Midtown Lunch

I have to admit there was a bit of eye rolling when I first heard about All About the Bread, the sandwich shop on Melrose near La Brea.  Calling yourself “All About the Bread” is a bold move, potentially opening yourself up to all sorts of ridicule if your bread doesn’t end up kicking some major ass.  (Kind of like if you named your place Potato Chips, but didn’t make your own potato chips!)   When I stopped in months ago I was completely unexcited by the menu (boar’s head?  No thanks. Pastrami shipped in “from the East Coast”?  Sorry, that’s not a selling point!)   Then I saw this blog post by this week’s Profiled Lunch’er “Lynn”.   A burrata sandwich with pesto for under $10?  Honey lime chicken with cilantro salsa verde and avocado?  I don’t support blogger freebies, but damn those sandwiches look good. Let’s see if they’re as good on a regular day, ordered by a regular customer.

It seem like no restaurant wants to operate these days without serving something with fresh burrata it, but it’s not too often you see it at Midtown Lunch’ish type places.  In other words this sandwich kind of defies the inevitable backlash that happens whenever something goes from unique to commonplace overnight (fusion tacos, anybody?)  Living somewhere between fresh mozzarella and stracciatella, it’s a chore to keep the whole sandwich together- but completely worth it.  I don’t love sun dried tomatoes (surprising they even let me live here, right?)  and they totally overpower the delicate flavor of the cheese- but minus that I totally loved this bad boy.  I mean, just look at it.  It’s like a caprese sandwich on steroids.   And they don’t skimp, so the small size sandwich is plenty big for lunch ($7.50).

The honey lime chicken, which they actually introduced a few months ago, was also good, although I didn’t really get much honey or lime.  It was more about the cheese, and the cilantro pesto/salsa verde thing.  It was warm, and tasty, and I liked the roasted tomatoes way better than the sun dried tomatoes in the other sandwich.  If they could somehow combine this with the burrata, it could be the greatest sandwich of all time.

I also couldn’t resist trying the meatball sandwich, which L.A. Magazine included in their list of Best Sandwiches in the city back in June.  It’s not the best meatball sandwich of all time, but I can see why they included it.   The bread at All About the Bread is easily some of the best sandwich bread of its kind in the city (bested only by Bay Cities, as far as I can tell) and at the time of the issue the Meatball sandwich was probably the best sandwich on their menu.  (Now I’m not so sure.)  The meatballs were firm, but not too hard, and have a nice peppery flavor.  They also don’t go overboard on their sweetish, but still tangy, sauce (and they give extra on the side for those who like their meatballs dripping with wetness.)

I don’t doubt that their Godfather rivals that of Bay Cities (hell, they both use Boar’s Head!) but I’m still not interested in their cold cut sandwiches. Admittedly, though, the bread alone does make All About the Bread stand out… no matter what sandwich you order. These new sandwiches, however, elevate AAtB to the next level, making this a lunch stop I will definitely be returning to.

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• Bread that surprisingly lives up to its name
• A delicious burrata sandwich for $7.50? That’s awesome.
• Their hot sandwiches are especially good on the bread, like the meatball sub and the honey and lime chicken.
• The small is plenty big for lunchtime
• Don’t like what you see?  They supposedly make a good tuna salad as well, and will top anything with their house made peppers (mild or spicy)

THE –

• Boar’s Head doesn’t excite me.
• Neither does pastrami that’s been flown in from the east coast (whatever that means)
• The sandwiches aren’t skimpy but $7.50 is still a little pricey for me
• The honey and lime chicken tastes more like cilantro than anything else
• Why ruin burrata by overpowering it with sun dried tomatoes?

All About the Bread, 7111 Melrose Ave., 323-930-8989