Should I Spend Nine Dollars on a Chicken Sandwich?

Pack member Andrew analyzes Focaccia Market's chicken sandwich.

   {Focaccia's chicken sandwich}

Everyone has a lunch place like Focaccia Market near where they work.  It's the fallback lunch place--the place that offers you everything (salad, sandwiches, soup, hot food buffet), does none of those things well, but does them just good enough so you keep going back if you're busy or just too lazy to think of somewhere else to go.

I (too) often get a chicken sandwich from Focaccia.  It costs me a little over nine dollars.  Worth it?  I made the same sandwich at home and brought it to work to see if it is a better value to MAKE IT or TAKE OUT

It's a pretty basic chicken sandwich.  It has chunks of chicken breast, cheddar cheese, roasted red peppers, peperoncinis (for 75 cents more), lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise, all on top of a white "focaccia" bun.  I get the whole thing toasted, and usually eat it at my desk while I watch another replay of the end of the Arizona State / Wisconsin football game work.

Would mine be better?  Spoiler alert: yes, of course mine is better.  It's a chicken sandwich.  I'd be ashamed if I couldn't make it better than the mediocre lunch spot near work.

I started off with some organic chicken breast that I roasted a few days earlier.  It came from the same chicken I used for my dino kale salad.  I used organic lettuce and tomatoes.  The roasted red peppers and pepperochinis were not organic.  But they were from Trader Joes / The Good Life, so they had to be healthy, right?  The cheddar cheese was organic…and extra sharp.

   {Knife skills that make Morimoto blush}

I made the mayo from scratch.  SAY WHAT?  Yes, from scratch.  It's easy and surprisingly fun to do.  And it has to be healthier than eating calcium disodium edta.  I haven't bought mayo in a jar in probably seven years.

   {My homemade mayo}

For the bread, I stopped at Arizmendi bakery on the way to work and picked up a fresh sourdough roll.  I assembled the sandwich at work, although without the luxury of a toaster.  I resorted to microwaving the cheese and chicken, then put everything on the sourdough roll, which was still fresh enough to be awesome without a toaster.  Look at this beauty…

   {My version of the sandwich}

It's pretty obvious where I'm going with my analysis.  But to be fair, here's the breakdown (as always, based on taste, cost, and time to make):

Taste
The Focaccia sandwich is decent, but not great.  The chicken is a little dry and rubbery.  The melted cheese and mayo mask the dryness though.  The peppers, lettuce, and tomato taste as you would expect.

I take issue with Focaccia's bread.  It's called a "focaccia" but it's closer in taste and texture to an oversized white bread dinner roll.  It suffices, but having some real focaccia would really help Focaccia's sandwich.

My sandwich was awesome.  My chicken tasted better, my cheddar tasted better, my mayo tasted better, and the bread was fantastic.  I mean, c'mon, look at that bad boy!  Advantage: me.  

Cost
Focaccia's sandwich was $9.16.  I calculated mine at $3.53, the most expensive part of that being the sourdough roll, which cost one dollar.  Advantage: me. 

Time
Focaccia does not take orders in advance.  At the height of lunch time, it can take at least 30 minutes to get a sandwich.  During off-peak hours, it can be as little as 10 minutes.

My sandwich took about 32 minutes to make.  WHAT?  Please keep in mind that I roasted a whole chicken, so I took part of that time into account for the chicken I used on the sandwich.  I also made my own mayo, which takes a few minutes to do correctly.  I also walked about 10 minutes out of my way to get the sourdough roll from Arizmendi on the way to work.   Obviously, a lot of this time can be cut out.  Advantage: even. 

The verdict
MAKE IT.  This might be the easiest call I ever make.  My sandwich tastes better and costs less.  Oh, so you worried about time?  Instead of taking time to go out for a sandwich at lunch, use that same time in the morning to get everything for the sandwich prepared, pick up some quality bread on the way to the office, and put it together at lunchtime.  Oh yeah! 

Thanks for visiting!