Sam LaGrassa's

One of the things we had planned to do while in Boston was the popular Freedom Trail.  It consists of significant historical sights and spots along a 2.5 mile stretch of Downtown Boston.  It is marked by a narrow brick line along the sidewalks it snakes down.  So it was only natural to eat lunch somewhere along the trail right?  That brought us to Sam LaGrassa's (self-proclaimed world's #1 sandwiches).  Featured on the Food Network, the place sports fresh made-to-order sammies with house-made ingredients.

With that in mind, Viv decided to try their Pastrami Corned Beef Combo as an unofficial comparison to the one we had at Carnegie Deli (yes, different city, we know).  Well, the one here won hands down.  The meats were better prepared in our opinion as the corned beef was buttery soft and well-spiced while the pastrami was even more flavourful.  The addition of Swiss Cheese, Russian dressing and tangy coleslaw added extra layers of Earthiness, salt, creaminess and zip.  On the other hand, the whole thing was wet which made the bottom slice of light rye disintegrate.  My son opted for the Chicken Parmigiana with marinara sauce, mozzarella and fresh basil.  This was decent with a soft chicken breast (a little too soft and the coating was mushy) smothered in a tangy sauce.  I would've liked to see more basil though.

For Costanza, he had the Triple Club featuring turkey, ham and Black Angus roast beef with bacon, Russian dressing, provolone, lettuce and tomato.  This was a massive offering which featured tender and meaty turkey, sweet and salty ham and tender buttery medium-rare roast beef.  Again, this ate a bit wet, but was good nonetheless.  For myself, I went for the Cuban with herb-crusted roast pork and honey glazed ham with chipotle mayo, monterey jack cheese and dill pickles grilled on an Italian Sesame Roll.  This was very substantial as the amount of meat was impressive.  I found the pork super tender and well-spiced and the amount of pickles really made them impactful.  The whole thing was not an actual Cubano, but was pretty good still.

Costanza's son tried to finish the Roast Beef Blues with horse radish, caramelized onions and crumbled blue cheese dressing.  He thought there was a touch too many onions as to which I completely agreed.  However, the onions were appealingly sweet while the blue cheese added a nice sharp creaminess.  Again, the roast beef was on point being medium-rare and tender.  So we were not sure that these were necessarily the best sammies we've ever had, but they were still very good.  Considering the price point and the massive portions, Sam LaGrassa's would be on my list of Freedom Trail lunch break options.

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Large portions
- Tasty

The Bad:
- Some sandwiches were too wet
- Gets busy, may have a hard time finding a seat