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| The Milan |
SUNdeVICH
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SUNdeVICH opened its doors in an alley near the Convention Center in July 2011 and immediately became, unquestionably, one of the best two or three sandwich shops in the city. Set in the middle of the block bordered by N, O, 9th and 10th Streets NW, the shop’s extensive menu of globally-inspired sandwiches showcases a level of creativity and depth of ingredients that is simply unparalleled in the District. Visits to SUNdeVICH have inspired some of my most significant sandwich-related revelations: There’s a difference between expensive and overpriced. Every great sandwich starts with great bread. Et cetera. Despite an obscure location in a neighborhood just beyond the range of all but the most committed of the downtown lunch hordes, SUNdeVICH has made plenty of noise in its first year and change, cheered on the whole way by an adoring fanbase. This summer, after a brief residency at New York Avenue Beach Bar, the SUNdeVICH food truck hit the streets with trimmed-down renditions of the in-shop sandwiches. Around the same time, to my great personal delight, news arrived that SUNdeVICH would be adding a breakfast section to its menu. Of the four breakfast sandwiches offered, my interest was most piqued by the Milan, the most recent entry in our month-long September Sunrise Sandwich Spree, which features crispy pancetta, an over-medium fried egg, creamy gorgonzola, fresh arugula and garlic mayo on one of the shop’s specially crafted baguettes. The verdict: as long as you’re OK with truly heinous post-meal breath, it’s fucking excellent. The catch: Breakfast is served all day, with the exception of actual breakfast hours—despite the addition of a breakfast menu, the shop has maintained its noon opening time. But if it’s this same refusal to play by the rules that enables SUNdeVICH to turn out the city’s very finest sandwiches, we won’t complain.