IMO

Dishes mentioned

• Ruspante

  This is a fried marinated chicken sandwich with lettuce, cabbage, sesame cucumbers, and spicy mayo. The chicken is thigh meat, super buttery, you can really taste it. The bread is great, holds up perfectly, has a nice look and good flavor. The fried chicken is done to perfection. The sauce works beautifully with it, the cabbage underneath cleanses the palate, and then there's this fermented sesame cucumber that's abundant and gives the sandwich a kick it wouldn't have otherwise. Honestly, the taste of this sandwich comes almost entirely from the cucumber — that's what gives it identity. Then the sauce, and then the fried chicken, which is perfectly fried in a really good bread. A great sandwich, man. A great sandwich.

• IMO

  This is their signature sandwich — a baguette with brisket, kimchi, and mayo. But they didn't have kimchi, so they used their cucumbers instead. The brisket is made by Galli with their own recipe. The bread is extra crunchy, soaked with all the brisket juices. This brisket is top level, very buttery, the fat releases all its grease everywhere. I would actually add even more cucumber. The cucumber here doesn't have a high acidic profile, it's more of a companion that cushions instead of contrasting. I tried it with the original kimchi version, and honestly, the kimchi covered the brisket flavor too much for my taste. The cucumber is perfect here, it's incredible. But I'd want more cucumber.

• Allumi

  This is a vegetarian sandwich — baguette with lumiera cheese, pico de gallo, and jalapeño. It's a bit overturned, my fault for moving the stuff around. The jalapeño is a little spicy. The pico de gallo has thick-cut tomato, cool. But the cheese has soaked the bread completely underneath, it's all wet. This is not a takeaway sandwich. I'd cut the jalapeño smaller, maybe dice it, because if you get a big piece it anesthetizes your palate — I moved it to the left side and now my whole left side is numb. If I can give constructive criticism, I'd remodel it somehow. The cheese ruins the bread, you lose all its crunchiness and flavor.

• Pastrami Sandwich

  This is the queen of queens — pastrami sandwich on brioche bread, with pastrami, pickles, and mustard sauce. The brioche is buttered, tall, firm. There's a more substantial cucumber component here. The pastrami follows the same rules as the brisket, made by Galli with their recipe. My tongue is completely wrecked on the left from that jalapeño earlier. Good, very good. Look at the bread, it holds up, it holds up, damn. Not like those New York delis where you couldn't even pick up the bread. The bread doesn't taste of alcohol. This is a well-made, balanced sandwich where you can taste good pastrami. The cucumber component is there, which I love. I would have added more sauce or one more slice of pastrami. The bread holds up well, but it's a bit tall — you can see the pastrami section lacks a proper bite. One more slice of pastrami would do it.

• Anelli di Cipolla

  These are the best onion rings of my life. They're incredible. The frying is divine. They're tasty, almost salty. But I have a criticism — my brain processes onion rings expecting onion, but here the onion comes second, third, fourth. First I get all the other flavors from the seeds and spices in the breading — fennel, poppy, sesame — and then the onion arrives later. It's an onion ring with character, a different thing entirely. The onion isn't preponderant.