
Arriving in Los Angeles after a two week stay in Hong Kong, grey clouds, heavy rain and congested traffic greeted me like a long lost friend. I did not miss this at all. However, what I did miss almost most of all, despite having great food overseas, were sandwiches. Just sandwiches. The Chinese people are pretty much savant when it comes to various categories of cuisine, however, my people seem to have really miss the boat on this genre – oh, there’s bao’s but thats not a sandwich since its not technically defined with a slice of bread or split long/round bun (ie: hot dog which is another controversy all together). McDonalds and KFC have all made in roads to Hong Kong, but not a Subway in sight.
Just off Figureoa, above chinatown is the East Side Market. Tucked in the middle of a quiet residential district, this cozy italian deli always has a low murmur of voices stemming from the hungry city workers and assorted students standing in line. Everyone else is sighing from satisfaction. Some people order pastas, some order sandwiches, me, I always call out the number 7. As Blondie would say, picture this. Between a cut of a thick soft bun is three inches of thick well seasoned roast beef, two inches of succulent juicy pastrami and topped off with a full spidle of red and green pepper based au jus. With this combination of all star foods congregating withing the cavity of your mouth, its like watching angelina jolie, denzel washington and queen latifa all in the the same screen – except better than the bone collector.
One bite and it was nice to be back in Los Angeles.