Mamoun's is nom nom

Mamoun's Falafel is the type of place you go to when you are wandering around the city at 2am, stumbling after your 6th beer. The only difference is that this middle eastern place is JUST as good sober at 2pm.  Situated in the heart of Greenwich Village, this small falafel and shawarma spot is surrounded by the craziness off the neighborhood.

The menu is small and cheap, falafel, shawarma , shish kebab, hummus, all the standard fare. You cant go wrong with anything, all under 5 bucks.  I usually go for the beef shish kebab, they grill it up right after you order it, so it comes up hot, charred and the perfect medium rare.

So if you are in the neighborhood, drunk or otherwise, please be sure to give this place a shot, Mamoun's is the shiznit.

-J

City Sandwich in Hells Kitchen is dang tasty

City Sandwich looks like a very unassuming sandwich shop in a very unassuming neighborhood of Manhattan. But looks can be deceiving, just like strangers on the subway. Before watching a Laker game, I decided to give this newly opened Portuguese inspired sandwich shop a try. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted with friendly smiles, and within minutes was chatting it up with the very enthusiastic owner(Michael Guerrieri).  He went on to explain his menu in detail and I could feel the love he had for his newly found shop.

The menu is easily color coded between sandwiches with meat, without meat and a special section with eggs (yummy).  Each sandwich has a name, according to the owner, these are the names of his friends that helped him along with the restaurant. I thought that was a nice personal touch.  On this trip I got to try the Todd (below), pancetta, lettuce, tomato with a honey-dijon yogurt sauce (no mayo here, all sauces are made in house). This one was like a Portuguese BLT, solid, and satisfying. I would have loved it more if it wasn't compared to the next sandwich.

Next was the Henrique, oh gosh, I looove you Henrique. This gooey sandwich consisted of Portuguese alheira-vinegear chicken sausage, steamed collard greens, grilled onions, tomato, and melted mozzarella. JIMP.

As you can see this masterpiece was one big melty stack of goodness. This is the first time I have ever had a sausage like that, it was very soft, almost like a spread after the first bite.  Besides the unique ingredients, all this stuff was sitting between a PERFECTLY crusty and soft piece of bread.

I really cant wait to go back and try the rest of the sandwiches at this place. A good, unique, affordable sandwich shop is hard to find.....I just scored one! Thanks Michael, bravo!

-J

Porchetta makes a mean Pork Sandwich in the East Village

Let us eat as the Romans did, let it be glorious, let it be gluttonous, let it be porky. In the East Village of New York City you can find a small sandwich shop called Porchetta. It's known for roman style roasted pork sandwiches. It only has about 5 stools inside and a small bench outside which is nice for sunny days.

Check out this massive piece of pork shoulder, the skin is crisscrossed and becomes super crusty and salty.


I went with the roasted crispy potatoes which included burnt ends. They could have included a few more ends, but they were still utterly addicting.

So here is the traditional sangwich, super simple, super good. Its just a really fresh ciabatta baguette topped with the succulent sliced roasted pork. They also throw a few pieces of that super hard and crusty pork skin in the mix. Watch out, this crunch is not for those with a faint of heart, so if your not sporting dentures, this shockingly hard bite is unbelievability tasty.


So special thanks to the Romans for conjuring up such a tasty way to make something so simple, taste so grub.

-j

Philly Cheesesteak at O'Keefe's Bar in Brooklyn Heights

Fatty alert!!! I repeat, Fatty alert! You have been warned.

I had very low expectations walking into O'Keefe's Bar and Grill in Brooklyn Heights. Mainly chosen as a spot to watch the Laker game based on their TV size, I knew it would be the standard pub grub. In these cases, I usually go for the most standard thing on the menu (you should shy away from Oysters Rockefeller in sports bars), burger, wings, cheesesteak, etc.

I ordered a blue moon and the philly cheesesteak which was recommended by the barkeep. Sure, why not, philly it up. Ten minutes later I was presented with this monstrosity of a sandwich. Fatty indeed, but it looked promising. One bite and all my reservations about this place vanished. This sandwich really shocked me by how good it was, probably because my expectations were so low, but I digress.

The hero was actually garlic bread, which was toasted, with a nice crunch on top. The beef, slices of prime rib-eye, was tender and sauteed with green peppers and onions. All that goodness was topped with melty mozzarella cheese which kept me reaching for the napkins. As you can see by the grease on the plate, this was not for the faint of heart. The fries did themselves justice as well, no McD's, but damn good bar fries.

On that day my friends, I polished off this beast of sandwich, 2 pints of blue moon, watched the Laker's win, and then went home and enjoyed a victory nap. That cheesesteak really got the best of me.

-J

Italian Food Center has a mean sandwich

Hey! Yo! Ova herea, yous guys! This sandwich, fuggetaboutit! Served up at the Italian Food Center in the Little Italy section of Manhattan, this sandwich was substantial. Check it out, its the size of my arm. The Food Center is one of the last decent Italian run sandwich shops that is actually in the shrinking neighborhood of Little Italy (Chinatown is taking it over).


This sandwich was filled with freshly sliced soppresatta, marinated red peppers, tomato and shredded lettuce. They finish it with olive oil and vinegar so it stays moist. The bread is cut fresh when you order it, just like subway, not quite. The meats here are excellent, that's what really makes the sandwiches so good at this place. Insiders tip; just call out your order, like, "hey, yo, can i get a prosciutto, mozzarella, peppers on a roll" and you will be rewarded with a nice price tag of $6.50, otherwise the same sandwich off the wall by number is $8.00.


This is a big ass sandwich, if you finish it all in one sitting you should be proud of yourself. Or you can be a wussy and split it with a friend for lunch. I'm not a wussy, well, at least that day I wasn't.

-J

Almondine's vegetarian sandwich hits the spot

You guys know me pretty well by now, I'm a meat a dude. I dig beef and like to kill little piggies. So if a vegetarian sandwich makes it onto this site you know it better be phenomenal. I told you I go to Almondine in Dumbo a lot and I'm going to continuously prove that fact on this site.

Behold this beautiful sandwich below. Its ok, you can stare, she like it. Look at her crusty bread, oh so crunchy, oh so good. This $7.25 sandwich was packed with roasted vegetables (red peppers, squash, cauliflower and asparagus), topped with a generous amount of creamy goat cheese and drizzled with high quality olive oil. Fucking delicious.


I know you noticed the keyboard in the background, so yes, this is another pathetic desk meal. But as I said in the past, at least I get to grub on world class sandwiches from around the corner.

-J

Despana Sandwich

The world famous blog "Stuff White People Like" says it best, "white people like expensive sandwiches". So I guess I'm a white, because I do love an expensive sandwich. This badboy is from Despana (menu link) in Soho. A few blocks away from my office, I went a whole year before finding this place. You walk in and see an impressive assortment of Spanish canned goods, cheeses and meats. In the back they sell freshly made sangwiches, the women have mustaches, but I don't hold that against them.

I went for the signature Despana sandwich, thinly sliced serrano ham, creamy goat cheese and a light tomato-garlic spread on crusty French bread. Or as they describe it, "pan con tomate y un toque de ajo con lochas de jamon serrano y crema de cabra queso de murcia, blah, spanish words, queso, blah more spanish words."


Muchos gracias el sangwich de mas expensivo.

-J

Beach Sandwich

Nothing beats a good sandwich, except for a sandwich you eat at the beach. This gorgeous sandwich was from La Sandwicherie in Miami Beach. The palm trees were o so inviting and as you approached cold mist sprayed from under the green awning. Owned by a slightly rude Frenchie (why do they always have to fit the stereotype to a T?), this place produced some very tasty sangwiches.


I went with the roast beef and turkey combo. As you can see they packed this badboy full of veggies as well. But what really made this sandwich were the cornichons (mini french pickles) and the tangy french dressing.


Since we got them to go, rude Frenchie was nice enough to pack the dressing on the side. Care was taken to make sure the sandwich was not soggy on its 4 block journey to the beach, but it was highly stressed that this sandwich MUST be consumed with the dressing. Indeed, I lika da sauce.

It's hard to get mad at rude Frenchies when you are grubbing on a sandwich on the beach, especially when its 80 degrees in February.

-J

Tasty Sangwich

As sad as it may sound, being in the tech industry tends itself to eating at your desk quite often. Luckily for me, I work in between two offices(Dumbo, Brooklyn and Soho) that have pretty great lunch options. This lunch comes to me by way of Almondine Bakery in Dumbo. Almondine is owned by famous Frenchie Pastry Chef Jacque Torres and sits directly across the street from his Brooklyn chocolate wonderland. I probably eat here 2-3 times a week because the sandwiches and soups are so ridiculously good. This one had prosciutto, sweet peepers, artichoke hearts and provolone cheese. As you can imagine the bread there is phenomenal, as Frenchie's really know how to make good bread. To the left is a chocolate chip cookie that midnights as a frisbee, chewy and crunchy at the same time (how do they do that?).



So yes, its very sad to eat at your desk...but don't lie to yourself, you know you do it too. At least I get to grub on a tasty sangwich now and then.

-J