“Life,” I was once told, “Is simply a matter of basics and details. Rely heavily on one, hope the other comes together and you should be all right.” In sandwiches, as we have seen time and time again, as in life.

The Safeway Bistro Club is a sandwich that gets the basics right. The sandwich is an herbed focaccia bread bread with a hearty layer of chicken, a few slices of bacon, an avocado spread and a piece of lettuce. Chicken is the building block of a great many sandwiches, and far too often at fast food establishments it does not measure up. It is cold and tough, long ago chopped up and parceled out into the portion for one sandwich, regardless of the type. The Bistro Club, however, features large chunks of tender chicken, specifically selected for how well they would fit on my sandwich. It was put in the oven for a full minute, ensuring everything was heated through. I was so impressed with the quality of the chicken that I enquired as to whether it had been grilled on site, and I was surprised when I was told it wasn’t.

As well as the most important element of the sandwich is done, the details are not all there. The avocado, smooth and creamy, is a nice presence but has little in the sandwich to play off of. The avocado is a fine, fine ingredient for a sandwich and it saddens me when I see it merely included, instead of featured. The sandwich resists the urge to pile on extraneous ingredients, but I cannot help but wonder what the avocado might have been. In spite of this, well executed basics carry what is a surprisingly good sandwich.