The End

I am a little bewildered to tell you that we have come to the end of the List of Sandwiches. When we started exploring every sandwich on the Wikipedia List of Sandwiches five and a half years ago in September of 2014, I can’t say that I really thought this day would ever happen. But with yesterday’s post on the Hungarian Zsíros Kenyér, it finally did. That’s it. Fini.

But of course if you’ve been paying attention you know that we’re not done. Many sandwiches have been added to Wikipedia’s list since we started, and through our own obsessive study of the subject (and through tipoffs from some of you!) we’ve discovered a raft of sandwiches that aren’t even mentioned on the Wikipedia page. We have added another run through the alphabet of 50 or so sandwiches, and will be writing on this blog at least through September of 2021. We’re starting right away, and have one sandwich left to write about before the end of April, so we’re not going anywhere for now.

Our schedule is here: The Schedule. Please tell us about any sandwiches you know of that it’s missing!

Still, the End of the List seemed like an occasion worth mentioning, and even celebrating. Most of the sandwiches I’ve been eating lately are homemade, but today we had a hankering to get back to a recent favorite, Hermosa.

We called ahead, and the 45 minute drive from our home gave Hermosa’s chef Ethan plenty of time to have our order ready the moment we arrived. Today, in April of 2020, social distancing mandates in Illinois do not allow restaurants to have dine-in guests, so Mindy and I repaired to our car, a third-row SUV, where the middle row of seats, folded down, made a passable table for our meals.

There are several new sandwiches that Ethan has added since I was last there a few months ago. One of them is the Ngau Nam, a sort of Asianized French Dip, with Chinese five spice braised beef in Hermosa’s sturdy but light sandwich roll, with a dish of delightful jus on the side for dipping.

This sandwich was a knockout. The beef is cut slightly on the thick side but is quite tender and moist, on the edge of falling apart but held together by the sandwich roll. On its own, this would be a fine sandwich with just bread and beef, but the jus, redolent of five spice, dotted with floating islands of fat and speckled with chili, was the star.

Of course I couldn’t visit Hermosa without ordering the spectacular Cambodian Fried Chicken sandwich. Ethan asked me how spicy I wanted it, and when I asked for it to be made plenty hot, Ethan took me seriously. Green and red slices of Thai birds eye chili rained out of the sandwich all over its paper wrapper when I opened it, but there were plenty remaining inside, trapped in the matrix of shredded green papaya and long beans topping the chicken. This sandwich was an instant favorite the first time I tried it, and has only gotten better.

Mindy requested Hermosa’s Mexican-style cheesesteak sandwich, which was as solid as ever. The grilled ribeye, onion, and poblano are a natural combination, and you couldn’t pick a better partner for them than stretchy melted Chihuahua cheese. I’m already planning a return trip to get at the sandwiches I haven’t tried yet–the Korean spicy pork sandwich, the Vietnamese caramelized braised pork sandwich, and the delightfully named “Bi-Bim-Bun.” But I don’t know how I can ever get through a menu this deep–everything I order becomes a new favorite, and something I want to order again and again.

I guess I’ll just have to try to get back there more often. Thanks for the fantastic late lunch, Ethan! And thank you, Tribunal readers, for sticking with us through five and a half years of sandwich ramblings.