Sinfully Healthy Sandwich from Pastoral
Item Purchased: Sinfully Healthy Sandwich
Location Purchased: Pastoral Artisan Cheese, Bread & Wine / 53 E. Lake St. / Chicago, IL
Price: $6.99 + tax
Purchased on: 10/02/08
Review: Whenever I see a shop of any sort in the Chicago Loop that looks like the Platonic ideal of a neighborhood store, I get suspicious. Sure, people live in the loop, but I have a hard time thinking of it as a neighborhood. Maybe if there were some clothes lines running between skyscraper windows, it would be easier to accept a place that looks as warm and inviting as Pastoral does. Otherwise, it just seems like a tourist trap. This is probably the very reason I had walked past Pastoral at least twenty times before finally stopping in for lunch.
Once inside, the annoying clutter of the Mag Mile and the Loop drifts away. Yes, the wines, cheeses and deli meats are pricey, but the selection is fantastic and it becomes apparent that whoever is in charge cares deeply about quality product. Adding to the neighborhood feeling, is a full service sandwich counter where lunches are made to order, using bread from one of the Chicago area’s best bakeries, Bennison’s.
Pictured above is half of the sandwich called the Sinfully Healthy. With a foundation of cracked wheat bread, Pastoral piles on thick roasted turkey, dijon mustard, greens (that’s the healthy part, I am guessing) and a creamy, biting Fromager D’Affinois cheese (the sinful part?). Atop everything else, Pastoral places a healthy dollop of tangy mango chutney to finish everything off.
Though the mango chutney is tasty on its own, I felt the sweetness of it drowned out everything else. I found myself digging out fingerfulls of the Fromager D’Affinois so I could experience its full flavor. Maybe a bit less chutney or a cranberry topping of some sort would have balanced out this sandwich a bit better.
For what you get in quantity, the price is right, but unless you like your sandwiches candied, ask for the Sinfully Healthy with a bit more sin and a bit less chutney or move on to the rest of Pastoral’s menu. It’s a shame that such a collection of tasty ingredients can slip into something so undesirable simply because of it’s unbalanced construction.
Rating: 2.75 / 5
October 7th, 2008 at 12:06 am
[...] Though one sandwich from the Chicago Loop’s neighborhood wine shop/bakery was a bit of a disappointment, I left room for improvement by ordering a second sandwich for my girlfriend and I to try. Though a [...]