Breakfast Sandwich #117 - Crema Cafe aka The Elusive Special

Sandwich: Southern Breakfast Sandwich
Location: Crema Cafe
Date: April 21, 2018
Cost: $11.75, comes with cheese grits and a petite salad

No doubt you've seen my previous sputterings about Crema Cafe. I've made no secret of my love for Crema and reviewed them earlier this year for Sandwich #110 and also in April of 2015 for Sandwich #20. Truth be told there was one additional visit to Crema between Sandwiches #110 and #20 but it was off the record as I was with [redacted] and we agreed that our discussions regarding [redacted] should be kept under wraps. But OH MY GOODNESS if you could have been a fly in my soup at that meeting you would never look at a sandwich the same way again.

I had no plans to visit Crema until I saw their weekend specials posted and I knew I had to try that Southern Breakfast Sandwich. The use of pimento cheese caught my eye as I've done some work in the lab with pimento cheese and found it to be an excellent option for breakfast sandwiches. The folks at Crema obviously had similar thoughts or they read about my research in one of the trade journals and decided to peer review my work. (That almost assuredly didn't happen).

The only problem with reviewing this sandwich is that it was a weekend special and by the time I post this it will no longer be available. The good news is that Crema seems to rotate popular specials such as The War Pig (which started as a weekend special at Crema but now lives life as a regular sandwich on the Off Broadway menu) so if you keep an eye on their social media you may get the chance to try this sandwich.

Perhaps the secret to getting a good photo of the menu is to write it in chalk and post it on a wall where there is a lot of natural light. 

Somebody had to be in the back and it might as well be the petite salad.

The Sandwich - Southern Breakfast Sandwich. No options are offered. Let's start with the roll - it was chewy (in a good way) but not too heavy. It was solidly up to the task of keeping everything in check. This wasn't a particularly sloppy sandwich but greens and charred onions are the types of ingredients that try to slide out the side every time you take a bite. Did that happen here? No Sir or Ma'am, not with the rustic roll on the job. There wasn't a predominant flavor in each bite, it was more about the sum of it's parts - the greens, onions, ham and pimento cheese combined to give this an earthy, salty, creamy goodness that was a refreshing change from your basic breakfast sandwich. The greens also provided a bonus crunchy texture. Honestly, the chicken egg was kind of lost in the shuffle here and if I may be frank, if not blasphemous, I don't think that it mattered. It was fried and did not have a runny yolk. The bread and sandwich probably could have held together with a runny yolk but it may have teetered right on the edge of being a sloppy mess. We'll never know for sure but I'm pretty sure I could have handled it.

The Result - 4.70 I Feel Specials out of 5 I Feel Specials. I think I've already said everything I need to say about the sandwich but I forgot to talk about the sides. The adorable serving of cheese grits and the petite salad really pulled everything together for me. Grits 'n greens - the perfect sides for a breakfast sandwich? They were on this day. Potatoes are overrated. 

I just went back and read my review of #62 The War Pig and it concludes with the note that perhaps that sandwich could have handled a runny yolk but it might have been sloppy. I don't know if that means I'm consistent or redundant but 117 breakfast sandwiches is a lot of damn sandwiches and there are only so many things you can say about eggs.

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Breakfast Sandwich #56 - Lazy Jane's Cafe aka Carbo Loading

Sandwich: Speedy Eggwich
Location: Lazy Jane's Cafe
Date: April 30, 2016
Cost: $4.25

I haven't eaten at Lazy Jane's for several years. Not sure how that happened, but I've stopped in for the bomb-ass* scones several times. On this day it finally felt like the right time to go.

*That link is for a potato recipe but it was the first SFW link that came up when I searched "bomb-ass". I haven't tried the recipe but it looks simple and tasty, especially with the bacon. I would use real garlic and onions and mix some gouda in with the cheddar. I'd probably use less cream cheese also, a whole package sounds like a lot.

If you've noticed the large gap between reviews you can surmise that I have not been going out for breakfast much lately so its understandable that I may have gotten a little carried away at Lazy Jane's. I had to have a lemon scone, it would be foolish not to. The breakfast sandwich is a given. When I saw cheesy grits on the menu it didn't occur to me that perhaps I didn't really need them. Well, I didn't. I ended up taking two bites and bringing the rest home, which was great the next morning when I actually ate them. Unless you're carbo loading for a triathlon I don't think you need all of those items. Still, grits to go is a solid plan.

They call it the Speedy Eggwich. It does look fast.

Alluring cheese.

A tantalizing glimpse.

The Sandwich - Speedy Eggwich, eggs, sausage and cheddar cheese on a toasted English Muffin. There are no options offered on this sandwich but sausage sounded about right on this day. There was plenty of cheddar cheese and while I like my eggs a bit runnier, they weren't too far past that. English Muffin is a solid breakfast sandwich bread - it toasts nicely to give it a little crunch but the inside stays soft and it still keeps everything together. Good job English Muffin!

The Result - 4 carbohydrates out of 5 carbohydrates. This was a solid, no frills breakfast sandwich. It came screaming right down the middle of the road and it was tasty. I haven't reviewed very many sandwiches lately and I feel like my calibration is off a little bit, but I know this was a breakfast sandwich that can be proud of itself. Also, you should get a scone.

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