I’ll have one of these when I can get ripe local tomatoes from the farmer’s market. I usually add lettuce just for the crunch, but at that time of year, the tomato is the star of the show.
At age 20, I was going through a really rough patch where my diet was basically oatmeal with raspberry jam stirred in (I don’t recall any dairy products being involved) and baked bean sandwiches on whole wheat bread. I’d sprinkle the sandwiches with soy sauce and add some chopped onion for extra flavor and nutrition.
At my evening job, I’d have a pack of crunchy corn nuts out of the vending machine, accompanied by a cup of Mr Pibb (similar to Dr Pepper).
If I ate anything else from September through November, I don’t remember it. But boy, did I lose a lot of weight!
Open-face Monte Cristo? Oh, the horror…
You are not getting real bagels. Bagels should have an elastic chew but if they’re hard they’re wrong. Come out to Bozeman (it’s winter–you’ll love it). BagelWorks slogan is “not just a roll with a hole.” Excellent, and make a great sammie.
I was visiting L.A. last year and I couldn’t find a convenient place that had chili size. Even Barney’s Beanery, which was famous for its chili size, no longer had it on the menu.
To deep fry or not is rather polarizing. Old thread:
I never encountered the deep fried version until I visited relatives in Texas, possibly in a Bennigan’s.
Definition of a bagel from a joke book I had in the '70s: A doughnut dipped in cement.
They serve them in Disneyland.
I worked security there.
Educational and entertaining. Guys in Tuxes, next to lowriders and bikers, ladies in evening wear and hooker wear. Politicians, cops, and crooks, all lined up after the bars closed to get some chili burgers on top of all the booze. A real scene.
Fortunately, we now have one not far from where I live.
Thank you.
My choice of the word “hard” was poor. They should be chewy and resistant. You know you’re eating something substantial, not something light and fluffy. But everyone is right: they should not be “hard” or brittle like one of those tennis-ball sized French rolls you can pound a nail with until the crust has fractured. Although those are good too, just for a different purpose.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think I’ve personally eaten a sloppy joe in nearly 20 years. But I assumed other people still ate them, and never thought of them as a sandwich no one eats anymore. But perhaps I’m contributing to their decline.
Which apparently originated the deep fried version.
They are fantastic, and if you get fries- and you should- big enough to share.
Sounds like me. My dad loved chili size so he got it whenever we ate at a coffee shop. Chili size was on all coffee shop menus back in the day.
Whenever we go to Disneyland, we eat at the Blue Bayou restaurant. They have a very good Monte Cristo.
The lunch counter at Lindberg’s Nutrition used to serve these with a little cup of raspberry sherbet on the side. I never quite understood the “nutrition” part of this dish.
True dat.
For me, it’s not a Monte Cristo unless it’s deep fried. Otherwise, it’s just a grilled ham and cheese. You have to eat it with the jam/jelly too or its not right, either.
If you want to eat a deep-fried Monte Cristo with a side of jam, go ahead. But let’s not claim that’s the authentic way to make a Monte Cristo. Monte Cristo sandwiches were around for years before Disney began serving their version.
I’m not claiming it’s traditional. I’m claiming it’s how I like to eat it.
A new restaurant is scheduled to open early next year not far from us, offering “gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches”* which they’ve been selling from a food truck.
I will not be counting down the days.
*this is apparently a thing now. Even Martha Stewart has gotten into the act.
I like mixing provolone and American cheese. Texas Toast makes it more filling.
But Gourmet?
Nah
Tom+Chee has been a grilled cheese specialty restaurant for over a decade. They were on Shark Tank in 2010.
Cafe Orleans, where it’s is easier to get a table, has the same sandwich (IIRC, they share the same kitchen).
I love sloppy joes. They were my family’s traditional dinner on Halloween, and I’d usually request them on my birthday, too. It’s been a few years since I’ve made them. When I do, I’ll try the version where you put the mixture in a pastry hand pie.
For egg sandwiches, did I miss mention of the egg salad sandwich? It was a bag lunch staple for me, but now I add a Moroccan spice blend, ras el hanout, radish slices if I have them, and do it open faced on toasted sourdough.
Now I’m hungry.
I think it might have been mentioned upstream, but I still frequently eat pimiento cheese sandwiches. Of course, home made is the best, but I’m lazy so I eat Price’s.