I prefer Jersey Mike's.

Both Jersey Mike's and Quizno's are quite good. Way better than any Subway. The big difference is whether you want a toasted or untoasted sub/hoagie/grinder/hero/poor boy.

when one orders a sandwich in a US Deli ... you spec ingredients

That's one of my biggest peeves about ``delis'' down here in the South. Here, they don't work like that. They have a list of sandwiches you can order. I always end up getting one of those sandwiches except with a different meat, and with this other ingredient, and without that other one, oh and can you steam it instead of grill it? Thanks. I go out of my way to go to a real deli, but most of them have closed now. I guess Southerners like being told what to eat. (BTW, I've lived all of my 29 years in North Carolina, so don't tell me to ``Go Home, Yankee''.)

Also, has anyone else noticed that all Wal-Marts smell the same? I mean all of em, no matter where you are in the world, and it's a distinct odor too.

It's that old people smell of the greeters

depends?

The last US deli I went to was the Carnegie Deli in NYC, where the proprietor personally insulted my inability to consume an entire Woody Allen.

Rob

Ewwwww!

What I meant was that when one orders a sandwich in a US Deli (at least in my experience), it's a lot like Subway, where you spec ingredients.

Oh, right, I see. In that case, the answer to "Aren't there any delicatessens in Cambridge?" is no, at least in that sense of the word. Of course Nadia's and the rest will cheerfully customise their standard sandwiches for you if you ask, but queues would soon build up if more than a tiny minority of customers did that.

I mean, I can see what Subway are getting at, if most of their customers end up feeling "empowered" and that they are having their every whim catered for. But frankly I don't often have whims about salad vegetables, and being quizzed about them as if I deeply cared seems completely unnecessary faffing about when I just want to buy a sandwich, especially as I've already chosen the sandwich I want from a list of names. (The language barrier didn't help, either; French dressing is vinaigrette, yes? What's Italian dressing?)

This is really turning into a rant now, but on a similar note, am I really the only person in the Western world who doesn't care which way up my fried egg is? (I always reply "over easy", but that's only because I can't remember what the other way up is called. If I want to memorise endless meaningless rules and responses, I'll take up bridge -- I don't want it at breakfast-time.)

Peter

This is really turning into a rant now, but on a similar note, am I really the only person in the Western world who doesn't care which way up my fried egg is? (I always reply "over easy", but that's only because I can't remember what the other way up is called.

Amen to that brother...

I find the constant "would you like...", "how would you like..." questions in the States entertaining for the first few days, but after that it gets boring real quick.

The other problem is that the people asking the questions have asked the particular question so many times in their working life that all meaning has been slurred out of it. So when some Chinese woman in Quizno's was asking us "white or rye", it took about a dozen attempts before we could even hear the words that she was saying, let alone work out what our answer was.

I need to have a rant about US road signs now. Why is the language in them so "odd" ? Surely no one would ever say "Right turn yield on red", I mean when was the last time you heard some one use "yield" in general conversation ?

I got caught by a great sign in Seattle the other month. I was driving along the I520 from Bellevue, towards Kirkland. We were trying to find a road that came off the I520 and headed north into Kirkland. At that point the I520 curves around from heading north to heading nearly due south.

As we were driving along there was a sign saying "Next exit last east bound exit". The the f**k ? At this point, without a compass we had no firm idea of which direction the road was currently pointed, so the sign meant nothing to us. Even if we had know which direction we were headed it wouldn't have helped as looking at the map afterwards clearly shows that the exit it is taking about heads north, not east.

Suffice it to say we spent far to long trying to make sense of the sign and did not take the exit. The next exit was five miles away in the centre of Seattle.

If the sign had said "Next exit last exit before Seattle centre" or something then we would have taken the damn exit...

Driving in the US is entertaining though.

There's a Subway in Reading town centre, so I guess there must be a few kicking around. I certainly can't imagine that they'd choose to site their only branch in Reading!

Bryan.

There's a Subway in Reading town centre, so I guess there must be a few kicking around. I certainly can't imagine that they'd choose to site their only branch in Reading!

There is a long list of UK stores here: http://www.subway.co.uk/Store_List.asp

French dressing is vinaigrette, yes? What's Italian dressing?

I'll not assume what vinaigrette is in the UK, so I'll describe both. Italian dressing is closest to what I'd call vinaigrette. It's a mixture of vinegar (usually wine vinegar, occasionally balsamic) and oil, with some herbs and spices mixed in. French dressing is a somewhat sweet, somewhat tangy, orange colored tomato-based dressing, although there's a significant number of wide variations.

The Wish-Bone salad dressing company has a good overview of their salad dressings, which, I think, ignoring their brand-specific products, represents US expectations fairly well.

I always reply "over easy", but that's only because I can't remember what the other way up is called.

``Sunny-side Up''. Precious, isn't it?

Wish-Bone salad dressing company

Look at the ingredients of their "Olive Oil Vinaigrette":

Ingredients: water, vinegar (rice wine, red wine and balsamic), high fructose corn syrup, extra virgin olive oil, soybean oil, contains less than 2% of: minced garlic*, marjoram*, orange peel, spice, salt, xanthan gum, sodium benzoate, sorbic acid, and calcium disodium edta (to preserve freshness) *dehydrated

Yum !

Given that oil and vinegar are both shelf stable and a vinaigrette is such a simple thing, why do they put all that other crap in it ?

"Speed controlled by Radar"

Like F**k it is. Last time I checked it was being controlled by the appendage attached to my right leg.


With regards to the over-detailed "this or that" questions that vendors sometimes insist on asking, my stock answer is "Yes" with a shrug.
eg
"Would you like your sandwich cut into 2 pieces or 4?", "Yes".

Italian dressing is closest to what I'd call vinaigrette. It's a mixture of vinegar (usually wine vinegar, occasionally balsamic) and oil, with some herbs and spices mixed in.

Oh, OK, yes, that's what we (and, I believe, the French) know as vinaigrette.

Peter

"Speed controlled by Radar"

On a related topic of roads & highways: Merge zones. We have them in Maryland. Why wouldn't you have a merge zone? Every time I go to Pennsylvania (I live near PA) to get something, I am reminded that their highways have no merge zone. So, you have about 200 feet to get to highway speed, which is usually at least 70mph. When traffic is heavy, it is common to see people stuck on the ramp because there is no merge area where you can get up to speed and merge into traffic.

Oh, and about the comment someone had earlier about asking for White or Rye bread... Go in to any McDonalds or fast food place and its pretty common the first thing the employee asks you is "Melpuu", which is supposed to stand for "May I help you?"

Oil is not shelf stable. It can go rancid fairly quickly. Unless you're talking about store shelves, in which case, the dearth of oxygen in the bottle would tend to retard rancidity. Regardless, it wasn't my intent to say that USians expect ``other crap'' (which they do, but that's beside the point), but to point out the typical flavor ingredients.

By the way, the xanthan gum is probably used as a stabilizer to help prevent the vinegar and oil from separating too quickly, and not as a preservative, in case you didn't know what that was.

Given that oil and vinegar are both shelf stable and a vinaigrette is such a simple thing, why do they put all that other crap in it?

Well, I can understand the xanthan as an emulsifier, as vinaigrette will separate over shelf timescales. (Yes, you can shake it to re-emulsify it, but it'd put people off sitting on the shelf separated.) And vinaigrette is nice with a little garlic and marjoram in (though I'd add mustard too). What I can't understand is the "high fructose corn syrup" ahead of the oil ingredients. Isn't that the stuff that some other thread complained was used in Dr Pepper instead of sugar? Does it make the vinaigrette taste sweet?

On the other hand I've always been a big fan of "Ranch dressing", which it's possible to find in big supermarkets over here but isn't really on the salad radar of most establishments.

Peter

Oil is not shelf stable. It can go rancid fairly quickly.

It seems to be stable on my shelf...

...I tend to buy very large bottles of olive oil for instance and they don't degrade noticably over six months or more. Things like sesame oil do definitely go off relatively quickly when exposed to air though.

By the way, the xanthan gum is probably used as a stabilizer to help prevent the vinegar and oil from separating too quickly, and not as a preservative, in case you didn't know what that was.

They use it in the UK as well, horrible stuff. You can always spot a sauce or dressing that has it in it, because they have the nasty overly-shiny appearance.

Quite why salad dressing needs corn syrup added to it I don't know.

In fact, come to think of it olive oil must last at least a year, given that there is only one olive harvest a year !

I'd guess that it's to break the acid taste of the vinegar. But that's just to ameliorate the childish palates of the average USian consumer. And yes, it is a sugar substitute, but not having tasted this particular brand, I can't comment on its flavor.

And Ranch dressing is probably the most common dressing in the US, with the possible exception of Thousand Island, which, AFAICT, is a mixture of tomato ketchup, mayonnaise, and pickle relish, sometimes without the relish. Lousy stuff.

And vinaigrette is nice with a little garlic and marjoram in (though I'd add mustard too).

Yeah, I wasn't counting the herbs and spices in my "other crap" reference...

Yeah, but it's got soybean oil, too, which goes rancid pretty quickly.

With regards to the over-detailed "this or that" questions that vendors sometimes insist on asking, my stock answer is "Yes" with a shrug.

I think US English does provide the right word for this occasion with "Whatever", but (a) it sounds a bit rude, and (b) I'm not sure if it would work when spoken diffidently in a strong British accent.

Peter (and his united states of whatever)

Which of course begs the question, why is there soy bean oil in the "Olive oil vineagarette" ?

How on earth did we get onto this topic !?

Beacuse it's cheaper and USians don't know what olive oil tastes like, anyway. (I feel compelled to note, once again, that I am a native ``American'' from North Carolina, in case anyone wants to complain about me being bigoted, which I am, but from the inside.)

LOL....Too true, people over here still have problems understanding me

Example - Whenever I go through the McD's drivethrough. I don't like watery-tasting soda/pop/soft drinks (did I get everyone??), and since the regular size will last me a good half hour and they always put in too much ice, I always order without ice. Or attempt to.

The following just don't seem to work for me:
"Coke no ice"
"Coke without ice"
"Coke, no ice"
"Coke, without ice"

The common result is that they think that I've said something completely different. Such as Sprite. (!?). So then I try:

" *Coke*....no ice"
" *Coca*- *Cola*...no ice"

etc., until eventually I'm doing the Englishman in France - shouting every word really slowly in the hope that the louder and slower I get, the greater the chance that they well understand me. It's gotten so frustrating that I get my wife to order if she's in the car

And what's with that "This Screen to Help Ensure Order Accuracy" thing? 90% of the time they don't use it, so I don't know whether they've understood what I've said... Arrgh.

sunny side up.

(and keep oil out of the light and it will last longer)

"Sunny-side Up''. Precious, isn't it?

..which seems to mean "raw". "Over Easy" seems to mean "almost raw".

I haven't yet found the appropriate terminology for "fully set white, runny yolk" which is achieved by flicking oil on top of the egg, not by turning it over. Maybe I should carry a diagram.

Rob

You've been eating at some crappy restaurants.

Apparently, your way is ``basted''. Though I've never actually heard that term in an egg context, it might at least give you the opportunity to explain.