Thursday, January 6, 2011

The Secret Sandwich Menu At Bon Fresco

Bon Fresco Sandwich Bakery has a menu so secret that even the employees don't know about it.

Behold: The HowChow Special.

Bon Fresco has served some of Howard County's best sandwiches since it opened two years ago in Columbia, but they took it  to the next level by offering to let me make my own.  I was deciding between the roasted vegetables sandwich with tapanade or the turkey sandwich with Maple Lawn Turkey Farm meat.  The turkey sounded good, but I wanted the salty tapanade more than whatever condiments were on the official turkey version.

That's when the cashier told me that I could mix and match.  Turkey on ciabatta with a thin layer of the roasted vegetables and tapanade.  That was absolutely delicious.  Bon Fresco's menu items were already exceptional.  It just gets better now that I realize that I can shuffle the ingredients myself.  Turkey and roasted vegetables is the HowChow Special -- as long as you get the potato salad as your side.

On a similar note, 1ltkis left a comment on a prior post saying that he/she has called Bon Fresco and asked them to make rolls.  Ciabatta or French bread rolls?  That sounds terrific.  Has anyone else ever done this?  How far in advance do you call?

9 comments:

  1. Not a huge fan of the potato salad at Bon Fesco actually. There's too much in the way of cream that blocks the taste of the potato. Or maybe I'm spoiled with Cafe Mozart's (DC) potato salads.

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  2. I usually get the couscous or the lentil salad as the side, but the other day I tried the potato salad and I really liked it a lot! Made with red potatoes with bits of skin left on for some wonderful textural contrast.

    Nice to hear that there's a mix-and-match possibility at Bon Fresco. The only mix-and-match I ever do is what type of roll to get the London Broil on, ciabatta or french roll.

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  3. I tried the turkey picante sandwich on Tuesday before my trip over to Loyola. The menu board said "very spicy!" so I was expecting some heat. Not so, in the way that left me kind of disappointed. I was hoping for "mouth on fire!" and what I got was something more akin to "mild salsa."

    Anyone else ever have one of the picante sandwiches?

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  4. Yeah, the picante sandwiches are certainly not overly spicy, so that shouldn't scare anyone off. I love the Fresco, which is a a great veggie filled option. Off the menu, I love getting the curried chicken salad as a sandwich on ciabbatta (with pepperjack and greens). They've always been very flexible on mixing and matching...I think that's one thing that's helped by their one price for every sandwich menu.

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  5. @sherringham - I agree with Anon that the picante sandwiches are never that spicy. I bet you could ask them to add more spiciness.

    @Anon - I love the "off the menu" suggestion. Such a great place.

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  6. I was at a party yesterday and watched a woman taste Sabra's roasted red pepper hummus and claim her throat was on fire (sigh). So I guess one person's "not spicy" is another person's "throat on fire". Best for Bon Fresco to play it somewhat mild and let us ask for more heat. Sounds like they'd be more than amenable. And if enough people ask for more, they might tweak things some.

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  7. I love the picante sandwiches just the way they are! Maybe they should change the description to "zesty" or "with a kick"

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  8. Argh! I made plans to try Bon Fresco for the first time today and forgot that they are closed on Sundays! I was all psyched for it, too, after reading reviews here last night. :-( Try, try again.

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  9. I love the mix and match option. Today I got to specify my Grilled Cheese with fresh Mozzarella and the Pesto on Walnut Whole Wheat. Delicious!

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