Ode To Fancy(ish) Sandwiches Under $10

I could eat a sandwich for every meal and never get bored. They can be the perfect, cheap comfort food or a splurge of culinary art. You can munch them while running for a train, or slowly savor the meal with a fork and knife. And there’s an endless amount of ingredient combinations that never cease to surprise me.

Inspired by the recent, anonymous praise from Tonight Show hosts for Buffalo’s Famous’ ‘Beef on Weck’, we thought that at least a few other neighborhood faves deserve some recognition. But given the huge scope of sandwiches, price ranges, and truly amazing restaurants in our neighborhood, I quickly realized this is a daunting task. So let’s start small with four from a category I’ve called: “casual-but-surprisingly-fancy on a $10 budget.” Tell us what you think in the comments below.

1. Smoked Salmon on a Pretzel Bun, Parade Cafe (622 Caton Avenue between East 7th Street and Ocean Parkway)

I recently fell in love with this small but dense lunch sandwich at the French-inspired Parade Cafe, which opened two months after their banner appeared on Caton Avenue in June. The Smoked Salmon sandwich ($10) is stacked with tangy lox, thinly-sliced hard boiled egg (no green rings around the edges!), lettuce, tomato, strands of dill, and a layer of tangy, caper-infused gribiche sauce, all between doughy pretzel bread. Don’t expect a gut-busting comfort-food experience with this one, but it’s a perfect light lunch that left me feeling satisfied.

After 11am, they open their full sandwich menu which includes other tasty options like the Spicy Merguez on a baguette.

2. Turkey & Avocado Baguette, PLG Coffeehouse and Tavern (499 Rogers Avenue at Midwood Street)

I recently found myself in beautiful PLG during a weekday, hunting for a place to work and a place to get a meal to satisfy my skipped-breakfast-today hunger. I ended up at PLG Coffeehouse and Tavern, which just switched its name from Gratitude Cafe. I’m a fan of their smaller breakfast option — turkey and cheese on a croissant, they don’t serve it after 12pm so I was forced to upgrade to the lunch option.

The Turkey Avocado ($8.75) was exactly what I needed — served on a chewy baguette with Applegate turkey, thick slices of avocado, tomato, melted cheddar (though the sandwich was cold) with mayo, served with thick cut ripple chips. There was a great community atmosphere too, a lively weekday crowd with a nice level of background noise.

3. Eggplant Parm, Brancaccio’s Food Shop (3011 Fort Hamilton Parkway between East 2nd and East 3rd Streets)

I couldn’t write about sandwiches without including at least one from the highly acclaimed Kensington/Windsor Terrace Italian American prepared food shop Brancaccio’s, which celebrated five years on Fort Hamilton Parkway last year. The daily menu changes, but the Eggplant Parm with fennel sauce is a classic lunch choice, with sesame bread soaked in sauce and cheese, smothering a slab or two of fried eggplant. I love picking up a sandwich (tip: Go early in the day, they sell out!) and wandering over to Green-Wood cemetery for a weekend stroll.

4. Cashew Chicken Salad Extravaganza, Cafe Madeline (1603 Cortelyou Road between East 16th and East 17th Streets)

Cafe Madeline has a serious menu that spans every meal of the day. And while it was a challenge to find a lunch sandwich for $10 or less, the Cashew Chicken Salad came in just under at the budget at $9.99, but well worth the inclusion for its complexity, value, and unique garnishes.

The baguette was thin and chewy, piled with sesame seeds between a heap of chicken salad featuring cashews, raisins, spinach, and scallions. While delicious, this is definitely not first-date food, since it fell apart the moment I picked it up. Luckily, the delicate-tasting chicken salad pieces were easy to eat with a fork, and my dining partner and I have been eating messy meals together for almost three years.

Tell us your favorite fancy-ish neighborhood sandwiches in the comments section below!