Okay, so I somehow managed to miss the premier of the new TLC show, Best Food Ever. And while this wouldn’t normally be such a bad thing (there are so many food shows on TV these days and so many of them just straight-up suck balls), in this case TLC decided to come out of the blocks with a perennial favorite concept: Best Sandwiches. What’s more, there was a local angle–Paseo in Ballard was listed among the best in the nation.
This is the best sandwich in America, and I don’t care what TLC says
As a matter of fact, Paseo’s Cuban Roast was named one of the best sandwiches in the country.
Actually, second-best sandwich in the whole United States.
Coming in just behind some horrific mess of a thing called “The Sasquatch” served in Scottsdale, AZ.
And that is just so much bullshit.
Now for the record, I have never eaten a Sasquatch, never been to The Lodge (which is the restaurant that serves it), and have never spent any significant amount of time in Scottsdale. But the reason I can still confidently call bullshit on this shameful display of “Big Food” favoritism by TLC is because…
Well, because Paseo is awesome and The Sasquatch just sounds flat nasty. I mean, listen to this description from the guys over at Slashfood (who, unlike me, obviously watched the episode in question). “For those who are into clogging things such as arteries and airways, the Sasquatch takes two grilled cheese sandwiches and makes another sandwich out of that, putting a half pound burger, cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes and onion strings in the middle of the two ends.”
Does that sound like the BEST MOTHERFUCKING SANDWICH IN AMERICA to you? Or does that just sound like another shoving-food-inside-other-food stunt like the Double Down or my patented Turducklavearken. You decide.
Still, having the tiny little Paseo register on the national scene at all is still pretty amazing. And while TLC might think that cramming a burger and some bacon between two grilled cheese sandwiches is just super-fucking-clever, we who are fortunate enough to be able to eat at Paseo any time we want (provided we get there before the sandwiches start selling out) already know that it just don’t get much better than a Cuban roast on a sunny afternoon.
If you’re curious about the entire ten-sammy spread for the episode, check out the full slashfood post here. And in the meantime, I think I’m gonna head over to Fremont (I like that location better than the one in Ballard) and see whether or not I can still get my hands on some roast pork, black beans and rice before it’s too late.
