Guy Fieri, you let me down again, you son-of-a-gun.
So, Meat and Bread is this restaurant that now has four locations, three in Canada and one is Seattle. I saw an episode of Triple D, where Guy ate the Porchetta sandwich and he made it sound like the best sandwich in the world. So, yea…I’m gonna eat there!
Environment
The restaurant I tried was in downtown Vancouver. The restaurant was super posh and modern. I loved it. The seating was very communal, meaning you had to sit next to strangers…and we should be doing that more often, eh?
The line forms next to a huge menu on the wall. We took a late lunch, around 1:30 in order to avoid the line outside of the restaurant. There was still a line to the door, but it moved pretty quickly.
Once you reach the ordering station/ sandwich making station (kind of like Subway) you tell the people what you want, and they make right there in front of you. And everything looked SO good!
You move on down the line, then order any sides (soups, chips) and drinks, and then pay for your meal.
The Food
The sandwiches come on a cutting board/ butcher block and are super cute! They dab a little sauce on some parchment paper. The whole presentation is awesome!
I obviously ordered the sandwich Guy suggestion, the porchetta. It was $9 (Canadian money). The description sounded to die for! The pork is stuffed with garlic and herbs and slow roasted. Then, the tender pork is topped with crispy cracklins. Then it is all topped with a salsa verde. NOM, right?
Well…it was okay. To be fair, I expected the best sandwich of my life. That, it was definitely not! While the pork was tender and deliciously porky, that is the only flavor I got from the sandwich. The salsa verde was not even noticed. I was so sick of this flavor after about three bites, I could barely finish it. The yellow mustard on the side helped a little. Call me a sandwich snob, but I need some texture and flavor variety. Ever had a banh mi? That’s what I’m talking about.
Would I get this again? Heck no.
The other sandwich we got was the special of the day: Chicken Tinga. This sandwich was $9.50 (Canadian money) The chicken was simmered in a tomato-based sauce that had hints of Indian-food spices. Could I be more general? Sorry, this is all the guy at the counter could tell me. It also was topped with roasted tomatillo salsa, avacado sour cream, tomato, and cabbage cilantro slaw.
At first, this sandwich did not impress me too much. The main essence was slow roasted chicken in a tomato sauce with slaw. I did not taste the avacado cream, nor did I notice the tomatillo salsa. However, the contrasting flavors and textures were tasty. The meat to slaw portion was pretty perfect. There was a little more meat than slaw. And there was not too much bread. This sandwich got better with each bite. It was better than the porchetta. Was it the best sandwich ever? Or even on this trip? Not even close.
Would I get it again? Nah.
Overall, this place is a lot of hype with no follow-through. Honest to goodness, I think that people believe that if you have to wait in a line, pay a hefty price for a somewhat small amount of food (sandwiches were only 6 inches), you automatically believe it was delicious and worth it. Otherwise, you’d be kicking yourself. I can’t explain this place any other way. Stop following the masses, people. Literally within a block down the street is a great Vietnamese restaurant with a $4 banh mi that is better than these sandwiches. Hit it up. Save some time and money.
And Guy Fieri, I know you know what good food is. Did you REALLY like the porchetta that much? Come on….