The Loft, Poulsbo, WA French Dip Review

Quite a bit of meat.  Looked quite good.

Attractive salad.

Quite a big bowl of jus.

Cute little salad with nice cukes, pretty radish slice, carrots, tomato, croutons.

Cute old service dog.

Sarah's tacos were quite good, too!

Raw notes.

Notes

Ambiance

• Waterfront
• Labor Day

Food

• FD
  • Overall
    • Looks v good
    • Comes with a steal knife for cutting
    • Nice size
    • 4 overall, jus and too absorbent bread the missing link
    • Sandwich good, dry
    • Price
      • $15
  • Bread
    • Mentions soft baguette so could be too soft
    • Nicely toasted
    • Looks crispy
  • Meat
    • Shaved prime rib. How is this possible?
    • Juicy actually
    • Looks crispy
    • Good qty
  • Jus
    • They refer to it as 'real', so better be good
    • Big bowl
    • Delicious
    • Hot
    • A little weak
    • Mushroomy? Truffle?
    • Garlicky
  • Toppings
    • Onions, peppers and provolone could be too much and too rich
    • Look good

• Side Salad
  • 5 of 5
  • Bleu Cheese
    • Very liquid
    • Pungent, good
  • Parmesan plentiful
    • Made the salad
    • Nicely shredded, a little thicker
  • Greens
    • Fresh
    • A little kale
    • Good contrast on leaf
    • Dry
    • Good
    • Fancy
  • Plenty, sharp
  • Croutons
    • Nice
    • Cheesy
    • Chewy and crunchy
  • Carrot nicely shaved
  • Tomato good, crunchy

• Steak Tacos
  • Great flavor
  • Fresh
  • Spicy

Summary

Bread 3.  Too absorbent.  Nicely toasted, buttered, okay size.
Meat 4.  Pretty good meat.  No real complaints.  Was juicy, too.  Plentiful.
Non-Meat Toppings 4.  They added something.  (Cheese, onions, peppers).  Peppers made it look good and seem fancy.
Jus 4.  Good smelling.  Was initally hot, came in a large container.  Additional richness and it could have made the whole sandwich a 5.
Overall 4.  Was quite well done and fun to eat but I think the somewhat weak jus made it less then perfect.  The sandwich alone was good but dry and I hoped the jus would save the day; it helped but didn't rescue it fully, in the end.

Not a French Dip Review: Geno's Philly Cheese Steak, Philadelphia, PA

Setting the Stage
I was in Wilmington, DE for work, saying good by to my client JPMorgan Chase and wound up at the Philly Airport at dinner time.  I saw the Geno's stand and had to partake.  I know it's not a french dip but it's a close cousin!

Name famous 🎗️

Location Philadelphia airport 🛫, seemed new 🆕

Organization looked clean and like a production line, assumed care

Ordering cheese steak 🧀🥩, Kraft wiz, onions, added mushrooms 🍄 and peppers

Service quick 🚄

Delivery wrapped in paper 🌲, side soft drink 🥤, got napkins and their sauce

Texture bread 🥖too chewy, not toasted, could have been stale, each bite caused sandwich filling to fall out

Cheese nasty and too creamy although they did have other options they recommend this 🚮

Size good

Beef 🐮 not notable

Onions not notable

Peppers good, variety of colors, spicy, pickled

Sauce spicy, good, fun

Overall a classic Philly staple, fun with garbage too creamy cheese, toppings okay, bread too chewy

4 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Great) Awarded to The Steak 'N Hoagie Shop for their French Dip Sandwich in Charlotte, NC on this 11th day of March, 2015 -

Editor's note: It looks like Scott had another good French dip, a 4 of 5 in Charotte, NC.  Here's his very positive review!

I've been a Charlottean for 17 years. I've passed by the three locations of The Steak 'N Hoagie probably hundreds of time. But I'd never felt inspired to check it out until a coworker of mine said it was a good place to get a delicious Philly Cheesesteak, and very affordable. So last week I took the plunge.

I arrive at this mostly take-out joint, and see on the menu a Philly Cheesesteak Au Jus. I was in awe of the idea. It's like my two favorite sandwiches in one. So of course, I skipped the regular cheesesteak that they are known for and went with the "dip" version.

First off, this place is cheap. Really cheap. It was $4.75 for the sandwich and I decided to go with double meat for an extra $1.75. Added a side of pepperoncini peppers for $1.50.

"I came back to my office, and unwrapped the best hidden secret in Charlotte that I've found in a while."

I came back to my office, and unwrapped the best hidden secret in Charlotte that I've found in a while. A meat-packed sandwich with melty provolone on a soft hoagie bun. Though the bun was soft, maybe not French Dip material, it was still fresh and delicious. The meat was just what you would expect in a Philly: thinly sliced, finely chopped, and with crusty bits of goodness throughout.

The meat was just what you would expect in a Philly. Thinly sliced, finely chopped, and with crusty bits of goodness throughout.

"So of course, with this place being a cheesesteak place, and not necessarily a French Dip place, I had low expectations of the au jus."

So of course, with this place being a cheesesteak place, and not necessarily a French Dip place, I had low expectations of the au jus. But I was so pleasantly surprised when my styrofoam cup plentifully full of au jus contained a wonderful, dark jus with a ton of flavor.

I thoroughly enjoyed the sandwich. Throw it on a French roll and it's a solid 5. But unfortunately that isn't an option.

"I now can see myself hitting this place up on a weekly basis to fulfill my endless French Dip cravings for a measly $4.75 to $6.50 if you want extra meat."

The Bread: 3
The Meat: 4
The Au Jus: 5
The Portion: 5 (of course, I got double meat - worth the $1.75)
Overall: 4