Macaroni and cheese is a meal in its own. So are chicken fingers. Shwarma is a meal in its own. So is spaghetti and meatballs, turkey and stuffing, and tortilla Española.
So why would someone take something that is already lunch or dinner and turn it into a sandwich?
Because they love me, that's why. In my opinion, there's very little that can't be made better by slapping it between a couple of pieces of bread.
I didn't know that Sputnik loved me. I thought it only loved guys in skinny jeans and nose rings who drink espresso all day and Old Style beer all night. But I was wrong, because Sputnik's kitchen has created two sandwiches that you just won't find anywhere else.
The Benny Mac combines globs of breaded or fried mac 'n' cheese with BBQ sauce, bacon and breaded chicken cutlets inside a soft yet solid roll. And since this sandwich already threw out all the rules, I smeared some of Sputnik's jalapeño jam onto the bread as well. (That jam usually accompanies the tasty sweet potato fries.)
The ingredients were definitely fighting one another, and at times I could barely taste anything. But that didn't really matter, because this sandwich made me happy. What really held it all together -- the peacemaker in this border war -- was the BBQ sauce. Must be a Pisces.
Anyway, I also tried the Persian Chicken Sandwich ($8) -- because there was no way I was leaving Sputnik without it. This meal-in-a-roll included spicy chicken meatballs, roasted and chopped green chiles, lettuce, tomato, tahini and harissa.
Flava-ristically speaking, this sandwich worked better than the Benny Mac, because the green chile complemented the meatballs, and the spicing with the harissa was rich and delicious. All these good things came together beneath a toasted roll.
If I'd thought of it, I would have taken both sammies into Sputnik's photo booth and captured our little threesome forever. Sputnik -- and its sandwiches -- love me.
Read about previous sandwiches in the Our Weekly Bread archive.
