All the sandwich news that’s fit to (re)print. Here’s what we’ve been reading this week.
Nil by Mouth (via the Chicago Sun Times) — The first thing everyone should be reading (or re-reading) this week, particularly anyone who’s fond of food, or movies, or just generally remarkable and inspiring people, is “Nil by Mouth,” the late Roger Ebert’s heartbreaking and beautiful 2010 essay on coping with losing the ability to eat, drink and speak. It was not so much a particular dish or snagging a table at the newest, trendiest spots that he missed most, Roger wrote: “What I miss is the society … The food and drink I can do without easily. The jokes, gossip, laughs, arguments and shared memories I miss.” (Roger was also a fan of the tuna melt, evidently: “If a place doesn’t advertise ‘Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner’ and serve tuna melts, right away you figure they’re covering up for something.”)
The 10 Best Sandwiches in NY Right Now, in GIFs (via Complex City Guide) — Now, Eat a Sandwich is based in and focuses primarily on Washington, D.C., and as weary as we are of the Everything is Better in New York mentality, this animated package from Complex magazine’s city section is aces. “We may occasionally drop an entire paycheck on fine dining, but we run on sandwiches.” TRUTH.
6 Trends We Noticed at the Craft Brewers Conference (via Serious Eats) — In her post-mortem on last week’s 2013 Craft Brewers Conference, held for the first time in Our Nation’s Capital, Serious Eats’ drinks writer Jen Muehlbauer shares her observations on the state of the industry. For the casual beer drinker, the main takeaway is this: New craft breweries are opening all the time, but just because it’s “craft” beer doesn’t mean it’s good beer, so ignore the cool packaging and trust your palette. My personal observation? Beer industry people don’t hesitate to leave beers half-finished, particularly when they’re on the company dime.
In-N-Out is the First Stop for Innocent Arizona Man After 42 Years in Jail (via Eater) — What’s the first thing you would do after spending 42 years in jail for a crime you didn’t commit? Head to the red-light district? Learn about exciting new technologies? Louis Taylor, upon facing just this conundrum, grabbed a burger at In-N-Out (which didn’t exist in Arizona at the time of his jailing), and took a literal hike. See his story here: