The Unvegan » Travel

A Potbelly of Sandwich

The Unvegan — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:00:32 +0000

The sandwich seems to be smiling at me.

While I was in undergrad, a sandwich shop called Potbelly made its way onto campus in Ann Arbor. I appreciated its existence, but definitely didn’t take as much advantage of it as I should have. Potbelly still hasn’t made its way out west, but on a recent layover at Midway Airport in Chicago, I found myself reacquainted with that college delight.

I wasn’t the only one with Potbelly on my mind, as I found myself in a decently long line, and it wasn’t hard to see why. Airport prices are usually jacked up, but Potbelly was incredibly reasonable and while likely not as cheap as six years ago in Ann Arbor, still damn cheap. Fortunately, the line gave me time to decide which sandwich I wanted. In the end, I opted for the Pizza Sandwich, which came with pepperoni, marinara, provolone, mushrooms and Italian seasonings. I got it on their fresh white bread, with no mushrooms and none of the additional fixings offered. Then I grabbed a bag of Zapp’s Sour Cream and Creole Onion Chips for company.

That's a Zapp!

The sandwich was just as I remembered, a combination of tasty ingredients surrounded by a delicious roll that was at once crunchy and soft. The chips were of the kettle variety and made for a nice companion to my sandwich. I’m was unable to discern the difference between Creole onion and regular onion, but whatever the onion powder used, it tasted just fine.

While some may have more of a nostalgia or affinity to Potbelly, I can’t say that I really do. Sure, it’s a good sandwich and definitely a step above your regular chain sandwich shops, but it doesn’t ooze creativity or have a special sandwich is overwhelmingly better than those I can get elsewhere. Yet, it has its place in the grand scheme of sandwich shops and for that I am appreciative. Plus, the place certainly cannot be beat at Midway.

No True Food of Mine

The Unvegan — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:00:51 +0000

False Food!

Friends, Romans, unvegans…what is true food to you? Is it gluten-free? Is it meaty? Is it kale? The answer is likely all of the above, because true food is what you make of it. Yet, a growing restaurant chain is trying to change all that. Calling itself True Food, it already has an air of pretension about itself. True Food tries to follow Dr. Weil’s anti-inflammatory diet, which actually isn’t as bad as it sounds. Yes, it mistakenly loads a ton of vegetables into foods, but at least the menu at True Food had some remotely meaty options, even a Bison Burger.

But despite the burger, I was in the mood for their Shaved Turkey sandwich, which the menu claimed to be served with tomato, onion, grape and yogurt dressing. All this was said to come in pita, with the choice of kale or sweet potato hash on the side. As always, I ordered without the sandwich usurpers known as tomato and onion, then (surprise) I chose the hash over that strange weed known as kale.

When it arrived at my table, I was shocked to find the sandwich has sprouted lettuce and cucumber. Neither of these had been on the menu, yet there they were. It seemed that True Food had a liar of menu. Damn you, Dr. Weil!

After getting over my initial dissatisfaction at True Food’s menu, I cleansed my sandwich of its vegetables and was happy to find a far amount of meat with none of the residuals that pickles or tomatoes would have left behind. Then I got down to eating and found myself with a pretty good sandwich. The shaved turkey was definitely top grade quality and had both great flavor and juiciness. The yogurt dressing added an additional juiciness to keep the sandwich from getting dry and the grapes threw in a little sweetness to keep me in balance. The pita itself was also great, being both soft and firm at the same time.

But realistically, while the unvegan-approved components of the sandwich were good, I didn’t feel as though I was eating anything really special. The same went for the sweet potato hash, which was a good concept, but poorly executed. All at once, these chunks of potato were dry, undercooked and under salted. Needless to say, True Food and I did not part as best buds.

British Fusion at The Rose and Crown

The Unvegan — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:00:42 +0000

Britine?

Situated right across the walking street from Pizzeria Bianco in downtown Phoenix, one has to wonder how many patrons of The Rose and Crown are people who tired of waiting for Pizzeria Bianco and decided to eat at the next closest place. We ended up in a similar situation, in which a reservation miscommunication led to us without ample room at the pizzeria. So off we went to The Rose and Crown for some British Pub food. A quick look at the menu revealed that this was no ordinary British Pub and it actually had some unique-looking options.

One of these unique-looking options was Poutine. If you know my blog, then you know I have a bit of an unhealthy obsession with poutine. I’d blame this on my Canadian ancestry, but I find no need to make excuses for fries topped with gravy and cheese curds. The poutine at The Rose and Crown was a little different than your typical poutine, signifying some sort of fusion between British and Canadian food. For starters, although I had taken the term “chips” on the menu to be Britspeak for fries, when they arrived, they really were homemade potato chips. Also, instead of cheese curds, this poutine was topped with shredded cheddar. While I appreciated the attempt at innovating poutine, it fell a bit short in the flavor and texture land. Seriously, no curds?

The Crown!

I followed up this appetizer with, surprise, a burger. This thing went by the name of The Crown and was topped with cheddar, bacon and a fried egg. Similar to my obsession with poutine, I am also obsessed with fried egg as a burger topping and couldn’t wait to get this thing. But first I had to order. It came with lettuce, tomato, pickle and onion, which I rapidly dismissed as I also attempted to order my burger medium rare. Sadly, I was told the best they could do was medium. It also came with a side of fries or slaw and I most certainly went with fries.

The burger turned out to be quite a beauty, with a shiny bun and real fries to accompany it. As I ate the burger, I delighted in the perfect crispiness of the bacon and the flavor provided by the fried egg. The cheddar was as expected and although the bun had a hard time holding its own against the weight of so many toppings, it had the support of a toothpick and lasted throughout the noshing. Also, it was tasty. The meat itself, though, was a bit of a disappointment. I don’t know if it was the extra cooking or a bad choice of beef, but I found it to be a bit drier than I would have preferred and lacking in delicious flavor. It wasn’t bad, but just could have used a few tweaks. And to end on a high note, the fries were great and really should have been used in the poutine instead of those gravy-sucking chips.

In the end, The Rose and Crown delivered most of the goods. A few changes here and there would have me singing their praises and commanding all Phoenicians to skip the line at Pizzeria Bianco and head to The Rose and Crown instead, but without those changes The Rose and Crown is just an above average British Pub.

Tonto and the Lone Burger

The Unvegan — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:00:37 +0000

What's that you say, Kemo Sabe?

One benefit of getting married is the tastings. Not so much tasting food that the guests will eat, but traveling back and forth between Arizona and LA to plan things, and knowing there will be food in need of eating. On my most recent foray into the Grand Canyon state, we went out to dinner at a place called Tonto Bar & Grill in Cave Creek. Tonto is quite the popular place, with an outdoor patio looking out onto a golf course and an old Western eclectic interior. The menu ranges from some fancy salads to super fancy steaks, but somewhere in the middle there is burgers. And having gone at least a couple days without crushing a burger, I felt it was time.

The Tonto Burger is essentially a build-your-own burger, starting with either a corn-fed or grass-fed patty. I’m not sure what sort of crazy person would choose corn-fed over grass-fed, especially with them costing the same, but I suppose it’s possible. So over course I went with the corn…er…grass patty, then topped it with sharp cheddar, avocado and bacon. I noticed that lettuce, tomato, pickle planks (yargh) and crispy fried onions were included for free in every burger, yet for some reason in my head, I decided that I had to mention them in order for them to be included. Stupid, stupid unvegan. It was a mistake I hope to never make again, because when my burger I arrived I found a lot more than I bargained for.

Yes, all those dastardly vegetables were found in between my buns and my face immediately turned from smile (“We’re eating at a place named for the Lone Ranger?!”) to frown (“I’ve made a huge mistake…”). But the gods weren’t entirely angry at me, because I found that the pickle planks (yargh) were actually quite dry and their juices didn’t destroy my burger from the inside. Yet, where I took solace in the light pickling, I was saddened to find that they used shredded lettuce in true Southwestern fashion. It was quite an effort to get this burger ready for eating, but when I did I found it a truly enjoyable burger. The patty had been cooked to a perfect medium rare and simply could not be contained by the bun. The sharp cheddar was as expected, as was the avocado. The bacon, though, was not the usual applewood smoked or regular smoked bacon, but a pepper bacon. This was an interesting twist that added a little something to experience. But if I may, I’d like to get back to the bun, which was not only too small for the burger, but also not thick enough to contain this meaty monster. Midway through, the meal became a battle to keep my food together. It was a worthy battle, though, and in the end I won.

Was it a groundbreaking burger? Not exactly, but it was still pretty tasty. If you find yourself in Cave Creek in need of a burger, you won’t go wrong with Tonto. But you may want to be smarter than me and order yours without and of those preposterous vegetabled.

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A Scenic Dinner at Tilted Kilt

The Unvegan — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:00:04 +0000

Dipping at the Kilt.

Somewhere along the way, someone figured out that sex sells. I don’t know when this time came, but I’m pretty sure everyone in the room looked at each other and nodded in agreement without a word. In the ’80s, Hooters took that genius concept to the restaurant industry and became a household name. And while Hooters is still going strong, the look has become a bit dated. Enter Tilted Kilt, which has taken the Hooters concept, splashed it with Scotch and trimmed the uniforms significantly so that even flat girls have cleavage and they all show some midriff. In other words, the girls at Hooters almost look like nuns in comparison. Yet, while Hooters is gimmicky, they still have pretty tasty wings. Would Tilted Kilt have good fare to offer with their good looks?

To answer this question, I made my way to Tilted Kilt in Denver. This place was huge and had a setup more in line with Buffalo Wild Wings than any Hooters I had ever been to. The menu was chock-full of typical bar food at a reasonable price. For some reason I had decided in my head that I had eaten too many burgers lately and decided against that. I also knew we were in a rush and as the world’s slowest buffalo wing eater, I had to pass that up as well. I landed on The French, We Mean Irish Dip. Yeah, that was a cute way of trying to make the French Dip fit into the theme, but other than the name this thing was pure French Dip.

A pure unvegan dream, this sandwich was filled with shaved rib eye steak, Swiss cheese and nothing else. It was served with au jus and my choice of a side. I went with the fries to keep it real. Despite not mentioning pickles on the menu, this sandwich was served with on in the basket. Unfortunately, it contaminated a few fries and the bun, which was devastating, but not disastrous. Now, onto better things. I’ll be the first to admit I’m no expert in the field of French Dips (not sure that such experts exist), but I was actually pretty impressed with the sandwich. It contained a fair amount of meat and gooey cheese that would have been enough on their own to satisfy me. Well, sort of. You see, the bun was pretty thick and had me scared at first. Dry, it would have been overwhelming, but when dipped in the au jus, it soaked up those juices perfectly and made for a great French Dip conduit.

The fries were your normal cut, but had been fried to the crispy end of the spectrum that I know and love, then topped with some mild seasoning.

Did the meal at Tilted Kilt blow me away? No. But even without the gimmicky clothing I’d be willing to make a return journey. They may not be the most creative, but they do a swell job with bar food. And the outfits sure don’t hurt.

Winter Grilling at Coppertop

The Unvegan — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:00:15 +0000

Just like out back.

In dire need of lunch at the base of Breckenridge, I skied on over to Coppertop Bar & Grill to meet up with the fiancee while she was on a little break from ski school. Realistically, very little is expected of ski mountain food. The restaurants have a captive audience, jack up the prices and provide more warming and high energy foods than truly good food. So when I moseyed on over to the food area at Coppertop, my expectations were quite low. But wait…did I just see a dude walk by with curly fries covered in cheese sauce? Scratch that, my expectations hit the roof.

So the first thing I did after choosing to go with a burger was ensure that they could hook me up with those same cheese-doused fries and they certainly could. They didn’t disappoint and even told me they could throw chili on top. I didn’t want to overdo it, though, so instead I doubled up on cheese by ordering a bacon cheeseburger, with pepper jack cheese. I was impressed that they were actually grilling up each burger as they were ordered and didn’t have a whole set pre-made. Plus, they were actually grilling them…with real fire, which was also pretty sweet.

Cheesey meets curly.

Soon enough, all was ready and I got busy with my foodstuffs. I found the curly cheese fries to be everything I had hoped for. The beauty of topping curly fries with cheese is that they are especially resistant to sogginess, and in fact the cheese began to get a bit gnarly and cold before the fries buckled.

As for the burger, it tasted exactly like I would expect a summertime grill burger to taste. You know, the kind you eat on Labor Day over at your buddy’s place while knocking back a Silver Bullet. In that context, it was a good burger and probably better than usual considering the 0 degree weather outside.

On the other hand, this burger and cheese fries cost me something like 20 bucks, which is about double what I would pay for such food in a normal marketplace. But alas, Coppertop had a captive audience and while their prices were wildly inflated, I certainly can’t complain about the taste of what I ate.

Dehydrated Deep Dish at Giampietro

The Unvegan — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:00:29 +0000

Sicilians (if they are real) are not happy about this.

For those of you unfamiliar with places of high altitude, allow me to explain the results of finding yourself far above sea level. The first thing you’ll notice is a shortness of breath, when a short walk up the stairs leaves you breathless. Next, you’ll find yourself in a constant quest for water, as the altitude saps the water from your body and leaves you dehydrated. Such is the case in Breckenridge, Colorado, sitting at 9600 feet above sea level. While I had previously thought such altitude issues only applied to humans, a pizza from Giampietro taught me this was just not the case.

In the mood to just relax at the condo for the night, we picked up Sicilian Deep Dish pepperoni pizza from Giampietro and when I opened the box, I immediately saw danger. In transit, some of the cheese from the top of the pie had stuck itself to the ceiling of the pizza box. I can’t blame Giampietro for this, as I have no idea how my family handled the pizza in the car, but it was not a good sign.

When I took a bite from my first slice, though, I realized that this pizza was suffering from the same dehydration as me. The crust was way dry and if not for the copious amount of cheese, it would have been difficult to take down. The sauce and pepperoni were tasty, but the dough really broke this pizza. I usually love deep dish, too, so this is not some general complaint about deep dish. it is only a complaint about arid deep dish.

In strange twist, though, we had quite a mass of leftovers after this meal, so I microwaved some pizza the next morning for breakfast. I ordinarily hate microwaving leftover pizza, as it often winds up soggy, but that was just what this pizza needed. While I lamented the loss of some of the pizza’s crispiness, I welcomed the newly hydrated crust with open arms and mouth.

I didn’t linger in Breckenridge long enough to see if there were any other viable pizza options, but just be warned that if you order from Giampietro, you may want to have a microwave on hand to save your pizza from altitude sickness.

An Engaging Dinner at Michael’s

The Unvegan — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:00:09 +0000

I did it for the ziti!

Well, you must have known the day was gonna come eventually. You know, the one where that lady I often refer to as “the girlfriend” in my reviews becomes “the fiancee.” Yes, I’m sorry for not consulting you wonderful readers of mine ahead of time, but it was something that had to be done. So, while in Breckenridge, Colorado for a bit of a ski trip with the family, my parents decided to take everyone out to dinner to celebrate the engagement. We picked out a mid-range Italian place called Michael’s, thinking it would be a great place to make everyone happy.

And it certainly was.

For starters, while the menu was not terribly big, so many different things popped out to me. Finally, I settled on their Baked Ziti. And this was not ordinary baked ziti, but one filled with both meat sauce and alfredo sauce for a two-sauce punch.

Before the meal came, we were treated to a couple rounds of delicious, fresh garlic bread. It wasn’t the best I’d ever had, but still quite good.

When the ziti did come, I quickly found the punch of sauces was nothing short of delectable, with both working in harmony with one another rather than fighting each other for the dominion of the ziti. As for the pasta, it was ziti through and through, with little else to say. The mozzarella on top of the dish had been crisped and melted to perfection in the oven, and I was a happy man.

There’s not much else to say without getting too fluffy, but let it be known that Michael’s is a damn good Italian place and not one person at dinner had anything to complain about at the end of the night.

Old Western Eating at Front Street

The Unvegan — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:00:08 +0000

Like all those Old West burger places you hear about.

Temecula is a strange part of California. Somewhere between LA, San Diego and Palm Springs, it’s essentially the middle of nowhere. Except it’s not. It’s wine country, it’s gated communities and it is the Old West. Nowhere is the latter felt more than Old Town Temecula, which is a blend of truly old buildings and new buildings made to look like cowboys once had shootouts inside. Front Street Bar & Grill sits in Old Town, but doesn’t try to look like a cowboy outpost. Instead, it has the looks of colonial mansion, with a great outdoor patio.

Despite the 70 degree weather, the heat lamps were on in force and while this has just about nothing to do with the meal, I felt it was worth noting.

The onion rings are trying to escape!

Annnnnyyyyway, we were seated immediately and as I took a look at the menu, I instantly knew what I wanted. It was actually pretty easy, as Front Street had a pretty good burger selection. One of these was the Old Town Burger, topped with cheddar, onion rings and homemade BBQ sauce. It came with fries also, and just to be safe I asked the waitress if there were any other vegetables hiding between the lines. She told me it also came with lettuce, tomato and onion and I asked her not to let them go to waste.

I no longer want onion rings.

When it came, I was happy to find a plate devoid of vegetables and loaded up with fries. As has been my recent policy, I haven’t been considering onion rings vegetables until they’ve been tasted. If they retain a strong onion texture, they are banished, but otherwise they are cool with me. These particular onion rings were scattered atop the burger in a way not entirely conducive to eating, but I squeezed them in, threw the bun on top and got to work. What I found was exactly as I expected. All ingredients were good and basic. The patty looked and tasted preformed and the cheese was average yellow cheddar. I liked the BBQ sauce and definitely appreciated the homemade aspect of it, but ultimately it wasn’t a far cry from KC Masterpiece. This is neither a bad or a good thing, but it is a thing. The onions in the onion rings were still way too crunchy, which was the only actual disappointing aspect of the burger. The sesame seed bun did its job, but little more. While I ordered the burger cooked medium rare, it leaned a bit more towards the medium end, which was alright because the burger was still juicy, but could’ve been improved a bit.

And, of course, the fries were great. It’s hard to mess up fries, and Front Street did not.

Upon finishing, I felt as though I had just eaten a classier version of Carl’s Jr. It was definitely an improvement on Carl’s and was satisfying, but I’m going to have to eat at a few more places in Old Town Temecula before I send my loyal readers down to Front Street.

An Explosion of Flavor at C4

The Unvegan — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 17:00:26 +0000

Oh Arizona.

Remember playing Cowboys and Indians as a kid? Thankfully, there is a place in the world where that fantasyland still exists. It’s called Arizona, and while not everyone runs around with a gun or bow and arrow, there are places you could picture saddling up a horse just as easily as stopping by in a hybrid. One such place is the Cave Creek Coffee Company, affectionately known as C4 by locals. The facade is reminiscent of Tombstone, but the interior is pure class (not that Tombstone was lacking in class…).

All class.

And despite the name, there were no caves or creeks to be seen and the menu was not limited to coffee. Instead, the menu had a nice-looking selection of breakfast food, sandwiches and a little something called Lahvosh, described on the menu as traditional Mediterranean cracker bread. This stuff was served kind of like a pizza and one of them caught my eye pretty easily. It was called the T-Rex and was topped with genoa salami, pancetta ham, prosciutto, garlic olive oil, fresh basil and of course mozzarella cheese. I knew it had to be mine, and made it so.

Look out for the Meatosaurus Rex!

When it arrived, the thing certainly looked like it could feed a T-Rex. It was about the size of an extra large pizza, and despite the lahvosh being a lot less filling than dough, I knew I wouldn’t be able to tackle this beast in one sitting. Despite its size, though, the T-Rex was nothing short of beautiful. The evenly dispersed sprinkle of meats made my mouth water and I carefully separated out a piece before going to town.

Up close and personal with Rex.

In the T-Rex, I found an awesome mix of meaty flavors, which went great with the subtle cheese. Despite being loaded with meat, the lahvosh was not at all overwhelming. It could almost have been called a “lite” meat-lover’s pizza, and not “lite” in the way that usually means you’re giving up flavor. Nope, this T-Rex was full of flavor and that garlic olive oil made the cornucopia of meats taste even better. The use of lahvosh definitely made for an interesting experience very different from a normal pizza. The crust was hard like matzah, and was actually pretty tough to eat without shattering it into cracker bits. I wonder what it would have tasted like on a more bread-like crust, but also wonder if that might screw up the balance that the T-Rex had achieved.

With a couple slices left to go, I threw in the towel. I am no carnivorous dinosaur and the the T-Rex was too much food for me to handle. Nonetheless, the food was quite good. Local cowboys would be impressed with the delicious meats and I could easily imagine a T-Rex asking for a few more rounds.