City Market – “Pesto Chicken Sandwich” & “Dried Apricots”

Ah City Market one of the Burlington Vermont epicenters of hippie, hipster, loca/localvore, foodie food. I like City Market, there is a great selection of local foodstuffs, and produce. This results in a spendy, but tasty grocery haul. I recently gleaned from some of my friends that they’re big fans of the pesto chicken sandwich, I was immediately reminded of my own favorite pesto infused sandwich from Sugarsnap. I was suprised I hadn’t tried City Market’s sandwich counter, as I shop there and sometimes will even get a breakfast sandwich from their morning buffet.

City Market – Burlington Vermont

Pesto Chicken Sandwich – City Market

Choice of Klingers bread (I chose wheat), mesclun greens, fresh tomatoes, pesto (both sides of bread), grilled chicken (cold), fresh mozzarella. The pesto chicken sandwich is like an insalata caprese, with added chicken in a sandwich form. Everything is very fresh, there is a  nice balance of texture, the chicken breast has nice diamond grill marks, and has been run through a deli slicer? as it’s nice and thin.

I personally find insalata caprese to be a little bland, and just like the salad I found this sandwich a little lacking in flavor. Maybe some acid would help (balsamic dressing, dried cranberries?). On the positive side, this sandwich is massive, you could easily split it with a friend, and nosh on some of the plethora of baked goods from area bakers or some of the bulk goods as I did.

City Market – Dried Turkish Apricot Bulk Bin

I chose dried Turkish apricots, one of my favorite natural snacks; I think apricots are much better dried than fresh.

The sandwich was $7.50 before tax, a good deal, I’ll be back to try City Market’s other sandwiches (their sandwich counter is in the baked goods end of the store).

The dried apricots are $3.99 a pound.

Martone’s Market and Cafe – “Billy” Sandwich

Martone’s is a little deli, “market and cafe” at the 5 corners in Essex Vermont.

Martone’s Market and Cafe – Essex Vermont

Besides subs, Martone’s also has a nice selection of steaks; I think I’ll be picking some up once the snow melts to throw on the grill.

Martone’s – Billy Sandwich – (half, front)

I like egg salad, something that I don’t bother to make for myself for some reason. Anyway, someone named “Billy” has similar taste to me, I ordered his namesake sandwich Egg salad and bacon, it kind of like being indecisive if you want breakfast or lunch, so you settle for a sandwich with breakfast elements. The egg salad yummy, green onions, and chunks of egg. The bacon is SO crispy, a nice contrast to the smooth egg salad. Finally I added sprouts and tomato to the freshly baked wheat bread. 

Take note:  If this is your first time at Martone’s I would recommend ordering a small sandwich, unless you would like some leftovers. Martone’s is notorious for their piled-high sandwiches. Here is the back side of my half sandwich:

Martone’s – Billy Sandwich – (half, back)

The half Billy was $7.25 with tax, I’ll be back to when I need my egg-salad fix.

Mexicali – “Chile Relleno”

Mexicali is a Tex-Mex restaurant in Williston Vermont, on the back side of Best Buy.  Mexicali has great margaritas and an awesome salsa bar:

Mexicali – Salsa bar

Mexicali – Chile Relleno

I was introduced to Chile Relleno at Penny Cluse Cafe, I’m using their version as a reference of what I like. I like the presentation of this plate, but taste-wise I think their could be some tweaks. First what is Chile Relleno?

Chile Relleno consists of pan or deep deep fried pablano peppers, which are quite mild and have a nice flavor. Typically the peppers are stuffed with at least cheese, and finally covered with some sort of sauce / salsa.

In Mexicali’s version, they stuff their pablanos with chicken and cheese. I love the fact that they went for something beyond cheese for the stuffing, however they used chicken cubed chicken breast. Chicken breast is healthy, but the texture and flavor is wrong for this dish. Shredded seasoned chicken would have been a much better choice. Additionally the sauce was a little bland (a suprise considering the yummy salsa bar options). Finally I didn’t like the eggy-breading, it concealed the sublte pablano flavor. The side of beans were good, but the cornbread missed, too sweet and moist.

At $11, I would order something other than the Chile Relleno at Mexicali.

Papa Frank’s -” 12″ Anchovie Pizza “

Papa Frank’s is well known for their inexpensive Italian food in Winooski Vermont. It’s even less expensive if you use the %10 off coupon from their website.

Papa Frank’s – Winooski Vermont

I had a longing for anchovie pizza and I like Papa Frank’s pasta, so I called in an order.

Papa Frank’s Pizza Box – I love the fact they have their own custom boxes.

Papa Frank’s – 12″ anchovie Pizza

In the upper left hand corner you can see the molten cheese flow, forming a new cheese mass. Once in a while I have a craving for anchovies, something about the texture (bones?), saltiness, and feeling like you’re eating “authentic pizza”. Papa Frank’s crust passes the chewy / crispy litmus test. However the crust in the middle is very soft, I think the sauce may contain too much water as evidenced by the volcanic cheese. This resulted in me folding the pizza in half to eat, which unfortunately means you are getting 2X the amount of anchovie in every bite (very salty). So this pie, while a great value is not great for anchovies. (You must come to Papa Frank’s for lunch / dinner for their pasta, great value. My non-cheese-eating friend loves their hand made meat only ravioli.)

With the %10 coupon the pizza was ~$7.50

New World Tortilla’s Chicken Salad Wrap

New World Tortilla is one of my favorite lunch spots, they now have 3 locations. Original Burlington Vermont location, UVM, and now Essex Vermont. As the name implies “New World” has great wraps.

Pictured here is the Wrap, notice the large size, quarter for reference.

This is the wrap, unwrapped. Something that is classic New World Tortilla (or New World for short) is the toasted wrap, and the little wax bag to hold the bottom of the wrap.

The Wrap after a few bites.

The toasted wrap means that it’s easier to bite into and you’re assured that you won’t get that gummy texture that sometimes comes from a cold warp. The chicken salad contains grilled chicken breast that is chopped and combined with fresh dill, halved red grapes, mayo and typically shredded romaine lettuce. This wrap has great texture, and great flavor. I like the fresh dill and sweet grape combination. The fact that the wrap is made with chicken breast means that it has different texture, than if the rest of the chicken were used. At one point this wrap was served with mesclun greens, which while they don’t have the same satisfying crunch of romaine, the slight bitterness of the greens was a nice counterpoint to the sweetness of the grapes. I may request a romaine / mesclun mix next time if possible.

Pictured above is a little fun with the recyclable foil, standing the wrap up while I get something to drink. At under six dollars this wrap is a steal, but only on Thursdays!