• Bonnie Bloomgarden a direct descendant of Ben Canter, is jumping on the food truck bandwagon and bringing deli sandwiches to the streets of LA. [LA Weekly]

• Taking a page from Chicago’s playbook, the Phillies seek to offer a hot dog they can call their own. Voting begins today at phillies.com on three different dogs. We’re rooting for the brocolli rabe version. [The Philadelphia Inquirer]

• Starr’s SquareBurger will open its doors for the season on Friday. Couldn’t come soon enough, as we’ve been jonesing for a Butterscotch Krimpet Cake Shake. [TwitPic]

• Dan Kenneally paints the sandwich as modern art. We definitely need one of these for the Unbreaded offices, Bert Cooper style. [Lunchbox]

What We’re Eating takes a quick look at sandwiches the Unbreaded team can’t get enough of.

Kurobuta is the name given by the Japanese for Berkshire pork, a high quality product that is like the pig equivalent to Kobe or Wagyu beef. The “Black Hog” meat is known for its dense, juicy quality and a perfect marbling due to fat content. Alma de Cuba’s Chef Douglas Rodriguez prepares his Kurobuta with a crispy exterior that gives way to a moist, crumbling inside bursting with smoky and salty flavors. The meat is topped with fried matchstick potatoes and served as sliders, with a hint of mustard. The “buns” used are more of a biscuit, flaky, buttery, melt in your mouth good.

The Kurobuta Fritas are an affordable appetizer that make a great post work snack. A mojito or Nergra Modelo are optional, but recommended.

Alma de Cuba
1623 Walnut Street – Philadelphia, PA 19103 (Google Map)

In May, we took a first look at the Franklin Square burger operation under development by Starr Restaurants Catering. What we had then dubbed the “Starr Shack” (for obvious reasons) has now ditched the tent and moved into a solid structure, officially named SquareBurger. The menu has slightly evolved from what we saw at the tent, but the overall offerings and demographic are what we had originally assumed: casual, affordable, and family oriented.

Yesterday, Unbreaded sat down with Shane Cash, former Executive Chef of Butcher & Singer and consulting chef for SquareBurger to learn more. The snack bar in the park was originally conceptualized by Stephen Starr himself along with Simon Prowles, who runs the recently created catering arm as well as once Tangerine Executive Chef turned Culinary Director, Chris Painter. The idea was simple: accessible and delicious comfort food for the young families, other locals and tourists that visit the park.

Although the team toyed with the idea of forming their burgers into square patties as a play on the name, they ultimately decided on a four ounce hand-formed patty made of a special blend from Indian Ridge Provisions. The 80% lean, 20% fat burger is seasoned with garlic, onion and other secret ingredients and seared to order. Served on a toasted Martin’s potato roll, it fits perfectly in the hands and is topped with a slice of American cheese, chopped kosher pickles, onions, yellow mustard and ketchup. All burgers are cooked to a medium doneness, but the beef retains its juiciness delivering a flavorful bite. The french fries are indeed frozen, but nevertheless a delicious skin on, private reserve made especially for Starr restaurants.

Despite its namesake, there is a particular menu item that we enjoyed slightly more than the burger. The Philly Dog is the brainchild of Chris Painter, a jumbo Hebrew National beef frank wrapped in Hebrew National beef salami and is poached, not grilled. Tucked into a Martin’s hot dog roll it is topped with yellow mustard, chopped onions, homemade pickled cucumbers, cherry peppers and tomatoes. Even though this “original” creation is strikingly similar to a Chicago dog, the combination of beef hot dog and salami with hot peppers and pickles is undeniably delicious.

A park snack spot wouldn’t be complete without some treats, and SquareBurger serves up many of them, including a coal region favorite, the CMP (chocolate, marshmallow, peanut) sundae and the Cake Shake which is essentially vanilla ice cream blended with TastyKake Butterscotch Krimpets. Check out Meal Ticket for the menu in its entirety.

As always, we grilled Shane Cash on his favorite sandwiches and were pleasantly surprised by his love for them. His favorite sandwich to make for himself starts with roasted tomato focaccia, a zesty dressing, shaved lettuce, juicy local beefsteak tomatoes, rosemary ham, mortadella, capicola, aged provolone and cherry peppers. He also whips up a mean tuna fish with cheddar, apples and arugala on a petite hoagie roll. When he’s away from home, Cash prefers the pastrami at Hershel’s in the Reading Terminal Market, a chicken cutlet supreme at Tony Luke’s and a cheesesteak from Dino’s in Margate, NJ.

Like any Stephen Starr project, SquareBurger is surrounded by over-the-top media hype, making it almost a caricature of itself, something its creators never meant for. In all reality, it exceeds expectations for exactly what it is, a well thought out and executed food stand at a once forgotten, but beautiful city park. For this purpose, we see SquareBurger becoming a hit summer spot for the locals who frequent Franklin Square. Right now, plans are to keep SquareBurger open 11am – 8pm daily until Halloween, but Cash professed his secret desire to stay open year round and serve hot cocoa and breakfast sandwiches in the colder months. To that we say: Stephen Starr, listen up!

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SquareBurger
200 N 6th Street Philadelphia, PA 19106 (Google Map)

Butcher & Singer offers a classic steakhouse menu with old charm (entrees like Steak Diane and Lobster Thermidor cement the old-school motif) but at lunch time, the sandwiches get their turn to shine.  A power-lunch spot for the city’s business people, politicians, judges and lawyers, it is also a relaxed atmosphere where you can have a nice long lunch (and drinks) even without wearing a suit.

Executive Chef Rob Dacko helms Stephen Starr’s 1940s Hollywood-inspired steakhouse.  The space itself has changed hands a number of times in its 100 year history: opened as The National Bank, then Butcher & Singer stock brokerage, then The Striped Bass, and now Butcher & Singer restaurant.  The décor captures the swank and style of another era with oversized leather booths; giant chandeliers; wood paneled walls; marble columns; high ceilings; a soundtrack of jazz standards; and an illustrated mural of dogs enjoying cocktails.

60% of patrons order a sandwich at lunch and the Butcher Burger is tops on that list. 10 ounces of dry-aged ribeye, fresh brisket and chuck are served on a soft, warm, fresh parker house roll that melts away with each bite.  The burger comes with sweet sautéed onions and English cheddar that adds a salty punch.  A spread of creamy Russian dressing adds a slight sweetness to the perfectly seasoned meat.  The burger is so juicy that we’d recommend tucking in your tie or the old napkin-in-the-collar maneuver.  But meaty drippings are no impediment to the big flavor and satisfying bite of a true steakhouse burger.

The Ribeye Steak Sandwich offers 9 ounces of mid-rare grilled ribeye sourced from a dry-ager outside of Philadelphia, sliced thin, and served on a crusty seeded Italian roll from Sarcone’s (via DiBruno Bros.)  It comes with crisp raw watercress, a cool and tangy mild horseradish cream, and paper-thin shaved Vidalia onions.  The sandwich is a perfect balance of chewy, flavorful bread; tender, meaty ribeye that yields to the bite; and crunchy greens that offer texture and a peppery kick.

Outside the doors of the restaurant, Chef Dacko knows his Philadelphia sandwiches.  Among his local favorites: Standard Tap’s soft shell crab sandwich and braised lamb sandwich; Tony Luke’s chicken cutlet with broccoli rabe and provolone; Herschel’s pastrami and corned beef; Good Dog’s burger; DiNic’s roast pork.  And he likes the meat on his cheesesteaks unchopped, served up like the originals.

Later this summer, Chef Dacko is planning to introduce some new sandwiches to the menu including an heirloom tomato BLT with garlic aioli and applewood smoked bacon.  He also may try a crab sandwich, though the details are still being worked out.

So the next time you need to hammer out a deal over a martini lunch, remember that a good sandwich was as important in old Hollywood as it is today.

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Butcher & Singer
1500 Walnut Street, Philadelphia PA 19102 (Google Map)

Word spread quickly last month when Starr Restaurants Catering announced they would be partnering with Historic Philadelphia, Inc. to open a concession stand in the park at Franklin Square. The plan is to offer burgers, fries and shakes along with other items to visitors of the family friendly park. Currently, a temporary location has been set up in a tent at the center of the square, and we went to investigate.

In its current form, the “Starr Shack”, as we lovingly call it, is very unassuming. A large banner hanging above reads “Franklin Square – Food & Drinks” but the menu posted outside boasts the Starr Restaurants logo. The menu options are limited for now, a hamburger, 100% Kosher beef hot dog and “Philly Dog” (the former wrapped in salami), chips, Jack and Jill brand ice creams and beverages. The staff on hand emphasized that when the full blown stand is opened in mid-summer, the menu will change drastically with an emphasis on specialty burgers.To get a better of idea of what’s to come, we ordered a cheeseburger with everything on it. The $4.75 affair, was priced right for the setting, but was in no way similar to other extravagant burgers offered at Starr restaurants like Barclay Prime and Butcher & Singer. A thick, hand molded, juicy patty sits atop chopped pickles and onions and is topped with cheese on a potato bun. At the time, the staff couldn’t fill us in on the meat blend or the cheese used.

Based on the crowd that visits Franklin Square, mostly young families, we don’t expect to see an over the top menu. Still, no details have been released so we won’t make a judgment call just yet, but we would be happy to see the Starr Shack live up to the anticipation.

Philadelphia-based restaurateur Stephen Starr has sure made a name for himself in the past 10 years. His Starr Restaurant Organization now owns and operates over 15 restaurants in Philadelphia, Atlantic City and New York and last month he was featured as a guest judge on Top Chef. The restaurant mogul’s most recent venture is Starr Events, a business which focuses on catering for a variety of functions and is also now serving corporate clients.

In February, Starr Events assumed operations of the first floor cafe at Center City law firm Duane Morris. An avid Unbreaded tipster informed us the menu which changes daily and features dishes from Starr chefs, does indeed include sandwiches. Obviously we had our work cut out for us. At first glance, the space which is seemingly open to the public (please inform us if we are wrong) looks like a typical office cafeteria. It wasn’t until we noticed items being offered from the menu at Pod that we realized this place was the real deal. A designated sandwich station offers both daily specials and the ability to build your own sandwich with basic meats. It was the specials that we were most interested in.

The Tuscany layered thick-sliced capicola, ricotta cheese, roasted red peppers and spring mix with balsamic vinegar on an Asiago cheese ciabatta roll. A robust flavor profile prevailed with the salty capicola complimented by the slightly sweet and creamy ricotta. The red peppers were seemingly roasted in house, as they were a bit on the crunchy side. We were unable to find out what bakery provided the rolls, but the cheesy ciabatta used only added to the complexity of the seemingly simple sandwich.

Perfectly cooked meat is what drew our eye to the Chimichurri Flank Steak wrap which was adorned with roasted tomatoes, baby spinach and pepper jack cheese. The flank was cut thick and the quality of the meat was surprising for the price paid, it literally melted in the mouth. The chimichurri sauce and other toppings added a nice South American flavor that immediately made us think of Brazilian churrasco. Unfortunately, the wrap used seemed store bought and was on the verge of staleness.

For office dining, the sandwiches at the Duane Morris cafe were top notch and at the very reasonable price of approximately $6 each, we would eat these any day of the week over Cosi.