Go with your Gutty

Last week’s sandwich adventure was kind of a double whammy- not only was I going out with a cute guy, but he wanted to take me to a sandwich shop. Swoon.

Mudgie’s in Detroit was next on my “to eat” list, so to downtown we traveled. The restaurant is in a cheery brick building in Corktown and is a charming little local spot. The interior is inviting with warm yellow and orange walls, and although the space is somewhat small, seating was easy to come by on a Monday night.

To be honest, I was a little distracted by my adorable dinner date, and was way more engrossed in our conversation than I was in my surroundings.

I did have enough sense to scope out the menu prior to arrival, and I knew the Gutty would be ordered. Who doesn’t love a sandwich that boasts five different meats? It had me at “salami”. We decided to split our sandwiches, so we also ordered the restaurant’s namesake sandwich, the Mudgie.

I love a good beer with sammies, and Mudgie’s has Bell’s TwoHearted available - my favorite! Everything was falling into place to be both the best date AND dinner experience ever, and the food hadn’t event arrived.

It wasn’t too long before our friendly server brought forth our massive meals. Did I mention we ordered the extra large Gutty? As if a meat stack five high wasn’t enough, we opted to go XL and get even more meats loaded on. 

The Gutty, especially the extra large version, is loaded high with Genoa salami, Sy Ginsberg Gold Label pastrami; Sy Ginsberg corned beef, bacon, and beef brisket, rounding out the meat of the meal. As an experienced sandwich eater, I feel comfortable recommending all sandwiches be made with Sy Ginsberg meat; this stuff is awesome. I couldn’t tell you which meat was my favorite, but I definitely loved the meat medley that melted in my mouth with each bite.

The Gutty also boasted sharp cheddar cheese, romaine lettuce (I’m guessing for a touch of color?), and an amazing homemade garlic mayo sauce that produced that awesome, messy, run-down-to-your-elbows extra bit of flavor. All this goodness was housed between a Kaiser roll, until I tried, unsuccessfully, to elegantly eat my sandwich (Thankfully, my date didn’t seem to care).

As I mentioned, we split our meals so I also got to indulge a bit in the Mudgie, which boasted a Michigan raised and grass-fed brisket that was juicy and perfectly seasoned. My sharing skills  must be a little out of practice, because my date didn’t get to experience the brisket and thought the sandwich’s only meat was the perfectly roasted turkey breast. Oops? 

I really loved the vegetable cream cheese on the Mudgie because it, along with the Brownwood Farm’s Kream Mustard, kind of brought the beef and the bird together in flavorful harmony.  There was only a touch of vegetables on this sandwich with a few leaves of romaine and some slices of red onion, and truthfully, I could have done without both.

While the Mudgie was a solid sandwich with a lot of great flavor, my date and I agreed the “Gutty” was where it was at.

I had an awesome time and a great meal at Mudgie’s, and I can’t wait to do it again.

Steve's Deli

Thank goodness for my friend Joe, who knows this area a thousand times better than I do, and who is more than happy to join me on my quest to fill my belly with sandwiches

He suggested Steve's Deli in Bloomfield Hills as last night's sandwich eatery
Having visited a time before, he said he remembered it as quite delicious
Joe has a good memory

Typically, I'm a bit skeptical of food joints found within a plaza, but that could be due to the fact that most of those food joints are Subway, Jimmy Johns, or name another chain for me to make my point

Steve's Deli is within a plaza
Being that it's in Bloomfield Hills, however, it was a kind of nice, upscale plaza... if that's possible.

In any event, the plaza was packed so we parked around back
We walked in through the "MALL" entrance, which turned out to be a good thing as it gave me a chance to scope out the restaurant

The restaurant has my favorite flooring, black and white checkerboard, and is all silver chrome with red butt seats
There's a counter with bagels, pastries, and miscellaneous delights as this eatery offers a lot more than sandwiches

Last night was one of Michigan's few "perfect weather" days this summer, so we ate at a little metal table outside the building
Perfectly tucked between fellow sandwich eaters

The menu, although able to cater to other mealtimes and desires, offered a breadth of sandwich options
Bypassing the "Lite Sandwich" section (I'm sure those sammies are good, but I like to go all out on my eats) my eyes were drawn to the "Overstuffed" section

My, my, my. The overstuffed sandwiches listed simply whichever kind of meat you chose to drool over. Choices included corned beef, pastrami, turkey, etc, etc, etc. Delicious.

I was feeling pretty serious about the Hot Roast Beef Brisket until I asked our server what their most popular sandwich was.
She directed my attention to the "Combination Sandwiches" section and said the #4 was the most popular; the Hot Corned Beef sandwich, loaded with Swiss cheese, coleslaw, and Russian dressing on crispy rye.

My belief: If you've never been to a place and you're told something's the top seller, I suggest you try it. There's usually a reason why it's number 1, and you can always order something else when you come back.

Number 4 it was for me.
Joe ordered the Number 2, and thank god he did, because I wanted some bites of that too!

My sandwich came as promised, stuffed with deliciously seasoned corned beef (not even my favorite of meat choices, but this was darn good) a slice of Swiss at the top AND bottom of the sandwich (this is important for biting purposes), and what I imagined was literally a hand grab of coleslaw precariously perched on top. Russian dressing moistened both the top and bottom pieces of lightly buttered and toasted bread, not only acting as a traditional part of the sandwich, but also as a little kick to the taste buds.












I loved that regardless of your bite size, and sadly I feel mine is lacking, each chomp into the meal gave you plenty to be happy about. I recommend biting coleslaw down, allowing your mouth to crunch through the crispy bread, into the Russian and Swiss, through the coleslaw, and ending with plenty of corned beef to round it out.
Save the bottom up bite for last if you're a meat lover as you'll end up with mostly corned beef and little slaw. It's totally delicious, and all about preference, and that's the way Iroll.

I saved half my sammie for later, claiming I'd eat it for my next day's lunch, but hoping I'd be able to scarf it later that night. The half I did eat filled me up right and I actually did save the other half for later.

Leftover style, I pulled it straight from the fridge and bit in.

The dressing had soaked into the bread by that point, and due to the frigid fridge, the meat and cheese were a little tough to bite through; if you're a cold sandwich leftover lover like me, grab a knife and fork and dig in!