Sunday Brunch: Return of
Earl
June 5, 2011
Back on
March 13th,
Sunday Brunch took you through the history
of the sandwich, the history of the
Earl of Sandwich, and interviewed the
biggest fan of the restaurant Earl of
Sandwich. Today,
Sunday Brunch brings you a firsthand
look at Earl of Sandwich because the writer
of Sunday Brunch himself had brunch there
yesterday! Well, lunch
actually, but this blog is not called Sunday
Lunch.
Finally at Earl again, the other
Happiest Place on Earth
The sun was shining in
the sunshine state as we drove into Lake
Buena Vista after driving nearly 20 hours
straight from NJ. We had
driven all day and all night, avoiding 16
wheelers and other cargo trucks down
Interstate 95 and through 7 states
along the East Coast.
Finally, we arrived in Florida in the wee
hours of the morning of Saturday, June 4,
2011. We stopped at the
Florida Welcome center for a brief respite
before heading back on the road towards the
Happiest Place on Earth.
Finally, we reached our destination
around lunchtime and there's only one thing
we must do today: visit our good friend Earl
and enjoy the 'World's Greatest Hot
Sandwiches.' As it was
lunchtime
on Saturday in June, as well as being
at the popular sandwich shop, the restaurant
was starting to spill out guests as we
approached the main entrance.
You'd
think this was a line for
Toy Story Mania, not sandwiches!
Well,
you would hope people would line up for the
World's Greatest Hot Sandwiches
We happily joined the
long line, knowing the efficiency of service
of the staff at Earl would get us to our
meal lickety-split. Not
to mention the finger-licking good
sandwiches, which are always worth any wait.
While we waited in line, a nice young
lady named Berline greeted us in line.
She was from
Miami and decided to move up to
Orlando and work in
Disney World. She
asked us where we were from and told us
about the most popular sandwich (the Earl's
Club), which was also her favorite.
She helped the line go by as she
walked down with us as we chatted.
Such a nice young lady!
Today's Menu comes with a Patriotic Guest!
With so much to choose
from at Earl, it's tough to decide.
Not only are there great sandwiches,
Earl serves up hot, savory soups, perfectly
blended salads, as well as side salads,
chips, cookies and new to the menu:
cupcakes! For this trip,
I chose to go for my old favorite: The
Hawaiian Barbeque. My
brother, Saturday Matinee's Albert
Gutierrez, ordered his usual the Carribean
Jerk along with a hearty
tomato soup and frozen lemonade.
My dad ordered the
Mediterranean Tuna Salad and my mom
ordered her favorite, also the Hawaiian
Barbeque.
Tomato Soup has always been a great addition
to any sandwich meal.
Earl
goes on vacation and serves up the delicious
Hawaiian Barbeque Sandwich
The Hawaiian Barbeque
sandwich serves up the perfect combination
of ham, chicken, pineapple, and Earl's
Hawaiian barbeque sauce.
I am a big fan of pineapple, so I love
getting any dish served with pineapple.
For instance,
Red Robin's Banzai Burger (grilled
pineapple on a teriyaki infused burger) is
always my go to favorite.
Pineapple does something magical when paired
with meat. It's often
used on hams and other potentially tough
meats because of its natural tenderizing
properties. The tropical
fruit contains an enzyme that breaks down
the proteins in meat, thus creating a tender
bite while also adding a sweet and sour
citrus flavor to the marinade.
In the Hawaiian BBQ sandwich, the
sweetness of the pineapple also helps
balance the saltiness of the ham and the
smoky flavor of Earl's barbeque sauce.
The other great thing
about Earl of Sandwiches food is the bread!
Many people wonder what makes it so
good, well it's because the bread is
probably the freshest you'll get at any fast
food-esque eatery. Earl
won't serve you two plain ordinary slices of
white bread, he gives you miniature
loaves with flavor so fresh, it seems to be
straight from the oven.
The secret to the fresh bread is sitting
right above the sandwich makers.
Plastic bags of
white bread line the shelves, they
seem to be done, but they are not since
there appears to be no crust on this bread.
These are actually the stage between
bread dough and a
finished loaf of bread.
The bread dough is par-baked; it is
baked only halfway, then frozen and waits
until right before service to finish baking.
Not only does this keep the bread
fresh, it also is a terrific method for
controlling costs and improving efficiency
in the kitchen.
We all enjoyed our
Saturday Lunch, and I have a sinking feeling
that for Sunday Brunch, we'll be having some
Earl of Sandwich again. I
noticed they've recently added a
breakfast sandwich menu too!
Even if we don't have some Earl's
breakfast tomorrow, I've got seven whole
months ahead of me in which I can check it
out! In conclusion, Earl
of Sandwich is yummeh.