Roma - Ceriello Fine Italian Foods

Sandwich Contents: Rustic ciabatta bread with layers of finely sliced prosciutto, mozzarella cheese and tomato, drizzled with a splash of olive oil, and punctuated with the slight tang of basil. Grilled, panini-style or eaten cold.

Kate's Review: Originally postponed due to a work meeting we were able to squeeze it in after a late cancellation. The Roma was one of my top picks from the list so I was super excited to experience it myself and I basically LOVE anything Italian so how could I go wrong. The sandwich is served cold or panini style so of course we had to try both. The cold one was good but the Panini version was scrumptious. The grilling intensified the cheese and prosciutto and who doesn’t like melted mozzarella. I would have liked more basil with each bite and I did add balsamic to spice it up but I still enjoyed it and downed the whole thing. Oh, and the bonus was being introduced to the Belvedere "market". Can’t wait to hit up all the other places. Special thanks to Karen for sponsoring this week and joining in on the judging. I rate this sandwich as a 4 baguetter.

Nicole's Review: This was one of the ones I was looking most forward to having on the list. Everything on this sandwich is a favorite and the combo of it all makes it even better. We tried it both ways, panini style and cold. I can't decide which was my favorite. I will say that I was pleasantly surprised with the panini style. My only history with the panini is a sandwich from Panera Bread and a couple of those Lean Cuisine paninis so I didn't have very high hopes for it. My only complaint would be that the basil was concentrated in one location on the sandwich. I would have liked it to have been chopped and sprinkled over the sandwich. Other than that, no complaints!


A big thanks to Karen who sponsored the Roma. Unfortunatly Karen wasn't able to make it to lunch with us because of a work obligation, but she was able to enjoy the Roma we brought back to the office for her!

McMechen - On the Hill Cafe & Market

Sandwich Contents: The wrap folds up a careful balance of curried chicken salad, pecans, red grapes, greens and mango chutney.

Kate's Review
Since the bar was set so high with the Croque Monsieur it was going to take a lot to impress us. When we arrived at the café all the two tops were taken which caused us to get flustered while ordering. Thankfully someone left and we were able to squeeze three of us in so we didn’t have to take it to go. Our friend Tamara was a guest taste tester for this trip although she opted for the quiche instead. While the McMechen was a good sandwich I wasn’t won over. I only found one grape and the pecans were too finely chopped that I didn’t really taste them which is what made it appeal to me in the first place. I probably won’t eat it again and if I happen to visit On the Hill Café again I’ll opt for one of the other sandwiches. I rate the McMechen as a three banquette sandwich.


Nicole's Review
Located close to the MICA campus, this tiny restaurant was filled with students with exotic piercings and quite honestly, made me feel very un-hip. The place was very crowded and I instantly became a bit anxious about where we would sit. After causing somewhat of a small scene, we were able to secure a small table and a third chair for our guest, Tamara. The sandwich arrived and looked very good. And it was good, just not great. One of things I was most excited about was that there were grapes in the curried chicken salad, however I think I only got a half of a grape in my half of the sandwich. There was also mango chutney on the sandwich, but it was lopped on and really should have been spread evenly over the wrap so that each bite provided a taste of it. Overall the sandwich was good, but it wasn’t a sandwich I’d seek out. In fact, if I went back there, I probably would try something else.


A big thanks to Norwin who sponsored the McMechen. To thank Norwin for his sandwich sponsorship, we are posting a picture of his adorable kids, Noah & Asha in their Halloween costumes.