The empire, part 2

I was in Ann Arbor this past weekend and made another pilgrimage to Zingerman's, this time for a georgia reuben (my actual sandwich, above). They have two sandwich sizes: nosher (Yiddish for "small eater") and fresser (Yiddish for "big eater"). I ordered the former, knowing that the latter is reserved for linebackers and those questionably sane people who compete in food eating contests. It came with two feisty pickles. My son got the #90, reina's on a roll (meatball sub) sans the provolone.

He deemed it "as good as Subway," which is pretty high praise coming from a 9 year-old. We shared an order of Lina's latke fingers, which are twice fried potato pancake strips. They were dangerously crunchy, and may have been laced with opiates.

Lunch for 2 was $1000.00. No, wait, it only seemed like $1000.00. It was really about $35. It amazes me that people will stand in line for 30 minutes (which we did), and then pay $13 for a sandwich - a nosher, no less - in this economy, and then wait another 20 minutes until it's ready. Our first table was on a 45 degree incline, so we moved to a different one. The sandwiches are the best I've ever had, but sliding down a concrete incline into the street while I'm eating one might just ruin the experience.

Next time I'm at Zingerman's, I'm going to do the unthinkable. I'm going to order something besides the georgia reuben. After much contemplation, I think I'm finally ready to move into the pork portion of the menu. I've semi-committed to a jimmy wants rosemary's baby: rosemary-crusted baked Italian ham, Zingerman's handmade fresh mozzarella, tomato, olive oil & red wine vinegar on Sicilian sesame semolina bread. But with 10 other porkalicious options - 3 with Nueske's applewood-smoked bacon - I might have to pull an 11th hour de-commit.