French dip review: Dub Pub in Kirkland, WA - The LEE (Jalepenos, Bacon and Sour Cream)

I wound up at Dub Pub after work.  The plan had been to meet up with a few friends but those fell through.  I wanted to go drink a beer and meet up with Jessica anyways so I showed up.  My good buddy Nate from Western was there (he bar tends there).  He was awesome and offered me a cheap tall can before I ever even said hello.  He showed me the Rainier can and the Busch Light can.  Rainier was 50 cents more so I chose the Busch light.  I'm not made of money.  I sat at the bar and was waiting for Jessica.  I was getting hungry.  Nate asked me if I was going to have the "LEE", which is a bacon, jalepenos and cream cheese on a French dip and Swiss.  My hunger overcame me and I ordered it.  I got to choose between a variety of fried treats.  I asked if I could get a side salad instead.  Yes, I could.  I ordered one with bleu cheese.

The view from my bar seat on the West wall.  They have a lot of space and TVs in there and it's pretty vibrant in here very regularly.  UW was playing basketball on the TV.  They beat some small team by 33 points but I didn't stay to find that out.  (Thank you, Internet.)

Here's one side of the menu: the fancy side with dinner options (and there's another side as well with more standard pub faire.  They had a special the night I was there featuring short ribs in veal stock.  I was impressed that they had nice food and not must burgers and fries.

Here's the side of the menu with the standard faire.

The French Dip.  By default it it is standard with bleu cheese but you can "Make it a 'LEE'" (some bartender there)  by adding Sour Cream, Bacon, and Jalepeno.  I don't typically get extras on my dips but this was a special occasion and it is how LEE wants me to eat it, so why not.

My "delicious" Busch Light tall can.  It's not that good of beer but it is potable and cold.

Here's the French Dip, LEE style served.  It looks really good.  Their bread is beautiful, very dark jus.  A nice white plate, skewers with blue frillies and a nice dill pickle spear.

Here's the salad.  It, too, looked good with nice little julienned apples on top.  They seem to take their food seriously here.  I think the times I'd eaten here previously it had only been tater tots or nachos (not that there's anything wrong with those foods.)

Here's a close-up of  the sandwich.  The bread is really nice.  Kind of pillowy looking, pretty white.  And the cheese is nicely melted out there and there's a nice amount of roast beef.

Another shot of the sandwich with the dill pickle spear.  You can see the nicely grilled and slightly buttery bread.

One of the first things I noticed was the dark jus.  This is almost always a good sign of good jus (and it was good).  It didn't have the oily sheen on top.  I'm starting to wonder if I like it with or without the oil.  Maybe without.  Perhaps the butter from the bread and meat should provide that rather than oily jus.  So maybe  I have now decided.  No oily jus jus me going forward.

Here's the sandwich in hand.  The roast beef looks very fine.  It doesn't look greasy.  You can see the cream cheese but it's not too much of it.

And now for a pause in the action

I ate ONE HALF of this sandwich without the jus because it is so good.  I really liked the flavor a lot.  The bacon made it smokey.  They cheese was good.  The jalepenos added a really nice element and the cream cheese made it smooth.  This is a great sandwich.  But I debated the need for the jus.  Why would I be bastardizing a very fine sandwich in jus?  Isn't the jus to augment and add depth to a fairly plain meat sandwich?

So after eating half of this sandwich without jus because it was just-that-good, I got to dipping.  The jus is super dark and that's a great sign.  The whole thing wreaked of quality.

There's the money shot, friends.

Here's the email I composed and sent to myself during this meal.  It is getting ridiculous how rigorous I am with my reviews but it is still fun.  I also do really enjoy writing them.  It's fun to be detailed, thoughtful and opinionated and to share a joy.

Summarizing

• The sandwich has a very nice presentation.  It is professional prepared and you can tell that care went into its making.  Thank you very kindly, Mr. Chef person.
• Dark jus.  The jus is very dark and that's a good sign.  It didn't have an oily sheen and I'm starting to believe that's an asset as well.
• Pretty bread.  The bread is very pretty.  Is it homemade?  Where did it come from.  This is a very nice feature of the sandwich. 
• Blue toothpick skewers.  Thanks.
• Pretty salad.  Yes, the salad was pretty but in the end it had too much dressing on it and I didn't enjoy it very much at all.  I would strongly suggest always serving the dressing on the side so your guests can control their drizzle.
• Nice pickle spear.  Yep, good pickles are good.
• Good / perfect size.  Yes, the sandwich had a perfect size.  Not too big or small.  Good amounts of meat.
• Nice, smokey taste.  The bacon added a lot.
• Good chewiness, cheesy.  The bacon added some chewiness as well that was great.  The flavor of this sandwich was outstanding.
• Good amount of meat.  Nice roast beef that was good looking and plentiful and augmented very effectively by the other toppings.
• Jalepenos are really nice and cream cheese balances: smooth.  I loved the jalepenos and  cream cheese (and bacon and cheese) on there.  It made for a great sandwich.  Jalepenos weren't overpowering and added a lot to the experience.  They were typical probably canned pickled types and that was good for me since I like jalepenos a lot. 
• Sandwich alone is delicious and a five.  Yep.  No doubt about it.  Great.  Not a "fresh" sandwich like with veggies on it and whatnot but a very delicious one.
• Hardly need the jus.  Yes, this is where I struggled.  I love au jus but why would I need to put it on something that is already so salty and delicious?  It detracts from the value the au jus could potentially add.  I didn't want to bastardize or over complicate the sandwich with the jus, ate half without it to pay respect.
• Nicely toasted and buttered bread
• Nice good, salty, dark jus

Score

Bread 5 of 5

Meat 3 of 5 good roast beef

Non-Meat Toppings 5 of 5 jalepenos, Swiss, bacon and cream cheese added a lot to the sandwich

Sandwich alone 5 of 5

Jus 4 of  5 Good jus

Sandwich into Jus 3 of 5 I just don't believe that the jus is required in this case.  I guess I would recommend this sandwich to anyone and the jus is nice to have as a backup.  Maybe this thing is just so delicious it blew my mind.  Or was it overwhelmingly salty between the various parts?

Overall Experience 4 of 5 I liked this sandwich a lot and the Dub Pub is a great place to eat tasty treats and watch sports