SUNdeVICH

Per the secondary suggestion of the internet’s Jon Bois’ twitter person of following, I moseyed on down to popular buzz sandwich restaurant SUNdeVICH to see if their international offerings were truly up to snuff or not. Locating the establishment took in upwards of 15 minutes with ultimately the restaurant being found in a narrow alleyway in a heavily transitional neighborhood. Despite the humble outside offerings, the inside transported me to a carefree land of international mystery and intrigue.

Upon entering you see many exotic vases, local faunae, a chalk painted menu, and a cooler full of traditional beverage offerings. The latter threatened my comfort, but the rest let me knew my mouth was in for an exciting and potentially wild ride.

The chalk theme continued at the front register where by which the credit card processing kiosk was but an iPhone with a 30-pin card reader attached to it. This restaurant was truly riding the wave of the future. Within 30 seconds to a minute a lively fellow (the only individual manning the facility until near the completion of my order) came to take and begin my order. The journey had begun.

The same devil-may-care clerk now transitioned into full on cook mode. The quest for the perfect sandwich was reaching critical mass as I waited with eager anticipation. I elected to go with the “Istanbul”, a delightful homage to Turkey, which at least on paper (or is it chalkboard?) was to include ground beef & lamb, sumac onions, tomato, yogurt spread, and a variety of fresh herbs.

While I waited for the sandwich to come to fruition (which paraphrasing the warrior poet Tom Petty was truly the hardest aspect of this adventure), I noticed the local means of transportation. Just like being in a diverse market in Turkey!

The wait continued. The cracked peppercorn on the table let me know this establishment had international cred for days but also cared about embracing the finer things in life.

The sandwich was delivered! The full palette of taste left little to be desired. Everything was incredibly fresh, though perhaps my only qualm was that the home made bread was a tiny bit harder than need be. Surely a minor knock on what otherwise proved to be an exotic and fulfilling blend of captivating flavors seeking to sate. And sated I was.

Perhaps as is the custom, a crowd of roughly 9 filtered into the establishment during the waining moments of consumption. 4 joined me (as the establishment was only primed to seat 10 amidst 2 picnic style tables. They were quirky and discussed both gentrification and the morality of restaurant zoning laws though one of them elected to take a photo of me on his Blackberry which made their entire group uncomfortable. I allowed it, because I know cameras do not steal my soul, and I am used to the hubbub as a transitive minor celebrity in incredibly winnowed scenes on the internet.

All in all a delightful experience with a sandwich truly worth blogging about. 9/10 enjoyability stars/sandwich delight hit points.