· 2 min read

Bacon, Sausage or Ham Sandwich at Helacio's Deli & Cafe

Egg, Cheddar Cheese, Butter on unstated bread. Sandwich Score 52, solid. At Helacio's Deli & Cafe, Berkeley.

Bacon, Sausage or Ham Sandwich at Helacio's Deli & Cafe: an illustration of the sandwich.
Illustration, AI-generated

A sandwich at Helacio's Deli & Cafe, a deli in Berkeley, California.

Bread (generic)ButterCheddar CheeseEggBread (generic)
52
Sandwich Score
out of 100 · solid

Solid, with one move worth +18.

Reads as a fully realized egg and cheese, two of six roles on the board.

Holding the summit: real textural contrast, a third role on the board (an acid, a sauce, an aroma or a crunch)

Balance
58
Harmony
78
Contrast
26
Structure
88
Focus
100
Composition
71
Quality
100
Envelope
100

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.

bread not stated, served cold: Egg; Cheddar Cheese; Butter.

Balance

salt1.1 · 59thacid0.3 · 35thfat3.4 · 90thsweet0.0umami1.7 · 61stheat0.0bitter0.0
Flavor axes
AxisValueCatalog percentile
salt1.159th
acid0.335th
fat3.490th
sweet0.0n/a
umami1.761st
heat0.0n/a
bitter0.0n/a

69 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

LayerRoleFlavor and texturePoints
Eggproteinfat 3 umami 2 soft creamy springy−3
Cheddar Cheeseproteinfat 4 salt 3 umami 3 soft gooey melty+15
Butterfatfat 5 creamy silky−2

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

How to raise it

Build this sandwich

Load its stack into the Sandwich Builder. Swap a layer, watch the score move.

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