Breakfast Sandwich Loose Ends

This fall has been exceptionally busy with kids and work and I'll catch up on breakfast sandwich reviews soon, but there are a few loose ends I've been meaning to gather so let's do that now...

Above are some water rolls I've been trying to perfect. I've never been great at yeast breads but I recently discovered quick-rise yeast and my life hasn't been the same since. You practically watch the dough rise in front of your eyes! It's pretty satisfying. The water rolls have a crispy outside and firm yet spongey inside which makes for a damn fine egg sandwich, if I do say so myself.

In case you didn't see this, CITY Paper did a short piece on the best egg sandwiches in town. I'm not saying they copied me, but I am going to say that I had been reviewing egg sandwiches for eight months prior to this article and Rochester is a pretty small town. It's entirely possible he didn't copy the idea; I mean, he's a food writer and egg sandwiches are food. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but it's probably just a fluke, a coincidence, synchronicity. But thanks.

I've been referring to the Rochester hard roll as the "Petrillo's Roll" but while discussing egg sandwiches on the west side of town someone tipped me off that restaurants are probably supplied by DiPaolo's on N. Plymouth (This makes a lot more sense of my visit to the Red Front, that's for sure!) Interestingly, DiPaolo's doesn't call it a hard roll but simply a "twist" and offers it as "...the best cheeseburger bun." This may not sound significant, but to me it's the difference between involuntary manslaughter and premeditated murder. Or, you know, being delusional or knowing what a hamburger bun is. So, the bakery knows it's a bun, how do I convince all the diner owners in Rochester of this?

Speaking of paradigm shifts, there was this Kickstarter campaign to help raise the standard of egg sandwiches in midtown Manhattan. The plan was to distribute pamphlets to restaurants that outline the basic template of a solid breakfast sandwich. The project more than doubled its goal of $315 and I contacted JoeyScoops to see how the implementation was going. He decided that giving leaflets out may not work and that "the real way to do it" would be to give "Seals of Approval" to all the best sandwiches. Presumably he means a sign or sticker for the restaurant to display and not just some random blog. Cuz that would just be silly.

Jines Restaurant

Maybe it's just my recent binge re-visiting of the Sopranos, but Jines' radio tagline "Sooner or later everybody dines at Jines" sounds more like a threat than a catchphrase to me, or at best a resignation that there are only so many places to eat in a small town. No matter how you interpret it, it's true. On this chilly but sunny morning I made my way over to Park Ave to get strength for grading sketchbooks.

It was a little after eight and moderately busy as I stepped up to the front counter and took a look at the menu. I didn't notice a breakfast sandwich section or even one listed among the regular breakfast items but on the well-worn specials page I found the Sandwich Special: "one egg, cheese, and your choice of bacon or ham served on a croissant." A croissant? Sure, why not! I started my order and the hostess opened up her central command computer to enter it:
"How do you want your egg?"
Presented with choices I realized how sleepy I still was. "Fried!"
"Fried. Over hard?"
"Uhhhh...no. Not over hard."
"Just fried?"
"Wait, no, soft. I mean easy. Runny is good."
She smiled and repeated: "Runny is good."

I thought the hard part was over but then we got to the cheese. "Uhhhhhhmerican," but as soon as she hit the button on her terminal I started an elaborate thought process about croissants and what cheese goes best: Do they have brie? Is that too cliche? Is that too delicious? Have I ever had brie with bacon? Is that going to send me into cardiac arrest? I asked her for the cheese options. There were a bunch but the ones I remember were American, Swiss, crumbly blue, and our mutual mispronunciation of Gruyere. Even slurred and sleepy that sounded like it would be good on a croissant. "That's like a hard Swiss, yes?" She checked with someone behind her. "Yes, like a hard Swiss." After all this I decided to keep to my usual diner routine and get American. At this point she had every right to be annoyed but thankfully seemed entertained by this whole process. I appreciate that.

Lastly: meat. Although I haven't reviewed a sandwich here with ham on it, it's a pretty great salt delivery system and I have it all the time. Ham and croissant seemed like the obvious choice. And some home fries. She hit send and I took a seat to wait.

A few minutes of playing on my phone and I remembered to go take a picture of the menu so I'd remember how much it was and just as I snapped it the hostess walked out with my bag. She looked at me askew. "I need to remember what I ordered," I sheepishly offered in the hope that it was vague enough that she would leave it alone.
"Oh, you're getting this for someone else," she concluded. She had been so helpful up 'til now I couldn't let it go.
"No, the jig is up, I'm going to review this."
"Oh! In that case, enjoy it!" We smiled and I headed out the door. Quite possibly the most pleasant breakfast sandwich ordering exchange ever.

I got home and took a look in the giant take-out container: Top of the croissant offset to showcase the cheese and ham, a little garnish for color, and some golden, delicious looking home fries. I dug in. Oh man, the struggle to make decisions, converse, and get home were worth it: buttery bread alongside melted cheese, slightly chewy sweet/salty ham, and an egg that was not too hard. I was hungry and kept eating until I got to the yolk which exploded all over my hand. And then I kept eating. I was very hungry and it was really good. I finished the sandwich quickly but before disappointment could set in I hit the home fries: crispy edges, seasoned to perfection. This was a great breakfast, so much so I have written all this instead of grading sketchbooks. Oops.

Jines Restaurant
Sandwich cost: $3.95
Rating: It's a really delicious egg sandwich

Pub Fair Gratitude

No, there weren't any egg sandwiches to be had at the second annual VSW Pub Fair (well, except for the ones that Christine made for Tate and I - Thank you!!) but there were scones at the EAT table, hot beef sandwiches and beer at the front desk, amazing food from The Bento Box, and lots and lots of books. And Writers And Books had a poet on hand to craft you a poem after a brief conversation; Charlie and I talked about egg sandwiches, how grateful I am when someone makes me one, and how I like my eggs. I payed $3 and he started typing. This is damn near perfect (the only exception being coffee instead of tea).

I'd like to thank everyone who gave their time to help make Pub Fair possible: the sponsors and vendors who filled the auditorium and made it worthwhile, the students and volunteers who kept it running, the hundreds of attendees who showed their support for independent publishing, and to Charlie for the poem. For these people I am grateful.

Village Bakery - At The Armory

Back in February Karen schlepped a couple of sandwiches from the original Pittsford Village Bakery and they were great, even with the delivery time downtown. Last week I thought I'd return the favor and deliver breakfast before work seeing as how there's a Village Bakery in the city now, just blocks from Karen's house.

I was surprised to see the place empty on a work day (maybe I beat the rush?) but was thrilled as I was anxious to deliver these before she had to leave for work. I ordered two of The Alex (for location comparison from the first Village Bakery review). A few minutes passed and I ordered a drink and a scone to go. A few people trickled in. I sipped my tea while looking around at the white tile. I waited a few more minutes. I looked out the window to see if it had cleared up yet, then I looked through the little kitchen window to see if there was actual movement back there. I did see someone prepping some food. "Soon," I thought. I waited a couple more minutes.

After my morning meditation wait I headed over to Karen's to surprise her with breakfast. Oh, did I mention it was her birthday? It was. And I did surprise her, especially when she didn't hear me come in over the water running. Heeeelarious. Anyway, we sat down to eat and even though her house is mere blocks and minutes away from The Armory, the toast was already kind of soggy. We dug in. No pesto in this bite. Next bite had no chevre. Then I remembered that there was a mound of Arugula on the first Alex I tried. This had about five limp leaves. This sandwich was not very well assembled and a bit of a dud. It didn't inspire as much hostility as this burrito disaster, but was disappointing given the price and the amount of time spent making the damn thing. Everybody has an off day, and I'm guessing this was one of them.

Long story short, I had to wait a long time and they came up short.

Village Bakery
Sandwich cost: $6.95
Rating: Below average breakfast sandwich at an above average price

Hart's Local Grocers

There's a new store in town and it's loooooking good
Got an egg, got a roll, in the neighborhood
They've just opened up but if things work out
it's gonna stayyyyyy ahhhhh whiiiiiiiile.
Bup bup bup bupbaaaaaa.

Hart's Local Grocers just opened up in the East End of town (behind the Little, across the Parking lot from Two Vine) and has a coffee/grill station in the southwest corner with a breakfast menu. Karen saw them post it and we headed on over.

They have two breakfast sandwiches on their five item breakfast menu and anything with avocado is is a shoo-in for me; I ordered the Signature (two Happy Hen eggs, sliced avocado, arugala, pancetta and Sriracha mayo) though I wasn't feeling porky so I passed on the pancetta (Easy enough to do but as Karen noted - why no egg options without meat to begin with in a store that offers vegan cheesecake?). It was nice to see the grill adjacent to the coffee counter and know that the sandwich was being made to order. A couple minutes later it was ready and after some counter confusion I grabbed it and we went to sit by the big windows that look out over Winthrop Street. I unwrapped the sandwich and the roll looked delicious. I was excited to dig in.

Good news! The roll was delicious! Crusty top, firm insides that didn't collapse under jaw pressure or get soggy next to lettuce and mayo. The Hart's website lists their bread suppliers as Baker Street Bread Co. and Small World Food so I don't know who gets the credit. Egg (menu said two but I only recall one) was fried hard, but was good, Sriracha mayo is a no brainer though a little mayo goes a long way and half of what I had would've been fine. Arugula and avocado kind of got lost in the mayo which got me thinking that the pancetta probably helps even the whole thing out. Don't be mislead, I am nitpicking here, this was a very good sandwich. I especially appreciate that Hart's offers an egg sandwich for under $5 that doesn't consist of lowest common denominator ingredients.

I got this sandwich on their second day open and I'm hoping as they hone the place this could go from a very good sandwich to a favorite. No pressure, Hart's. No pressure.

Hart's Local Grocers
Sandwich cost: $4.95
Rating: It's a pretty good sandwich

Maria's Luncheonette - Road Trip Entry

It has become a family tradition to head to Atlantic City for a few days each August to jump in the waves, marvel at all the crap the boardwalk has to offer, and take in some of the best people watching there is. The boardwalk can get a bit pricey for food, so we ventured into the streets behind the casinos and glitz to find some regular ol' eats.

Around the corner from the hotel was the Lenox Cafe but as it was a Tuesday they were not open (thanks for nothing, yelp!) so we headed a few blocks over to Maria's where we had good luck last summer. A pretty standard diner in a narrow older building, we grabbed a few tables in the back and looked over the menu. "Breakfast All The Time" beamed up at me in Curlz MT and I knew all was well in the world. After a quick scan at the sandwich options I figured I'd go for the egg and cheese with sausage pork roll since I wasn't sure what that was. I asked our waitress who went into a lengthy description with hand motions but as it turned out she was thinking of scrapple. She backpedalled a little and said "It's good, you should try it." Hoping that New Jersey's proximity to Manhattan might mean a better bagel I asked her what she thought. Turns out she is from NYC and waitressing in AC for the summer: "Well, it's certainly not the best bagel, but it's not terrible." A ringing endorsement! I went with it anyway.

Our food came quickly and I took a look at the sausage pork roll. Kinda looked like ham. Took a bite. Kinda tasted like ham/Spam/Canadian bacon, but the mention of Spam is not meant to be disparaging. It was grilled but not too greasy, sweet and salty as well. I would get it again and wondered what the pork roll story was. God bless the internet for introducing me to this delightful mail order company: Jersey Boy Pork Roll.

So, the egg, white American (just look at the gooeyness!), and pork roll were all well suited to each other and the bagel...well, it was certainly far from being the best but also not the worst. It had the shiny, boiled exterior on top but not on bottom. Sort of half bagel/half breadel, but it didn't collapse when I bit into it so a step above the usual diner bagel.

Maria's Luncheonette
2319 Atlantic Avenue, Atlantic City, NJ 08401
Sandwich cost: $4.50
Rating: I'm writing home about it, but it's a short letter.

Pat's Coffee Mug

It's a beautiful Saturday morning and there's plenty to do today; Better eat a solid breakfast. Karen picked me up and we headed to the South Wedge to investigate Pat's Coffee Mug after hearing many colorful reviews of it.

There's not much to look at or notice from the street so I was surprised to see the sprawling diner that was inside. A counter with stools in the front section, a middle section with some big tables, and an adjoining dining room with lots of booths and tables. And wood panelling. And a fireplace with snow globes on top. And hockey sticks on the wall. This is just some of the decor, you really should go and check it out yourself. Karen summed it up as Elks' Lodge basement circa 1975. But in a charming way. This is a real-deal, genuine neighborhood joint.

Menu was straightforward and cheap! They listed the fried egg sandwich on a grilled roll and I didn't have the energy to inquire what kind of roll. I ordered it with bacon and figured I'd steal some of Karen's home fries. Our food came out quickly and it was nice to see that the roll was toasty and buttered, but the real pleasure came when I put the sandwich together to reveal sesame seeds. Oooh! Aaah! Ohhhh! It may have been from a supermarket, but not having that smushy Rochester hard roll is a victory in itself. I dug in: fried egg cooked but not crispy, cheese melty and salty, bacon with alternating crisp and chewy salty goodness. And the roll did not collapse after a few bites. This makes for a pretty darn good $3 breakfast sandwich! Beverages were refilled without asking and everyone is happy! I did steal some home fries from Karen's plate and did not regret not getting my own. These are the home fries my grandmother Yetta would try to get the greasiest spoons to serve with fail: dry as a bone and unseasoned, but I like a little more going on with my potatoes.

Pat's Coffee Mug
627 Clinton Avenue South, 14620
Sandwich cost: $3
Rating: A breakfast sandwich if ever there was one