A sandwich at Helacio's Deli & Cafe, a deli in Berkeley, California.
out of 100 · outstanding
Outstanding, with one move worth +9.
Reads as a fully realized lox bagel, five of six roles, most layers have a partner.
−5 a wet layer on soft bread
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.
bagel, served cold: smoked salmon; cream cheese; tomatoes; red onions; capers.
Balance
| Axis | Value | Catalog percentile |
|---|---|---|
| salt | 1.5 | 73rd |
| acid | 1.5 | 89th |
| fat | 1.7 | 33rd |
| sweet | 0.3 | 38th |
| umami | 1.5 | 51st |
| heat | 0.1 | 50th |
| bitter | 0.3 | 78th |
96 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| bagel | bread | soft chewy | the frame |
| smoked salmonscored as Salmon | protein | fat 3 umami 3 soft flaky tender | +28 |
| cream cheese | fat | fat 4 creamy silky smooth | +22 |
| tomatoesscored as Tomato | texture | acid 3 umami 3 sweet 2 juicy soft fresh | 0 |
| red onionsscored as Onion | texture | sweet 2 crunchy juicy fresh | +12 |
| capersscored as Caper | acid | salt 4 acid 4 brined pickled wet | −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
- Bagel + Cream Cheese: the schmear: cream cheese on a boiled crust
- Salmon + Cream Cheese: lox logic: rich fish on a cool schmear
- Salmon + Onion: raw onion bite keeps rich lox honest
- Salmon + Caper: briny pop against rich cured fish
How to raise it
- Clear the board: a wet layer on soft bread (-5).
All the sandwiches at Helacio's Deli & Cafe · The menu this was read from · Build your own in the Sandwich Builder