Best Sandwiches in America 2015: Vegetarian

Winner: Pulled Barbecue Mushroom Sandwich

Restaurant: The Greenhouse Tavern, Cleveland

Sandwich Creator: Brett Sawyer

Inspiration: “A Carolina pulled-pork sandwich”

Key Ingredients: Carolina-style BBQ sauce with stout vinegar and stadium mustard, smoked coleslaw with tofu mayo and lettuce

Price: $12

Food Cost: $3.48

What the Judges Said: Here’s the thing; some of us here are hard-core meatheads and some are vegetarians or vegans. As much as we love each other, we always don’t play well together at lunch. Most vegetarian restaurants annoy the crap out of the meatheads and most restaurants in general simply mail it in when it comes to serving vegetarians. What Sawyer has done here is phenomenal. Just look at it. Here’s a mushroom sandwich that eats so much like a pulled pork sandwich, that everyone on staff would happily order it. We tip our hat to Greenhouse top dog and Beard Award winner Jonathan Sawyer (no relation to Brett above), because his restaurant goes out of its way to prove that vegetarian items can be as exciting as anything else on the menu. Check out his honorable mention sandwich below: koji-cured tofu & eggplant sandwich. The tofu in this sandwich is marinated for up to a week and then dehydrated until it becomes the consistency of cheese. Who does that? Perhaps only Sawyer, and he’s doing it at his other restaurant, Trentina, too.

Honorable Mention:
• Cauliflower Reuben: Stout Street Social, Denver
• Vada Pav: Bollywood Theater, Portland, OR
• Tofu & Eggplant Sandwich: Trentina, Cleveland

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