· 2 min read

Mushroom Egg Bagel at Saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen

Mushroom, scrambled egg, greens, cheddar, chili crisp on bagel. Sandwich Score 65, very good. At Saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen, Berkeley.

A sandwich at Saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen, a deli in Berkeley, California.

BagelSrirachaCheddar CheeseEggMushroomBagel
65
Sandwich Score
out of 100 · very good

Very good, with one move worth +18.

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

Holding the summit: a finished composition

Balance
86
Harmony
80
Contrast
74
Structure
89
Focus
100
Composition
75
Quality
100
Envelope
93

−8 heat past the catalog

More heat 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.

bagel, toasted: mushroom; scrambled egg; greens; cheddar; chili crisp (high tier).

Worth a look: rare in the Bay Area (5 or fewer shops): Chili Crisp; ingredient not in the pantry: Greens.

Balance

salt1.4 · 67thacid0.7 · 58thfat1.8 · 34thsweet0.2 · 30thumami1.6 · 53rdheat0.9 · 90thbitter0.0
Flavor axes
AxisValueCatalog percentile
salt1.467th
acid0.758th
fat1.834th
sweet0.230th
umami1.653rd
heat0.990th
bitter0.0n/a

86 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
bagelbreadsoft chewythe frame
mushroombulkumami 2 soft springy juicy+1
scrambled eggscored as Eggproteinfat 3 umami 2 soft creamy springy+22
greensnot scored
cheddarscored as Cheddar Cheeseproteinfat 4 salt 3 umami 3 soft gooey melty+23
chili crisp (high tier)scored as Srirachasauceheat 4 salt 2 acid 2 silky saucy−4

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.

Open in the builder

Read next

Veggie at Diablo Foods

Lettuce, onions, tomatoes, pickles, peppers, sprouts, cucumbers, avocados, roasted red peppers, sunflower seeds, oil and vinegar, cheese on unstated bread. Sandwich Score 74, very good. At Diablo Foods, Lafayette.

Andrew Lekashman
Andrew Lekashman
· 2 min read

The Explosion at Diablo Foods

Roast beef, pepper jack, lettuce, tomato, onion, pepperoncini, jalapeños, biyn mustard, horseradish sauce, oil and vinegar on sourdough roll. Sandwich Score 76, excellent. At Diablo Foods, Lafayette.

Andrew Lekashman
Andrew Lekashman
· 2 min read