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# Tuna Melt at Homemade Cafe
- URL: https://onesandwich.com/berkeley-homemade-cafe-tuna-melt/
- Published: 2026-10-03T05:25:09.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-07T10:21:39.000Z
- Description: Tuna salad, cheddar cheese, sliced tomato on grilled sourdough. Sandwich Score 82, excellent. At Homemade Cafe, Berkeley.
- Author: Andrew Lekashman
- Tags: USA, California, #shop-sandwich, #auto-imported

A sandwich at [Homemade Cafe](https://onesandwich.com/berkeley-homemade-cafe/), a restaurant in Berkeley, California.

SourdoughTomatoCheddar CheeseTuna SaladSourdough

**82**

Sandwich Score  
out of 100 · excellent

Excellent, with one move worth +10.

Reads as a fully realized tuna salad sandwich, four of six roles, most layers have a partner.

**Holding the summit:** a finished composition

Balance

97

Harmony

84

Contrast

93

Structure

98

Focus

100

Composition

79

Quality

100

Envelope

98

More umami than 90% of the catalog.

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.

**grilled sourdough**, toasted: tuna salad; cheddar cheese; sliced tomato.

## Balance

salt1.9 · 85thacid1.2 · 78thfat2.5 · 64thsweet0.2 · 29thumami2.8 · 90thheat0.0bitter0.0

__Flavor axes__
| Axis   | Value | Catalog percentile |
| ------ | ----- | ------------------ |
| salt   | 1.9   | 85th               |
| acid   | 1.2   | 78th               |
| fat    | 2.5   | 64th               |
| sweet  | 0.2   | 29th               |
| umami  | 2.8   | 90th               |
| heat   | 0.0   | n/a                |
| bitter | 0.0   | n/a                |

**97** 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    |
| ------------------------------------ | ------- | --------------------------------------- | --------- |
| grilled sourdoughscored as Sourdough | bread   | soft chewy crusty                       | the frame |
| tuna salad                           | protein | umami 4 fat 3 salt 2 creamy soft        | **+6**    |
| cheddar cheese                       | protein | fat 4 salt 3 umami 3 soft gooey melty   | **+5**    |
| sliced tomatoscored as Tomato        | texture | acid 3 umami 3 sweet 2 juicy soft fresh | **+30**   |

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

- **Sourdough + Cheddar Cheese**: grilled cheese law: sharp cheese, tangy crust
- **Tuna Salad + Tomato**: tuna salad and tomato, the lunch-counter pair
- **Cheddar Cheese + Tomato**: grilled cheese and tomato, the lunch pair

## How to raise it

- Between you and 90: a finished composition (0.01 short).

[All the sandwiches at Homemade Cafe](https://onesandwich.com/berkeley-homemade-cafe/) · [The menu this was read from](https://www.thehomedecafe.com/menu?ref=onesandwich.com) · [Build your own in the Sandwich Builder](https://onesandwich.com/builder/)

Menu read 2026-09; items and prices change. The score is the site's opinion of the recipe as listed, not a review of the shop; tiers and house-made marks follow the menu's own wording.