Syracuse Sandwich: McDonald's McRib

Who: McDonald’s What: McRib
Where: Route 31, Cicero Phone: 698-1134‎ Website: McDonalds
Parking: Yes Accepts Credit Cards: Yes Take-Out: Yes Delivery: No     

     After a botched attempt to make overnight baked French toast, Christine and I had to venture out to find something to eat for dinner. We decided to go shopping first and on our way back into Cicero, grab something quick from McDonald’s. I knew I was going to order the much talked about McRib sandwich when we pulled up to the drive up window. Christine went with her usual two cheeseburger meal, number four, if anyone cares. Christine loves McDonald’s and everything they have there for the most part but she doubted my choice. I didn’t listen and went ahead and ordered it. For those of you who don’t know what the McRib is, it is pressed pork in the shape of ribbed meat slathered in bbq sauce topped with onion and pickles on a seeded bun. I ordered it for three reasons: they haven’t had it on the menu in years, I’ve never had one, and I needed to review it.

     We drove our meals home and ate them over an episode of Criminal Minds. I opened the box holding what is suppose to be one of the greatest menu items that McDonald’s has ever had and began the McRib experience. Right off the bat I was disappointed after the first bite. The bun reminded me of the buns from Burger King which I don’t care for. The meat patty was bland as all get out and the bbq sauce that coated it followed suit. The only thing I could taste was the overwhelming vinegar flavor from the pickles. I normally like a pickle slice or two on a burger but there were a handful of them on top of the rib meat. The onions were nonexistent in flavor, probably masked by the pickles. Once I finished the sandwich, I was left disappointed and confused as to why these are supposedly so popular. I ate my crispy golden fries in an attempt to salvage a poor meal.

Rating: Edible – I guess I don’t get the hype.

Syracuse Sandwich: Blue Tusk's Three Pigs and Provolone Piccante

Who: The Blue Tusk What: Three Pigs and Provolone Piccante
Where: Armory Square, Syracuse Phone: 472-1934 Website: Blue Tusk
Parking: Street Accepts Credit Cards: Yes Take-Out: Yes Delivery: No

     While a friend was in town to visit family and have an engagement party last week, he invited Christine and I to join him for dinner at the Blue Tusk in Armory Square. The Blue Tusk is primarily a bar but has an extensive menu that has quesadillas, salads, soups and deserts along with different meats and cheeses from throughout the world. Of course where there is meat and cheese, there are sandwiches. Blue Tusk menu is dominated by sandwiches and paninis so this place was right up my alley. To order you go up to the food only counter and place your order at which time you get a buzzer like you do at most places when you’re waiting for a table. There is no assigned seating, you just have to find room but there were many open tables in the back of the place while we were there. Christine isn’t a huge sandwich fan but she was able to find something she might like, the roast beef and Stilton with lettuce, tomato, onion, horseradish and mayo on Pastabilities’ Italian stretch bread. You might ask what Stilton is; Stilton is a mild cow’s milk cheese from England. I decided to go out on a limb and order a very complex sandwich. Three Pigs and Provolone Piccante features prosciutto di parma, mortadella, sopressata, with roasted red peppers, banana peppers, red onion and extra virgin olive oil on Pastabilities’ Italian stretch bread. There are a few ingredients listed that I will explain: mortadella is baloney with pistachio nuts from Bologna, Italy, prosciutto di parma is salted air cured ham from Parma, Italy, and sopressata is spicy air-dried salami from Calabria, Italy. So to sum up my sandwich, I had three meats, three veggies, and some cheese. For sides they have Dirty brand potato chips and homemade potato salad. I chose the latter while Christine picked from 10 different flavors of Dirty chips.

     When our buzzer went off, I ran up to the counter to grab our food because I couldn’t wait to try it. I’ve wanted to come to Blue Tusk for a while because of the menu but never go downtown really. Christine enjoyed her sandwich and ended up bringing her chips home because it was so filling. I started with the potato salad which was very light, not too heavy on the mayo. The potatoes they used were red skin and the skins were left on. A small cup was the perfect portion to go along with my large sandwich. The Italian stretch bread is the perfect vessel for lots of fillings and olive oil because while the crumb is soft and airy, the crust is chewy but not tough. This allows for it to hold a lot and not get soggy or floppy. The best way to describe the taste from the combination of the meats is if you’ve ever had an Italian meat sub. Only this tastes ten times better because the meats are of very high quality. The peppers and red onion along with the olive oil gave supplied the moisture this sandwich needed along with a Mediterranean style taste. I couldn’t get enough of this flawless sandwich but I did have one problem, I want to taste each of the meats on their own. It’s not the sandwich’s fault at all, I’ll just have to go back and get the sandwiches that feature each one on their own.

Rating: Delicious – I can’t wait to go back, Syracuse needs more of these types of places.

Syracuse Sandwich: Applebee's Slow Simmered Beef Sandwich

Who: Applebee's What: Slow Simmered Beef Sandwich
Where: Route 11, North Syracuse Phone: 452-5670 Website: Applebee's
Parking: Shared lots Accepts Credit Cards: Yes Take-Out: Yes Delivery: No

     A few hours before we arrived at the War Memorial to see Dane Cook in concert, we stopped at Applebee’s for dinner. Earlier in the day I had checked out their menu so I knew what I would order once we got there. I was pleasantly surprised to see a few new items including a new wrap and a new sandwich. The Slow Simmered Beef Sandwich sounded good and reminded me of the way I make pulled pork, in the crock pot. Slow simmered beef is piled high on a buttery bun with jalapeno slaw and fried onion strings. I’ve had pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw on them before so I figured that this would be very comparable. We ordered a sampler to start to eat while we waited for our entrées.

     When the waitress delivered our food, she couldn’t tell the difference between Christine’s burger and my sandwich. The picture on the menu of the sandwich showed strings of saucy beef, not a solid piece of meat. When I got the correct plate, I could see why she had the problem. The meat was molded into a patty form and the sauce had all been absorbed by the meat taking away from the “shine” it would give off when light hits it. While the meat didn’t look mouth watering appetizing, I held out hope that it would taste good. With the slaw piled underneath the meat and the fried onions strings on top, it looked like a well put together sandwich. The taste on the other hand just simply wasn’t there. The meat was very bland and while it was moist, the sauce had no flavor. The jalapeno slaw was over powered by the spiciness of the pepper, I understand that it is suppose to taste like jalapeno but I think the ratio of cabbage to jalapeno was off. The slaw deteriorated the bottom bun because the bun wasn’t toasted enough to combat the amount of liquid. This made the sandwich quite difficult to handle let alone eat. The fried onions added little to the sandwich and were kind of an afterthought if anything. It seems they were only added for appearance and not to enhance the sandwich. Perhaps if they were really crispy they would have at least added texture but they were soft for the most part. I’m becoming more and more annoyed over time with big box restaurants, they are only safe to go to if you go with their original menu items that they are known for.

Rating: Edible – Like I said, stick with the originals.