Anyway, Cheeba Hut has invaded Denver.  Actually they probably invaded Denver about a year ago, but I don’t go downtown too much, so I hadn’t ever been to their new location until today.  I have to get my blood checked every 6 months for high cholesterol issues and it is my tradition to absolutely gorge myself after getting my blood drawn.  Since I was off work today, I decided to head downtown and see what Cheeba Hut was smokin.

I went with a “pinner” sized Afghani: Turkey, jalapenos and pepper jack cheese.  I also added their house sauce, which is a parmesan/oregano vinaigrette.  I’ll say this: it was better than the last sandwich I had there.  I’m not gonna put it in the Turkey Top 10 or anything, but it was solid.

Other than of course the names of their sandwiches, the best thing about Cheeba Hut is the fact that they have Kool-aid on tap.  Not really on tap like beer, but you get my point.  Stoners love them some Kool-aid.

A big congratulations to (drumroll) Big Ass Sandwiches of Portland, OR – the winners of the 1st Annual Turkey Sandwich Report Sandwich Shop of the Year!  The next time I’m in Portland, I’ll be by for The Big Ass Sandwich.  Or you can mail me one.  I don’t give a shit if it spent a couple days in a box.  I’ll eat that motherfucker.

So what can you do to take that boring ass ham sandwich to the next level?

The short answer is: Add Turkey.

The long answer is: buy a little Turkey and and bacon before Christmas.  Hide the Turkey  and don’t tell anyone you have it.  Once Christmas is over and everyone is resorting to a ham sandwich with yellow mustard, you discreetly bust out your Turkey and bacon.  Add to your ham sandwich and boom, you have a CLUB Sandwich.

Be warned, the vultures will come after your Turkey. It’s up to you as whether  you share or not.  Personally, I don’t, but that’s me.

The even longer answer is my Club Sandwich recipe:

• King’s Hawaiian Rolls
• Add a few slices of ham (I recommend Honeybaked Ham)
• Add Turkey
• Add Bacon
• Sharp Provolone Cheese
• Spread some French Onion Dip on the bread
• Stack it high
• Eat

A few things I noticed on my visit:

1) This place has an outstanding selection of chips.  I don’t often talk about chips here on the Turkey Sandwich Report, but a good bad of chips to accompany your Turkey Sandwich is important.  Blues City Deli had Jay’s (Chicago brand, so fuck them), Vitner’s, Durty’s, Kruncher’s, Zapp’s and of course Old Vienna (STL brand).  How could I turn down Pork Steak flavored potato chips?

If you’re not from the STL area, you probably don’t get the whole Pork Steak thing and that’s fine.  You don’t need to.  In fact, we don’t want you to get it.  I’ll just tell you that we like over-cooked, flabby-ass pig steaks that are smothered in BBQ sauce in the Midwest.

2) The Blues City Deli has a bad case of the Blues.  In case you didn’t know, STL has rightfully staked their claim on a fairly solid reputation of producing great blues musicians.  You might have heard of a guy named Chuck Berry or maybe Ike Turner.  I could tell you about dozens of other great Blues legend that have come out of St. Louis, but you’ve probably never heard of them, so I won’t waste our time.  Just trust me that St. Louis knows the Blues.  They didn’t name the Hockey team that just for shits and giggles.

3) The Blues City Deli makes a damn fine sandwich.  I got a straight Turkey Sandwich that they call the “Turkey Supreme”.  It came with Provel cheese and as you probably know, you can only get that shit in St. Louis.  If I go back, I will get The Redbird which has Turkey Capicolla, Provel and sweet red-pepper sauce.  That sounds nice.

Bottom line, if you’re in STL, get yo’ ass down to the Blues City Deli for a Turkey Sandwich and a bag of Pork Steak Chips.

So, watch it and grab a Which while you’re out shopping during the holidays.

Today, the day before Thanksgiving I primed my pump with a BBQ Turkey Sandwich from Whole Foods.

Now let me be clear: I’m a big fan of Whole Foods but I’ve beat them up pretty good when it comes to sandwiches.  I’m not sure what it is, but no matter what sandwich I order from their deli, it tastes like a dog’s breakfast (i.e., a bunch of ingredients that taste like they’ve been thrown together without any thought or consideration.)

Today was a different story.  In what started as a simple scouting trip to check to see if their Turkey was Thanksgiving-worthy, turned into a delicious sandwich that has put Whole Foods back on the sandwich map.

I was a simple sandwich: fresh cut Turkey, BBQ sauce, dill pickles and onions.  Really nice.

And if you’re wondering, yes, the Turkey was Thanksgiving-worthy.

This particular Subway is built inside a shipping container and can rise up to different floors of the new building and help the workers avoid having to spend most of their lunch hour in transit.

Brilliant.

As much as I rip on Subway, I’m going to applaud this effort.  The  ”Subway in the Sky” that supplies sandwiches to the workers building the new Freedom Tower in NYC is brilliant for two reasons:

1. As a marketer, I love the innovation.  Subway found an opportunity to get their sandwiches in the hands of people by owning a completely new distribution channel.
2. It’s supporting a good cause.  Sure, Subway is making money on the deal, but that’s ok.  They’re helping construction workers who are busting their ass trying to get this building built and hopefully get a little more out of their lunch hour.

Check out the video here.

I’ve blogged about Perry’s before.  You might remember that they’re not totally clear about their hours of operation.  They also don’t want people talking on their phone while on the premises.  You dare to do that and they’ll sound the alarm.  They mean serious business at Perry’s.

They also mean business when it comes to sandwiches.  I tell no lie when I say that they pile on a handful of Turkey on their Turkey Sandwiches.  Same goes for the bacon – that’s a handful too.  We all know that anything more than a handful, you risk spraining a tongue.

By the way, Perry’s does indeed use REAL TURKEY.

The downside of a gigantic sandwich is that the result can often times be ugly.  This was no different.  You can tell I went to war with this sandwich and I’m not sure who won.  You be the judge.

The world’s shittiest location is at Colorado and 8th, which was about a mile from my house.  Although it might seem like this would be uber-convenient for me, it was a huge fucking pain in the ass and actually prevented me from visiting The Smiling Moose as much as I would like.  The parking lot was tiny and traffic on that block of Colorado is a real bitch.  It just wasn’t worth the trouble.

So, good for The Smiling Moose.

But now it’s ON in Downtown D-town.  Cheba Hut moved in about a year ago and The Smiling Moose is moving in on their turf.  Sandwich fans, just sit back and enjoy.  This will be a battle to the death.