A sandwich at The Napa Deli, a deli in Fairfield, California.
out of 100 · excellent
Excellent, with one move worth +11.
Reads as a fully realized egg and cheese, five of six roles on the board.
Holding the summit: balance 0.80 or better
More salt 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.
croissant, toasted: scrambled egg; applewood bacon (choice); sausage (choice); ham (choice); cheddar; lettuce; tomato.
Balance
| Axis | Value | Catalog percentile |
|---|---|---|
| salt | 2.4 | 90th |
| acid | 0.3 | 37th |
| fat | 3.4 | 88th |
| sweet | 0.4 | 54th |
| umami | 2.8 | 90th |
| heat | 0.0 | n/a |
| bitter | 0.0 | 37th |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| croissant | bread | fat 3 sweet 2 flaky crispy | the frame |
| scrambled eggscored as Egg | protein | fat 3 umami 2 soft creamy springy | +9 |
| applewood bacon (choice)scored as Bacon | protein | fat 4 salt 3 umami 3 crispy chewy | 0 |
| sausage (choice)scored as Sausage | protein | fat 5 salt 4 umami 4 juicy springy tender | −9 |
| ham (choice)scored as Ham | protein | salt 4 umami 4 fat 3 soft silky tender | −2 |
| cheddarscored as Cheddar Cheese | protein | fat 4 salt 3 umami 3 soft gooey melty | +9 |
| lettuce | texture | crunchy juicy fresh | +2 |
| tomato | texture | acid 3 umami 3 sweet 2 juicy soft fresh | +9 |
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
- Croissant + Egg: egg on a buttery croissant, the cafe standard
- Croissant + Ham: ham on a buttery croissant, the cafe standard
- Egg + Bacon: the breakfast contract: smoke and yolk
- Egg + Cheddar Cheese: cheddar melts into soft egg, diner law
- Bacon + Cheddar Cheese: bacon cheddar: smoke and sharp, burger law
- Bacon + Lettuce: cool crunch against hot smoke
- Bacon + Tomato: smoke against sweet acid, the blt core
- Cheddar Cheese + Tomato: grilled cheese and tomato, the lunch pair
How to raise it
- Judged as an egg and cheese: richness is not held against it.
- Between you and 90: balance 0.80 or better (0.13 short).
All the sandwiches at The Napa Deli · The menu this was read from · Build your own in the Sandwich Builder