One year anniversary!!!!

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of this blog but I wanted to wait until today so I could post some stats about the blog that I felt were important. It has been a long and tasty year and there are so many places I have yet to get to but hopefully this year I will get to them. So without further ado, here are the year end stats:


Number of reviewed sandwiches: 64
Most viewed blog post: Panera Bread's Cuban Chicken Panini
Most viewed sandwich from home: Turkey Pastrami
Month with most page views: January 2011 - 248
Overall Page views since creation: 1,075


Finally, this is the most interesting stat of all:


Page views by country:

United States 716

Israel 201

France 20

Germany 16

Argentina 12

Latvia 12

Canada 11

Russia 10

Poland 8

Sweden 8

I expected the most page views to be from the U.S. but I did not see over 200 coming from any other country. I'm not sure how other countries are finding this blog but I hope they enjoy it. With the total page views being 1,075, that averages to just under 90 per month. I'm hoping to increase that number to over 100 views per month for this year. I guess I have a lot more sandwiches to eat. Thank you all for reading and I hope you continue to read each and every post. God bless and happy eating.

Syracuse Sandwich: Ale 'N' Angus's BBQ Pork Tenderloin Sandwich

Who: Ale 'N' Angus What: BBQ Pork Tenderloin Sandwich
Where: Harrison Street, Syracuse Phone: 426-9672 Website: Ale 'N' Angus

Parking: Street Accepts Credit Cards: Yes Take-Out: Yes Delivery: No   

     In my Christmas stocking, I received two tickets to this past Saturday’s Crunch game. Since I was getting out of work an hour early, Christine and I had time to grab dinner out instead of eating over priced food at the War Memorial. The first place that came to mind was the Ale N’ Angus Pub because it’s kitty corner to the war memorial and we had great food the last time we were there. Learning from our last trip, I made a reservation just to make sure we could get a table. I’m glad I did because they were packed as they usually are before all Crunch games. Christine went with the chicken fingers and I was tempted to get the fish and chips for my meal but when the waitress mentioned the special was a bbq pork tenderloin sandwich, I just had to partake. The sandwich comes with the choice of one side so I opted for their homemade potato chips, a choice I would later regret because they we’re bland as all get out.

     I had taken a picture but it came out so dark because of the lighting that I figured it was a waste to post it. I didn’t want to use my flash since we were sitting in the middle of the cramped dining room. When the waitress dropped off our food I was kind of bothered to see nothing but barbequed meat and bread sitting in front of me. Now I’ve had plenty of pulled pork sandwiches that consisted of nothing but meat and sauce but I was kind of hoping that it would be dressed up in some way with some onions or slaw. Plus this wasn’t a cheap cut of meat I was eating, its pork tenderloin! I guess it was my fault for not asking if anything came on it but I expected they’d kick it up a notch since they were using an expensive cut of meat. The French bread tasted just as good as it did with the prime rib cheese steak that I had just a month or so before. The bbq pork tenderloin on the other hand was lacking in more ways than one. First off, the barbeque sauce while there was the perfect amount of it, had little flavor. It offered the moisture needed to go with the bread but didn’t have any zip to it at all. Secondly, the pork wasn’t sliced nor pulled but almost chopped or crumbled. Pork tenderloin crumbles into small pieces when it’s over cooked. So when I saw the small pieces I thought it might be kind of dry and it was. What disappointed me the most was the execution or lack there of, if the pork was cooked correctly I could have gotten over the bbq sauce or even if the bbq sauce was amazing it could have masked the over cooked pork. But two wrongs don’t make a right and since there were no other ingredients to fall back on, this sandwich fell flat on its face. The rating I’m about to give is only because I think this was a matter of execution, on a slower night it may have tasted better.

Rating: Satisfying – I finished it so there’s something to be said for that.

Syracuse Sandwich: Earthtones Coffee House's Turkey Bacon Ranch Panini

Who: Earthtones Coffee House What: Turkey Bacon Ranch Panini

Where: Route 31, Cicero Phone: 699-8919‎ Website: Earthtones Coffee House
Parking: Shared Lots Accepts Credit Cards: Yes Take-Out: Yes Delivery: No

     I wasn’t feeling the soup that I brought for lunch last Thursday so I decided I would go pick something up for lunch. Other than fast food there aren’t a lot of places to grab lunch near my work. I didn’t want pizza or Chinese, a sandwich sounded good but Spera’s was just too busy for me to wait with the rest of the lunch crowd. I was in luck though because just a few months ago a new coffee house opened up in what used to be Cicero Dollar in the same plaza as Subway, China Chen, and a National Guard recruiting office. A coworker of mine stopped in and grabbed a menu a week or so back and I knew they had paninis so to Earthtones Coffee House I went. The parking lot has been full since they opened so I knew they must be doing something right. When I walked in I was able to order right away but this didn’t surprise me since it was moving in on 2 o’clock. The place is very spacious and has about twenty or so tables to sit at with a few leather chairs as well to sit in. I ordered a full turkey bacon ranch panini with mayo and onions on white bread. It was made right in front of me and the ingredients looked very fresh. While I waited, I looked at their display case filled with delicious looking pastries as well as their wall of whole coffee beans you can buy by the bag. The total rang up at $7.51, for just the sandwich, had I not had chips and a drink back at the office it would have cost me about $10 total to add those in. On my way back to work I thought to myself, “seems a little pricy for just the sandwich but I don’t mind supporting a small business if they’re good”.

     Because of the angle the sandwich looks kind of small in the picture but it was huge. The three dill pickle slices came on the side for no extra charge which I thought was a nice touch. Now before I go any further I must say that I’m not a huge panini fan because when I have gotten them they taste almost micro waved. This wasn’t the case this time and I’m not sure if it’s how they cooked it but I noticed the criss-cross pattern was different than the traditional straight grill lines. I like lettuce on my sandwiches but not on paninis because warm lettuce is gross. The gentlemen taking my order suggested spinach as a substitute but I decided to omit any greens entirely. Once I started eating, I was glad I left off anything that could get slimy once heated up. Across the whole panini, about eight piece of turkey were used along with about three full slices of crispy bacon. Ranch dressing was spread along the top slice of bread while mayo was spread along the bottom slice. Chopped white onion pieces were sprinkled on top of the turkey and bacon. Upon the first bite, everything just worked. The saltiness of the bacon, the snappy bite of the onion, the moist clean taste of the turkey and the creaminess of the ranch and mayo all combined into a hearty flavored sandwich that was complimented perfectly by the toasted texture and taste from the white bread. I was able to finish it all but not without feeling like I ate too much. While I wouldn’t go their daily, it seems like a great place to stop by every once in a while.

Rating: Delicious – This place has it going on, I just hope they can keep it up.

Peanut butter, banana, & honey from home

     About a week after my peanut butter double-decker experiment, I decided to try something else along the lines of peanut butter sandwiches. I made a peanut butter, banana, and honey sandwich. Some would argue that this is the official Elvis sandwich sans being pan fried in butter. Others, including my self would argue that bacon also needs to be added, but that it neither here nor there. I love peanut butter and honey and I had purchased some bananas so I figured why not try this concoction. I spread thick layers of peanut butter on both slices of regular white bread and drizzled them with a total of two tablespoons of honey. I put the slices together and placed the sandwich into a plastic container for transport. I didn’t add the banana right away because I wasn’t sure how it would fair after being cut up having to sit for a few hours. When I was ready to eat, I cut up about nine thick slices and added them to the peanut butter and honey. Surprisingly, it wasn’t overly banana tasting considering almost a whole banana was used. The honey gave the sandwich a sticky sweet taste that contrasted well with the tender sweetness of the banana. The peanut butter also brought a sweet taste but it was nothing compared to the banana or the honey. The nutty flavor and creamy texture go well with banana, so I understand why this is a popular sandwich. After reading more about the official Elvis sandwich I learned that he like the bananas to be mashed, this would make for easier spreading, a trick I will try in next time.

Syracuse Sandwich: Panera Bread's Chicken Caesar Sandwich

Who: Panera Bread What: Chicken Caesar
Where: Route 11, Cicero Phone: 458-9436 Website: Panera Bread
Parking: Shared lots Accepts Credit Cards: Yes Take-Out: Yes Delivery: No

     Before you say anything about this being the 7^th, yes 7^th, review of Panera Bread please go read reviews number 5 and 6 for my defense. I’ll give you a second to go do that. …………..you done? Okay, so we stopped into Panera Bread yet again because of the convenience and our odd obsession with the place to grab some dinner. Christine ordered her usual Asiago roast beef sandwich and I think it was chili but it could have been soup. I scanned the menu for something I haven’t reviewed yet and thought the Chicken Caesar sounded pretty good so I went with that and the trusty bbq chopped chicken salad just incase the sandwich didn’t pan out. We also got a free cookie because of the new Panera rewards card that you can sign up for. I won’t go into too much detail about the card but you get free coffee and pastries from time to time which is nice.

     From the looks of the picture it looked like it was going to be a good sandwich. But I've judged a lot of books by their colors lately, something I really shouldn't do, because looks can be deceiving and they certainly were this time. The sandwich is comprised of three cheese bread, Caesar dressing, asiago cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and chicken. It seemed the ingredients would work together; the cheese bread was soft and airy, the chicken, which is the same as the chicken in my salad, held up it’s end of the bargain despite there not really being enough stuffed in there, and the red onion gave the sandwich a snap. There came an issue with the other ingredients though; the taste of asiago cheese was muted by the small piece they put on, the tomato wasn't fresh but it wouldn’t be since it is winter, the lettuce should have been mixed with the dressing before being put on or at least place up against it instead of being on the bottom of the sandwich. The killer of this whole thing was the overly herb-y taste from the Caesar dressing. Caesar dressing is without a doubt my favorite dressing and I don’t know of Panera’s always taste like this but I was not impressed. With each bite all I could really taste was herb-y dressing and it took half an iced tea and a bbq salad to get that taste out of my mouth. I feel that this sandwich could be better but it fell apart in the matter of execution.

Rating: Satisfying – It wasn’t all bad but defiantly not all good.

Peanut Butter double-decker from home

     After running out of soup, my normal lunch, I had to resort to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. One sandwich won’t hold me over so I will either make a double-decker or two separate sandwiches. I decided to do a double-decker but instead of doing peanut butter and jelly in both parts, I changed it up a bit. The top part of the sandwich was just peanut butter and jelly but for the bottom I made my second favorite variation of a peanut butter sandwich, peanut butter and honey. To make a peanut butter and honey sandwich, you only need about two tablespoons of honey to how much ever peanut butter you need to make a thin layer on both pieces of bread. If you don’t “seal” each slice of bread with peanut butter, the honey will seep into the bread and start to harden. I actually prefer this to happen because I like a crunchy texture in my sandwiches. So the sandwich I made was layered as following: bread, pb, jelly, pb, bread, pb, honey, pb, bread. It seems like a lot of peanut butter but I only but a thin layer on each piece just to stop the jelly and honey from seeping into the bread. As usual some of the honey got into the crust of the bread but like I said before, I don’t mind. It was very filling and I was glad I didn’t make two separate sandwiches because there was no way I could have eaten another slice of bread. However, the honey flavor got lost because of the amount of jelly in the sandwich. Overall it was good but I don’t know if I’ll make it again. I guess I’ll have to make separate sandwiches in the future.