There was no high minded goal with this sandwich. I simply set out to make myself a tasty sandwich and I am pleased to say that I succeeded. I marinated portobello mushrooms in olive oil, lemon juice and garlic then wrapped them in foil and grilled them until tender. Crumbled goat cheese made the next layer, slices of cucumber were laid down for their fresh snap and caramelized onions finished the sandwich with their buttery sweetness. It was all piled on to a grilled roll that had been prepped with a garlic butter. For my money grilling makes the best sandwich bread. You get warm, soft bread with just the right amount of crunch. Some sandwiches benefit from the all-over toasting or methods such as stale bread but for the general sandwich I prefer the grill. I wouldn’t say there was anything special about this effort but it resulted in a tasty, flavorful sandwich. What I am left to consider, then, is the mushrooms.

When I sat down to write this review the first word I thought to describe it was ‘meaty.’ Now this is both a failure of my imagination and a statement about my choice in mushrooms but a quick google search reveals that I have nearly 8 million other people to keep me company, all of us talking about meaty mushrooms. Is this what the mushroom deserves? It seems the mushroom is most often considered as an accent and when it is given a starring role it is cast in contrast to what it is. I ask myself if this sandwich honestly celebrated the mushroom and I am not sure of the answer. And so we make another entry on the list of sandwiches to make; one that savors mushrooms. Mushrooms are a broad category and their nuanced textures and flavors deserve to be highlighted better that they were here. I may have made myself a fine sandwich but I am forced to admit I should have aimed higher.