Day #56, #25 Chicks Dig Scrawny Pale Guys

This sandwich comes with loads of flavor and a very intriguing name. It was named after a past employee named Joe, who worked on the line. He was pale, scrawny, and thought chicks dug him. He desperately wanted a sandwich named after him. After a year or so of working on the line, and many attempts at getting a sandwich on the menu he came up with this winner.

The sandwich is made on a Zingerman's onion roll. It was Nueske's pepper smoked ha,. Nueske's applewood smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, red onions, honeycup mustard, and honeycup mustard. I'm a huge fan of the honeycup mustard, it's by far the best honey mustard that I have ever had. It's sweet, kind of tangy, with a bite to it. It goes great on this sandwich with the bacon and barbecue sauce.

There is a warning with this sandwich- it's really messy because of the sauces and the amount of ham...mine was falling all over the place. Which is generally fine, but i would not suggest eating this sandwich in your car.

It was a little ironic...when I was eating this sandwich Lane, one of our servers, told me that it was his favorite. I had to laugh and enjoy this comment because Lane is also a pale, scrawny guy; although I don't know how much the chicks dig him. It's a funny name for a sandwich and I love the personality that these creations bring to the Laundry.

Overall, I think it's a great sandwich. Lots and lots of flavor going on, and to most that is a good thing. I especially enjoyed barbecue and honey mustard together...I'll definitely have to try that again!

Day #55, #22 Leah's New Job

Today I enjoyed the #22, Leah's new job. Mark Hamel remembered the name of this sandwich coming from a young woman named Leah that used to work here. She was a vegetarian, and he named this sandwich after her when she left the Laundry for a position in her field of study.

The sandwich is made on grilled french farm bread, with Zingerman's natural cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, Switzerland Swiss cheese, and a spicy cranberry spread. If you haven't had Zingerman's cream cheese, it's a must-try. It won the 2006 American Cheese Society Award. It's a lot different from the cream cheese we are accustomed to because it is made using old-techniques such as no gums, and long setting times that are intended to bring out the full flavor of the milk. It's texture is soft, fluffy and rich, with a creamy citrus flavor.

The combination of the flavor from the cream cheese and spicy cranberry spread is awesome. The cranberry spread is made in-house from cranberries, orange juice, and cloves. I thought it would be overly spicy, but the cloves gave it just the right amount of flavor.

Overall, I thought this was much more interesting to eat that it actually sounds on the menu. It is a vegetarian sandwich, but if you aren't a vegetarian it might be excellent with some roasted or smoked turkey. It was great to have the french farm grilled, I always think that adds more flavor to the sandwich. I thought this sandwich to be really enjoyable and very easy to eat!

Day #54, Brown Rice Ziti with San Marzano Tomatoes

Today's dinner was an interesting one. It was the brown rice ziti with San Marzano tomatoes. This pasta is gluten and vegan free, and locally made in Canton, MI by Mamma Mucci's pasta company. That alone makes this dish worth trying.

The vegan and gluten friendly noodles are topped with fennel, spinach, and San Marzano tomatoes. It doesn't say it in the menu, but the sauce also includes green olives. San Marzano tomatoes are a variety of plum tomatoes, and are considered by many Chef's to be the best sauce tomatoes in the world. The commercial production of the San Marzano variety is most closely associated with Italy, seeds for the variety are available worldwide.

I'm really happy that we added a gluten-free item to our menu. Guests often ask about items being gluten free, and it's so rare to have a pasta dish that they can eat. However, here's a warning: gluten free noodles do not taste the same as regular noodles made with flour. The flavor is the same, but the texture is different- kind of rubbery and a little chewy. If you are expecting them to be the same, they won't be...but even though it's a different texture it is still enjoyable. The fennel is really something different in the dish. At first I wasn't even sure what it was, because I don't think that I have had fennel before. When I was reading about fennel, I thought it was incredibly interesting that it is the main ingredient in absinthe. I thought it to have almost a slightly pickled flavor, although it was not pickled as it is used in this dish.

Overall I really enjoyed eating this dish. I was happy to be able to try both the famous San Marzano tomatoes and gluten free pasta all in one dish. It was creative, and a great option for vegetarians, vegans, or those that are affected by gluten. Being none of the above, I still enjoyed the dish and would order it again. It was different that the food I am used to trying, and it really made me expand my thinking about vegan food...it's not that bad..actually, it's pretty good! Give it a try, I think that it will surprise you as well!

Day #53, #21 Jacques Brel is Alive and Living in Fenton

Today I'm enjoying the very popular #21 for lunch. The name comes from an actual person named Jacques Brel. He was the French equivalent to Frank Sinatra, and although he was Belgian, he was wildly popular in French speaking countries. He was famous for singing about the ridiculousness of the aristocratic class. Jacques died young of cancer, and in the 70’s there was a play on Broadway called “Jacques Brel is alive and well and living in Paris”. Mark used to play the CD in the Laundry all the time (as well as Jacques Brel’s original songs). In homage to Jacques Mark named the #21 “Jacques Brel is alive and well and living in Fenton”.

I think the history behind the sandwich is enough to make it interesting...but I guess I have to tell you whats actually on it. The #21 is made with Nueske's pit smoked pepper ham, bacon, smoked turkey, Switzerland Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise on fresh Zingerman's Challah bread. It was designed to be the "club style" sandwich on the menu, and is one of our most popular.

I loved that this sandwich came on fresh Challah bread because it is always soft and has great flavor. The variety of meat on this sandwich was great-I can see why clubs are popular nationwide. Overall, I really liked this sandwich, and I think it is something that I would order again. I guess now I see why it is so popular with our guests!

Day #52, #20 Chief Ruler

Today I continued with the sandwich menu for dinner. Next up was the #20, Chief Ruler. It was named after a woman named Kim Powell that worked at the Laundry years ago. She was a line cook, and was needless to say very bossy. Her nickname became Chief Ruler, and she created this quite interesting sandwich.

This sandwich is made with chicken breast, muenster cheese, tomato, and applewood smoked bacon, with ranch dressing on grilled Zingerman's pumpernickel bread. I personally thought the ranch is what really makes this sandwich different, and it goes a long great with the chicken and bacon. Having this sandwich made on pumpernickel bread also gives it a really unique look, and I like that.

I like any of our sandwiches with chicken breast, so I thought I would probably like this one, although its another that I had never tried. I think the pumpernickel intimidated me at the time but it doesn't anymore after I have had a few sandwiches made on it.

I think this sandwich has an interesting, yet good combination. I like how the flavors come together, and overall I think the sandwich is pretty unique. I'm glad I tried it, because it might just be one that I would order again!

Day #51, Savory Waffle

Today's breakfast was the Savory Waffle. Yes, I skipped over the Farewell Rudy again, but I promise it was not intentional! I am quite happy to say that I enjoyed my breakfast (for the most part) today. A savory waffle is a waffle topped with French ham, Gruyere cheese, scrambled eggs, and a Dijon mustard sauce.

I thought this was such and interesting way to serve a waffle. I would never think to put eggs, ham and cheese on my waffle, let alone the Dijon sauce. It was a good combination though, the waffle has a hint of sweetness that went along well with the saltiness of the French ham. The Dijon sauce was not what I thought it would be, and it was much better than I had expected. It is a cream sauce, and it didn't have the overwhelming flavor that I thought it would.

In all honesty, I ate a quarter of this waffle. I liked it, but it was much too large, and heavy, for me to eat any more than that! It would be a great breakfast to share with someone, between two people all of it might be eaten.

I liked this waffle a lot more than I thought I would. I think I would like it a lot more with smoked turkey rather than ham, since that is my favorite. Maybe I'll run that as a breakfast special sometime!

Day #50, #21-Croque Monsieur

Today I had the #19- Croque Monsieur for dinner. It is made with Jambon de Paris French ham, and Swiss Gruyere cheese, with a sour cream and Gruyere cheese sauce, on grilled Challah bread.

The name, Croque Monsieur, means "Mr. Crunch" in French, and this is the only truly "french" sandwich on our menu. It's a very popular sandwich in France, and ours is very comparable, only much larger than those served in France.

Gruyere cheese is a hard, yellow cheese, made from cow's milk, and named after the Gruyere's in Switzerland. The cheese is sweet, but slightly salty, and it's flavor varies with ageing.

I had never heard of this type of Swiss cheese until I came to work at the Laundry. I've never been that big of a fan of Swiss-style cheese, however, I can usually handle Gruyere.

Although I never eat ham, this sandwich actually smelled surprisingly good! I found out today that ham is actually something that I almost-like, and can definitely handle. The ham and gruyere combination goes great on grilled Challah. I really like this bread grilled anyway, and it's a favorite of mine because it is so soft.

If you are going to eat at the Laundry, I think this sandwich is a must try, especially because it is a truly French-style sandwich. It was really different from any other sandwich that I have tried so far!