visiting from out of town. Anyway, I liked the sandwich so much, they could have served it just about anywhere--maybe a baby crying or an explosion would have detracted from my enjoyment of this sandwich, but anything short of that, no way. A few days later, I ended up at a sister location (Tony's Little Italy on Whitesburg)--it is more of a "real restaurant" or date-friendly sort of atmosphere, but it was loud and echoey, and I swear the food wasn't as good. Then again, I made the absurd mistake of ordering some other sandwich. Bah! I'll have to go back and order The Godfather for proper comparison. If it's not as good, I foresee a lot of drives out to Madison in my future.