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By Tina Barry
for
The Brooklyn Papers
Rhonda, a focus group coordinator with the gravely
voice of a Mafia Don, is on the phone.
"Tina" she rumbles. "Do you
do sandwiches?"
"How does one 'do' a sandwich?" I asked, wondering
what kind of focus group she had in mind.
"Do you love them?" she
growled. "Is a sandwich, like, your favorite thing to eat? We're looking
for total sandwich freaks! People who would rather eat a sandwich than, I
don't know what. Eat a 10-course meal at Le Cirque? Get it on with a hunky
stud? Win the lottery?"
"Of course I'm a sandwich freak!" I said
with a laugh. "I can't get enough of them! Love them! LOVE them! LOVE
THEM!" (Rhonda isn't a stickler for the truth. I just fill a seat at one
of the groups she books and say, "I love" whatever I'm being paid $100 to
love. She gets her commission, I go home happy, and the company paying for
our opinions, oblivious to the roomful of liars Rhonda has gathered, is
happy, too.)
I've attended focus groups with total Dannon Yogurt
freaks, total Oscar Meyer hot dog freaks, and have sided with total Windex
freaks. (We preferred it over generic window cleaners.)
This time
(Rhonda would be amused to know), I answered truthfully. I do love
sandwiches. Always have. As a child, I loved toasted English muffins
spread with sweet butter and topped with slices of ripe tomatoes.
I
vaguely remember my first kiss, but the memory of my first meatloaf
sandwich (garlicky with lots of hot gravy) will stay with me
forever.
And, oh, the simplicity of the panini I had at breakfast
in Italy (they "do" sandwiches for breakfast there) - pressed as flat as a
pancake and served hot off the grill: the filling was one slice of
prosciutto and a bit of parmesan. It was a sandwich that celebrated the
bread as much as the filling. It was thin, rich, compact, elegant - a
revelation.
Tom Perez serves a panini at his Le Petit Cafe on Court
Street in Carroll Gardens that reminded me of my first panini in Rome.
(Eat the panini al fresco, in the cafe's new garden - which recently
opened after five months of renovations that tripled the size of the
cafe.) Perez buys ciabatta bread specially baked with semolina flour from
nearby Caputo's bakery. The bread is crusty outside, tender inside and,
when pressed, creates a delicate yet chewy panini.
His panini No.
1, from a menu of 16, sports thin layers of prosciutto, fontina cheese,
mushrooms marinated in vinegar and a touch of oregano, and a few leaves of
arugula. It is that little touch of vinegar that cuts through the richness
of the cheese and prosciutto and gives the sandwich an acidic
spark.
The panini No. 2: roasted eggplant, scamorza (mozzarella
made from cow's milk), and a smoked prosciutto called "speck," was
drizzled with a little fruity olive oil. Both panini, with their perfect
balance of bread to filling, make the overstuffed, knife-and-fork
sandwiches Americans are used to seem vulgar.
Brian Karp and Chris
Evans, owners of Press 195, a sandwich and wine bar that opened this
summer on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, could qualify as total sandwich
freaks. Stop in on a Saturday and you'll find them behind the grill,
assembling and pressing sandwiches and pitching in when the waitresses get
swamped.
Karp purchases his ingredients from small, local purveyors
near his weekend home in upstate New York. That means that the honey
jalapeno mustard comes from the farm of "a nice guy named Lou," and the
maple syrup used in the pesto hails from a farm in Prattsville.
The
menu, featuring 16 pressed sandwiches, offers unexpected choices like the
No. 9: homemade roast pork, queso blanco (traditional Mexican white
cheese), pickled jalapenos, cilantro, red onions and a roasted garlic
spread. This pungent, creamy and spicy Mexican take on the panini, made
with ciabatta from Park Slope's Uprising bakery, has big, brawny flavors,
yet the sandwich fits neatly in your hand. The more traditional No. 13,
with slices of ripe tomato, fresh basil, a slice of creamy mozzarella and
a dab of pesto, slightly sweetened with maple syrup, tasted cleanly of
summer tomatoes and basil.
Union Picnic, another summer newcomer,
which opened on Union Avenue in Williamsburg, offers "everything you'd
want in a picnic basket" according to co-owner Aviva
Wallace.
Besides fried and rotisserie chicken, Wallace, with
partner Suzy O'Brien, offers lunch and dinner sandwiches three ways: cold,
grilled or as a hero. Union Picnic's "It" sandwich, popular with the
coffee shop's hip clientele (the suede jockey hat is de rigueur headwear
here), is the grilled avocado Reuben, a spin on the traditional Reuben
made with corned beef. Everything - the perfectly ripe avocado, the Swiss
cheese and sauerkraut - arrives hot and melted. It's a delicious mess:
It's Oscar to the panini's Felix. Try it with a glass of fresh squeezed,
tart not sweet, blueberry lemonade.
I'm looking forward to redoing
all the sandwiches I've mentioned, especially Le Petit Cafe's No. 1 with
its tangy mushrooms and salty prosciutto and Press 195's roast pork No. 9.
I'm a total freak for that sandwich!
Where to eat:
Le Petit Cafe (502 Court St. between Luquer and Nelson
streets) offers sandwiches from $4.75 to $5.75 (.75 for each additional
topping). Cash only. For information, call (718) 596-7060.
Press
195 (195 Fifth Ave. between Union and Sackett streets) offers sandwiches
from $5 to $8. Cash only. For information, call (718)
857-1950.
Union Picnic (577 Union Ave. between North 10th and North
11th streets) offers lunch sandwiches ($3.95-$5.25) and dinner sandwiches
($4.95-$7.95). Cash only. For information, call (718) 387-3800.
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