Sandwich Wednesday

09/04/19 12:39pm

Peruvian Pork Belly and Food Quests

Doña Fela’s mighty chicharron con camote.

“You finally went,” my friend Greg, one half of the dynamic duo that is Food & Footprints, commented on an Instagram post of a Peruvian picarone—a lovely sweet potato and squash donut—at the Antojitos Doña Fela cart in Jackson Heights. I’d been trying to visit the Vendy nominated Peruvian snack specialist for weeks, but until last Sunday had missed the cart, which is open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. only weekends.

“Do you have chicharron con camote?” I asked Doña Fela’s daughter, about the pork belly and sweet potato sandwich that’s a common breakfast in Peru. “Let me see, we might be sold out,” she said while I hungrily eyed a bunch of pork belly and camote, or sweet potato, sizzling on a corrugated cast iron grill. “One last order,” she said. (more…)

Antojitos Dona Fela, chicharron con camote, donuts, Jackson Heights, Peruvian, sandwiches, street food

08/21/19 12:59pm

El Chivito’s Namesake is a Secret Uruguayan Gutbomb

El Chivito’s namesake steak sandwich doesn’t appear on the menu.

“Skirt steak, sweetbreads, chicken, matambre,” the server intoned as my eyes glazed over while she recited a roster of sandwiches. “What about chivito?” I inquired after the Uruguayan national sandwich. “Yes, we have, it’s really good, you can get it with chicken or vacio,” she replied adding that the flap steak is butterflied.

“Para mi, vacio,” I replied wondering what sort of joyless individual would possibly disgrace the country’s national sandwich by ordering it with poultry. While I waited for lunch I perused the menu of El Chivito De Oro noting that the national sandwich was nowhere to be found. Secret sandwiches are catnip to a certain type of food writer, and I am that type. I was pretty hungry, so I was quite pleased to see that the rosy colored beef was topped with ham, mozzarella, bacon, and a fried egg, all cradled in a puffy brioche style bun that held a base layer of lettuce and tomato.

(more…)

breakfast sandwiches, El Chivito De Oro, Jackson Heights, sandwiches, steak, Uruguayan, vacio

06/05/19 1:21pm

Farine’s Lobster Roll is a Luxurious Harbinger of Summer

Lobster rolls have come to Jackson Heights, thanks to Farine!

I’m not typically a brunch guy, but I’ve been known to make exceptions. M. Wells for one with Hugue Dufour’s decadent creations like foie gras and oatmeal, and now Farine. I’ve been meaning to try the lobster roll from the brunch menu, but I’m averse to weekend crowds.

On Monday night I stopped by to introduce a friend to Michael Mignano, the man behind the hot new Jackson Heights eatery. I’d forgotten it was the last night of Ramadan and the last night of Farine’s Iftar dinners. Every table was filled with joyous Muslim families all tucking into spicy fried chicken sandwiches and fruit plates.

“We’re going to have it tomorrow as part of an EID brunch,” Mignano told me when I asked about the lobster roll, which I’d been seeing on the gram for weeks.

(more…)

EID, Farine Baking Company, iftar, Jackson Heights, lobster, lobster roll, Michael Mignano, Ramadan, sandwiches

04/10/19 10:23pm

Behold The Best Fried Chicken Sandwich in Queens

Farine Baking Company, fried chicken, Jackson Heights, Michael Mignano, sandwiches

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Farine’s fried chicken sandwich is top flight.

As food writer I’m often loathe to throw around superlatives even though I’ve been called upon by Grub Street to do so in recent months. All that said, I have no problem calling the spicy buttermilk chicken sandwich at the newish Farine Baking Company in Jackson Heights the best fried chicken between bread in Queens.

At $16 Chef Michael Mignano’s chicken sandwich is isn’t cheap, but it’s worth every penny. It’s insanely crunchy and juicy and packs a nice kick from a Sriracha honey glaze. It is a gloriously messy sandwich requiring removal of both wristwatch and rings. The secret behind this marvel is twofold: first the chicken thighs luxuriate in a mixture of buttermilk, fresh thyme, rosemary and garlic for two days. Then they’re fried twice first at 325 to seal in the juices and then at 375 to get a nice crust.

If this method sounds a lot like Korean fried chicken, that’s because Mignano borrowed the technique. “I’m not using a Korean chili paste, but I am borrowing the double fry technique and the breading mixture is very similar,” he said. For the record his favorite KFC can be had at the H Mart off Route 100 in Hartsdale.
Farine Baking Company, 74-24 37th Ave., Jackson Heights

04/03/19 9:26am

Tortas Neza’s Chivas is a Big League Breakfast

Behold, the mighty Tortas Chivas, CDMX’s answer to the NYC breakfast sandwich.

“They’re all pretty big,” I said to two recent guests on a World’s Fare Eating Along the 7 food tour. We were about an hour into our trek and had already enjoyed delicacies from Joe’s Steam Rice Roll and Soybean Chen and had just arrived at Tortas Neza, which specializes in comically huge Mexican sandwiches. I was doing my best to steer the two ladies toward a carnitas taco, but l knew they really wanted a sandwich.

The gargantuan 7-ingredient Tortas Puma named for the owner’s favorite Mexican soccer team was out of the question. So I scanned the roster of 20 creations, each named for a different team, and settled on the Chivas, which listed only three ingredients: huevo, quesillo, and chorizo.

As Galdino “Tortas” Neza prepared the sausage omelet on the plancha I told the guests it represented just one component of his biggest sandwich. “We can handle this one, it’ll be like a Mexican breakfast sandwich,” I said with a chuckle. (more…)

breakfast, Corona, food tours, Galdino Molinero, Mexican, Mexico City, sandwiches, soccer, street food, tortas Neza

01/09/19 7:36pm

Soup & A Sandwich Tibetan Style at Lhasa Fresh Food

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Soup and a sandwich via Lhasa, Elmhurst, and Instagram.

There are some who say Instagram—with its over the top milkshakes, noodle pulls, and levitating food—along with Yelp and the other usual suspects—is just another sword in the slowly dying animal that is food writing. I am of the opposite opinion, if you know where to look Instagram is actually quite inspiring. Which brings me to the subject of this post, a beefy soup and sandwich combo inspired by Tibet and one of my favorite places to look: self-proclaimed prolific eater @nigelsie. (more…)

Elmhurst, Lhasa Fresh Food, Nigel Sielegar, noodles, sandwiches, soup, thentuk, tingmo

12/12/18 10:30pm

Don Rodrigo’s Portuguese Combo Rocks

It takes a true charcuterie master to make a masterful sandwich, and Don Rodrigo Duarte is such a master. I first met Don Rodrigo four years ago when I helped to launch Charcuterie Masters.

Today was my second visit to his shop, Caseiro e Bom in Newark’s Ironbound. I’ve tasted his exquisite Portuguese charcuterie several times, but it occurred to me and the New York Epicurean Events crew that none of us had ever had a sandwich made by the master.

“O.K. I’ll make you guys a sandwich,” Don Rodrigo said after giving us a tour of his subterranean curing chambers, which are filled with precious pure breed Alentejano hams. (more…)

Alentejano, Caseiro e Bom, charcuterie, Charcuterie Masters, Don Rodrigo, ham, Ironbound, jamon, Newark, Rodrigo Duarte

12/05/18 9:59am

Watch Action Bronson Make a Decadent Breakfast Sandwich

Action Bronson, breakfast sandwich, Good Morning America, Michael Strahan, wagyu beef

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“We got Queens in the house today?” Action Bronson recently asked a studio audience during a cooking segment on Good Morning America. One person from New York City’s most majestic borough responded with a whoop. So, since many folks from Queens didn’t see the segment I thought I’d present it here. It’s an ode to a very particular New York City sandwich, no not the pastrami on rye, but the breakfast sandwich.

“I’m going to make an egg and cheese on a roll, which is a New York City breakfast staple,” Bronson says before preceding to sear $150 worth of wagyu in pan. It gets better from there, ending with a mountain of parmigiano reggiano grated on top before he hands the it off to ex New York Giant Michael Strahan, but not before mentioning that it is “keto approved.” Action, if you’re reading this can you pretty please open a coffee cart?

10/24/18 10:23pm

Hendu’s Pork Belly and Egg is Not a Breakfast Sandwich