Top 5 Tuesday: Sandwiches

Tonight we had what we like to call "Panera night" for dinner. Well, a modified version of Panera night. Typically, we get some fancy Publix bakery bread, sliced cheese, fresh spinach, red peppers, and saute some chicken fillets with roasted garlic and herb seasonings, throwing the compilation onto our George Foreman grill and press to completion. Along with the sandwiches, we had a nice, healthy, organic vegetable soup (which is better than you'd think). The "modified" part of tonight was that instead of the grill press, we just buttered the outside of the bread and browned it in a skillet like you would a grilled cheese, and instead of chicken fillets, we had sliced deli chicken. Overall, it was very deece.

During dinner time, I began to wonder just what I would write about for Top 5 Tuesday, and as I was biting into the deliciousness that is Panera night, it struck me: why not sandwiches? Everyone loves a sandwich, and I'm no exception. They're portable, easy to eat, and delicious. Plus, there's an endless array of possibilities. So here, without more ado, are my Top 5 Sandwiches.

5. Sausage and Cheddar Croissant: From the breakfast family of sandwiches, the Sausage and Cheddar Croissant is my usual order when hitting up a lovely little breakfast cafe. I like a bacon breakfast sandwich just fine, but there's not enough thickness there to justify a sandwich for me. I like meat. I like a decent sized sandwich. Oh, and to establish the most obvious connector between my favorite sandwiches: I love cheese. I could put cheese on just about anything and it would make it better. Couple a well-cooked sausage (undercooked absolutely ruins this one, and it makes you feel like crap for the next four hours) and cheddar with a flaky, fresh croissant? You have a recipe for deliciousness.

4. Subway's Chicken Pizzaiola: I'll admit right off that this is not what I usually get when I go to Subway. I usually stick with a grilled chicken breast with green peppers, lettuce, and Monterrey cheddar, but this isn't about what I usually get, it's about what I think is the best. Ever since high school, I have absolutely loved the chicken pizzaiola. It's grilled chicken, pepperoni, your choice of cheese (I still go with the Monterrey cheddar), and marinara sauce. I get mine on Italian Herbs and Cheese bread, and although my wife would complain that it has two meats and no veggies, I would say that it's a guilty pleasure, not the usual (at least not anymore).

3. "Panera Night" Pressed Chicken Panini: The homemade selection of this week's top 5 is the grilled/pressed version of our "Panera night" chicken paninis. The toasted and pressed bread makes a great entry point, the spinach gives me the nutrients I need, the red pepper is flavorful, colorful, and sweet, the cheddar is sharp, and the chicken is perfectly seasoned. I could have Panera night just about any night of the week and be happy. Even the time that Meghan and I made it with chicken thighs and were scared we didn't cook the meat all the way through was a great experience. The only reason that this doesn't get ranked higher is because the next two... are professional grade sandwiches. It's hard to compete.

2. T.G.I. Friday's Jack Daniels Grill: Every time that I order anything from the Jack Daniels menu at T.G.I. Friday's, I also ask for a side of the Jack Daniels sauce. It's not so much the quality of the grilled chicken or the hamburgers that I get from Friday's that really makes me crave them... it's that sauce. Whatever they put into it just hits the spot so directly, so effortlessly, that I usually end up eating the entire thing, even when I know those sandwiches are oversized and certainly not the correct portion. When it's that good, though, you just can't stop yourself.

1. Cafe Fresco's Grilled Chicken Sandwich: (not the actual sandwich on the right) Emily has already chastised me for not putting a sandwich from her place of work on this list, but I've only eaten there once, and I can't make a judgment on one experience. However, on one of the first times that Meghan and I ate at one of our favorite spots in Wesley Chapel, I saw this little beauty on the Sunday brunch menu and knew I had to try it. This takes the croissant from sandwich #5, the cheddar from the rest of the bunch, a thick grilled chicken breast that meets my thickness quotient, and adds BBQ sauce to really tie the whole thing together. It's about as close to perfect as you can get when it comes to the sandwich delicacies. Even though it's not on the menu anymore, I still order it, and they still make it, and it's fantastic. If you ever have a craving for a sandwich, and you can't go to Seasons because it's Sunday and they're closed... go here, get this, and thank me later.