My favorite sandwich: bologna on white bread with mayo. No specialty bread just plain old sliced white. I used to lunch at the Muhly's lunch counter on North Charles Street and the near to Cross Street Market location just for the bologna on white sandwiches.

My least favorite: peanut butter on any kind of bread.

Okay Elizabeth, lets see what level of sandbox ruckus this topic generates!

The tuna fish sandwich (on baguette, and often with avocado) at Soups On in Hampden is a really good one. I love making my own sandwiches, so don't often eat them when I'm out. How I like 'em: crunchy.... and minimal mayo, if at all (I prefer butter and mustard)... usually with some thin slices of cucumber and/or radishes. Worst sandwich ever: Subway. yuck!

I've always been a big sandwich fan and often bemoan the absence of a really good deli in Baltimore (Attman's excluded). Of course, there are no shortage of Subways.

The sun dried chicken salad sandwich at Donna's in Mt. Vernon and the Cloak and Dagger (with turkey, not corned beef, and Russian dressing) at Eddies of Roland Park are two good ones.

I may get cruicified on this blog for suggesting a chain, but i really love Jimmy John's sandwiches. The wheat bread there is increadible, at least by chain standards. They have one in college park where i used to go to school, and i miss it terribly sometimes...

Also, Java Joes on baltimore street makes some pretty decent sandwiches.

I don't know if it's still applicable because I haven't looked at the menu recently, but Lucy's (when it was maggie moore's) made a B.A.L.T.imore club that was pretty tasety - bacon, avocado, lettuce, and tomato. Yum!

Nobody gets crucified on my blog. EL

This is a much more complex topic than it may appear at first glance.

Are we talking ANY kind of sandwich? Do wraps count? What about subs? Hot or cold? Open-faced? Melts?

Personally (although I wish it were not so), sandwiches are one of my favorite foods (although you couldn't pay me enough to eat bologna with mayo - sorry, Regina). But right about now, some coarse rye with fresh-sliced turkey, crushed cranberries and a generous spread of Hellman's would make my day....

Yikes, why did I have to read this blog right before it's time to nuke my Lean Cuisine lunch? :(

Best Sandwich: the Fool's Gold Loaf, which is a loaf of Italian bread, hollowed out, the filled with a jar of peanut butter, a jar of jelly and a pound of bacon. (A pound of bacon, pre-cooked weight, of course.)

It was an Elvis favorite when he came to Colorado.

No, really. You can find it on Wikipedia, under "Fool's Gold Loaf".

I make a smaller version, which Mrs. Bucky calls a "coronary on a hoagie."

The thought of mayo makes me queasy. Worst invention since sliced bread.

This one is really hard. Anything at Atwater's is usually wonderful. So are the offerings at Trinacria.

But my favorite sandwich in the greater Baltimore area? Tony's Favorite at Luna Blu in Annapolis.

Here's the menu description: Fried green tomatoes topped with fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese, marinara sauce and pesto aioli. I can't remember whether it's served on pita or foccacia or some other deliciousness, but whatever bread it is, it's wonderful.

My worst sandwich was consumed in a bad hotel in New Delhi. I know, that was the problem in a nutshell: ordering sandwiches in New Delhi. I can't even remember what kind of sandwiches they were, but for some reason, they put a ton of salt on them. And the staff kept opening the door of the dining room to stare at us, because they didn't believe we were eating there, either.

I am a huge sandwich eater. I recently made up a sandwich I lovingly called the "face melter" that consists of...
- chicken salad
- dijon mustard
- banana peppers
- lettuce
- red onion
- granny smith apples
- swiss cheese
- sourdough

Be careful when approaching that concoction. I also make a pretty (surprisingly) good BBQ tuna salad.

Where is a good sandwich place downtown - besides Attman's? I would even settle for a Panera or a Bread and Co. to be honest.
-

bologna is delicious on white bread with mayo - but only if you have a cold and ripe maryland tomato slice

as far as baltimore - anything from cannella's italian deli is good

I love sandwiches. Unfortunately I'm not aware of any good places in Baltimore.
#1. Pork roll on wheat toast w ketchup.
#2. Egg Salad on wheat toast w bacon & lettuce
#3. Reuben

Baltimore is a sandwich wasteland. It's a subject that makes me so angry I can barely think! A wasteland I say! Just yesterday I was pointing out to someone that someone was serving GRILLED panini, grilled!, with sliced tomato and field greens. Why not just smear pond scum on it? Paroxysms of impotent rage and yearning fill my sandwich soul.

Just to take my mind off of this for the moment I will ponder the fact that the Chinese damming of the Yangtze to create the Three Gorges Dam will change the tilt of the earth. I will have more chance of correcting that than changing sandwichtude in Baltimore. The horror! The horror!

My absolute fav. - Brie, bacon and avacado on an English muffin with a little mayo. Use to use the Wispread Blue Cheese but they don't make that anymore so Brie has to do.

2nd fav. - Liverwurst, swiss cheese, onion, a little mayo and lots of horseradish on rye.

Hate sandwichest with tons of meat or cheese. two slices of either is more than enough for me.

All-time favorite sandwich is a BLT with lots of good, crisp bacon, iceberg lettuce, and Purple Cherokee tomato on toast with a slice of cheese. Mmmmm ... tomato-juice-runnin'-down-your-arm-good!

Second fave is a toss-up: chicken salad (Attman's or D. Barron) on rye with lettuce and a good dill pickle, or paper-thin sliced ham on white bread with a thin coating of butter, and good bread & butter pickles. Yum!

I don't have a "worst" sandwich, probably because I generally put things like that out of my mind.

Like you, I like to see my ingredients stretch out to the edge of the bread. I also like an even distribution of the ingredients across the available real estate. That big pile of meat in the middle of the bread that mashes down to bread only is a sandwich tragedy.

The Plaza Deli has an amazing neoclassical Reuben. Attman’s is the real deal for the authentic Reuben though.

Back in my low budget days, I made a sandwich in college by microwaving a Kraft single and the contents of a Taco Bell hot sauce packet between two pieces of white bread - the Nacho Sandwich. I shudder when I think about it.

In the city, the best places for a sandwich are Isabella’s in Little Italy, Rosina Gourmet in Canton, and Eddies of Roland Park. In the county, I would go with the Wine Merchant near Green Spring Station and Sapori D Italia (best Italian Cold Cut and sub rolls) on York Road in Cockeysville.

I second the love of avocados. If I could eat one thing for the rest of my life, it would be an avocado.

Salads are boring without them. No texture.

Sandwiches are dull without a little avocado slice inside.

Don't even get me started on Chipotle's guacamole deliciousness.

Anything at Di Pasqaule's.

I also like a really good olive tapenade mufaleta but they are hard to find.

I also have a strict rule which my husband finds hilarious. I don't eat sandwiches for dinner! a burger? maybe. Sandwich? NO WAY! Not even grilled chicken.

Oh, the histrionics VoodooPork.

That's why they call you the Hyacinth Girl.

It's just a sandwich. Go listen to Morrissey or even Winter Hours

Don't you have a status report due by 4:30?

Chunky tuna salad, light on mayo with grapes and walnuts, lettuce and good tomato, on a good hearty multi-grain toasted bread!
And if potato chips are available, a few potato chips sprinkled in the sandwich.
Heaven!!
Surprisingly, the Arby's chicken salad sandwich is pretty good.
Can't think of a best/worst sandwich, sorry.

Now that I have had some time to think about it, without touching the Corned Beef King - Attman's, or burgers and crab cake sandwiches, my favorites are...
(Don't forget the breakfast sandwiches!)
-the extravagance of the applewood smoked Bacon, egg, and cheese at The Chef's Express
-the simple perfection of the bacon, egg, and cheese on white toast at New System Bakery
-Shrimp Salad Sandwich at the Mary Mervis Deli in Lexington Market
-Frontega Chicken at Panera on Pratt (perfectly salty focaccia - nom nom nom!)
-the French Dip at the Owl Bar
-The Plaza Reuben at the Plaza Deli
-The Italian at Potbelly (L,T,O,Hot Peppers, Oregano)

When the new Miss Shirley's arrives downtown that will put them in striking distance to sample their lunch offerings. I am a big fan of their breakfast, and their lunch menu looks like a knockout. I can't wait.

Great list. EL

In the UK, when ordering tuna sandwich, you have to specify tuna mayo salad because otherwise you'll just get plain tinned tuna on bread. Even worse is tuna and sweet corn with mayo. I practically hurled it across the dining hall when I first had at the boarding school where I was in Wales.

Isababella's (that little deli in Little Italy) porchetta sandwich. It's served on a baguette and it's warm. There's plenty, but not too much, spiced meat and melted cheese.

I'm a real sandwich freak and couldn't possibly choose one favorite. Almost everything works between slices of good bread (a requirement). With the exception of a current favorite, local tomato on whole grain bread with a light smear of mayo (one of the rare times I would use mayo), a good sandwich consists of virtually any animal protein, without tomato or lettuce or mayo or mustard, on anything but white bread or kaiser roll. Try the Big Jim Special or Saturday Special at
Big Jim's Deli in Cross Street Market. Almost as good as Attman's.

This sandwich joke was featured at the opening of the sermon during the consecration of our new bishop a couple of weeks ago.

Two construction workers sit down for lunch and each opens his pail. The first seems happy with the sandwich he finds but the second exclaims, "Darn, bologna again! That's the third time this week. I hate bologna sandwiches."

"Well, why don't you ask your wife to make you something different," suggests his lunch mate.

"I can't. I'm not married," came the reply, "so I have to make my own lunch."

Just goes to show you that we are ultimately responsible for most of the bologna in our lives!

Scittinos Italian Deli in Catonsville has the best Italian cold cut I've ever eaten. Great selection of meats and cheeses and fresh Marranto's sub rolls and if you are a mayo lover they will oblige you but their Italian dressing is to die for good on the crisp fresh iceberg lettuce and good sliced tomatoes with just enough raw thin sliced onion. Also love any sandwich at Panneras and Donna's. Worst sandwich ever similar to yours, EL - The Mackey (sp?) machine's burgers at UMBC. Blech! Feh! The memory of it has wiped out my food lust I was just feeling for the cold cut!

Freshly sauteed soft crab on plain white bread, with lettuce, out of the graden slice of sun warm tomato and a bit of mayo..

Hey, you buy a sandwich out of a machine, you get exactly what you deserve.

No Idea, down in SoBo, had a sandwich for awhile (alas, they changed chefs and it's no longer on the menu) called a Baltimore Po'Boy. Fried shrimp on a long roll with lettuce & tomato, topped with what was essentially crab dip. It was a cardiovascular accident waiting to happen, but it was great.

I live a couple of blocks from Mastellone's, and every once in awhile I'll get cold cuts and bread from there to make my own Italian sub: ham, sweet capicola (for the Sopranos fan who doesn't know better, this is what they're talking about when they say "gabagool"), pepper-coated prosciuttini, genoa salami, pepperoni, provolone, lettuce & tomato, oil & vinegar. For a bit of extra heartburn I put on a mix of sweet and hot banana peppers. The bread, though, is very important, because it needs to be hearty enough to stand up to all of that.

I still remember a sandwich I had a Pret a Manger in London more than 10 years ago when I was over doing dissertation research: herbed goat cheese, roasted tomato, and watercress on rye. BOY was it good, but I have somehow been unable to replicate it myself. And it was a nice, human scale sandwich that didn’t make me need a post-lunch nap once I got back into the library. How I envy those few, select cities that have Pret a Manger (an upscale little take-out shop that has prepared gourmet sandwiches and salads in help-yourself refrigerator cases – perfect for the urban warrior)!

But dealing with sandwiches I can actually get where I live: I’d agree with those who require fillings (usually meat, despite my rave above) and spread to go clear to the edge. I also don’t want too much bread. If I want bread, I’ll eat that, but for a sandwich I want to taste the fillings. And not a big fan of lettuce. If it’s in whole leaves, it’s slippery and makes it hard to keep the sandwich together, and if it’s shredded, well, what’s the point of confetti in a sandwich?

My favorite Baltimore area sandwich is the curried chicken salad at Bluestone. I also like the pastrami at Mark's (no relation) Deli in Reisterstown. Filet Mignon with blue cheese at Beck's in Sykesville is good but could be better with an upgrade to Maytag. The fried fish sandwich at Red Brick Station is as good a fish sandwich as I have ever eaten.

My all time favorite sandwich is the egg salad at Cafe Fanny in Berkeley, CA. Who new egg salad could be a religious experience? Perfectly cooked eggs with house made mayo on ACME bread made right next door. Add a glass of Domaine Tempier Rose' from Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant (next door on the other side) and you have a feast. This corner of Cedar and San Pablo in Berkeley has been called the world's greatest strip mall.

I love sandwiches too, though lately I've forgone the bread and am using whole wheat tortillas as a wrap. Hellman's Canola Mayo is pretty good too for a ham and cheese with lettuce.

The best sandwich I've had so far was down here at Another Broken Egg Cafe (a small but growing chain in the Deep South).
It was turkey, bacon, and avocado on grilled wheat bread. The turkey was real sliced turkey off the bird, and the bacon was thick-sliced and roasted, cooked perfectly. There were several slices of avocado on the sandwich, first time I tried it. It was very good. The sandwich was topped off with slices of tomato and jack cheese.
It was about the best I've ever had.

1. Any sandwich at Trimacria on Paca Street, especially the Italian Cold Cut Sub.

2. There is a GREAT place in Lexington Market that roasts whole turkeys and makes to-die-for turkey sandwiches -- can't remember the name.

3. Speaking of Lexington Market, do the crabcakes at Faidley's count as sandwiches if I eat them sandwiched between two saltines...?

Hmmm, I couldn't think of how to work religion into sandwiches today. Yet. Good job MD.

One of my many problems with sandwiches in Maryland is the bread:
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_life_of_jesus/satan_tempts_jesus/mk01_12pmt04_01.html

If only they could turn those stones to loaves.

Isabella's has tremendous Italian meat sandwiches.

Well, I was never a good California girl (not blonde, for starters), but I do love a sandwich with avocado. Lacking that, a good tapenade with coarse olive chunks will do to make just about anything yummy.

Worse sandwich was one I saw a friend bring to school (many years ago): a mashed potato sandwich with catsup.

Love, love, love me some sandwiches. I totally 2nd the nomination of Sapori d'Italia in Cockeysville. Their sandwiches are made with Boar's Head meats, and really great bread/rolls. Plus, we often come across coupons in The Consumer's Eye (I think) for buy one get one free, which is quite a bargain, especially since their subs run close to $8 (but totally worth it).

My favorite sandwiches otherwise are created by yours truly in my own kitchen. At the height of tomato season, our dinner every Friday night is a grilled cheese with bacon and tomato on rye. And, about once a week we eat grilled gouda with raspberry jam on sourdough. So unbelievably yummy, almost like brie encroute.

I'd be interested in specifically where people find good grilled cheese sandwiches (with or without bacon or tomato). I like the ultimate one at Portside in Canton, and seem to remember liking the one at Paper Moon (although it has been a while since I had it). Any others that anyone knows about?

Worst Sandwich I've ever seen: Beef tongue on Wonder bread. To make matters worse, he put ketchup on the tongue.

My all time favorite sandwich is Corned Beef on rye at 2nd Ave Deli in NYC.

For all you deli folks, I think Edmarts in on Reisterstown rd gets totally overlooked.

Given that this is a Baltimore/MD list I think a softshell crab sandwich would have to be included. Also I third the avocado love.

- My New York roots show through with my love of a good whitefish salad sandwich. Unfortunately, not too many great ones in Baltimore. Attmans ok, Eddies ok. I’m still a sucker for PBJ with good peanut butter, good jelly, good bread.

- Greatest: Sturgeon sandwich from Barney Greengrass on the upper westside NYC. $18 or so, but mmmm ($$$$)

- Wort: Purchased from an old woman on a long train ride from Kharkiv to Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine. There was a communication issue and I ended up with a dry fish, two slices of dry brown bread and a dab of mustard. Luckily, the beer I also purchased was large and cold.

- Trinacria, Café Mocha, Attmans, Eddies of Roland Park, Mary Mervis in Lex Mkt (shrimp salad)

Baltofoodie... Is it the Thanksgiving Sandwich that they make at Lexington Mkt? That's a huge fav of the SO although I've never made the trek to that side of town.

Any discussion of sandwiches need to include The Cheese Shop in Williamsburg, VA. They make some of the BEST sandwiches on the planet. They also have this special sauce they make themselves that is out of this world. It's worth the trip alone.

Baltofoodie, it's Krause's. Oven-warm turkey hand-sliced off the bird while you watch. My favorite sandwich there is dark-meat turkey on wheat with lettuce and cranberry sauce. Yum! The best bargain in Lexington Market is Krause's turkey dinner: a mound of turkey placed over a mound of dressing, with a mound of mashed potatoes and a mound of green beans, gravy on everything but the beans, and a roll to boot. It's GOTTA weigh at least three pounds! Three of us have feasted off that mass of food for supper, and were full when it was gone!

Isabella's in LI has great sandwich ingredients but only one kind of roll and I hate it, so I never get them. It's too chewy and hard and gives me indigestion. Bread shouldn't be that dominant, especially in my opinion bad bread. I want to taste my food not have a freakin' cage match in my mouth with it. Bad bread/rolls is a Baltimore problem.

Answer to the original question, greatest sandwich: All of the above, except those with avocados. (Sorry, EL et al.)

Bucky--you win. Tongue on Wonder Bread is definitely worse than mashed potatoes with catsup in a sandwich.

Believe it or not, Sam's Club usually has a decent selection of avocados. 5 in a bag for under $5, and you can usually find 5 with varying amounts of ripeness to spread out the goodness all week.

Golden West's Turkey, Brie, and Mango chutney is fantabulous.

someone asked about grilled cheese - Crazy John's on 'the block' on Baltimore street downtown has some pretty tasty grilled cheese - just try to ignore the 'scenery' in the immediate area.
I love an Attman's corned beef on rye with mustard. Man, my mouth waters just thinking about it!
And of course an awesome crabcake sandwich is always a treat!

Just passed it commuting and had an head slapping moment - Santoni's! Santoni's another place with a wild Italian Coldcut - and ohhhhhhhh that dressing - it's almost Sabatino's but not quite...
Also, Suburban House has very good sandwiches - right up there with Attman's IMHO.
Mashed potatoes & catsup, tongue in wonderbread - blech to both, Bucky and Dahlink - it's a tie!

The greatest sandwich I have ever made. Requires three things, well four if you include the bread.

One ripe avocado.
Siracha hot sauce
salt

take two slices of wheat bread, decoratively squirt some siracha on both slices
smash avocado on one slice of bread.
sprinkle with a little salt.
PUt the sandiwhich together. CONSUME, be in heaven. Though I would think the addition of bacon might be entertaining.

I'm half cuban the greatest sandwich ever is a pan con lechon. Roast cuban pork on cuban bread with sliced yellow onion and tabasco. DEAR GOD Bliss.
I can't remember the back alley place we would go to when growing up.

Best Sub is a Russo's sub in Palm Beach county florida. Russo does something with the bread that makes you want to weep.

FINALLY best place for a cuban sandwich or medianoche. Go to the International Cafe in miami.

I know none of these places are in Baltimore, but seriously those are the best ever. I won't even diginify the cuban sandwich I got at the bar named after a place in Miami with a description. gag.

Many years ago, Danzer's in Syracuse offered what it called a Red Reuben: good corned beef on rye with the usual cheese and dressing -- and red cabbage instead of sauerkraut. Accompanied by a glass of Lowenbrau -- imported, not the domestic version -- it was grand.

I would call this a pet peeve, but I feel much more passionate about it than the phrase conveys:
I am head-over-heels in love with a good turkey club sandwich. Sharky's on Eastern in Highlandtown has a good one. Diners (the Double T, Nautilus in Cockeysville, etc.) typically have delicious ones ... except they're always completely ruined by the fact that the mayonnaise arrives on the side, in packets. Am I really supposed to dismantle a double-decker sandwich that's cut into quarters and carefully apply mayonnaise onto each tiny triangle? I think not. It enrages me.

I swear, there are 2 kinds of people in this world. Those who love mayonnaise and those who despise it. I don't hang out with people who love it.

Best I've found in Baltimore by far is Isabella's. He makes his own mozerella. Trinacria is not in the same league at all.

Best ever are the sandwiches at Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor, MI. In the same league as the best NY delis, but without the attitude.

I like tongue, but ketchup and Wonder Bread are both abominations.

mmm...pumpernickle and rye. Not too easy to get down here.

One of my faves growing up was Peanut Butter and Jelly on Rye or Pumpernickel, with Bacon Bits! (or Baco-Bits for Mr. Owl.)

Heck, I still do the PB with Baco-bits now, only its on double-fiber wheat toast. Its a breakfast thing.

Just wondering...did the Sandbox give into the pressure and ban "Gack"? There are an awful lot of synonyms floating around today, but not a single Gack that I can remember.

Not at all. I was just making a joke. EL

KB - you need to channel your rage and use your powers for good, not evil.

Lisa, I totally agree with you about Wonder Bread, but catsup/ketchup has its place.

Btw, Isabella is a "he"???

Favorite sandwiches to make:

BLT with a slice of cheddar cheese, using wheat toast with French dressing (mayo = gack)

Fluffernutter (peanut butter and marshmallow creme)...yum!

When I lived in Baltimore, I ate many a grilled cheese sandwich at Werner's (with tomato soup, of course) and the Monte Cristo sandwich at Gampy's.

Here in York, there are several Isaac's Restaurants with very interesting sandwiches, all named after birds. If you are ever in the area, give it a try. Every year in late Nov through Dec, they do a delicious Thanksgiving on a Bun special with turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce on a roll, which is very tasty. I tried duplicating it at home but it's just not the same.

Dahlink, I'm not so sure Lissa was talking about a sandwich.

I just read through the list (drool!) and thought of two more to add to my favs...
-The chicken salad at Atwaters
-My wife's classic muffaletta. She's from the muffaletta homeland and we've eaten the genuine article from Central Grocery in N.O. up on the levee, and I think her's is better (not just because it's the safe answer either).

Dahlink, by 'he' I meant Dan, who owns Isabella's. Actually, his nephew is usually the one pulling the fresh mozzarella 4 or 5 times a day.

I haven't a clue who Isabella is. Queen of Spain, perhaps?

Gotta say, I'm not a fan of avocados. But there was a time when I had to cut, peel, and mush up three cases of them in one day, so that might explain that. Gack.

I like hot sandwiches, or "sammiches" as my sandwich-obsessed ex roommate used to say... It's rare for me to eat a turkey on white or a pb&j, even when I was a kid.

My favorite sammich, alas, is no longer available. No one's gonna know what the heck I'm talking about, but the College Perk, on route 1 in College Park (clever, no?) used to make something called the CoCo's Hot Tub. Technically it was a create-your-own and not an actual sandwich, but I always got the same thing. Roast beef, on "white" bread with provolone cheese. The bread was really crusty and kind of sourdough-y, toasted perfectly. Yum. Unfortunately now the Perk has switched to a (poorly executed) tapas menu, since the owner has apparently lost his mind. Sigh.

Worst sandwich was at a snooty "bistro" in Westchester, New York. I ordered a steak sandwich and got a steak. Literally an entire new york strip sitting on top of a piece of bread. The steak was ok, if a bit tough. It was just definitely not what I was expecting, and I was boku annoyed that I couldn't actually eat it like a sandwich.

Sandwiches from Eddie's (The Provence) and Rosina Gourmet (either the Mediterranean Turkey or the Grilled Veggie) are fantastic.

Yes! Krause's is the place for the great Lexington Market turkey sandwiches. Some days the breast meat on Wonderbread with mayo and pepper (sorry!) and some days the dark meat on whole wheat with cranberries and lettuce, which COULD be improved by some avocado...but is pretty darn wonderful as is!

I just opened up the August issue of Bon Appétit and there on page 20, "The Hot 10 Sandwich Shops" - Number 8: Dogwood Deli, Baltimore. "The sandwiches at the tiny upstairs counter are the main draw. In summer, we like the lemony albacore and dill salad on marble rye."

Wow. Thanks. That's worth an entry on its own. EL

Can't go wrong at Trinacria, especially with the Caprese.

My favorite all time sammich was in Berkeley, at a dodgy little student-oriented hole in the wall. It was a grilled cheese sandwich, but so much more: flavorful multigrain bread with lots of crunchy nuts and so forth, a mixture of cheeses which I think included Gruyère, sprouts (we've seen the controversy here before; I happen to enjoy them), and everyone's favorite sandwich saver, avocado. Good textural contrast, the bread was cooked to that elusive state of crisp but not burnt, and by some miracle the whole thing was not greasy yet obviously had enough fat in it to keep a Krispy Kreme store operating for at least a day.

I second the early love for Java Joe's. It's my favorite place to go for lunch. (It doesn't hurt that it's a block away from my office...)

Their hummus is extra garlicky and delicious, but my favorite sandwich is smoked turkey on a pita with red onions, swiss, and red pepper mayo.

Well, I haven't plugged Liquid Earth in a while, so... yeah, Liquid Earth makes amazing sanwiches! The Sacred Sub and the Reuben Royale are to die for.

And the reubens at Joe2 are pretty incredible, too...

three... in Patterson Park used to have a sandwich that was grilled andouille sausage and tasso ham topped with grilled red onions, swiss (I think), field greens, and garlic aioli (also I think) between two perfectly crusty slices of toasted ciabatta. I almost cried when they took it off the menu.

Also, I didn't see anyone mention Trattoria Annamaria in Fed Hill; it's a pretty decent Italian deli. I like getting a really simple sandwich from there: pepper turkey with fresh mozzarella and olive oil with a pinch of salt, on a sub roll, yum!

Oh - and as today I'm dreaming of a sandwich from Ceriello in Belvedere Square, I should give it a mention. They have prepared sandwiches behind the deli counter that they'll toast to order. My personal pick is the Roma - the classic tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil but with a bit of proscuitto thrown in to make it just a bit more wicked. Tastes like summer!

And as for bad sandwich goings-on, how about when a place wraps up a big ole dill pickle wedge right in with the sandwich, so the bread soaks up pickle juice. Yuck!

The turkey club on rye toast is, in my opinion, the best sandwich. Eddie's of Charles Village make a great one. Also Dizzy Issie's. As for other sandwiches, we are fond of Mastellones.

Worst sandwich: softshell crab. Those little legs dangling out of the bread is just gross.

Carol-
I'm a native, Bawlmer born and bred, hon, and I think soft crabs are absolutely disgusting. Something about eating the *whole* crab.... shell and legs and trash bits and all. Ugh. So don't feel bad, it's a very much "love it or hate it" thing, even for the natives.

Will someone please explain to me the appeal of avocados on sandwiches. It's one vegetable (fruit?) I can't abide -- except mashed and well seasoned in guacamole.

Here we go:
1) The bread is not the star; it's the stage
2) No mayo, no mayo, no mayo, no mayo.
3) Tuna salad, chicken salad, especially egg salad, anything at all salad is forbidden.
4) No lettuce or tomatoes on hot sandwiches. What is wrong with your brain?
5) Most sandwiches should be hot
6) If bread is toasted, it can only be golden, not crusty.
7) No crusty bread
8) No sandwiches too big for my mouth
9) No Russian or other type "dressing". (See mayo).
10) Tapenade? Yes! Olive oil? Yes! Other juices including sauerkraut and pickle where appropriate? Yes.
11) Mustard? No. Too dominant.
12) No Wonder bread.
13) No lettuce or tomatoes even on cold sandwiches. Salads and sandwiches will not be mixed.
14) Pumpernickel is wondernickel!
15) Swirled pumper/rye? Waste of energy.
16) A Reuben has no dressing; I secretly call it a Shlomo.
17) Hot pastrami with melted provolone on rye is delightful.
18) A good sandwich gets better when wrapped in foil and left to marinate in a warm place for an hour.
19) If you call it a "Philly" cheesesteak, you just don't get it and never will. No more talking.
20) The best cheesesteaks do not come from Philly and they have provolone and not Cheez Whiz. This is not debatable. Uh uh! Silence.
21) A cheeseburger is a sandwich and all the above rules apply.
22) Bacon is the anti-mayo. Bacon is always right, even more than my wife is. Sorry babe.
23) No American cheese
24) Roy Rogers had a good roast beef sandwich, add tons of pickles and BBQ sauce, wrap tightly, put in backpack after riding the B&A Trail, let ferment on Light Rail ride home. Consume like a bear coming out of hibernation. Now cry, because that Roy's is closed.
25) Arby's was disgusting, but if there was one nearby I would hit that thang right now with extreme prejudice.
26) A "wrap" is not a sandwich any more than a taco or a burrito is a sandwich.
27) A sandwich is not supposed to be "healthy". It's just supposed to make you happy and satisfied.
28) The Club sandwich is stupid. There will be no debate.
29) You can't make a sandwich from pita bread. Sorry, it's in the Bhagavad Gita and possibly in A Gadda da Vida.
30) I embrace my sandwich like cousins from other cultures, of which I include the pita, the burro, burrito, taco, pasty, various disgusting English "pies", the empenada, moo shoo anything, (now I'm feeling better), the gyro, the hot dog, the maki, the nigiri (open-faced 'wich), the temaki, even the wrap.
31) The Cuban sandwich is sandwich royalty
32) The Monte Cristo is the Henry the Eighth of 'wiches.

Maryland is sandwich hell. Pennsylvania is sandwich Heaven. No I will not tell you where to get the best cheesesteaks, because you just wouldn't appreciate them. Now I'm all angry and sandwich horny! My muscles physically hurt from sandwich depression. Why did I suggest this as a topic? Why not sharp objects that pierced my flesh or rashes that I scratched until I bled? I know that sandwich longing is lame on the grand scale of life and death, but why do we have to suffer with mediocre sandwiches when poor people elsewhere live like sandwich kings? We are the hollow men.

I have to go now. I'm exhausted.

Federal Hill Jim--there's no explaining it. You either love and adore avocados or you don't. You obviously don't--and that leaves more for me!

TwoToed: Thanks, I feel better! Several people told me I MUST try one so I did .... I guess I was feeling subconsciously guilty for not trying Rocky Mt Oysters despite living in CO 10 years.

FedHill Jim: try using guacamole on a sandwich, like a condiment. Mmmmm mmmmm!

Voodoo Pork Sandwich (an interesting idea in itself) wrote: "No mayo, no mayo, no mayo, no mayo."

Sounds like a broken Chiang Kai-shek record.

One of my favorites is a grilled sandwich that I first had at the vegetarian bar in my college cafeteria.

Rye bread with roasted red pepper hummus spread on each side and a whole roasted red pepper in the middle. They lightly toasted it on the grill so that the inside was nice and warm and the bread was crispy but not dried out.

I've made it at home a bunch of times over the past few years, but nothing compares to how good it was at the cafeteria!

Oops, I didn't mean to be Anonymous. Mouse clicking independently again! I meant to add, Federal Hill Jim, when you've used guac on a sandwich often enough, I bet you'll start using slices of avocado rather than going to the trouble of making guacamole. If you don't end up liking it, I'll buy you a jumbo jar of mayo.

Sometimes simple is best. I had a grilled chicken sandwich today at the pool bar. Plain. It was perfectly seasoned and tender and it was spectacular.

Anything else would have been a distraction (except bacon, of course).

VDP is Walt Whitman on sandwiches:

"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes."

Nothing could be more true.

Voodoo deserves an award for his 32 point diatribe/rhapsody on the sandwich!

#31 reminded me of my best sandwich experience: the Cuban at the airport in Aruba. Delicious bread filled with cheese & ham (or some sort of meat, anyway) smooshed almost flat by a grill-like device that lightly toasted the bread and melted the cheese. This was in 1991 when the grill-pressed sandwich was a novelty - at least for me.

EL, can you grant me Visiting Food Critic status including round-trip airfare to Aruba? I'd be happy to file a follow-up report.

RiE -- were you channeling that old Vaughn Meader album, The First Family, with the Chiang/Ma(y)o riff? I haven't heard that in ages. (Given this particular blog topic, we will now need somebody to order the eastern portion of a western sandwich.)

Gotta dig the raw passion of the sandwich VDP. I LOVE that quote Bourbon Girl. I need to look it up. I am jealous. I only contain multi-vitamins. :(
Jeez, 32 things clearly off the cuff, I'm pretty sure that if you had more time, like say if your wife left you, you could come up with 100! Just a thought.

Carol in Hampden, I was in Antigua and Anguilla earlier this year and I couldn't get Lady E to grant me Visiting Food Critic status even though the airfare was already covered, so don't hold your breath on that one!

Quite often I see a phrase that makes me murmer to myself, "Gawd, I wish I'd written that..."

Voodoo gets added to that list with "I'm sandwich horney."

(He's still wrong about Cheese Whiz...)

hmpstd, you got it. Some things just bubble up through the consciousness unbidden. I haven't heard it in ages either.

Best Cuban sandwich: in Miami on my way to Key West. Of course with sandwiches your first is often the best.

Owlie, forget Whitman. You are Lester Bangs reincarnated. Much better. Back to the pool bar now.

I never developed an appreciation for sandwiches. I think it is a particularly American thing. Let's just say it's taken to an extreme here. In Europe the primary ingredient by weight in a sandwich seems to be butter.

Besides, growing up in the mountains of southern Germany with my grandparents, my grandmother always said that sandwiches were for dirty city people. Real Germans ate a hot meal. Sandwiches were for lazy people and they made people lazy (city people). Bread was for gravy, which was not to be wasted like they do you know where. Toast was also unwelcome in our household, as it was only for "poor" people and (presumably dirty) city people. She and (presumably) my silent grandfather thought that eating a sandwich amounted to playing with your food, which was dirty and wasteful. I want to love ... sandwiches. I just don't know how.
>|8>{

Oh great, now you broke him! Bad blog!

Voodoo - finally someone agreed with my disdain for mayo. Well done list. I am with you on the Cuban sandwich, which I will be hunting next week in South FL, along with sides of black beans and rice and fried plantains. Finish it off with a hand rolled cigar and a glass of Woodford Reserve, neat.

OMG--did your grandmother never hear of Schinkenbrot?

Schinkenbrot!?! Yes, she beat us regularly with a large homemade loaf. I told you I had sandwich issues.

I think Vdp is the only one who has mentioned the best of all, the cheese steak,#19 & 20.

The best in my mind was from the Twin Kiss in Owings Mills in the 60's. A very good approximation can be found today at John's in Canton

in re: the Monte Cristo sandwich --
I thought the whole sandwich was battered and deep fried like at the old Manny's; the two I've tried in South Florida were served on what was really French toast. Very disappointing and not to be tried again.

When we lived in Europe, when you asked for Schinkenbrot, you got some good crusty break topped with thin slices of ham--an excellent open-faced sandwich, not an instrument of torture.
OMG, perhaps it runs in the family?

OMG, I re-read your post and, I must say, you frighten me.

There's no halfway with a Monte Cristo. What you had was a hate crime DH.

Years ago when I was staying in Miami Beach, they sold "bagels" that were just rolls with holes in them, they didn't boil them. Ugh, I suspect Caananites.

Poor Owl Meat. Isn't that how Germans soften up stale bread and toughen up children?

I had a a dream last night and it went something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs3vgb0kP4o

You Tube is fascinating and frightening at the same time. You can find virtually anything you need on there.
T.M.: that was more like a nightmare :-)

Dancing Sandwich Man was benign compared with visions conjured up by OMG.

Cucumber sandwiches? Here is an ad that ran on British television. It is adult in nature, but not obscene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IINnCX1v4Wc

And to think I used to like the little cucumber sandwiches made with cocktail rye bread, spread with a touch of mayo, a slice of cucumber and some lemon pepper sprinkled over.

Just like Mrs. Lovett's Royal Marine Meat Pie - you don't kow where its been.

Pretty funny R&R chick. But your name change is irritating me. Do you actually know anything about Rye Whiskey? Such as, the rare place(s) in Charm City where the supreme Pikesville Rye is still served? Or which homegrown novelist featured a rye a day in a certain (really great) novel? Or are you just posing (again)? Back it up or stop it.

cucumber sandwiches, again (sigh) .... shall i wear my trousers rolled?

Many years ago at the Golden Temple Cafe, I used to get the Sat Nam Special, which was a sandwich made with peanut butter, banana, and I think some kind of sprouts on whole wheat bread. It was more like a dessert than a sandwich, but it was great. I miss that place.

My favorite sandwich today...it's a tie between Krause's Thanksgiving sandwich and the "Rick Dempsey"--roast beef, cheddar, and onions on a roll--from Pickles n' Chips in Towson. Krause's gets points for cranberry sauce, and Pickles n' Chips gets more points for serving homemade potato chips.