The other day I passed by a new Subway sandwich place which had opened a few blocks from our house. As I was reflecting its green and yellow sign images of foot long chunks of white bread came to mind, mayo smeared on one half, mustard on the other; ham, provolone, pickles, jalapenos, onions, peppers, olives, tomatoes in between and a bag of chips for sides... People in America like to pile on.
I also thought of my favorite fast food place in Vienna, which goes by the unspeakable name of Trzesniewski. The original Trzesniewski opened in the first district more than one hundred years ago. Its oldest location is tucked into a narrow street off of Graben. Other outlets are scattered around town.
Trzesniewski sells open face sandwiches, slivers of rye bread (white or wheat? no, you do not get to choose!), topped with spreads made from either egg or tomatoes or cucumber, pickle, salmon, herring... The more elaborate creations come with two or three spreads, applied next to each other, striped flag style, or with a slice of egg for decoration. Very simple. Very tasty.
I also thought of my favorite fast food place in Vienna, which goes by the unspeakable name of Trzesniewski. The original Trzesniewski opened in the first district more than one hundred years ago. Its oldest location is tucked into a narrow street off of Graben. Other outlets are scattered around town.
Trzesniewski sells open face sandwiches, slivers of rye bread (white or wheat? no, you do not get to choose!), topped with spreads made from either egg or tomatoes or cucumber, pickle, salmon, herring... The more elaborate creations come with two or three spreads, applied next to each other, striped flag style, or with a slice of egg for decoration. Very simple. Very tasty.
Comments
To my surprise, the girls recoiled. They were used to sandwiches with one or two thin slices of meat, perhaps with 'salad' consisting of a limp piece of lettuce. Until then, I hadn't considered the different cultural interpretations of the simple sandwich.
However, the open-faced sandwiches you describe at Trzesniewski sound delicious. We'll have to try them when we're next in Vienna.
Love the "limp" in the lettuce! Thank you for your comment.
I ate my first piled high sandwich in March 1996 in Florida. My now husband, M., and I had started dating six months before and were touring the US together.
Our last stop took us to Fort Myers, Florida, to visit friends of M.'s. They prepared a build your own sandwich meal for us at their home. The sight of the choices of meat, cheese, vegetables, and condimets overwhelmed me, but M. offered to make my sandwich. I have never eaten a better one.
Thank you.
Quantity vs. quality? Maybe. But another factor is at play here, a cultural difference: Americans live abundantly, Europeans traditionally do not. More in one of my next posts.
The people at Trzesniewski actually claim that they invented the tiny beer (it is called Pfiff; engl.: whistle). Not sure whether this is true but I used to love it.