After the gutpunch that was Ramen Roll in Culver City, I couldn’t fend off the schadenfreudacious (?) urge to try Fleischman’s newest cockamamie concept: PBJ.LA (Yelp).
We decided on the $7 “Old Fashioned” which is made with Pecan Butter, Apple Butter, Angostura Bitters, and Orange Zest.
They make the sandwiches to order. After the bread receives its fillings, the sandwich gets run through the Uncrustable Press and the edges get torn away. Then you have a choice to take your sandwich as is, or to have it toasted. We chose toasted.
It tasted good enough and even somewhat like an Old Fashioned.
But fuckin’ hell. Why can’t they charge $4 for this sandwich?? Is it to cover the costs of manning your booth with (at least) 8 people? Perhaps they will staff fewer people once business is running smoothly. But prices are unlikely to drop…
Also, when they were peeling the edges from the sandwich (which I would have chosen to keep), I asked them what they did with all the discarded crusts.
Reply: “We are trying to find somewhere to donate them to, but we haven’t found anywhere that will take them yet.”
What a waste! The removed crust was approximately 50% of the bread total.
This is a fun idea that hits a nostalgic nerve, but I will not be eating here again under the current model.