A sandwich at The Napa Deli, a deli in Fairfield, California.
out of 100 · outstanding
Outstanding, and the road to 90 is open.
Reads as a fully realized roast beef, six of six roles on the board.
More sweet 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.
dutch crunch roll, toasted: grilled tri tip; cheddar; caramelized onion; lettuce; tomato; bbq sauce; mayo.
Balance
| Axis | Value | Catalog percentile |
|---|---|---|
| salt | 1.5 | 71st |
| acid | 1.1 | 74th |
| fat | 2.4 | 60th |
| sweet | 1.3 | 90th |
| umami | 1.9 | 69th |
| heat | 0.0 | n/a |
| bitter | 0.2 | 59th |
98 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| dutch crunch roll | bread | soft crackly crusty | the frame |
| grilled tri tipscored as Beef | protein | fat 3 umami 3 juicy chewy tender | 0 |
| cheddarscored as Cheddar Cheese | protein | fat 4 salt 3 umami 3 soft gooey melty | +1 |
| caramelized onion | bulk | sweet 4 umami 3 fat 2 soft silky | 0 |
| lettuce | texture | crunchy juicy fresh | 0 |
| tomato | texture | acid 3 umami 3 sweet 2 juicy soft fresh | +1 |
| bbq sauce | sauce | sweet 4 salt 2 acid 2 silky saucy | 0 |
| mayoscored as Mayonnaise | sauce | fat 5 acid 2 creamy saucy | 0 |
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
- Beef + Cheddar Cheese: the cheeseburger pair: sharp on seared beef
- Beef + Caramelized Onion: sweet onion jam on seared beef
- Beef + BBQ Sauce: brisket law: bbq sauce on smoked beef
- Cheddar Cheese + Caramelized Onion: sweet allium under sharp cheddar
- Cheddar Cheese + Tomato: grilled cheese and tomato, the lunch pair
- Cheddar Cheese + BBQ Sauce: sharp cheddar stands up to sweet bbq
- Tomato + Mayonnaise: summer tomato sandwich: acid on rich
How to raise it
- Outstanding, not legendary: nothing on this sandwich is house-made, named or exceptional.
All the sandwiches at The Napa Deli · The menu this was read from · Build your own in the Sandwich Builder