Munch goes to Duncan Street Sandwich Shop
Among the “13 Tips for Beautiful & Tempting iPhone Food Photography” listed on the iPhone Photography School site are to use natural light, shoot from the best angle, decorate the scene, create a story and arrange your food neatly.
All fine suggestions!
And they go straight out the window at the Duncan Street Sandwich Shop after you unwrap the butcher paper holding a football-sized Nashville Hot Turkey sandwich, which upon opening, expands like it’s spring loaded as crispy chopped turkey confit slathered with a nearly glowing spicy orange sauce comes spilling out from between thick slabs of outstanding sourdough bread.
Additionally complemented by a roasted garlic aioli, sweet relish, romaine and onion, it is a big, honking, beautiful delicious mess of a sandwich, and not at all photogenic. It’s one of four currently on the menu at Duncan Street. They’re all $10, and it’s easy to pick which one is the best: the one that is in front of you.
Opened in September 2018 by chefs and co-owners Kendyl Ryan and Dan Rodriguez, it’s an extension of their novel and popular 4-year-old Duncan Street Dinners enterprise, in which they cook a fivecourse dinner with a complimentary cocktail and wine pairings in their home — originally on Duncan Street in Lawrenceville — for up to 12 guests monthly on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, for $100 per person.
Back to the sammies: There’s a vegan roasted mushroom sandwich that my better half accurately described as “like eating a French onion soup sandwich.” Although it had no cheese, it was an explosion of flavor with Montreal seasoning, roasted garlic, caramelized onion and mushroom jus.
Another roasted turkey breast sandwich is brined and seasoned with rosemary, brown sugar and black pepper and tastes like Thanksgiving, a happy accident that Mr. Rodriguez said he and Ms. Ryan discovered when they coated the turkey with the pan drippings. It’s trimmed with a tomato honey, goat cheese, sweet onion and romaine, again between that killer sourdough.
The “Everything” pork is roasted and hit with everything bagel seasoning for a terrific mix of flavor and texture along with slightly sweet pickled red onion jam, boursin cheese spread and crispy cucumber.
Salads — Roasted Orange or the “Not a Cobb” — are $10, and cups of soup are $3, and they take some liberties with Pittsburgh favorites to delicious effect. For instance the Spicy Smoked Chicken Paprikash Soup eschews the typical dumplings for hunks of their excellent bread to soak up the rich and fiery broth, and the beans and greens goes for pinto beans rather than cannellini. No matter, they are both very good.
They make house soda pops, too: citrus and coriander, a really interesting roasted lemon, and a stomach-soothing ginger (all $3.50).
Over two visits, we didn’t have a single bad bite, sip or slurp. There were some yellowjackets that made irritatingly close passes on the otherwise delightful back patio. That’s about all I can do for criticism.
Because big, hearty and substantial sandwiches, made with care and top quality ingredients, truly are a thing of beauty, even if they don’t photograph well.
Duncan Street Sandwich Shop: 543 North Ave., Millvale; 412-252-2940; http://duncanst.com/.
Dan Gigler: dgigler@post-gazette.com; Twitter @gigs412.