NYC's Best Sandwiches

Grubstreet has a list of the 101 Best Sandwiches in New York. And no surprise, many of these are pork sandwiches! There are so many in fact that I decided to choose a mere 10 from the list that I would like to try in the next year or so. From the bottom of the list up, here are my picks:

100. The Elvis - Peanut Butter & Co.

83. Ham & Cheese - Char No. 4

56. Bacon & Marmalade - Prune

53. PMB (pancetta, mango & basil) - Sullivan St. Bakery

43. Bacon, Egg & Lettuce - BKLYN Larder

39. Bacon, Egg & Cheese - Prime Meats

32. BLT - Frankie’s Sputino

26. Country Ham Biscuit - Egg

22. Grilled 3-Cheese with House-smoked Ham - The Breslin

13. Croque Monsieur - Bar Boulud

I think I’ll start with number 53! A lot of these picks are based on me already loving particular restaurants or wanting to try ones I haven’t. There is lots of porky goodness on the list besides these. What are your favorites? Any sandwiches that you think are missing? I think Bierkraft’s Serrano should have been very high on the list. And are ice cream sandwiches not considered? Because Xie Xie’s 1000 Year Old Ice Cream Sandwich would easily top my list!

Hot Chicks Eat Bacon

Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks is mad for bacon—chocolate covered bacon to be exact—according to Esquire. A woman after my own heart, she orders a soup with both pancetta and guanciale and exclaims “I know my pork!” She goes on to extol the wonderful uses of having a deep fryer. Is there anything sexier than a hot woman who just loves to eat?

Next month, I will be going a Mad Men-era cocktail party filled with hot women who love to eat. So what do I bring for these drunk, hungry bitches? When I think of 1960s entertaining, I think: canapes! And wouldn’t baconmarmalade be a beautiful (and yummy) topping for a canape?! But... I’m not exactly prepared to share that much of my stash. Instead, I whipped out my trusty Bacon Cookbook and found a french cheese & bacon puff recipe that looks amazing. I then googled 1960s canapes and found a recipe for “baconettes” which sounds more theme appropriate. Which would you rather enjoy while knocking back a gimlet or two?

French Cheese & Bacon Puffs

1 cup water

1 stick butter, cut into pieces

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup flour

4 large eggs

1/2 lb slab bacon, diced

1 cup shredded Gruyére

Combine water, butter & salt in a heavy saucepan & bring to a boil. Reduce heat, add flour & beat w/ a wooden spoon until a ball of dough forms. Transfer to a mixing bowl & add eggs one at a time, beating with an electric mixer on high until the batter holds soft peaks. Cover with plastic wrap & chill briefly.

Fry bacon until crisp & drain. Preheat oven to 375° & Butter a large baking sheet. Fold the cheese & bacon into batter & drop by tablespoon onto the baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, turn heat off & let stand until golden & crisp, about 10 minutes.

OR

Baconettes

bacon

peanut butter

large apple & toothpicks

Spread slices of bacon with peanut butter. Roll tight & fasten with toothpicks (soaked in water). Toast under broiler until bacon is done. Serve by sticking the toothpicks into a large apple.

Review: Bierkraft

Lunch at Bierkraft on 5th between Berkley & Union in Park Slope.

Serrano sandwich:

Peanut butter gelato & brownie sandwich:

Peanut butter. Bacon. Burger??

My plans for Saturday already include a trip to Shake Shack to try the custard of the day: Pancakes & Bacon. I am all for bacon is desserts—bacon in anything really. Bacon is great on burgers. Bacon is great with peanut butter. But what to make of this very limited Shack offer (available this Saturday at the UWS location only): a peanut butter bacon burger? Could be interesting. Imagine beef satay sprinkled with bacon... that sounds tasty! But for some reason I just can’t see that combination being super awesome in a burger. And since I won’t be trekking all the way uptown, I guess I’ll never know.

Peanut butter. Bacon. Chocolate.

All in a cupcake! I was obsessed with all things Elvis for a while—but this combination is equally appealing. The recipe for this Buzz Bakery special is on DCist. Hmm... I'm thinking brownie cupcake would go great with this amazing mousse. And if you happen to be in the DC area on September 18th, stop by Buzz to try the bacon cupcake during the Yelp Cupcake Crawl!

Review: The General Greene

I was the first customer to order an entire cone (people usually ask for samples only) of this particular flavor at the General Greene.

Elvis (peanut butter, banana, bacon):

Review: The Cupcake Kitchen

Jane’s Ice Cream at The Cupcake Kitchen on Main in Irvington, NY.

Peanut butter fudge:

Review: Sundaes & Cones

Sundaes & Cones on 10th & 3rd Ave in the East Village.

Chocolate peanut butter ice cream:

Note: Samples of black sesame and taro root also get 2 scoops.

Review: Il Laboratorio del Gelato

Il Laboratorio on Orchard just south of Delancy in the LES.

Banana gelato and peanut butter gelato:

Bakin’ Bacon in Bay Ridge

Bay Ridge is not all that far—I’ve mistakenly taken the N train and ended up there so much faster than you’d expect. Still, for some reason I don’t venture out that way too often. Now Brooklyn Based has given me good motivation to. That would be Robicelli’s—Bay Ridge’s own “mom & pop gourmet shop.” More specifically, their famed Elvis cupcake! If you’ve been following the baconista this past month you know I’ve been drawn to all things Elvis lately. Banana cake frosted with a peanut butter French buttercream, and sprinkled with candied Berkshire bacon—can a cupcake possibly be more perfect? Co-owner Matt’s bacon tattoo is a clear sign that this shop is worth the trip.

Elvis Cookies

The King of Fat meets the King of Rock n’ Roll... in a cookie! Elvis’ favorite sandwich (and General Greene’s ice cream flavor that I have yet to try!) was my inspiration. I used the Love me Tender recipe from an article posted last month with a few slight alterations. Instead of just butter, I used 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup bacon grease. A little extra bacon flavor couldn’t hurt! Another tip: use a fork to flatten the cookies to get that classic peanut butter cookie criss-cross pattern.

The original recipe called for praline of bacon which involves worcestershire sauce, pepper and cinnamon. A little too complicated for my tastes. I prefer something simpler (bacon doesn’t need much help)—especially with peanut butter & banana flavors. Instead I used bits of candied bacon from this ice cream recipe. I should also mention I made it with Wright Brand applewood smoked bacon. Samples were sent to me last week—some of which I had with a huge breakfast this past weekend. I♥Bacon can confirm that it is “damn good bacon.” Thick cut, smokey and flavorful... and perfect for baking too!