Sandwich Challenge: The Gambino

I know what you're thinking.  Where's the connection between an NJ Italian deli and a rapper/actor/hero from Atlanta? Well, let's go back to 1910 New York City when the Gambino crime family was founded as one of the original "Five Families" that would dominate organized crime for 100 years.  I recently just watched the A&E special "Gotti: Godfather and Son" so I would call myself an expert on the subject.  In 1992, John Gotti was jailed for his role as head of the family in a highly popularized trial.  Three short years later Raekwon (of Wu-Tang Clan for you rubes) released his solo album "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx." Why is any of this important? Well, this album mentioned Gotti and the Gambino family quite a bit and ushered in the period of "Mafioso Rap." And that, friends, is how young Donald Glover chose to be known as Childish Gambino. Weren't the 90's great? 

TRIGGER WARNING: If you're a bleeding heart for baby cows stop reading here because there is a TON OF VEAL on this sandwich and I'm going to spend the rest of my time telling you how much I love veal. Sorry. 

The Gambino: Veal Cutlet, baby arugula, tomato bruschetta, squeeze lemon

 I don't remember the first time I had veal.  It probably started at a very young age which could explain how I grew up to be 3 inches taller than my parents. Italians am I right?  This sandwich was like a complete meal, you had your bruschetta appetizer with a veal cutlet entree and a side of arugula salad with lemon dressing.  I know, I know "but there's no CHEESE." I hear you. But I'm jumping in the ocean this weekend and I need to prematurely be beach ready.*  

Rating: 7.5/10

*You can donate here to help my crew support families battling ALS.

https://ssl.charityweb.net/joandancyandpals/valentineplunge/mikesgiants.htm

And now some outro music to get you through the rest of your day in sub-zero temps. 

PEC Challenge: Johnny's Pork Roll

Before we get into this one, here's an awesome video chronicling Johnny's Pork Roll, food truck culture and why pork roll means so much to us in New Jersey.  I have to admit this video was one of my inspirations when creating this blog.  

You can't fake that kind of passion, and you can tell when visiting his first storefront location that Johnny knows a ton about how to properly present pork roll.  There are several different pork roll sandwiches on the menu (yes, I will try them all of course) but I had to start with the OG.  

First of all, very simply you will get pork roll on a hard roll here, no substituting bacon or choosing a bagel instead.  They will, however, serve you without the bread for all you keto guidos out there.  In an incredibly rare and underrated move in the PEC game, Johnny's uses white American cheese instead of yellow.  Every slice of pork roll is freshly cut to order and the hard rolls are brought in fresh from Nino's Bakery in Long Branch.  They also give you TWO LAYERS of pork roll on top and beneath the egg and cheese.  Stunning. 

As you might have guessed I loved this place. Everyone should go check it out because it is a local treasure.     

Bread Rating: 8.2/10 (The hard roll is honestly the best way to eat a PEC.)

Pork Roll Rating: 9.3/10 (Top AND bottom layer Pork Roll, academic)

Egg Rating: 9.3/10 (Just look at the egg in that picture, come on)

Cheese Rating: 9.1/10 (White American cheese is underutilized, very glad they use it here.)

Composition: 9.2/10 (When you can nestle an egg in between pork roll you win)

Overall Score: 9.02/10 (Couldn't give a round 9, that would be rookie)

Price: $7, cards accepted and you can order online to pick up. 


Johnny's Pork Roll is located at 8A Monmouth St. Red Bank, NJ 07701.

Johnny's trucks can also be found outside Starland Ballroom after shows, at the Red Bank Famer's market on Sundays and in the 7th Ave & Boardwalk parking lot in Asbury during the summer.

Sandwich Challenge: Peter Luger

This week would have been Peter Luger's 152nd birthday.  "Who is Peter Luger?" shout the uncultured masses from the back.  Peter Luger, my friends, is a German immigrant who opened Peter Luger Steak House in 1887 in a little place known as Brooklyn, NY.  From 1983 until 2013, this steakhouse was named best in NYC. (According to Zagat*).  Why did it take nearly 100 years of service to be named Best in Show? We may never know.  But why go spend $80 on a steak from one of the oldest running steakhouses in The City when you can get the Peter Luger hero from Middletown, NJ for the low price of $8.99. 

Peter Luger: Hot roast beef, mozzarella, Peter Luger sauce

 No disrespect to my North Shore, Massachusetts fans, but this is the best roast beef sandwich I have ever had and has to be in the upper echelon of sandwiches I'll have at Taliercio's.  I don't know who's idea it was to put melted mozzarella on this but thank you.  The roast beef was perfectly rare, and the Peter Luger sauce (it's steak sauce) complimented it perfectly.  Magnificent.  

Rating: 9.2/10



*I was going to include the Adam Sandler and Chris Farley SNL clip about Zagat's on here but apparently the folks at NBC don't like fun. 

PEC Challenge: Hole Lot of Bagels

You're probably wondering, "if you got bribed with PEC to go to CCD, what happened after eighth grade when you finished?" Fair question. Luckily for me, my parents allowed me to stay at their house through high school despite being bullied by a 13-year-old and we continued our Sunday tradition. However, we stopped going to Bagel Oven and instead went to my Dad's new favorite bagel stop, Hole Lot of Bagel.  Like most places you'll find in my hometown of Middletown, NJ, Hole Lot of Bagels is securely nestled in the suburban confines of a strip mall.  This one is bookended by a Chuck E. Cheese and late night high school haunt, Applebee's.  Despite this, I will not let my disdain for strip malls stop me from enjoying some of the world's simplest pleasures.  

I actually received the requested egg on my breakfast sandwich this week, so we're already off to a very hot start.  Literally.  Steam was coming off this sandwich as soon as I unwrapped it from its foil and as you can see the cheese is actually melted.  Melted cheese, thick slices of pork roll on a good bagel and EGG, these are simple PEC must-haves and Hole Lot of Bagels has them all.

Bread Rating: 7.6/10 (Pretty good bagels here, could have been toasted a little bit more on the inside)

Pork Roll Rating: 7.7/10 (Thick slices = happiness)

Egg Rating: 6.8/10 (Thin eggs but really pork roll is the star here)

Cheese Rating: 6.2/10 (It was melted)

Sandwich Composition 7.8/10 (Ketchup ratio slightly off but appreciated the extra pepper on the eggs)

Overall: 7.2/10 (Your average local PEC, almost every town in NJ should have a place like this)

Price: $5, Cards Accepted 


Hole Lot of Bagels is located at 1171 NJ-35* Middletown, NJ 07748

*We as a people need to rename NJ-35 to ANYTHING.  Rt. 35 just seems so soulless. Please consider my motion to rename Rt. 35 to Seaside Highway.  Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

Sandwich Challenge: Tony Soprano

Last week was the 20th anniversary of The Sopranos, which may surprise people to know was a fairly popular show in New Jersey.  The crown-jewel of HBO programming for 6 seasons, Tony Soprano became an instant TV legend.  Today, I eat a panini in his name.  Ham, Genoa salami, provolone, red onion and red wine vinegar on pressed bread.  

Tony Soprano:  Ham, salami, provolone, red onion, red wine vinegar

No sauce or gimmicks on this panini, it's actually a pretty simple ham and cheese when you really break it down.  I found I enjoyed the provolone a whole lot better melted, but that's just cheese facts.  (Looking at you Bagel Oven) In fact, this could be best described as a Cuban sandwich by Italians. As the authority on Cuban-Italian affairs, I'll give it my seal of approval.   No vegetables on this one, just like T would have wanted.  

Rating: 6.8/10

Now enjoy this video of the greatest Sopranos character, Paulie Walnuts. 

PEC Genesis: Bagel Oven

Have you ever been bribed? I have.

Every Sunday, I would be dragged out of bed to go to CCD*, a place where I was asked to stand outside the classroom because "God spoke to my teacher and told her I would misbehave." 

Honestly, not a bad call by her.  But the only thing that kept me going back was the pact I made with my parents, one breakfast sandwich each Sunday.  I sat there for an hour every Sunday listening to the pigeon lady from Home Alone 2 talk about Jesus for one reason: Pork Roll. Egg. Cheese. It doesn't take too much to bribe me.  

Bagel Oven is one of the first things you see when you pull out of the Gold Street parking lot in Red Bank, at least it was for me.  An institution, it looked like it had been one of the first shops to ever open in the country and 20 years after the story above took place, it still looks exactly the same.  I thought It'd be appropriate for me to start from the beginning, the genesis of my life with Pork Roll, Egg, and Cheese. 

Bagel Oven, Red Bank, NJ

Before I get to judging something that's been around longer than I've been alive, I'm going to lay down my very scientific ground rules for grading.  I'll be judging the following categories before making a final overall rating: bread rating, pork roll rating, egg rating, cheese rating, and sandwich composition.  The first four are pretty self-explanatory but for sandwich composition, I'm looking at things like protein:carb ratio, condiment ratio (salt, pepper, ketchup on all PEC) and how well the sandwich stays together. OK, now that's out of the way, here's the verdict. 

Nostalgia is really what I thought about when eating this PEC, but overall I'd say, besides the bagel, the sandwich was disappointing.  The bagels at Bagel Oven are the real deal, obviously, but as you can see in the picture above, the eggs didn't make an appearance for some reason. In turn that caused the cheese to not completely melt.

Bread Rating: 9.4/10 (These bagels are perfectly toasted)

Pork Roll Rating: 6.8/10 (The pork roll is cooked on an ancient griddle that's probably been seasoned for 50+ years, unfortunately, it seems they griddled it for about 30 seconds.)

Egg Rating: 0/10 (Didn't show up)

Cheese Rating: 1.5/10 (cold, likely Kraft single) 

Sandwich Composition: 5.5/10 (I love the bagels from this place so that helped it a bunch but this was one of the saddest displays I've ever seen and not at all what I remember other than the bagel.)

Overall: 4.6/10 

Price: $4.25, cash only 


Bagel Oven is located at 72 Monmouth St. Red Bank, NJ

*CCD stands for Confraternity of Christian Doctrine for all you heathens out there.  So when I say I've never been in a frat, I'm lying.

Sandwich Challenge 2 of 73: Panini Time

It's currently cold as shit degrees Fahrenheit right now and it looks like we may get our first ice on the river today. Usually, there would be no chance I'd leave my apartment under such conditions but I am so excited to do this challenge that I ventured out.  Do I dare get a COLD sandwich on a day like today? Never.  Days like these call for something a bit warmer, maybe say, a panini.  Lucky for me, 25 of the 73 sandwiches on this challenge are paninis so that should last the winter.  The first on the list, The Godfather:

The Godfather: Prosciutto, mozzarella, tomato, basil pesto

I won't lie, I didn't know how to feel about the sight of the basil pesto on both sides of the bread.  This might get messy.  All doubt left my head on the first bite.  The pairing of prosciutto and mozzarella should have been on Bud Lights, Camera, Action's list of top duos (yes, I'm on a podcast too, check it out). Mozzarella is a top 1 cheese and there's nothing anyone can tell me otherwise.  The prosciutto is pretty salty deli meat and you can really tell on the 2nd half of this sandwich.  Yes, I liked it so much I ate what should have been tomorrow's lunch.  It was a light sandwich! (Apologies to my doctor).


Rating: 7.2/10


Fresh mozzarella and tomato really stand out when hot pressed. 

Sandwich 1 of 73: Italian Hero

And here we go.  New Year, the perfect time to start a new food adventure.  I've done one of these before in Virginia at a local spot near my office, Lost Dog Cafe, where I tried all 56 sandwiches in a calendar year. It's probably best that none of that was documented since they couldn't even figure out what kind of bread to use on their sandwiches.  

This will not be the case with Taliercio's, the bread will always be perfect so we'll just skip to the meat of the sandwich and there is a ton on this one.  The Italian hero is the quintessential sandwich of NJ, one you can find at all delis, so we're starting out with the baseline of excellence here.  Ham, Salami, Pepperoni, Provolone with lettuce, tomato, onion, and oil & vinegar.  Clockwork.  You can really taste the fresh provolone on this one.  After eating non-Boar's Head products at "delis" in DC for years this is the perfect way to kick off this tour.  Damn, it feels good to actually have fresh deli ingredients again.  

Lost Art of Layering

I'm going to arbitrarily rate these for "data" purposes.  I'm expecting all of these sandwiches to be excellent, however, some may not be to my tastes.  The ratings are simply so I can rank them once I'm finished and for all 5 of you reading this to argue with me.  This score will be the baseline of all sandwiches to come since it is the classic deli sandwich in my mind.  

Rating: 6.6/10

Classic, workhorse, you can never go wrong with an Italian.  

Welcome to El Jefe Eats

Hello, blog world, it's me @eljefegarrido (follow me on Twitter) and I've been told that age 30 is the time to start "adult" hobbies.  After ruling out woodworking (C- student in middle school workshop class) and building computers (parts are expensive!); I've landed on using the one skill I've gone into financial ruin obtaining, writing.  Shoutout CUA tuition fees! After 10 years of living in the deli deprived hellscape that is the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia), I've returned to my home state of NJ and all is right in the world. Since the only time I've had a proper breakfast sandwich or deli experience in the past decade has been during the holidays at home, here are the first two projects I'm going to focus on:

1. Tasting all 73 sandwiches and paninis from my favorite local deli, Taliercio's in Middletown.

2. Having a pork roll egg and cheese (salt, pepper, ketchup) from a different Monmouth County establishment once a week.

In this first week, I'm going to start with two Taliercio's sandwiches on Monday and Friday then continually post a PEC on Monday mornings and a new sandwich every Friday.  Also, because I'm a nerd, I'll be posting some hopefully interesting data insights once I start rolling.  

Alright good talk, see you all out there.