Three Years For A Sandwich?

You know me well enough by now to know that I believe the atmosphere of a restaurant, as well as the sandwich itself, can be enough to create an enjoyable experience.

But it can always be made better when you use that sandwich outing to catch up with an old friend.

So what happens when you meet up with someone you haven’t seen in nearly three years?

Sometimes you might just find an amazing sandwich that you’ll want to go back to.

Three years later after our last lunch hangout Mr. Terrence Moss (@the79show follow him) and I finally worked out an evening get caught up over sandwiches.

On his recommendation, we headed over to The Carving Board in Hollywood, a sandwich shop tucked into the corner of a strip mall along Sunset Boulevard. Knowing that his recommendation reputation was on the line, Mr. Moss talked up the game of the Turkey Dinner sandwich.

Yeah, I said three years. Look, Los Angeles is a big city. Sometimes we lose track of each other. I mean, hell, I live 30 minutes from the beach and I can’t remember the last time I was in the ocean.

Okay, but enough of that. Back to the sandwiches.

The Turkey Dinner is Thanksgiving between two slices of bread served year round, this sandwich is packed with shredded turkey, homemade stuffing, simmered and grilled onions, and dried cranberries.

But wait, that’s not all we ate.

Chatting with Pete, a fellow sandwichologist and employee of The Carving Board, he highly recommended The Memphis, a slow cooked barbecue chicken sandwich with edamame and cole slaw.

Deciding between two amazing-sounding sandwiches, both highly recommended, there was only one option: eat them both.

Tasting one half of each sandwich it really was hard to pick a clear winner out of the two, but I would have to say The Turkey Dinner edged out The Memphis only slightly.

The Turkey Dinner was full of savory flavors from the turkey and the stuffing, but with the bright bite and tartness of cranberries, adding an incredible contrast between two distinct flavors. The lightly buttered and grilled bread was delicious and was able to hold together this hefty sandwich until the end.

The Memphis had its own layer of sweetness from the slow cooked dark meat chicken and the brioche bun, but there was an initial fear that the cole slaw would add too much sweetness overall.

Luckily the fears were assuaged as the cole slaw was more of a neutral flavor but brought a much needed crunch to the mix, contrasting the texture of the rest of the sandwich.

Really, if you find yourself sandwiching with an old friend after not seeing them for nearly three years (YES, I KNOW. THREE YEARS IS A LONG TIME), you would be hard pressed to not find a good sandwich to share with that person at The Carving Board.

Until next week, Readers…

The Turkey Dinner

**** 1/2 Stars

The Memphis

**** Stars

7300 Sunset Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90046