World Best Food: Andrew Zimmern’s Favorite Sandwiches

Friday, January 6, 2012

Andrew Zimmern’s Favorite Sandwiches

You can put a lot of stuff between two slices of bread and call it a sandwich, but here are seven I’d walk across burning coals to eat. Seriously.

2726 W. 43rd St., Minneapolis, MN; 612-354-2806 or tiliampls.com.

Fried fish, creamy peppadew slaw, corn chips, cilantro and lime never tasted so good. It’s the best fish sandwich in the world, besides Richard’s in Maracas Bay, Trinidad.

205 E. Houston St., New York, NY; 212-254-2246 or katzsdelicatessen.com.

Nitpickers will debate this until the End of Days, but for me, the one consistently good, amazingly fatty, hand-cut warm pastrami sandwich worth waiting on line for is Katz’s. Plain, on rye, with mustard. Go for it.

14 E. Snyder Ave., South Philadelphia, PA; 215-463-1951 or johnsroastpork.com.

Order it with aged provolone and get ready: slow-roasted pork butt, sliced paper-thin, in "gravy" with spicy greens on a real torpedo roll. Simple and perfect. Maybe the best sandwich in America.

1447 Five Islands Rd., Georgetown, ME; 207-371-2990 or fiveislandslobster.com.

If you like your lobster roll on a toasted bun with just a gloss, a whisper, a gentle zephyr of mayo, then this is the one for you. Served on the end of the dock on the ocean with only a few gulls to keep you company.

3454 Magazine St., New Orleans, LA; 504-899-3374 or mahonyspoboys.com.

I love Mother’s, and I love Parkway, but if you hold a gun to my head, the po’boys at Mahony’s are better than the rest. Get the oyster and soft-shell crab combo and call me when you’re done. You’ll agree.

1017 S. Ninth St., Philadelphia, PA; 215-440-0371 or paesanosphillystyle.com.

Yes indeed, a Jew from NYC thinks the best chicken liver sandwich comes from an Italian joint in South Philly. Crispy livers, toasted bun, secret sauce... Djeetyet?

449 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL; 312-334-3688 or rickbayless.com.

Carnitas, tomato broth, beans, arbol chile salsa and pickled red onions, wood roasted. How he does it with those huge lines is beyond me, but chef Rick Bayless is a genius. Spicy Latin perfection.