A sandwich at Helacio's Deli & Cafe, a deli in Berkeley, California.
out of 100 · solid
Solid, with one move worth +32.
A grilled cheese with layers outside the form; six of six roles, most layers have a partner.
Holding the summit: balance 0.80 or better
Each bar is one pillar of the score, 0 to 100. The tick marks what a sandwich at the summit needs; an amber bar is the one holding this sandwich back.
ciabatta roll, toasted: butter; garlic aioli; crispy bacon; tomatoes; lettuce; fresh mozzarella cheese (high tier).
Balance
| Axis | Value | Catalog percentile |
|---|---|---|
| salt | 1.2 | 62nd |
| acid | 0.4 | 39th |
| fat | 3.3 | 87th |
| sweet | 0.1 | 21st |
| umami | 1.4 | 44th |
| heat | 0.0 | n/a |
| bitter | 0.1 | 38th |
78 Balance, out of 100
The seven flavor axes of the whole sandwich, each summed across its layers. The shaded ring is the catalog's middle 80%; the small number under each axis is where this sandwich falls in the catalog. A shape that sits inside the ring is in the range most sandwiches live in; a spike past it is where this one stands apart.
What each layer brings
| Layer | Role | Flavor and texture | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| ciabatta rollscored as Ciabatta | bread | soft chewy crusty | the frame |
| butter | fat | fat 5 creamy silky | −15 |
| garlic aioliscored as Aioli | sauce | fat 5 creamy silky saucy | −28 |
| crispy baconscored as Bacon | protein | fat 4 salt 3 umami 3 crispy chewy | −4 |
| tomatoesscored as Tomato | texture | acid 3 umami 3 sweet 2 juicy soft fresh | +13 |
| lettuce | texture | crunchy juicy fresh | +5 |
| fresh mozzarella cheese (high tier)scored as Fresh Mozzarella | protein | fat 3 soft creamy melty | −1 |
Points: what the Sandwich Score would lose if that one layer were left out, everything else the same. A negative number means the sandwich scores higher without it. Flavor runs 0 to 5 on each axis.
Pairings
- Ciabatta + Butter: butter into ciabatta's open crumb
- Aioli + Tomato: garlic aioli against sweet acid
- Bacon + Tomato: smoke against sweet acid, the blt core
- Bacon + Lettuce: cool crunch against hot smoke
- Tomato + Fresh Mozzarella: caprese core: milky against sweet acid
All the sandwiches at Helacio's Deli & Cafe · The menu this was read from · Build your own in the Sandwich Builder