When we spend time in our favorite spot in Florida, we always make sure to fit in an afternoon in one of the most beautiful and unique little beach towns you'll ever come across -- Seaside. During our latest trip this winter, we had lunch on the rooftop bar at a local favorite spot, Bud and Alley's. Although we've visited Seaside countless times, this was our first lunch stop at Bud and Alley's...and now we're kicking ourselves for not making it part of the routine much sooner!
My better half and I decided to split both of our menu picks, as we often do to try as many tasty options as possible. For this visit, we decided on the Seared Salmon (with pistachio sauce, wilted spinach, roasted corn salsa, scallion oil) and the Grilled Veggie Sandwich (zucchini, eggplant, yellow squash, red onion, basil pesto and mozzarella cheese). Oh my heavens...just typing that makes me CRAVE that amazing pit stop again! After devouring both picks, we absolutely couldn't stop talking about our lunch the rest of the day. But, more specifically, we couldn't get that darned grilled veggie sandwich off of our minds! Had it not been the last day of our trip, I can guarantee we would have driven back for another!
It took all of about two days after we returned home for the first grilled veggie sandwich attempt to grace our table. I remembered back during the original lunch saying that the bread was the crucial key to the sandwich. It was this fantastically sturdy yet chewy focaccia/ciabatta-like combo, and it completely made the sandwich. I knew we'd have the most difficult time recreating that aspect...and that quickly became a reality during the first attempt when we just had to use what we found at our grocery store. I'll have to work on tracking down a really great bread choice for next time. Other than that, we basically just worked from memory and the menu, using all of the listed grilled veggies, fresh mozzarella and our homemade pesto.
Did I really expect it to taste the same on the very first try? No. Did I hold out hope that maybe we'd pull off a major upset and slam dunk it on the initial attempt? Yes. Did we? Eh...kinda sorta, not really. I think the big sticking point what the seasoning. Their veggies were perfectly tender-crisp grilled with a great flavor. We weren't quite sure where to start seasoning-wise, so I ended up taking a hint from another recipe I found online, and marinated the veggies in balsamic vinegar for a bit. Well, that totally threw off the taste of the sandwich. Next time we'll stick with olive oil and some as-yet-undetermined seasoning combo (the best restaurants always get you with those stinking secret seasonings, don't they?) I'm really looking forward to Attempt #2...this weekend maybe?
PS- I have officially fallen off the Meat-Free Lent wagon thanks to my #1 favorite sandwich. My niece was staying with us this past week, and we happen to share a passion for this sandwich: Smoked turkey, bacon, havarti, avocado, lettuce, tomato, and basil aioli on french bread. Um, I had three of them this week!! I have no will power. I'm trying to get back on my hubby's perfectly meat-free wagon, but it seems that right now I'm being drug behind the wagon :)
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