Sadie Katz Deli in Burlington, VT

A great deli. Seems as though it could have been pulled right out of New York and placed in the middle of downtown Burlington. This is the only place where I get my deli meat by the pound now. I consistently have some of their corned beef and pastrami in my fridge at home. I also recently started getting half or whole loafs of their rye bread. Last week, I went down to the Culinary Institute of America and came back with a loaf of their rye bread. Everything down there was fantastic, but I find that the bread at Sadie Katz had a little bit better flavor, and a much better texture. It has a nice crust with a wonderfully soft interior. They get it par-baked from a place in Jersey. They finish it off in house, and I think that this is the best way to do your bread if you can’t bake it everyday yourself. They do the same thing with their bagels from H&H in New York. Getting the bagels frozen would not be the same. Also, H&H make the best bagels I have had, so I love that they get them from there. The service at Sadie Katz is great. The guys behind the counter love what they do, and it shows. They have a great time with it, and it makes for a great experience whenever you are down there. They are consistently busy which is always a good sign. The star of the show when you are there is always the meat. They have fantastic pastrami and corned beef, and their tongue is good too. The meat usually is sliced still steaming. The flavor is great. The salt a spices shine through, and the meat is extremely tender. I love getting lunch here, and if you are a fan of a good deli sandwich, I would recommend going here as soon as you can.

08/21/2009

Another trip for Kabobs…

Yeah, I think the guy at Ahli Baba’s gained back a lot in my eyes today. I went with my brother, and we got a steak kabob pita and a falafel. We split them.  I also got three sandwiches to take back for the rest of my family, and on a 90-degree day this guy was working hard, very nice, and extremely concerned with getting me the food quickly and making sure any request I had was fulfilled. Also, the steak pita was pretty good. London broil cut into cubes, grilled right there, served in one of their quality pitas with a barbecue sauce, herb mayo, lettuce, and tomato. As usual, the veggies were fresh. My brother liked it the best, and I remain faithful to the falafel. Ahli Baba’s earns most of their credit for the falafel. If you want to consider the full menu, it is okay, but the falafel has been consistently solid. A good cheap eats sandwich place in Burlington.

08/13/2009

Red Onion in Burlington, VT

This place is a little bit difficult for me to review… There are definitely things that I like. Their homemade breads are great. There are good ingredients. The setup gives it a nice feel, and they serve very large cookies. Because of the quality of the ingredients, they make good sandwiches. But there are also things that could be improved on.

Their menu is pretty minimalistic. There are two sandwiches on the menu, and then a list of items of which you could build your own. I would love to see the creativity of the people working here, but maybe they are more bakers than cooks??? Something else that is also unfortunate is the fact that if you choose to build your own sandwich, there are a large number of items for which you have to pay extra. Another thing that is fairly minor but is something I felt like mentioning is the inconsistency of their bread slices. Consistency is something that should be expected from any quality establishment, and when you eat here, sometimes you can get a normal sandwich slice of bread in terms of how thick it is cut. Other times, I have had sanwiches overwhelmed by bread. It cannot be said that they skimp on ingredients. Whenever I go, there is a lot of bread, but there is also a lot of everything else. While eating lunch there today, a woman walked by and commented on the sandwich I was eating, saying it was the biggest she’d ever seen. I wouldn’t have said that, but it was certainly large…

07/25/2009

Bill’s Pizzeria in Newton Center, MA

I like Bill’s and I am a returning customer, but I do see how one could visit Bill’s and come away with a less than favorable impression. I looked at their pizza and decided that I would not be having it. The crust does not look like it has a nice crunch with a light, chewy interior. The crust shines with the oil from it that has surfaced. It is not a traditional pizza, and the quality of the ingredients to me just looked sub par. In spite of what the first review I saw said, I judged it to be over-cheesed. To me, a pizza is not dripping with cheese, but contains a good balance between crust, sauce, and cheese. But of course, I say everything about it because I did not order any pizza, and I probably won’t in the future.

Also, the staff may be hit or miss. I have been to Bill’s a few times, and most of the time have had no trouble. But one Saturday I showed up around 8:40pm. This did not seem too outrageous to me, since they close at 9. But apparently, It was getting a little late for the staff? We walked in, and the grill was turned off, and they were out of a couple of things that we tried to order. We finally found something for everybody to eat, and we sat down at a table (there was our table and one other still there). For the entire time we were there, we had a minimum of two members of the staff staring our table down from the register as if to say, “How could you choose to eat this food here? Don’t you know it is 9:04 on a Saturday night?”

That being said, there is a large menu, and a lot of it I think they do very well. I have ordered the Bangkok wrap, the Ultimate Veggie wrap with grilled chicken added, and a schawarma-esque Lam and Beef Gyro. The Bangkok wrap was pretty good with fresh vegetables and a good peanut sauce. The vinagrette I found a little unnecessary. The other two sandwiches I ordered I was very happy with. The Ultimate Veggie wrap is loaded with juicy, marinated grilled veggies. I found the marinated chicken to be a very nice addition. The marinade on both of these things is very good, and the chicken has been juicy whenever I have had it. The Gyro I got was also very good. There were fresh tomato, onions, and lettuce with a nice portion of a creamy tsatziki sauce. The spiced ground lamb and beef slices had good flavor, but I would be surprised if they did not get the meet from somewhere else. If they make it there, I would be impressed.

I will be going back to eat here, as my best friend lives up the street and they make some things that I like to eat. I think one can have a very good affordable meal as the sandwiches are large and not over-priced, but I also believe it will be important to order the right things. They do some things very well, but having a sub-par meal is not out of the question.

07/21/2009

Four Corners of the Earth in Burlington, VT

For a sandwich in Burlington, I had heard good things about this small and difficult-to-find spot. I thought that the food was pretty good. Their menu includes interesting names of their various offerings. I think a proper menu could help them out (the names to the sandwiches don’t really give much away), although I am sure that the owner thinks not revealing what’s in a sandwich gives the place character. When I showed up, he was perfectly willing to explain what one sandwich was, less willing to explain a second, and then basically wanted me to choose between the two.

I went with the Japanese Tuna. This sandwich was a soy-based tuna mixture (good flavor) with mayo, cheddar, white onion, and pickles. The whole thing was heated. The tuna mixture was very good, but I am not sure anything else added to the sandwich, especially the mayo and the cheese. The bread was a white bread and was okay.

The place has a good feel to it. It has some interesting decorations, a nice little seating area, and the food prep area is like a home kitchen. I would be interested to try some of their other sandwiches. I think that they do a good job bringing flavor to a sandwich, but again, it would be nice to know what you are getting.

07/09/2009