The Cooler

A couple of years ago, the best restaurant around was a place called Five Guys — the staff of which consisted, I think, of two or three guys and a woman. Their main business was catering, but they also were open for lunch and dinner, and served a variety of sandwiches and salads, with specials each day. They also served pizza, for a while.

At first, Five Guys was located in a town six miles south of here. They usually took 10 to 20 minutes to have our order — which almost always consisted of two Italian pasta salads (lettuce, pasta, onions, black olives, tomatoes, pepperoncinis, mozzarella, ham and salami) — ready, so it worked out perfectly: The Lovely could call in the order, and by the time I drove down there, the food was ready to go. No waiting. Perfect!

Occasionally, I would order a pastrami reuben, which came with a side order of German potato salad. Or a cooler sandwich, which included hard-boiled eggs, avocadoes, Swiss cheese, tomatoes (I think), alfalfa sprouts and a slightly tangy sauce, all on rye bread (I think ... damn, it has been a while). We had a sandwich very similar to this at a little cafe in Linz, Germany; I believe it had cucumbers on it ... or maybe that was Five Guys, I dunno. Durn them, for closing!

: (

The employees of Five Guys were adamant about NO SUBSTITUTIONS for or omissions of items on their sandwiches and what-not. And they were kinda crabby about it; in fact, they were a little like the guys who work at the Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago — the one they spoofed on Saturday Night Live with the “Cheeseburger! Cheeseburger!” and “No Pepsi. Coke!” (or was it, “No Coke. Pepsi!” Hmmm, I think it might have been!) and “No fries. Chips!”

(I always order incorrectly, just to hear them say all that. I love the Goat — especially their thick-sliced kosher dill slices. Yum, yum!)

: )

Tonight I fixed my own version of the cooler sandwich:

1 avocado
1 medium tomato
2 hard-boiled eggs
3 slices of Wonder light wheat bread
Hellman’s mayonnaise
Salt

Peel avocado and cut into narrow strips, lengthwise. While eggs are boiling, place tomato in water for a few seconds and then take it out; this will make for easy peeling (unless, of course, you prefer to leave the peel on the tomato ... which I do not). Cut tomato into thin slices. When eggs are finished boiling, rinse with cold water, peel and rinse again. Cut eggs widthwise into thin slices. Toast bread. Layer mayonnaise, eggs, avocadoes and tomatoes on two slices of toast, sprinkling a little salt on the eggs and tomatoes as you layer. Place one of the loaded toast slices on top of the other, and then place the remaining slice of toast on top of that. Smoosh it all down with your hands so all the eggs, avocadoes and tomatoes do not fall out! Slice sandwich diagonally (twice, if you want the club sandwich effect) and serve with chips or fruit.

This was pretty tasty. Might be good with some Swiss cheese or bacon in there, or perhaps some cucumbers or crsp lettuce for a little crunch.

: )