Episode XIV: The Woolman Café (ATL)

I like the employee cafeteria. I may have already lost a few of my colleagues by saying that, but I do.  We do not actually run the cafeteria, a private third party does, which I think is odd because we can run an airline, an oil refinery, but a BLT is a little out of our league.

The last time I was down there I was surprised to see the sandwich bar was advertising a Turkey Rachel Reuben.  I have to say that I was skeptical.

According to Wikipedia the Rachel is, “a variation on the standard Reuben sandwich, substituting pastrami for the corned beef and coleslaw for the sauerkraut. Other recipes for the Rachel call for turkey instead of corned beef or pastrami. In some parts of the United States, especially Michigan, this turkey variant is known as a "Georgia Reuben" or "California Reuben," which sometimes uses barbecue sauce instead of Russian or Thousand Island.”

Here is the sign

Appearance – (3.9/5.0)
Green and red are not the accent colors you expect from a Reuben. I am scrolling through old posts and I don’t see any green or red coming from inside the sandwich. Sure you have pickles and ketchup on the side but look at this one. The green from the spinach – wait, I think this guy must have slipped in some spinach. That was not on the sign. Anyway, not the visual presentation I am used to for a Reuben.  It looks like a clean cut turkey sandwich. No toothpicks and I appreciate that they cut it in half.

Quality Of Ingredients – (4.0/5.0) The individual ingredients were solid and generally are at this place.  The tomatoes and spinach were fresh.  It seemed like pretty standard turkey and Swiss cheese.  The pumpernickel bread was s ok, but I prefer the taste of rye. I think all of us already know that.        

                  

Price– (3.3/5.0) $6.19, no bueno.  I think this is the biggest complaint about the cafeteria, it is expensive.  The same company that runs the cafeteria also runs all of the vending machines so there is no escaping them. 

Je Ne Sais Quoi – (2.6/5.0) I have to admit I was intrigued when I saw this sign.  The intrigue ended after the first bite. It was a good turkey sandwich but not much more.  The magic of the Reuben is taking a whole bunch of ingredients nobody likes and putting them all together in one bite and somehow it tastes amazing.  No magic like that here.  You look at the turkey sandwich, you know what is in there and it tastes like a good turkey sandwich. End of story.

Taste – (7.9/10.0) This was not a bad tasting sandwich, it just want not a Reuben.  The fresh tomatoes really tasted good.  I have been told that is what you are supposed to do with fresh garden tomatoes, slice them up for a sandwich.  Do not even think about making them into salsa. No sir. 

Overall – (21.7/30.0)I think this is the same story from Which Wich.  If you want to attach the word “Reuben” to a sandwich that has to mean something. Toast the bread, heat up the meat, put in the effort!  This sandwich was just too far off base to call it a Reuben.  Maybe they could have gotten away with just calling it a Rachel but they chose to add Reuben on there to try and lure in unsuspecting Reuben aficionados.  I would have known better but I see this as my duty to try it and let all of you fine people know so you can make informed decisions.  All and all it was ok but next time I am going back to my Buffalo Chicken Wrap (easy on the Blue Cheese and extra hot sauce).