Unbreaded

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is many things. A totalitarian dictator with immense personal wealth and a mean streak? Check. A charismatic camera hound? Yes. Sandwich lover? You bet.

Conan O’Brien found evidence of Chavez’ great love of sandwiches from his recent visit to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

If you ask us, peanut butter and jelly pretty much tops the list of snack time sandwiches. Quick and easy to make, and very satisfying, there’s a PB&J for everyone; some of us like fruit preserves, others jam, smooth or chunky peanut butter is always an ongoing debate. These days however, parents live hectic lives, rushing out of work to pick the kids up at school, and having to put together a tasty snack. Apparently, it’s too stressful to even take the time to spread some peanut butter and jelly on bread, or so a recent survey conducted of mothers by Mom Central and J.M. Smucker reports. A whopping 68% of those moms said they feel pressure when deciding on a nutritious after school snack, while 43% serve junk food like cookies and chips, and 32% are hitting the drive through at Mickey D’s.

Today, through October 30th Smucker’s will be giving away coupons for a free 4-pack of Uncrustable sandwiches. If you haven’t tried an Uncrustable before, they are surprisingly tasty, a premade peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a soft, crustless bread pouch. There’s your typical peanut butter and grape or strawberry jelly, but also new flavors like peanut butter and honey, and a choice of white or whole wheat bread for all flavors. Head over to Smuckers and submit an after school organizational tip to receive your free sandwiches, but hurry because only 20,000 coupons will be given away.

Give Moms a Snack Break [Smucker's]

Have you ever wanted your own custom sandwich creation featured on the menu at an iconic sandwich shop? Us too! Campo’s Deli is helping make our dream come true by introducing the Name Your Own Cheesesteak Contest. One lucky winner will have their cheesesteak featured on the menu at the flagship Campo’s location in Old City for an entire month, plus 10% of all sales benefit Helen’s Hope breast cancer foundation.

To enter, e-mail your dream cheesesteak (pick the bread, cheese, and topping) with a creative name to . Contest updates and entry coverage can be found on their Twitter, @CamposPHL.

Here are both Unbreaded co-founders submissions:

Jeff: The Fun Guy – chopped ribeye with sauteed mushrooms, gruyere and truffle oil
Ben: The Brekkie – chopped ribeye, aged cheddar, applewood smoked bacon, and over-easy egg

Send your submission over and let us know what it is in the comments!

Chef Jose Garces has quickly grown to one of the top restaurateurs in Philadelphia, and has been honored by the James Beard Foundation as Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic.  The owner of Amada, Tinto, Distrito, Chifa, Village Whiskey and the forthcoming Garces Trading Company, Chef Garces has imprinted his mark on the dining landscape in Philadelphia.

Chef Garces will be competing in Food Network’s Next Iron Chef debuting October 4th, and he took a few minutes out of his increasingly busy schedule to talk with us about sandwiches.

Unbreaded: What was the last really great sandwich you ate?
Jose Garces: I was just in New Orleans and had two great sandwiches.  The first was a fried oyster and fried shrimp po’boy was from Acme Oyster House with shredded iceberg lettuce, tomato, and Diablo mayo.  The second was a killer soft shell crab club sandwich on brioche with bacon, tomato, and remoulade at Chef John Besh’s bistro Lüke.

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A burger is a blank canvas, a universe of options and interpretations, and we love the idea of putting the creativity in the hands of the customer.  With Village Whiskey, Chefs Jose Garces and Dave Conn are taking the build your own burger concept to a whole new level.  Toppings include the classic fried egg, crisp applewood bacon, artisanal cheeses, sweet caramelized cippolini onions, artichokes, even white truffles.  So you can try Chef Conn’s favorite combination: avocado, bacon and a fried egg, or create your own signature burger.

With only a few precious seats, and no shortage of burger and whiskey lovers willing to wait for them, it’s a pretty tight squeeze to get in the door. The restaurant offers the basic 8oz Village burger with thousand island dressing and a range of great toppings, each for just a couple dollars.  The all-natural Angus beef comes from Wolfe’s Neck Farm and is ground fresh daily at the new Garces Trading Company Commissary, where they also bake sesame seed buns exclusively for Village Whiskey.  Pastry Chef Ann Giles’ twice-proofed bread recipe yields an airy texture with a light sweetnes and mild buttery flavor.  The restaurant actually shares kitchen space with sister restaurant Tinto, which Chef Conn (who manages both kitchens) said presented a set of organizational adjustments, but they have found the workflow that keeps everything moving efficiently.

An expansive whiskey list is the headliner at Village Whiskey, but the burgers are the real stars of this show, led by the Whiskey King.  A hefty 10oz patty with award-winning Rogue Creamery Oregon Blue, crunchy bacon, maple glazed cippolini onions and a serving of foie gras, the Whiskey King will engage culinary thrill seekers and expense account eaters alike.  Less ambitious diners can get the same cheese, bacon and onions on a Village Burger.  The meat is tender and melts in your mouth, juicy and peppery.  Rogue offers the first blue cheese ever produced on the West Coast, smoked over hazelnut shells, with a tangy flavor and melts creamy over the burger.

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It’s Street-Food Week over at Gourmet Magazine and each day they are featuring vendors from a different city. Low prices and creative dishes have contributed to the meteoric popularity of these mobile food trucks, and vendors have seen great customer response by using Twitter to share their location and daily specials.

In the Philadelphia coverage, noted Southern food expert John T. Edge explores the streets of University City, hitting trucks that are notoriously popular to students at Drexel and Penn. Partaking in mostly breakfast sandwiches, Edge enjoys the falafel and egg from A&M Halal, and eggs and broccoli rabe at Mikey D’s Grill. There’s nary a mention of salt, pepper, ketchup but a lot of love for sriracha.

It looks like the popularity of street food has finally hit the mainstream media. Of course, Gourmet couldn’t hit all the best trucks in Philadelphia. Let us know your favorites in the comments!

Eight Great Street-Food Vendors in Philadelphia [Gourmet]

It’s all burgers, all the time over at A Hamburger Today where fans of the blog religiously send in photographs from all over the world. To better educate their readers on the plethora of burger styles showcased on the blog, founder and editor-at-large Adam Kuban has compiled a reference sheet of epic proportions. The AHT Guide to Hamburger and Cheeseburger Styles runs through your every day burgers like the pub style, and fast food burger all the way up to extreme burgers (served on a donut), and megaburgers (185 lb Guinness World Records holder!).

Kuban also makes a point to highlight regional burger styles such as the steamed cheeseburgers in Connecticut and the cheesed stuffed burgers of Minneapolis (including a shout out to Good Dog in Philadelphia). We know you love burgers as much as we do, so we suggest you head over to AHT and get yourself educated. Then the next time you’re out for burgers, you’ll have a foolproof way to impress your date with all of this new found knowledge.

The AHT Guide to Hamburger and Cheeseburger Styles [A Hamburger Today]

Sure, canned salmon lacks a certain gourmet flair; but for just a few bucks, you can get wild-caught Alaska salmon, full of protein and healthy oils, and turn it into something flavorful and satisfying.  Add some fresh dill, lemon and Dijon mustard, and you can make fast, easy salmon burgers that hit the spot without doing too much damage to your checking account. Full recipe after the jump.

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