City of Sandwiches

I completely tired myself out this weekend with my second expedition to the Ikea in Emeryville (via bus, bus, then another bus......it's a long trip. Especially when you consider the fact that I had the theme song from those old Just for Men commercials stuck in my head the entire time. "You'll look so natural, no one can tell with Just for Men gel! No one can tell with Just for Men gel!" There. Consider that a gift from me to you for the next four hours.)

Consequently, today was a day of assembling furniture, organizing my room, taking a break to stroll through the Marina district, and eating a sandwich of epic deliciousness at The Grove.

Flank steak. Arugula. Avocado. Tomatoes roasted for six hours. Salsa verde. And O, such bread!

This sandwich, in case you can't tell from my fuzzy iPhone picture, was INCREDIBLE. The steak was tender, the tomatoes were caramelized and juicy, and the bread was absolutely perfect. One day I will bake such bread. When that day comes, you are all invited to bask in its glory.


The deliciousness of this sandwich got me to thinking about other delicious sandwiches I've had in the past week. Just the other day I got a roast beef sandwich from this totally unassuming little corner deli on Chestnut street. It's not even really a deli - it's more of a beverage depot with a sandwich counter tucked away in one corner. But let me tell you -- that was a sandwich. I was totally blown away by the quality of the ingredients and the amount of roast beef they gave me. I learned an important life lesson that day: sometimes the best sandwiches come from unexpected places. (Why yes, I do plan to trademark that.)

I continued to follow this marvelous sandwich fantasy train back a few weeks, to my very first trip to the ferry building when I visited SF:

Feast your eyes on the Bacon Maple Breakfast sandwich from 4505 meats. Arugula, aged gruyere, and a farm fresh egg on a brioche bun. 

Look at that beautiful thing!! Oh it was so fantastic...very gooey and eggy and breakfasty. The arugula really took it to another level -- it was a very soft and savory sandwich, and it really needed the crisp, peppery sharpness of the arugula for balance. Also -- putting it all on a brioche bun? A fantastic idea. I simply cannot say enough about saturating egg-bread with eggs. It's an excellent combo. It's like Sam & Diane. Beatrice & Benedick. Buffy & Angel. (WHERE MY NERDZ AT!?...except not like Buffy & Angel because eggs don't turn egg bread evil and ultimately force it to leave town.)

I hope you all had a beautiful Sunday. I wish you joy. I wish you sandwiches. If you don't have a sandwich with you now, feel free to ease the ache of longing in your breast with some pretty pictures of the Palace of Fine Arts:

There was a wedding under this dome today. It was very strange. You can't tell from my photos but there were hundreds of people milling around taking pictures. They had a 19 year old kid in an oversized dress shirt acting as "security" by one of the more heavily trafficked archways. He had an inflated sense of power and really enjoyed telling me I couldn't go through that archway.