The Sandwich Bar: Lunch Done Right
At first glance, The Sandwich Bar is pretty laidback and casual. It’s definitely a good place to grab a bite with some friends in tow.
It’s owned by brothers Aris and Angelo Valavanis, who were both raised in the restaurant industry. A year and a half ago, they took over The Sandwich Bar, and transformed it completely. They made menu changes, and made the customer service awesome.
The food is classic American cuisine – we love our sandwiches! Here’s what we had.
We started with the tonic drink, because any good lunch should be paired with some tasty drinks. It was definitely enjoyable – and had the perfect amount of strength in it! It helped wash down our food, and came in an adorable mason jar glass.
For food, we had the signature Monte Cuban. It’s made up of challah bread, pulled pork, honey-glazed ham, swiss, provolone, mustard, creamy horse radish, pickles, and it’s topped with sunny side eggs. It was insanely filling – almost hard to finish! The challah bread soaked up the sunny side eggs really well, and the horse radish and pickled gave a great kick to the sweet honey glazed ham.
We also had the braised brisket grilled cheese, which is topped with house made spicy mayo, yellow cheddar and provolone. We liked this sandwich because it combined two of our favorite things: cheese, and spicy sauces. The cheese was nicely melted, and pulled apart the sandwich was awesome. This is also the most popular!
As a colder addition, we added in the roast chicken salad. The base was a romaine kale blend, and it included tomatoes, onions, green peppers, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, cheddar, and buttermilk ranch dressing. We enjoyed how filling it was, and the fact that they didn’t skimp on the meat! We like hearty salads that can suffice as their own meal, rather than just a side dish.
What we really liked was that Aris and Angelo really focus on their ingredients. The thing about sandwiches is that they’re not big extravagant meals with intense cook times – they’re simple and quick. With sandwiches, each ingredient counts because there are so few. The brothers focus on local – nearly 90% of their menu is made up of local ingredients. They’re very hands on – they roast their own corn in house! Also, they carry gluten free bread.
The brothers have quite a few new things coming to their menu. They’re rolling out a new cocktail list, as well as a new dessert list coming out in April or May. Plus – dessert shots! Once it’s warm out, you can enjoy their outdoor seating – which seats about 27 people, so you know you’ll be getting individual attention.
Some perks to The Sandwich Bar: They do delivery! If you’re dining in-house, they’ve got free Wi-Fi. One of the best things? 10% discount for NYPD, FDNY, or military personnel – we really like that they aim to give back to the community! They also have trivia Wednesday nights at 8.
Now, if you’re not convinced on our choices – try owner Angelo’s favorites: number 12 and 21. They’re the Roast Chicken sandwich with goat cheese, arugula, sliced tomato, pesto and house made mustard vinaigrette, and the Roast Beef sandwich, with roasted mushrooms, shaved onions, house made horseradish and provolone!
If this all sounds tasty, keep an eye out! We’ll be bringing you a gift card giveaway soon!
