Just Kicking Club Sandwich-Memory lane

As that love song said, the first cut is the deepest. Others say, you never forget your first.  They seem like trite lines, but they are true. The just kicking club sandwich was my first and it will always hold a place in my heart. We must have eaten thousands of club sandwiches in the bar’s life time. I exaggerate…but maybe not. The sandwich was what you’d have when you were celebrating, when you had had a bad day, when you had had a good day. Just kicking just feels like a missing limb.

Sight

In some biology classes, depending on where you attended and your level of attention, you had the chance to draw a cross section of the skin. What a wonder it was to see what lay under this part and what lay under that part. This club sandwich was like that. You could see everything by simply tilting it at an angle. Bread, lettuce, bacon, chicken, pickles, tomatoes…

You could see everything.

Smell

What I remember of the smell of the sandwich was “fresh”.

Taste

I have since had other club sandwiches but here is one of the things you will struggle to find-the right amount of sauce. A lot of places use equal parts mayonnaise and equal parts everything else to make a club sandwich (you know the place i’m talking about). It is sad. As a result, “Mayonnaise” is a good answer when asked what that club sandwich tastes like. This sandwich tasted like all the ingredients! No part of it overwhelmed, no part of it under delivered.

The sandwich came with chips, and these were some of the best tasting chips I’ve ever had. I spoke to a chef there once who told me that there are particular potatoes best suited for making chips. Not all potatoes make good chips.

Touch

The first bite of the bread was always a bit coarse. Because the bread was toasted, it would scratch at the edges of your mouth a bit if you went in for a first big bite. The chicken was soft but also firm, the bacon was crispy but also soft. The tomatoes…well to be honest, everything was mid way between firm and soft, even the pickles. I wonder how they managed to achieve that. Did they train the sandwiches and tell them what they must be at all times? ‘You must at all times be in balance!’ ?

The other miracle was that the sandwich never fell apart. Maybe I had had enough practice that I knew how to navigate it like a pro. Eat and keep everything intact till the last bite.

Sound

Ahh just kicking, of this I only remember the sound of low music and friendly conversation. Do you miss JK? Love to hear from you in the comments. Let’s commiserate.