October 14 – WHAT – Chicken parmesan sandwich
WHERE: Anania’s, 606 Washington Ave., Portland; Monte’s Fine Foods, 788 Washington Ave., Portland
HOW MUCH: $11.99 at Anania’s; $15 at Monte’s
VIBE: Old school versus modern foodie. Opened in 1963, Anania’s is a traditional Portland variety store serving pizza, Italians and other sandwiches. Opened in 2019, Monte’s is a market and bakery that also does catering, with an emphasis on Roman-style pizza and local ingredients. The two places are just a few blocks apart on the outside of Washington Avenue.
LOOK: Anania’s was served on a long roll, like the one used by most Maine Italians. Under a thick blanket of melted cheeses were strips of breaded chicken and tomato sauce. Monte’s came on a crusty, rustic bread, cut in half. Inside was a flat, breaded chicken cutlet, a bit of cheese, thick tomato sauce and large basil leaves.
TASTE: The Anania bun was soft and soaked up the sauce and gave the sandwich an overall creamy texture, coupled with the dollops of melted cheese. The chicken was nice and tender and juicy. The sauce, while fine, didn’t really stand out. The Monte’s crispy bread was nice and chewy and had a bit of char to it. The standout flavors were the thick tomato sauce – spicy and robust – and the abundant basil leaves. It didn’t have as much cheese as the other, but didn’t really need it.
THOUGHTS: I’m a big fan of old-fashioned, comfort food sandwiches from convenience stores and small neighborhood markets. So Anania’s sandwich was perfect and was exactly what I hoped it would be. While I normally don’t like to use “elevated” when it comes to food, that’s certainly what Monte’s did with its sandwich. It used really good crusty bread and really fresh ingredients, like basil leaves, to make it something different, but still familiar enough to be comforting.
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