If you have been reading the blog for a while, you might remember that I have mentioned The Rachel a couple of times in the past. Well, here it is for the first time (I think). An actual photo of one of my favorite sandwiches of all time…

The Rachel:

Yes. Last night one of my good friends and I ate at Zaftigs – one of my favorite places to have brunch, lunch or dinner in the Boston area. (In Brookline, of course)

When we sat down to dinner I was going in between ordering the cobb salad (sans bleu cheese of course!) and the Rachel. In the back of my head I also had the crazy thought of ordering breakfast for dinner – their famous banana stuffed french toast or the granola pancakes with date butter are some of my other favorite things on the menu. I definitely could have thrown in a potato pancake for good measure.  It is always a hard decision, but for some reason I went with The Rachel – because I could not resist.

The Rachel is what I always refer to as a turkey reuben. I do not eat corned beef, and have only ever had a bite of one reuben my dad ordered once (it was one of his favorite sandwiches to order in a delicatessen) but I am happy that I have found my equivalent of a favorite reuben-isk sandwich.

The Rachel is smoked turkey, swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Russian dressing on grilled pumpernickel bread. I always order the Russian dressing on the side because I hate soggy bread (and I like to decide how much dressing I want to consume on a given day).  I by passed the fries and ordered coleslaw for some reason. [The only options were potato salad and coleslaw to substitute for the fries. If I was smart I would have just ordered the sandwich and enjoyed the pickle that it comes with. I really would have been happy with some steamed broccoli or something on the side.]

The sandwich arrived quickly. Happily, I was not disappointed  –  although the grilled pumpernickel bread could have been a little crispier on one side of one half of the sandwich – but who are we kidding? The sandwich was delicious, as usual. Next time I go to Zaftigs, I promise I will try to order something different so that I can bring some of their other cuisine to Sugar & Spice.  Hopefully it will not be another six months before I make my way back to Coolidge Corner.

After dinner JP and I went to the Coolidge Corner Theatre (another one of my favorite places) where we absorbed the movie Sarah’s Key. If you have not read the book yet, I would recommend reading it. The movie was well done, and well… horrifying. But I am glad that I saw it.

Happy Thursday morning everyone – hope your day is off to a great start. See you in a bit!