Which Wich? Sand Wich!

Which Wich Superior Sandwiches

5102 N. Nevada Ave., Ste. 130
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
(719) 599-WICH
(719) 598-4329 (fax)
universityvillage@whichwich.net

Hours:
Mon-Sat, 10 am - 9pm
Sun, 10 am - 7pm
Order Online

My computer was STILL ON CENTRAL TIME, but I was in Colorado and arrived an hour early to pick-up my online order.

You get to put your sandwich together using a shopping list of ingredients in several categories: bread, meat, cheese, sauces, veggies, hot/cold among others. You can order a half for about $6 (more filling than a foot long Subway) or a whole (about 14") for just under $12. Sounds like a lot for a sandwich, but we made two meals out of the wholes for a meal at under $6 per person.

We had the grinders one cold, one hot and a toasted meatball. The grinders were identical with salami, pepperoni, and cappiccolo, balsamic vinaigrette, banana peppers, red onion, tomato, and spices. One hot with spinach added after toasting and one cold with lettuce. With significantly more meat than YOU KNOW WHO they were very good and filling. My only suggestion wood be swapping out the pepperoni with mortadella, the more traditional "Italian" grinder choice, but it was scrummy nonetheless.

The meatball sandwich was also good, but MAKE SURE TO SPECIFY "marinara" when you choose sauces or else you will NOT receive a traditional Italian meatball sandwich. This place is great for people who know what they like and how to put a sandwich together, but people like my wife who DO NOT HAVE A CLUE how to cook a meal may have difficulty constructing an appetizing meal.

CombatCritic Gives Which Wich 6 Out of 10 Bombs for SANDWICH VALUE ... BOMBS ARE GOOD!

Key Words: Which Wich, which, wich, sandwich, grinder, Italian, meatball, fast food, food, eat, shop, Colorado Springs, Colorado, marijuana, CombatCritic, TravelValue, combat, travel

My Favorite Restaurant In The Whole World, Owned By A Good Friend ... PALERMO RISTORANTE ITALIANO (LA)

PALERMO RISTORANTE ITALIANO (LA)

1858 N. Vermont Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90027

Neighborhood: Los Feliz

(323) 663-1178

palermorestaurant.net

Prices: $$$$$

While in LA, my hometown, you should try Palermo on Vermont near Sunset Blvd. Tony, the owner, is an old friend and I was one of his ORIGINAL customers when they were in the original shoebox over on Hillhurst. 

The place is a Hollywood landmark with photos of stars all over the walls, including CombatCritic! There's a small photo of me in Palermo, Tony's hometown, near the front door and an 8x10 of me in uniform high on the right wall as you go back to the  men's loo. At least they used to be there! Make sure you tell Tony that LtCol Chris Sorrentino said "HI" if you go! You'll get the royal treatment. 

The food is excellent, home style Sicilian, not "gourmet", with thick red sauce, massive portions, and reasonable prices. The veal parmigiana is my favorite and their pizza is TO DIE FOR. Free wine while you wait, which is commonplace between 5:30 and 8pm, and the cannoli are wonderful, possibly ON THE HOUSE if Tony is there and you tell him you know me. Tell him I'll try to get out there soon and BUON ANNO ... a presto amico!

CombatCritic Gives Palermo Ristorante Italiano The Coveted And Rarely Bestowed 10 Out of 10 Bombs ... LE BOMBE SONO BUONE!

Key Words: Palermo Ristorante Italiano, Italian, restaurant, Los Angeles, California, Hollywood, Los Feliz, food, pizza, pasta, veal, parmigiana, cannoli, Tony, CombatCritic, Chris, Sorrentino, TravelValue

Deliciously Greasy Burgers, Cold Beer ... And Air ... Yummy Truffle Fries - Must Be Dempsey's!

Deliciously Greasy Burgers, Cold Beer ... And Air ... Yummy Truffle Fries - Must Be Dempsey's!

Dempsey's Burger Pub
623 Vermont Avenue
Lawrence, KS 66044
(785) 856-5460
DempseysBurgerPub.com
Price: $$$$$

I was a bit reluctant to try Dempsey's after reading recent reviews by my Elite '14 brothers and sisters in Lawrence, Kansas saying that "things have gone downhill" and that the burgers are "greasy", but heck ... don't burgers and grease go hand-in-hand? I am sure glad we gave 'em a shot!

Don't want to gross you out, but in preparation for two scopes being inserted into my body, one in each end so to speak, two days later and the inevitable PREPeration (H), I knew I would not have a decent meal for at least 36 hours, so a big greasy burger and basket of truffle fries sounded pretty darn good!

The place is a local haunt for KU (college basketball powerhouse University of Kansas) students and this particular Tuesday night in Lawrence was no exception. With about half of their burgers being offered at half-price ($4-$5 a pop) to students, I know why they were busy. But a pub with just 5 or 6 draughts available on-tap was a bit unusual.  I ordered an O'Dell (not O'Doules) IPA and at $4.50 for a British-size pint it was a good value with a strong, rich, hoppy flavor as all good IPAs do.

Mushroom, Bacon, Swiss Burger

We decided on a Mushroom, Bacon, and Swiss burger ($9), a House Burger with Bacon and Cheddar ($8.50), and a basket of Truffle Fries ($4).

The fries were plentiful and awesome! Lightly salted, the hand cut fries were sprinkled with Parmesan (parmigiana in the old country) cheese, parsley, and accompanied by no less than 6 different sauces (catsup, spicy mustard, old bay and tomato coulis aioli, sweet chili aioli, truffle cream, and roasted garlic aioli ... all made from scratch). We barely made a notch in the basket, taking half home for my wife to eat the next night while I fasted in prep for the next morning's procedure under the influence of "Milk of Amnesia".

House Burger with Bacon

As usual, on my first visit to this and many other restaurants, I ordered the simplest burger on the menu, the "House" cheeseburger ($7.50) medium-well with cheddar cheese, a big piece of butter lettuce, two thick slices of tomato, homemade dill pickle, and both grilled white (as I had asked) and raw red onion. I added bacon for an extra buck, well cooked but not too crispy. The bun was nicely toasted, looking like a "pretzel" bun even though that was not the way it was described on the menu. The burger was in-fact greasy, but perfectly so, thick, and cooked just as I had ordered it. The bun was in a bit of disarray by the time I finished, but held together until the last bite, keeping my hands relatively clean although I did go through about 20 of the rather thin napkins supplied on the table.

The Bacon Mushroom Swiss Burger ($9) comes with sauteed shitake and portabello mushrooms, Gruyere and Swiss cheeses, and Applewood bacon on a toasted pretzel bun. Unfortunately, on this particular night at least, the bun was not toasted and, in-fact, was slightly cold to the touch. The burger was delicious nonetheless, an 8 ounce patty cooked to perfection with melted cheese oozing out of the side of the bun.

Basket O' Truffle Fries  ($4)

The service was very good, especially considering the large, energetic crown consuming burgers along with mass quantities of beer. The place is a bit of a dive, plain with lots of rough wood and glass, making the room rather chilly, particularly next to the window on a cold winter night where we needed to keep our coats on during our meal. Who knows, maybe KU research indicates that beer consumption is inversely proportionate to the temperature of the room?

CombatCritic Gives Dempsey's Burger Pub A Solid 7 Bombs Out of 10 ... BOMBS ARE GOOD!

Key Words: Dempsey's Burger Pub, Dempsey's, burger, hamburger, pub, bar, fries, truffle, French, food, eat, beer, drink, Vermont, Lawrence, Kansas, CombatCritic, TravelValue

The Java Break ... Good Coffee, Friendly Service, Tasty Sandwiches

Back Room

Our very first visit, we had a cappuccino with homemade almond milk, a 16 ounce latte with skim milk, and a bacon, egg and cheese breakfast panino to start Christmas Eve Eve day, paying just $10 for the whole shebang!

The Java Break has friendly service and four large rooms perfect for studying while ingesting some much needed caffeine while studying or an early morning breakfast with your (my) sweety.

The place may seem small from the outside, but it's not. They have fair prices and we will be back again soon!

CombatCritic Gives Java Break 7 Out of 10 Bombs ... BOMBS ARE GOOD!

Key Words: Break, coffee, CombatCritic, Java, Kansas, Lawrence, New Hampshire, TravelValue, combat, critic, coffee, cafe, caffiene, cup, joe

Rear (Right) Room

Rear (Left) Room

Coffee Menu

Sandwich Menu

Best Pizza in Lawrence (KS)

Tad's Pizzeria

1410 Kasold Dr 
Lawrence, KS 66049

(785) 856-3131

Web: Tad's Pizza Lawrence

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tadspizzeria

Price: $$$$$

I know it is not saying much when I say that Tad's has the best pizza in Lawrence, a town of 90,000 with some of the poorest restaurant choices per capita in the nation, if not the world, particularly when it comes to Italian food.

I had heard that Tad's had good pizza a few weeks before our recent trip to Puerto Rico, but we did not have a chance to try it before we left. Upon our return I was too burnt-out to cook, so I ordered from Tad's mobile website while in the sauna at the gym. Their site is actually quite user-friendly and easy to navigate, but I was dismayed when I realized that when I created an account to order our food, I had apparently signed-up for a service called "EatStreet". Tad's and/or EatStreet should warn you before enrolling in a service without your permission, including "push" notifications I neither wanted nor needed.

Back to the food ...

I ordered two pizzas, one NY Cheese and one NY White, and at $14 and $16 respectively for an 18", not a bad investment. Wheat State Pizza is comparable in price, but offers Groupons from time to time, making them a better value. Tad's should consider doing the same or offer more specials than the limited number they have now. With tax and tip, the bill totaled about $36, not cheap for "PIZZA NIGHT". I routinely order the most basic menu item available on my first visit to a restaurant, in this case no pepperoni, sausage, or ... YUCK ... PINEAPPLE, to see if they can get the basics right.

The pizzas arrived promptly even though Tad's is across town from our house and the delivery person was very friendly and polite. My only critique was that when I handed him $40 for a $30 order, he asked "do you need some change", to which I responded "yes, please!".

The red, cheese pizza was delicious and reminiscent of the pizza "back East", thin dough and crust, well seasoned sauce, and good mozzarella cheese, the type that stretches when you pull the slicers apart. I do not know why it is so easy to find good pizza in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania where even the bad pizza joints serve pizza better than most places in Kansas.

The white pizza was also very good with no sauce, abundant mozzarella cheese, and a dollup of ricotta on each of the eight slices. The pizza could have been improved with some extra-virgin olive oil brushed on the dough before adding the cheeses or possibly some garlic, oregano, and/or basil added under or on top of the cheeses. It was a bit dry and lacking taste, but was tasty nonetheless.

We will definitely be ordering Tad's pizza again. My only recommendation being that it would be nice if they offered salami as a topping. I have never sen a true NY pizzeria that did not have salami and my favorite addition to a simple cheese pizza.

Overpriced by a buck or two a pie, CombatCritic Gives Tad's Pizzeria 7 Out of 10 Bombs based on VALUE ... BOMBS ARE GOOD!

Key Words: best, pizza, lawrence, food, tad 's, mozzarella, cheese, pizzeria, salami, NY, New York, white, ricotta, basil, oregano, delivery, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value

San Juan (PR): Good, Friendly, Nothing Special, Overpriced

Palmas de Boulevard

281 San Sebastian Street
at Tanaca Corner
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901

(787) 630-4725

We drove past Palmas looking for a parking place in Old San Juan and returned after seeing what looked like a fiesta going on in the street outside. It was a small place with a large crowd outside and music blaring off the beaten path on the north (uphill) side of town.

We ordered the Asopao de Pollo (chicken and rice stew - $13.99) and Queso Frito (fried cheese with mango sauce -$8.95). The cheese was good, probably $3 overpriced for the size even in Old San Juan, with a mango dipping sauce.

The chicken stew (Asopao de Pollo) was very good, but at $13.99 for a few chunks of gristly chicken, some red bell pepper, and a half a cup of rice in chicken broth was probably $6 more than it should have been while still allowing a fair profit for the proprietor.

I had two cervezas Medalla and at $3 a pop they were twice the price I had paid our entire 3 weeks on the island.

Javier, the owner, stopped by our table and lopped- off half of an avocado the size of a watermelon (Javier and CombatCritic pictured). I tossed it in my stew and added some butt-kicking hot sauce, but made the mistake of touching my eye  ... EYE CARAMBA!

Don't get me wrong, the food was good and the bill came to $42 including 20% tip, not horrific, but more than we should have paid for a couple local beers, an appetizer, and an cheap-to-make entree.

I hope Javier figures out that knocking a couple bucks off the prices will result in happy customers, glowing reviews, and much more customers and money in his pocket. He and his staff were very nice and we enjoyed our visit even if it was not the best TravelValue in Puerto Rico.

CombatCritic Gives Palmas de Boulevard 6 Bombs Out of 10 ... BOMBAS ARE BUENAS!

Key Words: Palmas, de Boulevard, restaurant, food, Caribbean, Puerto Rico, puerto, rico, old san juan, old, san, juan, chicken, stew, asopao, cheese, fried, frito, queso, CombatCritic, TravelValue