October 10: Paseo SoDo

I don't know how to eat a sandwich.

Yesterday, I ate at Delicatus again. The "Chief Stealth Bomber" is a French dip variant. Most of the contents of the sandwich ended up on my plate, and I had to tackle it with a fork.

Today, Paseo Sodo was my destination of choice. I ordered the Caribbean Roast, a variant on a pulled-pork Cuban sandwich. Tasty as heck, but again, my tools for consumption included a fork and about a dozen napkins. Before I even took the first bite, as I squeezed it together to fit in my mouth, the baguette came apart in the back, dumping pork, jalapenos, and onion onto my plate.

I'd briefly mentioned Paseo in my May 23 report. I'd considered having lunch there, but the walk was too far and the cost of an Uber or ReachNow car was too high. However, I received an e-mail offer from Uber this morning: for $15, get 4 weeks of $0 UberPool rides on a pre-selected route in Seattle, and 20% off rides elsewhere. I'll almost definitely come out ahead just with the 20% off, so I picked work and a fast food place in SoDo as my designated route endpoints.

The fine print says the endpoints have to be "near" where I designated, but there's a several-block area to choose from. Expect a Taco Bell report within the next month :-)

Back to the sandwich: I ordered at the register, and sat at the counter. It felt like a slightly-remodeled Denny's, but Google Street View shows that as far back as six years ago, it was a BBQ diner. Tom Petty's "Runnin' Down a Dream" was playing (*sniff*), as well as the local news on the TVs, muted.

"Number 63!" That was quick. I unwrapped the sloppy wet sandwich, and picked a few quickly-dissolving pieces of paper out of it. The first bite plopped onto the plate.

Eater.com's reviews, which I didn't read before writing this, describe it as either "the drippy mess" or "greasy fucking slippery teflon sandwiches that squirt out the back of the bread when you bite into them ... the biggest overrated scam in all of sandwichdom." That's a bit harsh, but yeah, it's messy.

The jalapenos were mild, and unlike the Delicatus sandwich of yesterday, they use lettuce and aioli to prevent the bread from completely turning into mush. The pork was a flavorful grease bomb. I'd eat it again, but as I said above, went through almost a dozen napkins to cleanly finish the meal. If I go again, I should invest in a napkin company first. Know any local pulp manufacturers?

Paseo SoDo
1760 1st Ave S
Caribbean Roast sandwich, diet Coke, $12.94