Upscale & Fast -- Salads, Soups & Sandwiches

[Susan in FL]

With all the talk and articles and so forth about the Starwich stores in New York and planned elsewhere, I've been wondering what's available in other towns and cities around the world that is similar. I'm sure it will be a cold day in Florida before we see anything like Starwich, and meanwhile I'm envious.

The best my town offers in good restaurant-quality sandwiches and salads served in a fast-food style is Panera. I like the soups, too. I've read rants and raves about Panera, but here, we're happy to have it and hoping it's a sign of things to come. There are also a couple of restaurants who cater to lunch crowds, and make guarantees about getting you in and out within a certain time, but neither they nor Panera have the fresh, fine quality of ingredients that Starwich claims, or the amenities.

Are there any other sandwich, soup and salad businesses where you live, utilizing this concept? If so, what has made them a success or a failure? If not, would something similar be successful in your area of the world?

[byron]

The Starwich broadcast was very interesting, I found the website and printed out a menu that I could follow during the show. The idea of a great Cobb salad or a duck sandwich on an airline flight might bring some "humanity" back into flying even if the wine is doomed to be inferior.

I was in Ormond beach last week with a friend who is heavily involved in the restaurant business and we ate at one of his new ventures, San Fransisco Oven.

We were having lunch and I must say that I was "apprehensive" because this is not the type of place that normally I would frequent. A very good chicken pizza w/herb bar-b-q sauce and a quality salad were under $8 !! I walked away impressed and quite satisfied.

Check it out Susan, I'd be interested in hearing the results.

[Susan in FL]

I will, Byron. Thanks! I'll try to find an excuse for my work to take me to Ormond Beach this week, and will report back.

[Susan in FL]

I went to San Francisco Oven in Ormond Beach. It was quite good -- again, not what Starwich sounds like, but a step in the right direction for the Daytona Beach area. I hope the business survives. They weren't busy when I was there at dinner time. Your order is placed and paid for at the counter, you're given a number, and they deliver your order. It's a nice menu of mainly sandwiches, salads, pizza, and desserts. I got an Alcatraz Roast Beef Sandwich, which was -- besides the roast beef -- smoked Gouda cheese, baby greens, onions, and a garlicky-tasting mayo on sourdough bread. If the roast beef had been slices of freshly roasted beef, instead of what tasted like processed beef slices bought in shrink-wrapped packages, this would have been an awesome sandwich. What was awesome about it was the bread. It was good, fresh bread. I love being able to taste good bread as part of a sandwich. That sounds like a simple matter, but in my experience with store-bought sandwiches, often what's in them overwhelms the bread, or the bread is tasteless. With the sandwich was a choice of chips or pasta salad. I had the latter. It was good, but not much beyond good.

I also liked being able to have a glass of wine with it. They had a very small but decent selection of beer and wine. I got a glass of Merlot which was benign and passable. At least it was sold in a wine glass, not a plastic cup!

Overall the experience was satisfactory, and I'll go back if I'm working in the area or another time for the sake of convenience.

[fifi]

One of the most visible and most successful such ventures here in Houston is Cafe Express. It was started several years ago by the local chef whiz (and internationally known) Robert del Grande. I linked to the Cafe Express "story" page. It was one of the first, or at least very early, tries at the concept here in the US. I think I read that somewhere. There are now twelve or more locations in the area. I have eaten at two or three of them but not lately. They generally get good reviews but there have been some bumps in the road. Over all, they are still here and still growing.

We just recently got a Panera in my area. It is at a difficult intersection so I haven't been yet. But I have reviewed the menu on the web site and I will have to brave the mess and give it a try.

Starwich reminds me of Pret a Manger (probably misspelled) that I fell in love with in London. Those walk in take-out pieces of heaven were a must-do before heading to a park.

[Dana]

We really like Jason's Deli, a locally owned chain which has expanded over several states. It's not really upscale, but the food is high quality. Several items are made in-house - they have the best ranch dressing ever-and the soups are good as well. It's not really a deli, as least I've never seen someone get a pound of salami or whatever, but a sandwich/soup/salad place. You order at the counter and are given a number. A runner brings your food. They have a nice salad bar as well, with several house-made salads.

[fifi]

There was a Jason's Deli a few blocks from the office downtown. You are right. High quality sandwiches, soups and whatever. The salad bar was a huge favorite. You could get out of there for less than $6 US for lunch. Does your local place also have the free soft-serve ice cream? There is one not far from me. I feel a need to drop in for lunch.

[Dana]

Yes, it does. I had forgotten about that. I'm not a big ice cream person, but I do know they have cones or cups available, and the machine is a dual duty, with chocolate on one side and vanilla on the other, and you can even get it twisted!!!

[snowangel]

My experience in the Twin Cities is that outside of Panera, you have to look little and local. When I worked downtown, I mourned the demise of Cafe Metro. Great sandwiches on great bread (as little as 6 years ago, a to-die-for egg salad sandwich was $2.25), neat salads and really wonderful soups. Order and get food at the counter for take out or eat in. THere are some other places like this around the Twin Cities, but most of it is Potbelly (think Quizno's) and Jimmy John's. I love a great sandwich, and they are getting hard to find.

Oh, just remembered that the deli counter at Marketplace in Dayton's (it is still Dayton's, not Marhsall Field's to many of us) used to have the best pre-made sandwiches I've ever had. Don't know if that's still the case now that the guard has changed.

[MarketStEl]

I went to San Francisco Oven in Ormond Beach.  It was quite good -- again, not what Starwich sounds like, but a step in the right direction for the Daytona Beach area.  I hope the business survives.  They weren't busy when I was there at dinner time.  Your order is placed and paid for at the counter, you're given a number, and they deliver your order.  It's a nice menu of mainly sandwiches, salads, pizza, and desserts.  I got an Alcatraz Roast Beef Sandwich, which was -- besides the roast beef -- smoked Gouda cheese, baby greens, onions, and a garlicky-tasting mayo on sourdough bread.  If the roast beef had been slices of freshly roasted beef, instead of what tasted like processed beef slices bought in shrink-wrapped packages, this would have been an awesome sandwich.  What was awesome about it was the bread.  It was good, fresh bread.  I love being able to taste good bread as part of a sandwich.  That sounds like a simple matter, but in my experience with store-bought sandwiches, often what's in them overwhelms the bread, or the bread is tasteless.  With the sandwich was a choice of chips or pasta salad.  I had the latter.  It was good, but not much beyond good.

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If you lived in the Miami area, I would have recommended you check out the Così coffeehouse/sandwich shop chain.

They do not follow a fast-service model like that of Starwich or Pret à Manger--just the opposite: their restaurants (I live just down the block from one) are deliberately designed to be comfy hangouts; they are about the only examples I've run across of a rare genre of decor, "corporate funky"--but they also base their menu on really, really good bread--in this case a toothsome and slightly salty flatbread that they claim derives from a recipe dating back to Roman times.

It's really excellent bread, and they put equally high quality ingredients between it.

This being Philadelphia, where people are used to getting excellent sandwiches on equally good bread for somewhere around $5, I hear occasional complaints about the price of Così sandwiches, which start at $6.50 and go up from there. But I'd say the overall package they offer is a very good value, and their outlets are popular--I can't tell you how many times I've run into friends and acquaintances at my local Così while en route to or from the RTM or the State Store or the convenience store right across 12th Street from it.

[Megan Blocker]

Though I do live in the land of Starwich, the uptown branches are not yet open, which means that I'm out of luck on the weekends. That said, Eli's, a gourmet market (own by Eli Zabar) on Third Avenue at 80th Street, makes some damn good sandwiches for take away. My favorite may be the brisket with caramelized onions and homemade mayonnaise. Yum yum. They also have a fantastic salad bar (my favorite is the snap peas with garlic and sesame oil), and you can even grab a pickle from the pickle and olive section. I have made many a weeknight and weekend meal out of these...also really good for sneaking into a movie. Not that I would EVER do such a thing.

I guess this is currently my "local" upscale and fast joint!

[sassybat]

a very small chain called croutons just opened here in san diego (by UCSD). they offer paninis, stuffed pitas, salads, and soups. my favorite is to get their half panini and half salad (or half soup) combo for $7, and the half panini and half salad portions could easily be considered full portions in another place. their mixed berry salad has fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, and it's really yummy. so is their pear and gorgonzola salad.