Sandwich Challenge: Fredo

If you haven't seen The Godfather Parts I & II (first of all what the fuck are you waiting for?) you may have encountered the name Fredo for the first time in your life this week.  If you've decided to steer away from CNN and the blue-checkmark Twitter brigade, here's a recap.  Some sloppy looking gamer bro called Chris Cuomo "Fredo," an insult for which he compared to calling someone the N-word. I'm sure plenty of people will be responding with a "What a disgusting display of racism shown by Taliercio's for keeping this sandwich in their menu."  But allow me to chime in for a second.  Do you have a feeble, dumb demeanor? Were you passed up as boss of your crime family because, literally, everyone in your family favors your younger brother?  Do you display early-onset male pattern baldness?  And, finally, did you sell out your brother and family several times (once in Vegas and once in Cuba) in an effort to raise your self-importance due to an on-going struggle to make your family proud of you?  Those are the connotations towards calling someone "Fredo."  Not sure I see the racism there other than the dude is a fictional character in a wildly popular Italian-American saga but whatever.    

Let's turn this around to talk about the man who brought Fredo to life, John Cazale.  John Cazale was in a total of five movies before his career was cut short by his untimely death at 42 to lung cancer.  Incredibly, four of the five films he was in won the Academy Award for Best Picture, with the fifth movie being nominated. (That movie lost Best Picture to another film he was in.) Take a look at these classics: The Godfather (1972), The Conversation (1974), The Godfather Part II (1974), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and The Deer Hunter (1978).  That's an all-decade squad of films.  So cheers to John Cazale this weekend, a truly accomplished Italian-American actor we can all celebrate.  

The Fredo: Chicken Cutlet, Ham, Swiss, Honey Mustard

I see what's going on here.  We have a Taliercio's take on the classic Cuban Sandwich and they added a chicken cutlet to commemorate Fredo's complete failure in Cuba.  Again if you haven't seen The Godfather you won't understand this.  I may be biased here but I think the combination of Cuban and Italian is absolute fire and so was this panini.  Mix in a little swiss and honey mustard and friends, we have heaven.  Everyone should go out and try this sandwich except maybe Chris Cuomo.  Sorry, bro. 

Overall: 8.6/10