This charming description appears in their "Story of Faccia Luna" section buried in their website:
"The setting, although casual, has an air of understated sophistication. As a result, Faccia Luna is a "first date" destination and a sentimental favorite. A number of its customers (at least five that we know of) who had their first date at Faccia Luna have returned to the restaurant to pop the question. Two have had their wedding receptions at Faccia Luna."Indeed. What is an upscale dinner spot doubles as a casual lunch spot with food that I fall over myself recommending on a consistent basis.
My usual go-to here is the pizza lunch special. You honestly can't beat it. Anywhere. I've tried and failed. I will rave about this pizza special in a future post. Look forward to it.
This time however, I noticed that they had a few new offerings in their lunch special section of the menu. They've added a few more sandwiches to the mix. A quick perusal of their Facebook page indicates they were added last week. Sidenote: I usually avoid an establishment's social media offerings unless they are of some use to me. When a place has a daily rotating special, and they post that on their Facebook page, that's useful to me. Arlington Rooftop used to do this before they restructured their menu (again. Sigh.). So I can actually recommend following Faccia Luna's page because they are pretty good about posting their specials on the page daily.
One of them caught my eye and I had to try it. They call it The Classic - and anything with this description should be awesome: rosemary prosciutto, mortadella, genoa salami, capicola ham, provolone, onion, lettuce, and tomato on ciabatta bread with a balsamic vinaigrette. Comes with chips and a drink.
Mouth-watering, no?
Now those that know me know I am a connoisseur of Sandwiches. I watch 2 separate cooking shows devoted entirely to Sandwiches (Sandwich King on Food Network and Best Sandwich in America on Travel Channel for those keeping score) even stomaching the corny and unpleasant Jeff Mauro because I love sandwiches so much. I take this stuff seriously.
Sandwiches have an altogether separate evaluation scale from the way I weigh different meals and restaurants. Ratios are especially important. Meat:Bread:Condiment is really the key but Interior Content Overhang is also important as is Bread Constitution:Interior Content Wetness. I'm not crazy.
I am pleased to report that this offering scores well on all scales. The ciabatta helps this bad boy keep a very satisfying Meat:Bread:Condiment. There are lots of meats in here and they are ably stood up to with the dense bread. My preferred bread standard is a wheat, but that would simply fall apart in the face of such meaty goodness. Condiments check out well here too the lettuce and tomato are fresh tasting and perfect. The dressing is noticeable but not overwhelming. One of my biggest pet peeves with italian sandwiches is when they are swimming in dressing - it frequently serves to hide substandard ingredients and when it doesn't it overwhelms a good sandwich anyway.
My only complaint was a significant overhang of the interior ingredients, which can make a sandwich messier than it has to be. Most of this was attributed the uneven stacking of interior meats, which was fixed by simply popping the hood and restacking. 99% of people will not be bothered by this at all. To those that get it, we are the 1%.
My last thought here is that I appreciate the chips instead of the now-ubiquitous fries as a sandwich side. I like fries but I also like a little variety and the chips here complement the sandwich here much better. Its a much more "deli" feel to the sandwich experience. You should go and try this sandwich. I can already tell its going to be on the rotation list for a while. I can't wait to try some of their other new sandwiches soon!
http://www.faccialuna.com/arlington
No comments:
Post a Comment