2 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Not Quite There) Awarded to Jules Maes Saloon for their Prime Rib Dip Sandwich in Seattle, WA on this 19th day of November, 2016 - What could be a good Prime Rib Dip.

I was in West Seattle with a bit of time on my hands before recording my first ever podcast.  I was super stoked for it and I thought I would celebrate the occasion with my favorite sandwich food.

I sat at the bar.  It was about 11 AM on a Saturday so it felt like the restaurant was filled with a perhaps hungover Saturday crowd.  Georgetown is pretty casual and a bit hipster but there was a good mix of people in the joint: older people, younger people.  Jules Maes has a casual, neighborhood feel.  I watched the cooks cook.

Le Menu.  I was excited.  I had been to Jules Maes in the past and I think I have a memory of having their French dip before but I wasn't sure.  I knew I had had their tater tots and thinking back on it, maybe that's all I should have gotten.  Tots can be quite delicious, you know.

Sorry for the lack of focus on this here picture.  It says, "Prime Rib Dip: horseradish sauce, herb-garlic au jus, French roll.  The grand total since I ordered a side salad instead of tots or fries as $20.08.

Here it is served.  The sandwich doesn't look too big or tall.  Nothing too exciting about it.  The sandwiches look a little floppy and sloppy and we'll get into that particular issue a bit later.

Here are my detailed tasting notes as I ate this here sandwich meal:

• Greasy tasting
• My plate sat for about five minutes after the kitchen finished with it (I watched them set my plate down and counted the minutes as it got cold.) Sad. 
• Overall, the bread was ok and perhaps even ideal: it was chewy bread and had a bit of a sourdough taste, I thought.  Bread probably gets a 4 of 5. 
• Since the sandwich sat for so long, I had to ask for hot jus and getting that took a long time, too (bad service).  The woman behind the bar said she would get me some and then she never did so I finally begged for more from another bartender.  When it came out the second time it was hot at least.
• As for how the green salad was: the Bleu cheese dressing was good, which was nice but by no means saved the meal.  The salad was only okay and was not very big either (compare to the Georgetown Liquor salad that is served with their very delicious Picard sandwich).  That thing was like a separate and delicious meal of food!). 
• The sandwich came with the creamy horseradish pre-added.  The consequence of this action was a greasy and wet texture of the sandwich.  I wouldn't call it juicy, just greasy and heavy.
• They put a lot of care into their jus: it was dark and claimed to be herb-garlic, but I really didn't think it was that good.  I give it a 3 of 5 for care but it didn't blow my mind or please me to the degree I would rather be pleased.  The jus was dark, rich and authentic but it also had some kind of woodend and/or umami flavor, which didn't do it for me.  It maybe needed to be tangy-er. 

Scoring:

• Bread - 4 of 5 - for its chewiness and good flavor
• Meat - 3 of 5 - the prime rib didn't really stand out at all
• Non-Meat Toppings - 0 of 5 - the horseradish cream made the sandwich unnecessarily greasy and caused it to lose any hope of tasting fresh
• Jus - 3 of 5 - for an attention to quality but the flavor in the end was not all that great
• Sandwich - 2 of 5 - 
• Overall - 2 of 5 - wasn't a fan.  The slow service, coupled with a sandwich that was pre-coated in a mayonnaise-like substance was not my cup o' tea

Conclusion:

Overall I give this sandwich and meal experience a 2 of 5 due to bad service and a French dip that seemed greasy.  Next time I go I will A) get tots instead of the salad B) get the horseradish on the side and C) make sure that it comes out from the kitchen rapidly.  I am not willing to settle for luke (warm?  No, Skywalker, you inbred) jus.

3 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Good) Awarded to Tub's Gourmet Subs for their French Dip Sandwich in Lynnwood, WA on this 30th day of October, 2016 - A true classic.

I was out shopping for a new (used) car with my brother and we found ourselves at Tub's Gourmet Sandwiches in Lynwood at lunchtime.  I had been to Tub's before, even reviewed one of their sandwiches, the Firecracker, which was so delicious.  I was excited to have their French dip.  I felt deplete to have not had it before.

Tub's is a deli-style establishment that feels pretty ma and pa, local, which is good.  It has a good feeling and vibe and I believe it has a pretty good following, large clientele, and respected brand.  

Adam and I both ordered the French dip (small size).  "Roast beef and your choice of cheese, toasted on a buttered baguette...served with hot au jus."  Sounds simple and about right.  We both opted for provolone over the other selections of cheddar and Swiss.  In hindsight, one of those other cheeses, could have made the sandwich a bit more interesting.

When we were ordering, the kid at the counter told us that I was the third "Eric" (spellings varied) to order in a row.  I forgot this fact and while drinking our waters, waiting for our order, I heard "Eric" called out.  So I rushed to the counter and reviewed the order.  I quickly realized it was not mine but was also reminded of just how delicious the Firecracker sandwich was. The other Eric agreed that the Firecracker was awesome.  We continued waiting...not too long...and eventually got our order that included sides of clam chowder.  Note that the chowder is served with a piece of bread as a side, which seems a bit strange (carb heavy) especially within the context of a sandwich.

Here is my jus and chowder.  Both in styrofoam.  LOTS of styrofoam was used in the delivery of this meal, which seems a bit sad to me.  I would think they would get with the clue on that issue by now.  Switching to another packing type would have many benefits to their brand.

Here's the French dip sandwich.  You can see quite a bit of roast beef and good, nice quality bread.  It was toasted nicely as well.

Here's my hand-model, Adam, after his first bite.  Note that I instructed him to eat the sandwich first, alone, to judge its utility.

Adam, bun-deep.

Here are my detailed tasting notes from the meal:

• Good not great chowder with black peppery taste, thin texture. 
• The bread was perfectly toasted and good. 
• The overall size was generous.
• The use of so much styrofoam was a bit over the top and ridiculous.  This might fly in Texas but I would think Washingtonians are a bit more conscious / concerned about this issue.
• Lots of roast beef piled high but it was not HOT, which made the sandwich lose points.
• The sandwich was good-tasting when enjoyed by itself sans jus.
• I chose provolone cheese which was an okay choice but didn't add a lot.  I may prefer Swiss cheese for a French dip due to its deep, umami flavor. 
• The au jus was light (nothing too special or too rich) but good 
• The bread was very absorbent, which took up a lot of jus, causing me to re-order jus.  I watched the lady pour me a new jus out of a coffee thermos, which did not heighten the degree of perceived flavor for me.
• The roast beef on the sandwich was plentiful and fine-tasting but cold.  Lost points here. 
• The bread was indeed buttered and the $6.79 price tag was reasonable.

Scoring

• Overall this was a 3.5 of 5 ("pretty good"), simple, no frills except cheese.  A competent and reasonable sandwich.
• Bread 3 of 5 - Too absorbent, perhaps too much.
• Jus 3 of 5 - OK only but served hot, which was nice.
• Meat - 2.5 of 5 - Fine roast beef but it was served cold, which I don't really like as a contrast to the hot jus.
• Non-Meat Toppings (Provolone cheese) - 3 of 5 - Fine but nothing notable 

Tubs is a good sandwich shop and makes a good, solid French dip that could be improved by eco-friendly packaging, hotter (jus-dipped) roast beef, and richer jus.

5 of 5 DeliciScore™ (From Heaven) Awarded to Nine O for their Prime Rib Dip Sandwich in Bellevue, WA on this 5th day of October, 2016 - Onion jam? Yes, please.

Here's the outside of their fancy menu.  It was nighttime and we missed happy hour so prices were high.

You'll see the Prime Rib Dip in there.  I did.  (And do).  Squint your eyes if you're having a hard time.

Prime Rib Dip.  $16.  Mamma Lil's peppers (so that's what those are called!) and onion relish (god it was great, an absolute highlight, almost requirement for a great French dip.  The French baguette was really good too.

The plated unit with the Mamma lil peppers, twisted bamboo skewers, a nice white plate and a nice white porcelain ramekin. The salad didn't look wonderful but I was generally impressed with the looks of the sandwich and the smell of the jus caught my nose in the most enjoyable of ways.

Close-up of the sandwich indeed.  Good bread.  The Prime rib was not rare in any way (medium to medium well but it was good and not too chewy or anything like that.)

I met up with my buddy Berry last night for drinks and a business conversation.  It was 6:30 and I was starving.  At first I thought I was going to get an appetizer to hold myself over for a real dinner but I realized I was just too hungry that I had to go all in.  ...And they had a French dip (Prime rib dip) on the menu...so I threw down...all in.

I told Berry about my French dip eating and reviewing hobby (habit) so I got to entertain him with the process of photographing it, reviewing it and eating it like a freak.  It was fun.  I used to be embarrassed, quite literally, of doing my French dip reviewing in front of others but now I am pretty proud of it and think it's funny.  I have fun with it and can still engage while going through the reviewing motions.  It's a fun and silly hobby.  Berry had to endure the note-taking I was doing into my phone but that was fine.

So the Prime rib dip came out while I sat there talking to Berry.  The smell of the jus immediately permeated my nose and I was stoked and simply enjoyed the aroma, adding to my conversation.  It looked really good, too, so I felt like I would be in good shape.  I tasted the sandwich, standalone, and it was very good.  The beef was medium or beyond (which scores it a points lower) but was overall good.  The onion jam flavor was very delightful and I'd never experienced it on a French dip.  It was a wonderful condiment and accompaniment.  I sipped the jus, standalone, and it was salty and rich. It was perhaps overly salty but that's what a French dip is about, right?  The salt?

The dipping was good and as I enjoyed consuming the whole sandwich, what impressed me more than anything was the crunchy toasted quality bread, the rich jus, and the extremely delicious onion jam.  Onion jam!

After I devoured the sandwich, I moved onto the salad, which was good but not really notable.  Some of the lettuce had wilted some due to its close proximity to the hot sandwich and jus. Overall, it was fine, had croutons and okay dressing but nothing too wonderful.

The presentation of the meal overall was nice with good Mamma lil's peppers on top of the twisted bamboo skewers, handsome bread and good dishes.

Raw tasting notes:

• Smell of jus is good to start 
• Looks good 
• White sourdough, dense hearty looking bread 
• Topped with a pepper on skewer I've never seen 
• Very dense bread 
• Nicely spicy
• Very salty but good, rich jus
• Onion jam excellent and spicy? 
• Crunchy bread 
• Good salad with some wiltedness caused by the proximity of the lettuce to the hot stuff 
• topped with a round pickled pepper on each half of the sandwich. 
• The onion jam was a real hit with me 
• the bread was really dense and had some good crunch to it that could be overridden by the jus. 
• i might even like stale, very chewy french dip bread.  The last thing you want is wonder bread. 

The scoring:

Bread: 5

Meat: 3

Non-Meat Toppings: 5 (Onion jam, yes!!!!)

Jus: 4 (A bit too salty but good)

Overall: 5 (The onion jam and great bread brought this thing home.  It was a delight to eat.)

4 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Great) Awarded to North Bend Bar and Grill for their Prime Rib Dip Sandwich in North Bend, WA on this 7th day of September, 2016 - Prime Rib & Cheddar

So here we are at the North Bend Bar & Grill.  Jessica and I were out for date night (it was Wednesday).  We went to North Bend to check things out down there.  It's a cute little town.  Pretty limited but cute.

After enjoying clams as an appetizer, I zeroed in on the Prime Rib & Cheddar Sandwich option.  I had been in a "French dip funk" (I will explain later) and thought I might need to do it.  I wasn't that hungry so Jessica and I agreed to split that there French dip, plus it came with fries and a salad so we were good.  While we were getting settled I ordered a Rainier pint.  

So I had two choices for the dipped prime rib sandwich au jus.  I wasn't feeling up (at all) for the peppers and onions and even had a hard time talking myself into getting a sandwich with cheddar on it (was feeling like more of a purist that night).  So I went for this bad boy.  I see that they also have a turkey option, which I am sure is good.  But the prime rib wound up being pretty good meat, not surprisingly. 

Our waitress brought out the salad, which was quite nice looking.  That is carrots you see, not cheese.  And the lettuce was hearty and nice greens.

At first I was afraid that she had only brought out bleu cheese crumbles and the salad might be dry but this was just a (really) nice touch they do to their bleu cheese dressing is to top the serving container with the crumbles.  And it wound up being a very good salad!

As I mentioned, Jessica and I had agreed to split the French dip so we were both presented with a nice plate, good portion, good looking jus, and fries.  I wasn't so hungry, so this looked like a really good amount of food and Jessica even took half of hers home but she eats like a bird, sorry Jessica dear.

A close-up of the jus.  It was served in a fine, classic container, it was dark, looked quite hot, smelled good, looked rich, good, etc.  So I felt pretty confident that it would be good and it was indeed good.  It was perhaps overly salty but in general it was good jus.  When it comes to jus, it is better to err on the side of too rich rather than too bland.

Here's a close-up of the sandwich and the creamy horseradish sauce to its left.  The creamy horseradish was actually quite good: pretty spicy, etc. with a good kick but I prefer the non-creamy varieties of horseradish and as someone who in general does not like most foods overly rich or creamy.  The bread looked quite pretty, the cheese quite nice and the meat nicely crisped and such.  In general I was a fan of the presentation and felt like it would be a good meal.  

I don't know this man.  I was trying to take a picture out the window of Mt. Si behind him and he awkwardly looked over at me right as I was taking the picture so that didn't go well.  Sorry, dude, I hope you enjoyed your hamburger, conversation and glass of wine!

So here is the review, people:

• Salad good. It was a really good, nicely presented salad with nice ingredients and a fancier-than usual dressing that included a blue cheese crumble topping.   
• Jus good.  The jus looked good, hot, rich and thick upon serving and was delivered in what would be a proper container.  I wrote down that that jus was "really good" and it was also really salty.  I think we don't grade down jus for being overly salty unless it is really like over the top screwed up salty.
• Meat good.  The prime rib was indeed really good when eaten alone and seasoned quite nicely with a salty but good flavor.  The prime rib was prepared medium well and gets a strike against it because I was not presented with the option for it to be medium rare, etc.
• And then there was the bread.  Now the bread on the other hand looked okay overall and was of high quality but in general had a "floury" taste (and visible flour) and it was non-French.  It was especially spongy and not very porous (sidebar: it's called porosity or void friction and needs to get added to the metrics page).  You don't want an overly absorbent bread, which this was.  It wasn't too soft but it was also not buttered much if at all and it wasn't very toasted.  The bread did not ruin it for me but it also did not make or really help the sandwich in any significant way; the highlights were the salty meat and cheese and the quite rich jus.
• Cheese good.  The chedder cheese topping was of good quality, nice and thick.  It added benefit to the sandwich.  The sandwich alone (when eaten without the jus was pretty good but not to die for.  The meat was good.)   
• Horseradish cream was there, but whatever.  As I previously mentioned, the horseradish cream was good but of the creamy type and had the right amount of spiciness.  But I did not really splurge on it (one dip, I believe) as it is not really what I needed or wanted at the time. 
• Fries.  It was nice that they gave out both fries and a very salad.  The fries were only okay with some a bit on the mushy side.  As is my basic custom, they were dipped into ketchup.  Mustard was not on the table I don't believe and had it been I would have most likely used that mustard for dipping my fries into, okay? 

Ratings

• Overall sandwich dipped.  This sandwich was a 4 of 5 overall.  It loses points for the bread primarily. In general, this was a high priced meal at $15.99 but because it came with fries and salad, cheese, prime rib and the size was pretty good, it is not entirely outlandish, especially for the Seattle area.  It was also a nice feature and touch that they split it between me and Jessica and each portion was quite generous.  
• Bread.  I score the bread as a 2 of 5 for a few reasons: quite white in color, not buttered much if at all, not toasted much, not very crunchy, had some taste like flour, overly absorbent.
• Jus.  The jus I will score as a 4 of 5 primarily due to its saltineess but in general it was rich and good.
• Meat.  The meat gets a 4 of 5 for being crunchy and nice and salty and tasty and prime rib.  It could have been better had I been given the option to choose doneness but overall it worked very well with this sandwich and was enjoyable.
• Cheese.  I give the cheese (non-meat topping) a 4 of 5 given its quality, thick cut and value-add to the sandwich.  

So there you have it, dear Mr./Mrs./Ms. reader person.  I hope you enjoyed the review and will enjoy a French dip of your own very soon.  Or at least a conversation about one.

5 of 5 DeliciScore™ (From Heaven) Awarded to Georgetown Liquor Company for their Vegetarian Dip Sandwich in Seattle, WA on this 14th day of July, 2016 - The Picard - God, it's good!

It was a Friday and I had the day off of work because I had been on call the previous weekend (see the Cowiche French Dip review from my trip to Yakima).  It was a lazy and fun day and I didn't have much going on.  So I figured a French dip would be a good treat.  So I looked on my French Dip To Do List on Foursquare for my next adventure and I found the Georgetown Liquor Piccard.  I had been told about this French dip years ago by my old pal Charlotte who is a food stylist, foodie, cook, artist, etc.  And I knew it was vegetarian but she said it was delicious so I knew I had to hit it up. And I had not had a vegetarian French dip before so this was fascinating and exciting to me.  I was intrigued.

I showed up at Georgetown Liquor at lunchtime on a Friday and there weren't too many people there but I immediately liked the place.  I sat at the bar and enjoyed the company of the bartender.  A few others were there but it wasn't very crowded.  

So here's the menu.  I ordered an IPA while I waited. I asked the waiter (LOL) what beverage paired best with a French dip and he didn't have a good answer.  (Not surprisingly). : )

So there's the Picard, "Lentil Sage Field Roast, roasted red onions, fresh mozzarella, creamy roasted garlic spread, toasted on ciabatta.  Served with vegan au jus.  $10.45.  Pretty intriguing, right?  I was definitely intrigued.

Here's the picture of the plate, served.  The mozzarella is visible.  The jus is dark.  The salad is composed of nice greens.

Again, dark and very good jus.

And this salad, you will note, unfolded into a PLATEFUL of salad, which was a nice treat afterwards.  I ordered the vegan ranch dressing (this place only serves vegetarian stuff, btw, if you hadn't picked up on that nuance yet).

Not too impressive AND blurry image of the expanding salad that was so good.  Note the shaved parm and chunky, skinned cukes!

So I went through two au jus cups. Do you hate me?

Here were my tasting notes so you can get the full effect:

• Small size - yes, small but not terribly small.  Sufficient, we shall say
• Limited jus - this is true but I asked for more and it came right out, piping hot, deliverd by the cook!
• Unique - yes indeed it sure was.  What a fun, interesting, delicious sandwich
• Toasted - yep, good job.  Gotta have it toasted.
• Great taste - Sure it was.
• Quality - Yep, it really was a tasty unit!
• Good bread - Yep
• The sandwich alone had no problems without the jus and was good alone, which is a great sign.  But you have to dip of course.
• Great, peppery jus flavor - I "pre-tasted" the jus (sipped some) to gauge its caliber and was basically delighted.
• Didn't need or want beef/ meat - Yeah, the lentil safe Field Roast was extremely tasty and din't make me feel like I needed real beef.  This is a true statement is that some of the meatless proteins can be soooooooooo good and delicious you'd really never need or want meet again.  Until you have meat again and it's really good.
• Very satisfying and delicious - Yep, thank you Georgetown Liquor for an excellent sandwich. The barkeep said it is indeed their most popular and I can fully understand why.  How great was this thing?!?!
• Smaller size not bothersome - Yeah, I'm over this.  You wouldn't want to overdo it with immensity.
• Onions, basically delicious - Yep, I really enjoy delicious things, like the roasted red onions, it turns out.
• Field roast really tasty, almost meat like - Yep. Good stuff.  Thank you.
• More jus promptly delivered by cook - That was a really nice touch and impressed me.
• Crust on field roast crispy, chewy and delicious, great flavor - Yep
• 5 of 5 across the board. Delicious.  God this was good.
• Good, nice, big salad with fresh greens - Yeah, and this was a huge added benefit.  Note that there's no bleu cheese dressing here but the vegan ranch was extremely good
• Delicious fresh salad with dry, excellent greens, shaved Parmesan, delicious dressing, good cucumber, Cherry tomatoes - God, I need to go back now!!!! : )
• Served in a red plastic basket with checkered paper - Why not?

Summary:

Bread: 5 of 5

"Meat": 4 of 5 - I love that it's not meat and so good.  But it's not meat and can't beat excellent beef so I"m going to pull out the penalty flag here but an excellent use of delicious protein.

Au Jus: 5 of 5 - And done with out meat so that's awesome

Overall: 5 of 5 - Absolutely delicous sandwich and salad at an affordable place at a funky place with friendly people

4 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Great) Awarded to Cowiche Canyon Kitchen & Ice House for their Prime Rib Dip Sandwich in Yakima, WA on this 14th day of July, 2016 - Risky service.

Jessica had some horse-related event in Yakima on Saturday and I was on call that weekend.  I wanted to hang out with her, I like "Eastern" Washington (East of the Cascades), so I tagged along.  The issue was that I was on call and had to be tethered to civilization in case tragedy struck.  We were graciously hosted by Barry Bernfeld, a family friend in Yakima.  We stayed out his house on Friday night, Jessica left early Saturday morning and I was quite bored the next day, wondering what to do with myself.  I had a car that had been loaned to me from Barry, which was a really nice perk.  Around lunch time I had decided I would entertain myself with a French Dip at a place that was ranked quite high in Foursquare.  To be honest, Yakima does not, I repeat does not, have a lot going on there including not too many hoity toity restaurants like a person might see in a major metropolitan area like Seattle.  

It was 90 out that day so a nice little heat spell for me; a little mini-vacation.

So anywho, I showed up at this place and it was really hard to find the door to get into it.  WTH?  So I eventually found the door and walked inside.  It was nice and fancy and modern and such and there were a few people and the vibe was quite good.  

So here's the menu.  Looking fine.

And there's the quite high-priced Prime Rib Dip at $16.50.  "Thinly sliced prime rib, Cowiche roll, served with [note the use of with next to "au", the French word for with] au jus, horseradish sauce and thin-cut fries. 

So I ordered it and waited while I gazed deeply into my flower vase.

And I also studied and enjoyed my ice water.

And I appreciated my person pepper mill and laundered napkin.

Now you might expect at this point that I got somethign good.  But I didn't.  And I am ashamed to say, I do not have photographic evidence of the failure pile.  But here were my notes of it:

• Radishes and Julienned carrot on salad
• Meat is pink 
• Good looking bread
• Lots of horseradish provided 
• Not a lot of jus
• Ok but not huge size
• Jus not streaming
• Sandwich and meat not hot nor toasted much
• Fresh good, unique bread
• High quality meat
• Pre tossed salad
• Complained after eating the first cold half 
• Bitter but fresh greens
• Salad needed salt and pepper, lacked flavor bitter 
• Dowell skewers 

So at this point I was totally dejected and sad.  They brought me out a lukewarm sandwhich that wasn't toasted very well and the jus wasn't hot.  I felt like I was eating a normal roast beef sandwich and was super sad.  And surprised that they would have served it to me.  It clearly had all quality ingredients but it was served cold.  It was some kind of mistake, some kind of mystery.  Why had they given me THAT sandwiches, of all sandwiches?  Please, people, you NEED to pay attention to your quality and not ship shit out of the kitchen.

So anyways, I complained and the brought me a new one:

Looking good now, yeah?  Nice looking jus, nice toasted bread, good looking meat (which by the way was now medium since I complained about the medium rare meat being too cold.  It looks solid and professionally done.

There's the evidence that I ate it all and that they gave me a heavy, professional-grade steak knife for my sandwich, a nice touch.

Here are my tasting notes from the second half of the sandwich (after they had corrected the initial error):

Second jus and sandwich hot and good, near 5 in simplicity and quality
The bread was much better toasted the second time (thank you!)
Meat was served medium and much hotter the second time
Peppery taste
Salad was a 3 for quality but did have really bitter greens and required salt
The plate was plain and boring.  They could have added more flare to it like garnish
The price was quite high, especially in Yakima but it was also high quality and I can understand why they priced it so high because of the high quality ingredients.  $13 could have been better and may sell more.
Once I had wrapped it up, they never did ask if I liked my original meal and didn't clear my plate when I was finished, which I thought was rude.
They did comp me on 1/2 off the sandwich and I tipped well.
The first sandwich that I returned was was white, soft and basically cold (not hot enough)

Summary:

Sandwich Half #1:

Bread: 3 - wasn't toasted sufficiently
Meat: 3 - nice quality but wasn't hot enough
Jus: 3 - good but wasn't hot enough
Overall: 2 - too cold

Sandwich Half #2: (Revised version after I complained about the first)

Bread: 5 - Good local bread, toasted well.  Firm
Meat: 4 - Good prime rib but they made it medium to get it hot
Jus: 4 - good and not, no complaints
Overall: 4 - I can't give it a 5 because I fear their inconsistency

4 of 5 DeliciScore™ (Great) Awarded to Ram Restaurant & Brewery for their French Dip Sandwich in Issaquah, WA on this 21st day of May, 2016 - Piled high with tasty beef.

It was Saturday night and Jessica had worked all day while I worked on preparations for her special-needs horse to arrive at our new rental farm location in Preston, WA.  I was ready to get away from the house so we agreed to meet out.  First we thought Thai food, then we agreed that The Ram sounded like more fun.  So I drove out to meet her and when I got there (after taking a long time to park and parking far, far away) she was sitting at the bar.  Looking quite good, I might say.  Anyways, I sat down and we chatted.  I was feeling a bit under the weather (perhaps a cold brewing, uh oh?) so only drank water although many people seemed to rave about the Amber.  Jessica ordered a sampler of it and I tried it and it was quite good.  But I stuck to water.  We were on our way to a movie (goal was to see the new Russell Crowe movie The Nice Guys) so we didn't have a ton of time.  I'd never had the French dip and had noticed that Brian Ashbach had been getting it recently so I figured I'd get in on that action and give it a whirl.

There it is: French Dip.  Roast beef (sure was) on French baguette with au jus.  (no real frills here) but the do have toppings. $1 Cheese $1 Grilled Onions $2 Roasted Mushrooms.  Although it is my custom to only order "as it is listed by the chef" I went out on a limb here and added Cheese and Mushrooms.  For cheese I was given choices by the waitress (bartender): cheddar, Swiss, etc. but I chose Havarti since it seemed to be the most "far out" and abnormal.  Although I later realized I could have things other than fries, I wasn't asked and was fine that I was expecting fries. 

When the sandwich came out I noticed that it was a bit shy on jus so I immediately asked for more, knowing I would be in jeopardy later on.  The lady was super nice and even asked if I wanted it now or to time it when I was further through the first one and and I said now.  I need to be surrounded by jus.  

So there it is, the sandwich.  You can tell that there is a lot of roast beef on this thing.  And I'm happy it's "classic" thin that way.  And they really piled it high, which was a nice feature.  Yes, it did look a bit gray in color but it was fine / good, perhaps even juicy.  

Very nice, these mushrooms they added.  They were good.  Not great, ravingly awesome mushrooms but really good, delicate and nicely prepared.

So I ate on the sandwich for a while without the jus to know what was going on as a standalone unit.  It was pretty good.  I thought maybe the bread was a bit stale but the sandwich was quite hearty (one half considerably larger than the other) but both were quite big.  The sandwich alone was pretty good.  Lots of meat.  The meat was salty but not bad; what you'd expect in sliced, deli roast beef like that.

And of course at some point you have to go all the way with this thing and take the plunge.  I always get butterflies in my stomach before I do because it could either add or subtract and it can be sooooo risky!  "Will it be hot enough?"  "Will it be good enough?"  "How will it taste differently?"  So many thoughts simply race through ones mind as they stare into the abyss of that jus-y potential.  So I did.  And......it was really good.  Hot.  Salty as it should be and just plain good.  So I ate and ate and ate and dipped and dipped and dipped and enjoyed.  Then I got to the fries and they were good, too.  Jessica helped me with the fries. 

Raw notes: (inside the mind of a French dip genius as he types notes into his phone while consuming a French dip)

• Salty
• Crunchy 
• Possibly stale bread 
• Lots of deli meat thin sliced 
• Mushrooms good 
• Jus good and hot, helps 
• Havarti not really noticeable 
• Generous, big size 
• Overall 4 
• Meat 3 in quality 5 in qty 
• Bread 4-5 because of crunchy toasty 
• Jus 4-5 
• Cheese choices nice 
• Crunchy fries 
• Nice the lady asked when to bring out jus too

Conclusions

4 of 5 Overall -  (pretty good!  Possibly stale/overly crunchy bread and the meat is good but not as thrilling as it could have been.  The $15 price tag is a bit high too, but not far fetched in King County)

3 of 5 Meat - Just lots of deli roast beef

5 of 5 Non-meat toppings - Good options here.  Lots of cheese options.  I didn't feel like onions.  The mushrooms were a really nice, gourmet touch. The Havarti was also fine from a lubricating perspective (the bread was also buttered I could see)

4 of 5 Jus - Really good jus that was hot and plentiful upon request.  It definitely added to the sandwich.

4 of 5 Bread - Good bread that may have been stale but thinking back on it, stale bread may be a good secret for a good French dip to make the jus create a larger benefit when dipped and providing some remaining chewiness post-soak.  

The Ram is a fun place.  It was very lively in there, busy.  Food was pretty good.  It's a fancy, trendy, vibrant, family-friendly sports bar.

http://www.theram.com/locations/wa-issaquah/

HOURS
Sunday – Thursday, 11am – 12am
Friday & Saturday, 11am – 2am

965 N.E. Park Drive
Issaquah, Washington 98029
Tel: (425) 313 – 0415