Around the World 16 - Roast Beef & Cheese - Terrifically Underrated

I am going Around the World on the Primantis menu, eating every sandwich, in order.

16th on this list is the Roast Beef & Cheese. Yes, it's a little out of order here, but I assure you I ate it before the Pastrami. How I messed that up, I don't know, but at least the counts make sense again.

The Roast Beef & Cheese is excellent. After having less-than-stellar experiences with other "typical" meats that you see in every restaurant, I was truly satisfied here. The roast beef was flavorful, it was satisfying, there was enough there, and it fit in with the other flavors involved.

Unpretentious, even in its appearance.

I don't think anybody gives the Roast Beef the time of day, and I don't know why. I've said before that people new to Primantis often get the turkey, which I have seen happen numerous times since I published that post. However, Roast Beef doesn't get the same kind of love, and I don't know why. It's a safe name, nd it's very good. 

There's a lot of flavor involved here. You get a hint of smokey on top of the usual beef flavors, and though it's a touch on the salty side, I found it to be remarkably pleasant. I think an egg might improve this, but I have been noticing that double meat DOES NOT fix a lot of problems, so I might try it with this, but I am not sure that it will be better. 

Is it better or worse than the Pittsburgher? I came across this issue when trying to rank them, and I must say that it's a difficult question. They're both beef. they're both flavorful. One is clearly more Pittsburgh-like, one is a delicious lunchmeat. The Pittsburgher is so good because it balances the flavors exquisitely. You taste the burger, coleslaw, and french fries equally. With the Roast Beef, the meat is king, you taste it most. I put the Roast Beef above the Pittsburgher in the ranking for that reason - you order the meat, it should be most important - but for a first-timer or n00b, I think the Pittsburgher is a better choice.

No complaints, it's a solid sammich, and I've already been ordering this when I want something different and milder than my usual picks of spiced deli meats.

Taste: 8 A solid 8. It's not going to overthrow the top shelf, but it's right at their heels

Satisfaction: 8 I feel that there's room for improvement, I want more of that flavor, but idk how.

Flavor: 9 It's delicious, but again, doesn't hold up against capicolas and pastramis

Enjoyable: 8 There is nothing not to like.

Pittsburghness: 6 Nothing shouts Picksburgh about this sammich, but quality is quality.

Should I Get This Sandwich? Yes If you want a safe pick, this is a safe pick.

Ranking:

Capicola (with Egg)

Corned Beef

Capicola

Pastrami

Roast Beef

Pittsburgher Cheese Steak

Kielbasa

Hot Sausage

Genoa Salami (Double Meat)

Jumbo Baloney

Turkey

Rajun Cajun

Triple Cheese

Genoa Salami

Ham

Egg

Bacon, Egg & Cheese

Bacon

Around the World 15 - Rajun Cajun Chicken Breast - No Rajun Here

I am going Around the World on the Primantis menu, eating every sandwich, in order.

15th is the Rajun Cajun Chicken Breast sandwich, something that I wanted to be amazing, an idea that I am all about, and yet...it disappointed.

In there is a package of underwhelming

It's a chicken breast that has been seasoned in Cajun spices, and it simply is not seasoned enough. There's flavor...but it's mostly the chicken. I read "rajun", and with that spelling, I wanted some heat. I would be left wanting. It isn't spicy.

Needs more seasoning

I admit that when I call something spicy, it should be really spicy...but I'm no fire-eater. I love Frank's Red Hot, but Frank's Extra Spicy is inedible to me. So I'm just above average on the kind of spiciness I want. 

This sandwich is not anywhere near my preferred range. Now some people have disagreed with me, that it's plenty spicy. That sometimes you get it with a lot more seasoning and it's excellent then. I have not had that experience. 

In fact, as I've tried various sandwiches with different upgrades (double meat, egg, etc), I might go back to this and tell them to season the hell out of it and see if I get the great sammich others tell me about. 

If you want a pretty basic chicken breast sandwich with just a little bit of zing, there's nothing wrong with this sandwich, but there's nothing above average about it, either.

Taste: 7 It's not off-putting, it's just not what I expected - spicy. It's not spicy.

Satisfaction: 1 It says it's Rajun...it's not. It isn't what it is advertised to be, so I was unsatisfied.

Flavor: 5 It's chicken breast. It's good. There's a hint of seasoning. Nothing more.

Enjoyable: 6 I can't get past how little Rage exists.

Pittsburghness: 0 Pittsburgh might not be the spiciest town, but when we do things, we go all out and do it right. Despite our lack of Cajun influence, we still should represent it properly. This doesn't. It fails to do it Pittsburghly. 

Should I get this Sandwich? No Not until I can do more research and tell you how to ensure a good experience.

Really and truly, this could be dropped from the main menu and nothing would be lost.

Ranking:

Capicola (with Egg)

Corned Beef

Capicola

Pastrami

Pittsburgher Cheese Steak

Kielbasa

Hot Sausage

Genoa Salami (Double Meat)

Jumbo Baloney

Turkey

Rajun Cajun

Triple Cheese

Genoa Salami

Ham

Egg

Bacon, Egg & Cheese

Bacon

Around the World 14 - Corned Beef & Cheese - Could it get Better?

I am going Around the World on the Primantis menu, eating every sandwich, in order.

14th is the Corned Beef & Cheese, and I've known for a long time that this is a truly excellent sandwich. I've always loved corned beef, especially as a brisket, and sliced thin is just as good.

I don't know what they do to corn beef, but it's delicious.

The saltiness of the beef is the perfect item to go with cool, tangy coleslaw and the somewhat bland french fries. It all goes really well together, and the corned beef has a strong flavor that will not hide behind that of the other items. 

Turns out it's cured with rock salt, which are nicknamed "corns", Yummy rock salt.

There is an excellent umami with the richness of the beef; there is a fantastic mouthfeel. Unlike many of these sandwiches with the excellent flavor of salted meats, they definitely give you enough corned beef. There's enough there to be rather filling, and there's enough there to get the real flavor.

In fact, I usually get the corned beef when I go to the Smallman Street location. It's easy, it needs no modification, and it's excellent. 

The only issue that sometimes comes up is that you don't always get a well-put-together sandwich. It's very easy for the corned beef to get piled up right in the middle, and you have to spread it around and make sure you get some meat in every bite. Sometimes it's very easy for this thinly-sliced meat to fall apart and require some reassembly. But, if that's your biggest issue, you've got a pretty good sandwich.

It's fantastic, truly fantastic, and I can't wait to try it with egg to see if it can unseat the only thing that is objectively better than corned beef: capicola boosted by egg.

Taste: 10 It's absolutely delicious and has a strong flavor. Adding an egg might take it to 11.

Satisfaction: 8 Sometimes it gets messy and needs reassembled. It's a scattered meat.

Flavor: 10 The flavor you get is excellent. So tasty.

Enjoyable: 8 Reassembly required.

Pittsburghness: 9 Chicago is usually known for the Irish and their corned beef, but Pittsburgh once had a hockey team named the Shamrocks, so...

Ranking:

Capicola (with Egg)

Corned Beef

Capicola

Pastrami

Pittsburgher Cheese Steak

Kielbasa

Hot Sausage

Genoa Salami (Double Meat)

Jumbo Baloney

Turkey

Triple Cheese

Genoa Salami

Ham

Egg

Bacon, Egg & Cheese

Bacon

Around the World 13 - Pastrami & Cheese - delicious

I am going Around the World on the Primantis menu, eating every sandwich, in order.

13th on the list is the Pastrami and Cheese, the salty brine-cured meat is a deli classic best known in New York City at iconic establishments like Katz's Deli. It's just as delicious in the Pittsburgh treatment, but it sure isn't piled high like it is in the Big Apple.

The highest part is the bread, followed by the french fries. 

Like too many of these sandwiches, there isn't enough meat. It's not by much, but I bet this is perfect with double meat, and I honestly cannot wait to try that. The meat is wonderfully salty, the grease is ideal, and I wish there was simply more to compete with the other flavors inherent in the Primanti sammich.

It's barely visible, but the pastami is there. Make it visible!

Look, I understand that pastrami is a very expensive meat, but I would gladly pay a little more to have more meat there. Increase it by a buck and give me 150% of the pastrami there now. That would be the ideal sandwich. 

It's absolutely worth getting, but it's not what it SHOULD be. That's the whole dilemma, it could be so much better, but it's not. 

The saltiness is fantastic though, and the umami of the pastrami should not be underestimated. This is a meat that simply belongs in a setting like Primantis, and it's definitely a good, solid choice. You'll never hear me doubt someone who orders this.

Even if this time, it gave me quite the stomach ache later on, it was worth it.

Taste: 8 Put more meat on there, it will be better.

Satisfaction: 8 So close to being perfect. I'm curious what effect an egg might have, too.

Flavor: 10 The meat is delicious, when you get that flavor in your mouth, you savor it.

Enjoyable: 9 It's worthwhile. 

Pittsburghness: 7 It's so known as being NYC's meat that we definitely take a back seat.

Should I Get This Sandwich? Yes! This is never a bad choice. Probably the best sandwich to try an extra on there, which I fully intend to do

Ranking:

Capicola (with Egg)

Capicola

Pastrami

Pittsburgher Cheese Steak

Kielbasa

Hot Sausage

Genoa Salami (Double Meat)

Jumbo Baloney

Turkey

Triple Cheese

Genoa Salami

Ham

Egg

Bacon, Egg & Cheese

Bacon

Around the World 12 - Bacon, Egg & Cheese - I Didn't Look Forward to This

I am going Around the World on the Primantis menu, eating every sandwich, in order.

I had the Bacon & Cheese just two sandwiches ago, and it quickly sank to the bottom of the list. It was cheap bacon, and the quantity of it didn't help. It has a metallic aftertaste that just wasn't good. You get better bacon at Wendy's.

Adding egg is a bandaid on a bullet wound.

It's under there...lurking.

Earlier, back when reviewing the oft-maligned Egg & Cheese, I said that this would be the good breakfast sammich at Primantis. I take that back.

First off, it's the same price as the Bacon & Cheese. Egg is $.50 more. So they had to take off $.50 worth of bacon to maintain that price. Usually, less bacon would be bad - it certainly had less crunch, but here, it wasn't much of a loss.

Darn tomato falling everywhere...

The bad bacon, again, this is a really cheap sub-fast-food bacon that does alright when it's crumbled over nacho cheese on fries. It does not do well on its own. Egg is not enough to stop that.

Bacon, egg, and cheese can only be so bad. I finished the thing, it's not abhorrent. It's better than just bacon. But I don't see the point of this here, especially when you can get a Bacon sandwich and add an egg. 

Think of the ideal breakfast sandwich. Eggs have to be involved, bacon or sausage should be there, a potato product - hashbrowns and homefries are breakfast foods, why not french fries? ...but would you put coleslaw on there? I wouldn't. The crunch is already there from the bacon. It doesn't improve anything, and it usually does. I love the coleslaw the most. But it's a third wheel here. 

Unless it's ridiculously early, don't bother with this one. I wonder if it's much better at the Smallman Street location...I can imagine that a Strip District establishment couldn't get away with using cheap bacon. I might have to try that and revisit this one. Until then, don't bother.

Taste: 1 The egg and less bad bacon deserves one notch up

Satisfaction: 1 The crunch isn't there, but the eggs are heartier

Flavor: 1 Egg is always good. This bacon is not, sadly.

Enjoyable: 1 The only sandwich that might be made worse with coleslaw

Pittsburghness: 1 Bacon, Egg, & Cheese can be found anywhere. If coleslaw is worse for a sandwich, that's anti-Pittsburgh

Should I Get This Sandwich? No. If you're really hard up for a breakfast sandwich, maybe.

Ranking:

Capicola

Pittsburgher Cheese Steak

Kielbasa

Hot Sausage

Genoa Salami (Double Meat)

Jumbo Baloney

Turkey

Triple Cheese

Ham

Egg

Bacon, Egg & Cheese

Bacon

Around the World 11: Turkey Breast & Cheese - Outsiders' Choice

I am going Around the World on the Primantis menu, eating every sandwich, in order.

11th on the list, the Turkey Breast & Cheese. Oddly enough, whenever I take someone who doesn't usually do Primantis, or is an outsider visiting the Steel City, this is BY FAR the most common sandwich they choose. It must seem like a safe choice - a burger is common, there's a lot of exotic lunchmeats that could be intimidating, and then there's some sausage-based options that aren't for everyone. Since there is no chicken option (another thing I find odd), turkey is a solid, safe option that can't be that bad, no matter what they think of the fries and coleslaw.

It IS safe and solid. It's tasty.

Pictured: Safety.

The turkey itself is quite good. It's flavorful, it's very lean, and though it isn't the thickest thing, it's quality turkey.  The other flavors don't compliment it that well. The vinegar-based coleslaw and the turkey seem to be at odds. Your bites get the flavor of one or the other. They don't blend as well as many of the other options.

The turkey is the same color as the bread, but it's there.

The flavors don't compliment each other, and the contrast between them isn't beneficial. It was by no means bad, but none of the flavors helped each other out.

Look, if you want something safe, but you want the proper experience, get the Pittsburgher. If you want the real experience, get the Capicola. If you want something thoroughly Pittsburgh, get the Kielbasa. If you want an alright sandwich...then get the Turkey. 

Flavor: 6 Each piece is good, together they are exactly the sum of their parts

Satisfaction: 6 There's nothing wrong with this sandwich.

Taste: 6 The turkey is flavorful, the coleslaw is flavorful, together, it's alright.

Enjoyableness: 6 It's solid, it's a good sandwich.

Pittsburghness: 0 This is as far as you can get from the Pittsburgh experience while still tasting good

Should I Get This Sandwich? You shouldn't not get this sandwich, which is different than endorsing this sandwich. It's acceptable, but there are many better options.

Ranking:

Capicola

Pittsburgher Cheese Steak

Kielbasa

Hot Sausage

Genoa Salami (Double Meat)

Jumbo Baloney

Turkey

Triple Cheese

Ham

Egg

Bacon

Around the World 10 - Bacon & Cheese - Great Smell, Bad Sandwich

I am going Around the World on the Primantis menu, eating every sandwich, in order.

Tenth on the list is the Bacon & Cheese. I'll be honest, I was looking forward to this sammich.

When it was brought to the table, it smelled so good. The best smelling sandwich yet. That fantastic bacon aroma permeated the air. I was so looking forward to this, because who doesn't love bacon?

Smelled so good. You're missing out on the smell here.

But one bite shattered that image.

It wasn't good bacon. It was very cheap bacon. It was very bad bacon. Wendy's has better bacon.

Pictured: bad bacon

No really, Wendy's has better bacon. I think McDonalds might have slightly better bacon. This bacon is passable when it's crumbled over fries slathered with cheese. It is not ok on its own.

There's an artificial taste to start with, a flavorless crunch in the middle, and a metallic aftertaste. The crunch is the only good part of all of this. 

This was the worst experience I've had yet, and this includes the incomplete Egg & Cheese sandwich.

Taste: 0 This was bad, metallic tasting cheap bacon.

Satisfaction: 1 The crunch was interesting

Flavor: 0 I disliked it greatly

Enjoyable: 1 If you can stomach really cheap bacon...

Pittsburghness: 2 I guess it IS a bacon sandwich...even if it's bad...it's still bacon

Should I Get This Sandwich? No, under no circumstances. If you really want cheap bacon, get the Bacon, Egg & Cheese. This should be replaced with a Chipped Ham Sandwich, pronto.

Ranking:

Capicola

Pittsburgher Cheese Steak

Kielbasa

Hot Sausage

Genoa Salami (Double Meat)

Jumbo Baloney

Triple Cheese

Ham

Egg

Bacon