Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Mile End Sandwich Visited 7/31/2012 3 Forks

Mile End Sandwich 53 Bond St., (between Bowery & 2nd St), New York, NY 10012

When I lived in Park Slope, I had really wanted to try Mile End since it was in a nearby neighborhood and I had heard great things about their smoked meat.  Mile End is famous for its Montreal/Jewish smoked meat a la Schwartz's (which is the world famous smoked meats place in Montreal).  Sadly I never got around to go to Mile End and then moved to another part of Brooklyn that made getting to Mile End not that convenient.  

So I was glad to hear when they opened a sandwich shop in the city and I decided to stop by last night to pick up a sandwich since I literally have just a jar of peanut butter in my fridge.  Their menu has a lot more than just a smoked meat sandwich.  They had wagyu roast beef, smoked turkey, fried eggplant, veal tongue, and a ton of yummy sounding breakfast sandwiches.  I was tempted to go roast beef or fried eggplant but I figured I was here for the smoked meat sandwich ($12), so I should stick with it.  I also ordered a side of potato salad ($3.50) since I thought that I would need something to go along with it and ordering a side of poutine would have just been too gluttonous for 1 person to eat.  I watched as the guy behind the counter very carefully weighted exactly how much smoked meat to put on the bread.  At first glance, the bread looked to be really small and honestly,  it was.  But they made up for it by piling the meat up way high vertically.  I was shocked that the sandwich could even stand on its own without a toothpick or something.  I should almost mention that they also slather the bread with a really strong dijon-like mustard.  Growing up I hated mustard but somehow have turned a corner with it lately (along with my late blooming love for avocado and brussel sprouts).  The meat was pretty lean in the middle and the bits at the end/edges had some nice fat to it to offset a bit of the dryness.  I did end up dipping the sandwich in mustard with every bite.  I'm not sure if it was because I really liked the mustard or because I thought the sandwich was missing something.  But none the less, I would get yourself an extra side of mustard when you go.  But you would have never imagined that this smallish looking sandwich could be so damn filling.  I forced myself to finish the whole thing and wished that I had saved half because I felt awful afterwards.  I did find the sandwich to be a bit too salty.  For every bite I had, I was chugging water at the same time and I must have gone through at least 4 pints of water by the end of the meal.  As for the potato salad, I actually really loved it.  They used wedges of small red potatoes with the skin on with just the right amount of mayo (not too much that it was drowning in it but enough to keep it moist) and they also mixed it with red onion, scallion, and a light smattering of seasoning.  I can honestly say it's one of the best potato salads I've had in a while. 

I'm glad I tried the sandwich here but looking back my meal, it  cost me almost $17, which honestly seemed a bit ridiculous for a small sandwich and potato salad.  But I could be persudaded to go back and try another sandwich because they did sound really good and if I'm with someone else, I would definitely try the poutine.  

Photo Credit: Yelp

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