4 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Great) Awarded to Tam O'Shanter Clubhouse for their French Dip Sandwich in Bellevue, WA on this 7th day of January, 2017 - Our First French Dip of 2017 is Good, Peppery and Meaty

I found myself on a cold winter Saturday at Tam O'Shanter Golf & Country Club's Clubhouse in Bellevue, WA.  I was with my buddy Garth and we were meeting up with my neighbors to watch the Seahawks play the Detroit Lions in the playoffs.  

Tam O'Shanter's Clubhouse is a very relaxing location.  I get to go there because my neighbor's nephews work there.  It is not too busy, has really great service and I came to find out that their food is also quite good as well.  

While there, I enjoyed half of Garth's French dip, fries, and a lot of Buffalo wings that were really good as well.  I've been telling people lately about how I like my wings: overdone and really crispy, almost to the level of jerky.  These fit that bill.

More info on Tam O'Shanter:

https://www.tamoshanter.net/

1313 183RD Ave NE

Bellevue, WA 98008-3439 

(425) 746-3855

It was a 5:15 PM gametime and it wound up being a really good game with the win going to the Seahawks.  The final score?  26-6 with some really sweet catches such as this one from Paul Richardson.

Here's the details on their French dip: 

A *huge* and extremely wide sandwich brushed with butter and extremely dark, think jus.  To repeat: this baby is EXTREME!  Bamboo skewer in tow.

Arial view demonstrating the girth of this sandwich.  Garth cut it in half, which was probably the right call but I think I would have felt quite manly dipping that bad boy in the thick gravy-like jus.

The dark, thick jus and fries.

I assumed initially that the bread was too thick and would be too absorbent.  But somehow it worked.  It did not actually result in a too-much-bread experience and the thick and viscous jus did also not allow for an overly absorbent experience as seen in J. Michael's French dip, for example.

Clearly a lot of meat.  There are some peppery onions in there as well.  And you can see that the bread compressed quite well.

Raw Tasting Notes:

• Dry (well done) and LOTS of beef 
• Extremely wide sandwich with bread that looks like it could be too absorbent 
• Very Generous portion
• Very Peppery
• Onions 
• No cheese causes dryness but the gravy creates lubrication 
• Gravy very thick and rich, dark 
• 4 of 5 because of too dry beef and very  Peppery, must be compensating for something with so much pepper? 
• Compare to very beefy Bellevue brewing company tall boy sandwich 
• Results in poutine when Gravy jus drips on fries 
• Paul recommends the steak fries, not skinny 

Scoring:
Bread 4 of 5 for size and brushed with butter
Meat 4 of 5 for too dry but lots of it and peppery, flavorful, good texture
Non-Meat Toppings peppery grilled onions that were good and additive
Jus 4 of 5 for being so rich and thick and flavorful, gravy-like
Overall 4 of 5 a consistent and interesting, well-executed French dip sandwich

4 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Great) Awarded to King Deli & Sundries for their French Dip Sandwich in Seattle, WA on this 6th day of June, 2015 - Convenience has its virtues.

Last week during a very busy day at work I went in and got the French dip from the deli in my office, King Deli and Espresso, and ate it at my desk.  Going into this experience I had very low expectations; the deli is half-deli, half-convenience-store and serves pretty basic things but the people there all seem really nice and I enjoy watching the workers prepare food.  It has a really nice, family-oriented vibe to it and just seems simple and unpretentious, even wholesome.  I have a sense of "prepared with love" when I go to this place and that's a nice feeling.

I started working in this building about a month ago and since then, I've enjoyed their chicken teriyaki and spicy chicken teriyaki.  I also had their "Pizzini" sandwich, a panini with pizza-like fillings, and that was pretty good as well.  The portion sizes provided are all rather generous, too.  I had assumed that the French dip would be bland and lackluster without any unique or distinguishing features but I was wrong.

After ordering and selecting a side salad as my accompaniment, I went back upstairs to my desk to eat.  I unboxed the dip and it looked way better and fancier than I had anticipated.  It had nice provalone on it, the size was good, and you could see a pretty heavy dousing of black pepper, which is not common and was indeed a nice feature to behold.  The bread was of type classic French.  There was not a ton of roast beef on it (it could have used more in fact) but overall I was pretty pleased with the presentation.  The bread was toasted as well, probably by their panini machine but it was not flat.  The bread wound up being quite absorbent and in the end, my last two bites were without jus.  The jus came in a small styrofoam cup and was hot and good.  There was a nice deli pickle spear that I immediately ate.

As I like to do for starters, I ate the sandwich alone without jus so I could know what that with which I was working.  I was happy.  Not overwhelmed but happy.  The cheese and buttered bread made it a a good taste.  I gave the sandwich a jus-plunge and took a bite: it was even better, so I was really happy with that which I would enjoy.  I made my way through the dip and finished it all, pleased.

The provolone had its expected mild but good flavor and contributed a bit of depth to the sandwich, which I enjoyed.  While ordering, I was given the option of a potato salad but opted for a side green salad.  The salad was very simple (iceberg lettuce with ranch) yet overall was pretty good, cold and made a nice complement to the hot sandwich.

Overall, I rate this French dip sandwich and meal a 4 of 5.  Yes, it's a pretty high score for a rather basic unit under $10 but the provalone and pepper made it stand out.  To boot, this sandwich is in my building and easily acceptable so I get my dip-fix if necessary.  I'm really happy that I bit the bullet,  ordered, ate and reviewed this dip.

My apologies for not having any pictures here but you'll have to take my word that this is a good, solid, satisfying French dip that is enhanced by a nice, peppery taste with some nice cheese and portion size for under $10.