My meals at Buchi Cafe Cubano were awesome. And not only was the review a blast to write, for the first time in a long time I found myself at a restaurant where I actually wanted to eat every single thing on the menu. Twice.
That just doesn't happen that often. And it got me thinking: When was the last time I ran across a place where I actually did (or wanted to) eat every single thing on offer? When was the last time I walked into a restaurant and thought to myself, "I'll have one of everything. And a bucket of whiskey to wash it down with."?
Sure, it happened at Sketch, but at a place like Sketch, it's hard not to eat everything simply because the menu is so short and so bare. It happened at Table 6, but Table 6 happens to be just about my favorite restaurant in Hotcakesland right now, so that's no surprise.
Mostly, it seems to happen at sandwich shops. So this week,
that's what The List is all about: sandwich shops where I could very
easily lay out a sleeping bag and move right in, eating there night and
day and day and night until I'd completely exhausted everything on the
menu and, like a shark (that eats sandwiches), was forced to move on.
1) Masterpiece Delicatessen,
1575 Central Street. I would eat everything on this menu in a single
day, and then come back tomorrow for more. Yeah, it is that good.
2) Las Tortas,
5307 Leetsdale Drive. The Chipotle of Mexican sandwich restaurants.
And I dare you to go in there and try the La Macha (steak, chorizo,
chile, a fried egg, a hot dog, avocado and god only knows what else,
all crammed together on a bun) and not become an instant convert.
3) Pat's #1,
9211 East Arapahoe Road. Pat's has three locations, but in my heart
there is only one. Salami sandwiches here are (most of the time) the
kind of thing that poets should be writing odes to. And the Gobbler?
Thanksgiving dinner on a sandwich.
4) Bagel Deli,
6439 East Hampden Avenue. Oh, man... Just writing the name of this
place makes me want to go right now and have a corned beef and egg
salad sandwich, some matzo ball soup and maybe some scrambled eggs with
salami, too.
5) Ba Le Sandwich,
1044 South Federal Boulevard. A little heavy on the veggies, but I
could still spend a week here very happily eating my way through
everything on the menu two or three times.