FINALLY - A Review

It's been a while since J or I did a review and I realized that I've been going to the sublime Breadline, run by Marvelous Market founder Mark Furstenburg (any relation to Diane Von?). The story goes that Mr. Furstenberg was kicked out of running MM because of the expansion away from breads and bakery items to pre-made meals. He decided to open Breadline to go back to his baking roots, focusing on the breads and baked goods that made Marvelous Market so famous in the first place.

I have long heard about Breadline but never worked close enough to go there for lunch until my current job. Starting in October, I've been making monthly pilgrimages to Breadline to sample their wares. I found out that a lot of their money comes from baking for restaurants so they only open for lunch during weekdays, leaving anyone who doesn't work near the White House SOL.

It's a zoo at Breadline. You just sort of wander towards the counter where other befuddled professionals wait to get pointed at by the snadwich maker and asked for their order. You then wander over to the checkout and pay. But there are really no lines or any kind of orderliness. Just clumps of people waiting to give their order, pay or pick up their order.

While they have their standard sandwiches such as ,grilled vegetables, chicken salad, roast turkey, and egg salad, they also have daily specials that include sausage heroes, Reubens, French ham, and fried cod fish. Along wit the sandwiches, Breadline offers pizzas, salads, empandas, and piadines - grileld flatbread stuffed with sandwich fixin's.

I've stuck with the specials because the specials often come with fries which mades them a better bargain because these sandwiches aren't cheap ranging from $7.25 to $7.85. I've had a meatloaf sandwich and a sausage sandwich on a hoagie baguette. Both of them have been incredible. You know what Breadline does better than anyone else? Construction and texture. These sandwiches are well contructed to ensured things are dripping, slipping, or oozing out the ends. You are ensured a perfect harmony of flavors and ingredients with each bite. While that may not seem that big a deal, it's something I've really noticed with each sandwich. Also undeniable is the perfect texture of each ingredient, especially the bread. The breads have the perfect amount of softness on the inside with crustiness on the outside. I often find with baguettes, the crust tears at the roof of my mouth. No so with Breadline baguettes. The fries also acheive that perfect harmony of crisp outside/soft inside. Finally, I never leave Breadline without getting their chocolate cookie sandwich. two pillowy soft clouds of chocolate cookie surrounds a lighter-than-air blog of sweetened marscapone cheese. It's a bargain at $1.50.