Quick bites: meat pie, sandwiches, and Taco Town.

The Tuck Shop’s menu claims that “waking and baking is our job,” pun very much intended. While my inner stoner respects that existence, and my inner drunkard celebrates its proximity to many favorite watering holes (it’s located on 1st St. between 1st and 2nd Ave.), my inner food critic kind of wishes the pies were a little fresher. That said, if you want a pie with ground beef, the Tuck Shop’s traditional pie ($5) is where it’s at. Spiced nicely and not over-greased, it was far better than the mysterious special “steak and Guinness” pie, which didn’t taste much like Guinness or the advertised horseradish. The sausage roll ($3) was less disappointing; a combination of ground pork and sage easily outpaces the average pizzeria’s rolled offerings. We were offered dessert, but to the proprietor’s great surprise, he was completely out of desserts. That’s what happens when you smoke up with a full refrigerator, pal – take it from one who knows.

My roommate’s birthday party was at O’Connor’s on 5th Avenue (Brooklyn) last week, and my task before getting to the bar was to pick up some kind of quick dinner. O’Connor’s is a little far from the main restaurant area of Park Slope, so I was happy to find City Sub around the corner on Bergen St. (a couple doors down from Melt). More or less like a Subway taken to its logical quality extreme, the menu advertises the use of real Hellmann’s mayonnaise (that’s Best Foods to those of you out west), and the wall boasts of Boar’s Head meats. Most of the sandwiches are between $6 and $7, and they’ll toast the bread (in a charming array of toaster ovens) and nuke the meat and cheese (in a less charming array of microwaves) if you so desire.

At the other end of the sandwich spectrum is Alidoro, at 105 Sullivan St. in Manhattan – a particular favorite and recommendation of some friends of my girlfriend. At the opposite side of the sandwich spectrum from City Sub, Alidoro offers an array of named Italian subs – most of the names, somewhat unsurprisingly, end in vowels. I picked the Pinnochio ($10), which combined prosciutto, sopressata, mozzarella, sweet peppers and olive pate. My girlfriend opted for the Mischa (9.50), which took the same prosciutto and stacked it with provolone, hot peppers, and arugula. Both were excellent. Besides the standard white or wheat bread, three other kinds are available: Semolina (an extra 50 cents), sfilatino (a mini-baguette that costs $1.50 more), and tramezzino ($1.50). According to Google, the word “tramezzino” was made up by the fascists in the 30’s, purportedly to combat the encroachment of the English word “sandwich.” When the guy behind the counter berates the poor girl in the back, resist the urge to compare him to Mussolini.

Finally, if you missed it, this vid is pretty funny, and on topic:
http://www.devilducky.com/media/40841/