PEOPLE, PLACES and ROAD FOOD: The Good and the Bad: The American Club Sandwich

It used to be that the American club sandwich was made with fresh roasted turkey not that vague resemblance to the real thing; slices from a processed turkey roll. I mean who in their right mind thought that a few slices of a turkey roll, probably roasted in some far off commissary, and tasting of salt and who knows what else, could ever take the place of the real thing.

I don’t know why, even after many disappointment, when I spot a club sandwich on the menu, my mouth begins to water. Always the optimist, and believing that this time the result will be the real thing, I ask the server, “Will the turkey in my club sandwich be fresh roasted?” The answer is usually yes, but sadly, the unhappy result is usually no.

Next time, figuring I must have asked the wrong question, and the sliced stuff that was in my sandwich was somehow my fault, I rephrase the question. “Will the turkey in my sandwich be from a whole turkey, roasted by the restaurant, or will my sandwich include slices from a turkey roll?” When the reply is, “We only use fresh roasted turkey”, with no reference to whole turkey, I know that the server either doesn’t understand the distinction between slices from a roll and meat from a whole turkey, or the answer is simply intended to obfuscate.

OK, I know what you are thinking, give up, it isn’t worth it. My answer is, it is worth it, because every now and then I am rewarded with the real thing, a magnificent club sandwich.

The classic American club sandwich is constructed of thick pieces of breast meat carved from freshly roasted whole turkey, with crisp bacon, iceberg lettuce, slices of vine ripened tomatoes, layered between three slices of toasted white bread spread with real mayonnaise, and served sliced on the diagonal into quarters held together with a carefully placed toothpicks. It is one of the best sandwiches in the world.