Episode XLIX: City Café Dallas (DAL)

I am a food blogger, not a Foodie. I would love to be a Foodie, but with a 5 year-old at home it is next to impossible.  When it’s Danny’s turn to pick where we’re going, chances are we end up at Chick-fil-a.

City Café in Dallas might be just the place to ease me back into the Foodie scene. It boasts menu items like Shishito peppers and Scallopini Milanese (neither of which is recognized by spell check in MS Word) as well as Bliss potatoes, and Shallot vinaigrette.

All of that will have to wait because there is an $18 Reuben on the menu.

Deli Style Reuben

“Corned Beef, Sauerkraut, Swiss Cheese, and Whole Grain Mustard with French Fries & Kosher Dill Pickle Spear”

Appearance – (4.3/5.0)

The first impression is good with clean, crisp lines on the plate. I had a good view of the chef at the window and he seemed to meticulously wipe the edges of each plate before it went out. He must have been ok with the mustard playing peek-a-boo out of that little hole in the bread. The coloring around the hole suggests that maybe the peek-a-boo was initially an eruption that was scaled back for service.

The bread looks perfectly grilled/toasted. If you start from the edges, you see a healthy burn that transitions to soft white, then a golden brown in the middle. Someone had their eye on that bread the entire time.

Quality of Ingredients – (4.7/5.0)

When I heard we were going to this place for lunch, of course the first thing I did was check the menu online to see if they had a Reuben. The description from the online menu matches the sandwich that was served and is what I included above. Here is what the menu at the restaurant had in print, “Pastrami, Rye Bread, Sauerkraut, Swiss Cheese, and House Dressing with French Fries & Kosher Dill Pickle Spear”.

Here is the comparison:

In-person print menu
“Pastrami, Rye Bread, Sauerkraut, Swiss Cheese, and House Dressing with French Fries & Kosher Dill Pickle Spear”.

Online/Served
“Corned Beef, Sauerkraut, Swiss Cheese, and Whole Grain Mustard with French Fries & Kosher Dill Pickle Spear”

This is a different group of ingredients and I am really curious as to how, when, and why these changes were made.  Have they not gotten around to changing the print menu? The print menu is a standard Reuben. (Corned beef is the classic but Pastrami is an accepted “standard alternative” for lack of a better term).  It looks like they decided to scrap the Rye in favor of Sourdough, go back to the classic Corned Beef, and get rid of the House Dressing to introduce whole grain mustard. Fascinating!

Whole grain mustard is a first for this blog and I had mentally prepared by myself for a mustard Reuben, only to get to the restaurant and find a standard Reuben on the menu. Then the mustard Reuben shows up at the table. Maybe they heard I was coming and were trying to mess with me. This is the burden of food blogger fame.

All of that to say, the whole grain mustard was excellent. The Corned Beef was tender and juicy but the sauerkraut was noticeably muted and tame.

Price – (3.8/5.0)

All week I had in my mind that I was going to eat an $18 Reuben.  That is real money.  When I was living the bachelor life in Boston I used to compare my discretionary expenses to how many burritos I could buy instead. A solid burrito from Anna's Taqueria back in the day was $7.50. So, if I wanted to take a cab back from the bars to Kenmore Square that might be, with tip, ~$15 or two burritos. Was the cab ride worth two burritos, or would I be better off walking home and treating myself to Anna’s the next day? I did this all the time to help make decisions.  I don’t eat at Anna’s anymore but I still try to use this thinking. Today I might think of a monthly payment to Netflix or a trip to Sonic to get Danny ice-cream but the process is the same. Using this logic, I don’t think this Reuben was worth $18.

This is a nice place that is ideal for a business lunch.  It has double white table cloth, good service, and you even get your ketchup served in a personalized gravy boat.  They also should get credit for making what can be a very messy sandwich into something you can eat in front of your boss. All of this seems to be what you are paying for because the sandwich itself falls short of the price tag.

Did I mention there was no pickle spear on the plate? I don’t even like pickle spears but for $18, I am going to want to see it.

Je Ne Sais Quoi – (3.2/5.0)

This place was pretty clean cut and mystery free. The biggest curveball was probably the jalapeños in the calamari.  The single biggest JNSQ killer for this Reuben was the Sourdough bread.  A strong caraway seeded Rye is a risk, so when you see plain bread that is perfectly toasted it signals you are entering a safe space.

This rings especially true because they showed their hand! We all know that at some point they had Rye and decided to do away with it and it didn’t stop there. They got rid of the dressing and went with mustard.  I think the classic Reuben was too much to handle for the business lunch crowd and they had to dial the JNSQ way down.

Taste – (8.8/10.0)

Putting aside the menu confusion, it was a good sandwich.  The sauerkraut was not strong and it could have used that acidic kick.  In my opinion, this is another effort to transform the Reuben into something you can put on the tame business lunch menu.  The saving grace was really the Corned Beef and the mustard. The texture of all of the little whole grains was a new Reuben experience I really enjoyed. 

Overall – (24.8/30.0)

Would I order it again? Yes, but not the next time I go. There are other things on the menu I would like to try before I go back. I also want to hear the story of why they made the changes.

Sometime the scoring rubric does not suit a Reuben well and that is the case here. It was not a bad Reuben, but a risk-averse product is going to have a tough time racking up a high score here.

Episode XXV: Manuel's Tavern (ATL)

Episode XXV was more than a week in the making. We tried to go out for a Reuben on March 15^th and struck out at several places.  I have started calling ahead now because some places have a Reuben on their website menu but will not have it when you order it. This is unacceptable. Manuel's Tavern in Poncey-Highlands came to the rescue. 

I have been in Atlanta for about two years now and I have not been to all of the places but I have at least heard of most. I had never heard of Manuel’s. It had great reviews online and I was craving a Reuben.

Rueben
“Turkey or corned beef on grilled marbled rye with sauerkraut and Swiss. 1000 island on the side."

Appearance – (3.1/5.0)

Not much of a wow factor with this one. I think the Chef would be disappointed to know that my server presented the dish with the sandwich on the far side. It seems distant and you cannot see all of the goodness that is inside. So I helped him out a bit.

There, that’s better. You can also see the marbling on the rye from this angle and the overflowing cheese is almost enough to distract you from the toothpicks.

Quality Of Ingredients – (4.3/5.0)

Good stuff on this one. The sandwich was prepared in what I like to call the Philly cheesesteak style. This makes it harder to really get a grasp of each individual ingredient. The one exception is the 1000 island. I was surprised when the sandwich came and I saw that on the side. I did not remember ordering it that way and I didn’t.  Looking back at the menu it is advertised that way.  Super tasty. I asked our server if it was homemade and he said yes, but he did not seem too sure of his answer.  The rye held its own despite being on the burned side of “grilled”.

Price – (4.7/5.0)

The price point of $8.25 is about right for the portion size but what gives it such a high score is everything that came with it, not the least of which is plentiful free parking. This place has two adjacent lots that are reserved just for Manuel’s.  Furthermore, each table has not one, not two, but three ketchup bottles ready to go.  We sat in one of the large dining rooms and most of the TVs were on one of the NCAA tournament games. The one directly in front of us was on commercial.  Two minutes later I realized it was still on the same thigh/butt toning infomercial. I was starting to feel guilty watching all of these healthy people tone their lower body while my lazy ass was drinking a beer and preparing to dominate a Reuben. Our server changed the channel to the game and all was right in the world.

Je Ne Sais Quoi – (4.2/5.0)

This is a great not-so-little neighborhood bar. We got there after the brunch but before the lunch crowd. It was quiet but you can tell the place gets packed. The 1000 island on the side threw me.  Sometimes I get worried I am going to run out of things to write about Reubens and little things like that keep me going. If anyone from Manuel’s is reading this can you let me know if the 1000 is actually homemade?

Taste – (9.0/10.0)

One advantage of having the 1000 island on the side is you can make sure you get some on each bite. The portion they give you is big enough to put a lot on each bite if you want. It tastes great but it is heavy. There was more than enough butter on the bread and that plus the richness of the 1000 island can be too much. After a few 1000 island bites I cleansed by palate with fries and ketchup then I was ready to go back in. Tender beef and lots of good melted Swiss made it easy to enjoy without piling on the 1000 island.

Overall – (25.3/30.0)

I would say this score accurately reflects the experience.  Manuel’s is close by and I can see myself going there again for sure. My wife got the pulled pork and it was not the best, very porky (Good thing I don’t write a BBQ blog huh?). Other than that they have a good beer selection and even craft sodas.  The wife really did like her Root Beer.

Would I order it again? Yes.

Well done Manny.

Episode XIX: Malone's (ATL)

The blog has really caught on with my co-workers. Sometimes I don’t know if they are laughing with me or at me, but nonetheless, no fewer than 7 of them signed up for the latest Reuben adventure. We all went to Malone’s and it was Reubens all around, almost. Brett chose not to get one. This is actually his third Reuben adventure tag-a-long but he has yet to order one. He’ll cave eventually.

CLASSIC REUBEN
"Deli sliced pastrami, sauerkraut, swiss cheese and 1000 Island on grilled marble rye bread”

Again Swiss is not capitalized. I can tell you that MS Word spell check does underline it. This means they either think Word is wrong or they don’t care. Martina, I apologize on behalf of Malone’s and misspelled American menus everywhere.

Appearance – (3.8/5.0)
Good natural looking marble rye but let’s get right to it. It looks like there is a pastrami taco inside this sandwich. I have not seen this before. They slice the pastrami long enough to just stuff the sauerkraut in there. I have zoomed in a few times and I just don’t think I like it.

Quality Of Ingredients – (4.1/5.0)
The pastrami was actually pretty good but Charith did point out that it was a bit salty. (MS Word has issues with Charith) The 1000 Island by definition came out of a bottle and the sauerkraut was solid. The sauerkraut is so important to the Reuben taste profile and this one was good.

Price – (3.4/5.0)
$8.59 is not exactly cheap, with nothing to offset the price either. There is nothing special about the ambiance at Malone’s; it is a pretty standard restaurant. It does come with a pickle but I am not really crazy about them and the other guys were not either. Kyle was the big winner in this as he collected about five unwanted pickles on his plate.

I would also like to talk ketchup. Some places do the ketchup in a little cup on the plate. Can I just get a bottle of Heinz 57 on the table? I feel like they are being cheap with the ketchup. I usually preemptively order more when the server drops off the plate.

Je Ne Sais Quoi – (3.2/5.0)  

Did they really fold the pastrami around the sauerkraut? I am having a hard time getting past that one. Not really an X-factor with this sandwich. It is one of the few pastrami Reubens on the blog, and I thought that alone would give it some points here but it has disappointed.

Taste – (8.3/10.0)
This was good, certainly not bad, but nothing outstanding. The folding sauerkraut is a doubled edged sword. It facilitates the perfect bite experience. I think the sauerkraut was tossed in the 1000 Island so there is no avoiding it. The problem was there was too much of the filling. On some bites the filling flushes out and you get a solo sauerkraut bite. Have you ever taken an initial small bite out of a Qdoba burrito and then just let everything inside of the burrito come out on the second bite? That is a good thing, solo sauerkraut is not.

Overall – (22.8/30.0)
Not the best Reuben experience. Maybe I should check these places out first before I invite a hoard of co-workers. Would I order it again? No. I had the meatloaf the time before this and it was awesome.