A house of corned beef!

In Toronto a week or so again, I ventured out for a delicious sandwich to silence my increasingly loud growling stomach

Luckily, I was downtown, and even more lucky, I was within walking distance to a boatload of sandwich places

I planned on going to...some specific sandwich joint... but I forgot where it was located and stopped in the first sandwich place I saw

The Corned Beef House was the first I saw, and I thought to myself, "Sweet! A house dedicated to corned beef!"

I swung the doors open and practically ran up the stairs (I admit, I didn't expect them to be there, and apparently my first reaction to surprise is to run)
The restaurant was pretty small with the bar taking center stage and booth seating and little tables around the perimeter of the room.
I was a loner for this meal, so I saddled up to the bar and was quickly greeted by the bartender (this was not peak lunch hours, mind you)
Apparently, their turkey sandwich and, surprise surprise, their corned beef sandwich are the most ordered

I would be a fool not to order a corned beef sandwich in the House of Corned Beef, or rather, The Corned Beef House

I placed the order of corned beef on rye with spicy mustard, and I'm pretty sure the kitchen heard me- it's a small place
After what seemed like two seconds, I had to stop people watch out the windows and chow down
When I brought my eyes from the windows to the sandwich, I was a bit shocked

Isn't corned beef supposed to be a darker pink/red? All the corned beef I've come across in my life has had a deep, rosey red color; this corned beef was pink
Like, pretty pink nail polish pink

Hmmmm
I hate when I get a sandwich and before first bite, I'm questioning it

The meat was generously thrown on the rye, and you could see a bit of the mustard dripping down the layers
Aside from the meat color, this sandwich looked pretty appetizing

The first bite gave me a zesty mouthful of spicy mustard and rye, but why didn't I taste the meat?
There was a subtle spice to it, but could that be blamed on the mustard?
A few bites in a I was tasting the beef; maybe my buds were off that day

Eating a sandwich of this size and difficulty was not easy to do alone
Every second bite a lump of meat fell of the rye and onto the plate- bye the 10th bite I was fork and knifing it
Good call, Liz

I was a little bit disappointed in the The Corned Beef House
I mean, if you're going to put an item in your name, you better do that item well
They didn't do it bad, but it wasn't up to my standards

The meat was juicy, moist, and tender, but the flavor was severely lacking
Thank god I opted for spicy mustard, because that's what kept me biting

The redeeming quality of this sandwich is the second half, which was much to much for me to embarrassingly eat alone (bits of meat and mustard flying is NOT attractive and extremely hard to play off when solo dining) made a very tasty cold afternoon snack

Perhaps the corned beef sandwich at The Corned Beef House should be served chilled- the beef seemed to have reveled in its brine and was ten times more flavorful, which is really saying a lot

Who you callin' Phat?!

Making the obligatory weight loss resolution, I was happy to make my last meal a sandwich (truthfully, I'm happy to make ANY meal a sandwich)

Phat Sammich in Birmingham was next on my "To Eat" list, so with my dining partner, I made the trip

While I was slightly bummed that joint got hip with it's spelling, the fact that the building looks like a converted ice cream shop cheered me up
The inside could use a paint job, and I'm not crazy about the hippie theme and peace signs, but I was there to critique the food, not the decor

A huge sign of all their sandwich offerings is posted next to the register
This overwhelmingly long offerings always causes me a minute of panic
Do I rate their Rueben or mow down on their signature sammich?
These decisions are never easy.

Luckily for me, I had just recently had an unbelievably awesome eating experience with blue cheese, so the Buffalo Chicken Sammich called to me
The sammich isn't crazy with ingredients, but it has blue cheese! I was excited!

Upon order, I pretty much began envisioning blue cheese crumbling from the sky onto delicious buffalo chicken, all hot and spicy. It was a glorious thought, I assure you

Also taking a southwest approach, my pal ordered the Mexican Chicken. Personal opinion: this sammich is special because it includes Doritos. I love any place that includes Doritos on a sandwich because I clearly remember my grade school sandwiches often boasted the same such ingredient.

Orders in, we sat at the counter and munched on our massive order of tater tots. I'm not really a tots girl, but I must say, these were the best tots I've ever had. The tots were piping hot with a delicious outer crunch but inner softness. Expertly salted, these tots had it all. These were NOT my grade school tots. I almost had a "Forget the sandwich, I'll just eat tots!" moment, but then my sandwich arrived.

Whoa. What a sandwich.

Standing about 6 inches tall, thick seasoned pieces of buffalo chicken anchored the sandwich and was layered with a hearty slice of tomato and lettuce
Like a little hat, the sesame seed bun rested delicately on top
But wait! Where was the blue cheese?!
Apparently blue cheese meant blue cheese DRESSING. I should have known...

The sandwich was even a bit too big for my big mouth, so a careful bite strategy was employed
I tried my best to get a mouthful of each ingredient in every bite, and with a little bit of effort, that was possible
Mouthfuls tasted like game day tailgates with wings and the only thing missing was the celery stick
The chicken was breaded and fried and had just the right wings taste for my liking, although the sandwich could have used more blue cheese

I like the flavors, but I did not like that the strips of chicken fell out of the sandwich
Every bite required me to push the strips back into the bun; it was like playing food Jenga

The sandwich was pretty good, but next time I'm trying something else, and I'm bringing a fork

*The Mexican Chicken Sammich