Aug. 04, 2004 - Issue #459: Folk Fest

This sandwich goes to 11

Dollars, that is—and yet this Block 1912 dish is actually worth the price

Alright, I’ll admit it: I’m totally one of those shallow jerks who think that price always equals quality. If I see a pair of jeans for $150, for example, I don’t think to myself, “What a rip-off!” I think, “Man, those are probably really nice jeans!” Sure, they’re jeans that I could clearly never afford. But they’re nice. They have to be, right? They’re expensive. And it was because of this mindset that, when I noticed that Block 1912’s blackboard menu just happened to list an $11 grilled sandwich, I immediately decided that I had to see what such a toasted sandwich could possibly taste like.

I mean, it’s a sandwich, right? At a coffee place. And it’s 11 bucks. How? Why? What do they make the bread out of—baby condors? It was the kind of sandwich that gets your imagination racing, and I knew then that one day I would be back to bask in the majesty of Whyte Ave’s most valuable grilled foodstuff. Last Saturday, that day came to pass, and you know what? It’s a pretty darned good sandwich, despite the total absence of endangered bird meat. In fact, I’d say that it actually comes surprisingly close to living up to its price tag.

Since I had a gentlemanly game of cards to attend later that night (and my girlfriend had an equally fascinating essay to write for her film class), it was an uncharacteristically early dinner for the two of us as we strolled into 1912’s spacious dining around 6 p.m., but since it’s more of a afternoon-snack-and-a-latte kind of place than an actual restaurant, we had our pick of the tables despite the hour. After ensuring that our claim was squarely staked by our jackets just in case the other 20 or so tables suddenly filled up while we were ordering, we went and checked out the blackboard overhead. Well, my girlfriend did, anyhow—I knew what I was getting. That sandwich for millionaires, that’s what, although I suppose I did have to decide what I wanted in it. After some studious, gape-mouthed gawking, I went with the grilled turkey sandwich with a side of Thai noodle salad ($15.99) while my girlfriend settled on the premade (and delicious-looking) chicken curry on rice with a side Greek salad ($14.95). To drink, I grabbed a can of San Pellegrino Chinotto (an Italian herb cola; I forgot to note the price) while my better, shorter half ordered a house lemon-ginger iced tea ($2.99). With everything in order, we went back to our table to wait for our food.

After a short interval spent taking in Block 1912’s, open, arty European bistro atmosphere, our food arrived in surprisingly gigantic fashion. Seriously, these are some big plates of food for a coffee place, which I guess explains the prices. My sandwich was huge to the point of absurdity—not in an overstuffed, can’t-fit-it-in-your-mouth kind of way, but in that I’m-an-italian-sandwich-that’s-diagonally-cut-to-be-the-length-of-your-forearm kind of way. This, of course, is not to say that there was any shortage of stuff between those two kayak-sized bread slices, either; rather, it boasted ample, tender slices of turkey topped with onion, tomato, big chunks of green pepper, all with a hint of mayo and Dijon mustard. A kingly sandwich, to say the least. The Thai noodle salad was equally fantastic: a substantial serving of cold fettuccini and spaghetti with carrots, green peppers and green onion that was dark with spices and packed a real mouth-punching heat.

My girlfriend, meanwhile, reported that her chicken curry was “pretty typical, but typically good,” and I couldn’t have said it better myself. It was indeed a fine chicken curry served on a bed of rice interspersed with chickpeas, white beans, red peppers and cilantro with some raita (a cool yogurt cucumber sauce) on the side, but there was nothing particularly outstanding about the dish, which is hardly the worst thing one could say. Her Greek salad was similarly good but unremarkable, aside from the truly stupidly large chunks of onion that kept turning up. Come on, guys. No one wants that much damn onion, no matter how Greek they are. But again, these are trifling concerns, and ones that were overlooked handily as we struggled to finish our meals.

But finish we did, and in celebration, we decided to cap it all off with some of Block 1912’s fantastic gelato (a treat that I’m pretty sure you can’t find anywhere else on the strip), my girlfriend going with a scoop of pistachio while I had a boring-sounding but delicious serving of vanilla tofu ($4 each). All told, the evening came to just over $40 with tip (hey, just because there’s no table service doesn’t mean you don’t have to tip, buddy), and we all learned a valuable lesson: sometimes, $11 sandwiches don’t have to be made of condors to be worth the price; sometimes, they’re just that good. V

Block 1912
10361 82 Ave • 433-6575

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