Barbecued Ham at 9th Ave. Grocery and Deli, and catching up

Our sandwich adventures have taken us to the sequel list: 15 More Must-Have Sandwiches of Madison County, starting with Barbecued Ham at the 9th Avenue Grocery and Deli. (We did miss a few on the original list, basically anything that's not available Tuesday at 11:00. We plan to go back for the schedule-challenged at the end. Thus, on to the Barbecued Ham.)

This reviewer was a bit dubious about the day's offerings. First of all, the sandwich is served on the mass-produced Wonder Bread variety of bread. Although choices included whole wheat and others, it was all still the spongy, non-bakery sort of bread I generally scorn. Then, the meat appeared even sketchier. Given the title "barbecued ham," I expected cut up ham heated in barbecue sauce or something along those lines, but instead the sandwich was built on an odd barbecue-sauce-impregnated "ham" sort of lunch meat. It did not have the appearance of something that would bear close scrutiny.

To this doubtful beginning was added a slice of orange American cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayo, onion, salt, pepper, and piles of pickles and jalapeno peppers. It should be noted that this reviewer is not a pickle fan and hates jalapenos but went along with the default sandwich mainly to be a good sport, planning to try it as built and then pick off all the yucky stuff when I hated it.

However, the sandwich completely surprised me by being pretty darn awesome. The pickles and jalapenos provided a strong, flavorful counterpoint to the meat, and the flavors all went well together and balanced nicely. It's certainly not a gourmet sandwich, but I would rank it above the ordinary sandwiches we've had (ex. the Reuben, the Philly) and some of the others as well. This was a surprisingly good sandwich, and when you figure in the price ($2.35!!!), it's unbelievable. I'm not sure it would be a healthy regular addition to my diet, but I expect I'll be back to buy this sandwich again in the future.

A few other sandwiches never quite made the blog, so here's a little catching up.

Chicken Salad on Croissant at Duffy's Deli

Nothing too colorful to say about this one: it's exactly what you'd expect from chicken salad on a croissant. This reviewer found it a bit on the sweet and pickley side, but we are in the South, and that's Southern chicken salad. It was not nearly as sweet and pickley as most Southern chicken salad, so I was pleased. The other folks liked it quite well.

We also tried some desserts: a chocolate chip cookie that was exactly as expected, and a piece of baklava that was so unappealing as to go unfinished. (Yikes!) Stay away from the baklava, but if you're in the mood for chicken salad, Duffy's is a standup choice.

We also detoured to pick up one from the new list, since it was being offered only for a limited time.

Fried Green Tomato BLT at Phoenix Bistro

This sandwich was crazy friggin' good. Loved it!

The sandwich is composed of fried green tomatoes, bacon, lettuce, and a remoulade sauce, on a toasted hoagie roll. It also came with potato chips made in-house, which I think is very cool.

Frankly, the last time I ate a fried green tomato was when I was three, and I absolutely hated them, so my expectations were low for this sandwich. Also, when it came out, there were only two pieces of bacon on the sandwich, crossed in an X. This looked like a major shortfall of bacon to me. "Bah!" I thought.

Besides that, the dining experience was a bit on the odd side up to that point. When we arrived, there was a bowl of olive oil and balsamic vinegar on the table, but enough time passed for me to seriously ponder why it was there, before some bread finally arrived. When it did, it was remarkably burnt on the outside, yet not fully cooked on the inside. Our lunch had been delayed by a long-running meeting, and we were ravenous, so we devoured it anyway, despite it being the worst example of bread I've ever seen. We ate it all except one last very charred piece. This we saved for questioning the waiter, who reluctantly acknowledged that most of their bread is served less black than this, and eventually produced a defense that can be summarized as "I know this bread is terrible, that's why I gave you an extra piece! Do you want some more? Is that what you want?"

However, all was forgiven when I tasted the sandwich. Unlike my recollection of fried green tomatoes, these were flavorful and tomatoey with a crisp, delicate breading. Also, to my surprise, the bacon turned out to be quite sufficient when aligned with the bread, and the sauce united everything into a masterpiece of a sandwich. For this reviewer, it shot to the top of the list, right behind The Godfather and Carl John's Fried Bologna. My only regret is that the sandwich is a seasonal offering, so I can't go back and get another one right now.

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.