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Archive for Sandwich

Quick Eats – Heroic Deli

Feb07

Restaurant: Heroic Deli

Location: 516 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 490-0202

Date: January 10, 2018 and September 2, 2019

Cuisine: Hoagie+

Rating: Very good, if pricey, sandwich

_

Heroic Deli is a new entry into the Santa Monica lunch scene by Adam Fleischman (my ex biz partner) and Jeffrey Merrihue. It’s putting the modern spin on the Italian American “hoagie” concept.
IMG_0573
They took over the old Real Food Daily / Erven space on Santa Monica Blvd.
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Pretty old building — no parking at all.

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Besides the sandwiches (and a few salads) they have a small but nice Italian wine list. Not that very many people are going to order wine during the day with their sub.
IMG_0559
This is a weird space, divided into two halves, each of which has a separate loft. The build out is attractive though.
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Here’s the main side loft.
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In the back half (what used to be the main restaurant part at Erven) is this gorgeous table and a sort of wine bar concept. Not sure that I get it without the bar tender though. But again the decor is cool.
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Hand painted Zodiac ceiling.
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Zeus lightning bolt panel, etc.
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Here’s Jeffrey, who like me at Ramen Roll is very hands on operationally.
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The short but sweet menu.

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Housemade potato chips and Italian Corn pie (corn, eggs, cream, green onions, salt & pepper).

The chips had a perfect texture, with that slightly “charred” taste that real housemade potato chips often have.

The corn pie was lightly sweet, on the borderline between sweet and savory, soft and fluffy with an interesting texture.
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Eggplant Parmesan. The Heroic version is sautéed and then baked, but not breaded. It’s vegetarian and gluten free and quite excellent.
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The OMG Sandwich. Imported Italian Prosciutto, capocollo, mortadella, porchetta, smoked mozzarella, artichokes, roasted tomatoes, house made giardinera, mustard, truffle mayo.

They make the bread and it was very good. Crunch, but also with good spring and not so hard/chewy that it scratched my mouth (which I hate). The sandwich was meaty, but not super meaty, with a very strong and lovely acidity from the tomatoes and giardinera (vinegar pepper sauce). It’s not huge and it is $15 which is a lot for a hoagie. It tasted great and didn’t give me heartburn (which some traditional Italians will). This is a very modern riff on the classic Italian hoagie. If you look at a world’s best “classic style” one like at Sarcone’s (Philadelphia), this has a LOT more condiment. Probably it actually tastes better too, but it isn’t as “cold cut” or “provolone” forward as the classic.
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They also have fabulous Calabrian pepper paste which I was using as a dip for my potato chips. Warning, only do this if, like me, you think this looks “no big deal” (spice wise).
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Batista. Fresh flash fried, summer zucchini, Italian bufala mozzarella, parsley, garlic, white wine vinegar. With added prosciutto. Also a very good sandwich. The zucchini, which I don’t even normally like, was nice and crispy with a bit of a pesto taste that married perfectly with the mozzarella and (added) prosciutto.

I also had a Scala (not pictured). Chef Barbara’s braised short ribs, sauteed peppers, smoked mozzarella, caramelized onions. Very delicious as well.

I’ll have to come back and try some of the other sandwiches — my low carb diet is just making it hard. Passing out to customers the other varieties looked good. Delicious in fact. You can tell that each is seriously crafted out of great ingredients. Now, is there a big market in Santa Monica for double price Italian slightly small subs that actually ARE better than the cheaper versions? Can that cover the high Santa Monica rent? That I don’t know. But I do know that I personally find it worth the extra few bucks for a better sandwich.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats – Obica SM
  2. Quick Eats – Orto
  3. Quick Eats: Divino
  4. Quick Eats: Osteria Latini 2
  5. Quick Eats – Courtyard Kitchen
By: agavin
Comments (6)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Adam Fleischman, deli meats, Heroic Deli, Italian Cu, Jeffrey Merrihue, Sandwich, Santa Monica

Ford’s Filling Station

May03

Restaurant: Ford’s Filling Station

Location:  9531 Culver Blvd, Culver City. 310-202-1470

Date: April 28, 2011

Cuisine: Gastropub

Rating: Always great for lunch.

ANY CHARACTER HERE

It was a gorgeous day (again) in LA, so I headed out to find another good lunch spot with outside dining. We ended up in Culver City with its rather large selection of good lunch spots and specifically at Ford’s Filling Station, which is run by Benjamin Ford, son of Han Solo. The place has been around awhile but before this he had another place in Beverly Hills which was very good — but I can’t remember the name.


Notice the “pig country” sign. They offer on the menu a 8 person minimum whole pig dinner with a whole roast pig!


Outside, there are two different patios. In general, Culver city has a lot of outside dining which is nice. For some mysterious reason LA restaurants often lack al fresco. This makes no sense given our weather.


The menu.


“Bacon wrapped dates, stuffed with cheese.” Um yum! I love this dish, and I’ve had it at many places (like recently at Upstairs 2). These were as good as any, showing off the sweet and salty.


“Shrimp Curry, jasmine rice, marash pepper and applewood smoked bacon.” Also a really great dish. Very similar to the one I had at Gladstones. The bacon made it even better.


Sliced serrano peppers in has you want to spice it up.

“Pulled Pork Panini, melted gouda and spicy pepper relish.” The beans were awesome too, with a nice smoky porcine flavor.


A close up of the sandwich itself. I had expected something like a North Carolina pulled pork sandwich. That’s kinda tangy. This was more the succulent roast pork with cheese. Yum.


The dessert menu.


“Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich, chocolate chip cookie and mint chocolate-chip ice cream.” The ice cream was great, very similar to the mint ice cream I had at Sweet Rose Creamery, tasting as it did of fresh mint leaves. The fudge was good too. The cookie needed more butter, it was a little dry. Not bad, and the overall dessert was still very good, but with a really awesome cookie, it could have been… really awesome.


Inside, the stripped down old-school culver city building provides a nice deconstructed interior. I’ve never been here at night but I bet it’s a good watering hole.

Another good Culver City place is Fraiche, here for review.

Related posts:

  1. Fraiche Santa Monica
  2. Saturday is for Salt
  3. Fraiche take on Franco-Italian
  4. Food as Art: Ortolan
  5. Sicilian Style – Drago
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bacon, Benjamin Ford, Chocolate chip cookie, Cookie, Cooking, Culver City, Culver City California, Dessert, Ford's Filling Station, Harrison Ford, Home, Ice cream, Los Angeles, Meat, Mint Chocolate Chip, North Carolina, Pig, pork, Pulled Pork, Sandwich, vegetarian

The “Reform Kosher” for Passover Tuna Melt

Apr23

We were scrounging around for lunch and came up with this variant passover tuna melt. While “passover” compliant it is in the tradition of the Great Trefa Banquet of 1883. You’ll see why. My wife did not participate — for the same reason.


So in making the tuna itself. At home I use this red chunk Italian tuna packed in olive oil which is amazing. Here I only had some Trader Joe’s albacore packed in water. So I added some olive oil (I don’t like mayo with my tuna). I also threw in some chopped cornichons, fresh ground pepper, lemon juice.


And mustard. Now this is a great mustard, but as we searched my mom’s very deep pantry, it came up.


Notice the price on this baby, and the yellowed tag. Today you’d find this tub for around $29, therefore dating this particular example to the 80s. We moved on to a lesser, but “younger” mustard.


The tuna.


The matzah, waiting.


Here’s the Trefa, a little Prosciutto.

Matzah, ham, then tuna.


A nice aged cheddar (goes so well with the ham).


All four.


A little trip to the toaster oven and…


Voila.


Close up. Yum!


Others who aren’t tomato haters used some of these.


As shown.


And after baking.


Our explorations in the pantry also turned up this vintage can of hazelnut oil, complete with archaic french price tag. It might date back to the late 70s!

For a similar non-passover snack, see here.

To see my passover seder, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Passover Seder 2011 – day 2
  2. Passover Seder 2011 – day 1
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Black pepper, Cooking, Lemon juice, lunch, Matzo, Olive oil, Passover, Prosciutto, Sandwich, Tuna, Tuna melt

Gobbler’s Last Stand – The Sandwich

Dec06

The Thanksgiving feast contains many useful components for a great sandwich, and in this day and age when the only food available on airplanes is a box of randomized vending machine junk, what better way to eat and fly.

This was my brother’s version. There’s turkey, stuffing, provolone, and prosciutto (because ham makes everything better). Oh, and arugula and tomato.

Mine is similar except I left off the tomato (yuck!) and added a little salami as well (two kinds of pig are better than one!).

And my wife’s. Tomato yes. No cheese or pig products. Still makes a yummy way to see turkey off.

 

We even took along some of the homemade cranberry sauce to add to the sandwich, but it was packed separately to prevent soggy bread (a big no no).

And some of these little fellows, cornichons, as complement. They really are the best kind of pickle.

Related posts:

  1. ThanksGavin in Review
  2. Ghost of Thanksgivings Past
  3. Quick Eats: Panini at Home
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bird, Cooking, Cornichons, Cranberry sauce, Food, Holidays, Leftovers, Pickles, Provolone, Sandwich, Sandwiches, thanksgiving, Travel Food, turkey, Turkey Sandwich
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