"A good sandwich is like an old friend" is the motto at the All Star Sandwich Bar, a funku, casual, and downright fun place to eat lunch. The ambiance is lively - the walls are colorful, the conversation is vivacious, and the staff is friendly.
The sandwiches here are good - better than most, although we still like Hi-Rise Bakery's sandwiches better. This sandwich has oven roasted turkey, apple sausage stuffing, orange cranberry relish, mayo, and gravy on rustic white bread. The sandwich was perfectly grilled and the turkey had good flavor. When they found out we were sharing the sandwich, they were nice enough to split the sandwich in half and give us two pickles and two sets of cole slaw. That's nice service. :)
We were told the fries were really good, so we ordered something we almost never see in Boston - poutine. Poutine is a Canadian dish that consists of French fries covered with gravy and cheese curds. The fries are hand cut, and thus have a really nice texture. Nice and crispy on the outside yet delightfully substantial and potato-ey on the inside. I do agree - the fries are good.
Maybe I just don't love poutine, but I thought the gravy made the fries a bit too soggy, and they lost a bit of their wonderful crunch when drenched in the gravy. The cheese curds did contribute a nice flavor to the over all dish, but I think next time, we're going to try the hell fries, which look really yummy!
Fried green tomatoes. Typically a southern dish, I thought these were only OK. They seemed a bit over-fried and thus came off tasting greasy. I've had the same dish at Hungry Mother (a dedicated southern restaurant), and it was MUCH better there.
Over all, a great place to enjoy a sandwich and try some fries! The food is solid, the ambiance is really fun, and the prices are quite reasonable. I'll definitely be back, if nothing else to try the hell fries. :)
All Star Sandwich Bar
1245 cambridge st
Cambridge, MA
Being from Canada I can truly apppreciate and DROOL- yes even before 6am- over that poutine!
ReplyDeleteI've heard about Poutine before. I wish they had that in the US!
ReplyDeleteCookie - I am in the US! This restaurant is in Cambridge! But yeah, I think cheese curds are hard to come by unless if you are in Wisconsin maybe?
ReplyDeleteYUM. The sandwich photo is top-notch -- great showing of the cross-section of deliciousness! The fries... sigh... dreamy. There's a few places around here that serve poutine, since we're just south of the Canadian border, but have yet to see ones as pretty as those!
ReplyDeleteLike Jennifer, I'm a big fan of poutine. Being a french canadian from Quebec, I was practically raised on poutine, so I've become a true connoisseur, if there is such a thing ; )
ReplyDeleteI guess if you are not used to it, poutine may seem a bit weird. And yeah, the fries tend to become soggy after a while, but it is supposed to be a good thing! The poutine lover likes everything to melt together into a big puddle. I personnaly prefer when my cheese curds don't melt too much, it is so nice to bite into a big chunck a hear that squeaky sound...
I'm in Cambridge, and I love this place! The ice cream place next door (Christina's) is equally as amazing.
ReplyDelete