one food guy: meat and potatoes

They say a good sandwich is like an old friend and old friends are usually the best friends, right? Well at All Star Sandwich Bar in Cambridge, MA that is definitely the case. Brothers Johnny and Kosta Diamantopoulos treat all their guests as old friends and serve up some of the best sandwiches in the city and beyond. I've considered them friends since my second visit to the restaurant more than a year ago and have enjoyed dozens, yes dozens of amazing sandwiches since then. It's always a pleasure to see Kosta and Johnny and the staff is ALWAYS warm, friendly and efficient. Read what I had to say about my first two visits to All Star Sandwich Bar.

As for the sandwiches, they are divine. Regular menu options are always a solid choice, especially sandwiches like the Atomic Meatloaf Meltdown, The Texas Reuben, The Po Boy and the Veggie Cubano, but the daily blackboard specials with sandwiches called the Funky and Extra Funky are what really sets the All Star sandwich apart from the rest. My very first All Star sandwich was the Extra Funky offering on February 26, 2010, a jerk grilled chicken breast sandwiched between two perfectly grilled slices of sourdough bread with jack cheese, sliced pineapple, chayote slaw and mango habanero barbecue sauce. One bite of this sandwich and I was hooked. Sandwich number two was the Atomic Meatloaf Meltdown. Number three, a Texas Reuben. Four, a fried oyster Po' Boy, and the list goes on. I'm pretty sure I've eaten at least a dozen, maybe two dozen sandwiches at All Star, many of them more than once.

Along with great sandwiches Chef Johnny also makes a popular chili and some great sides too. Hell Fries and Hell Rings are good choices, hand cut fries or onions rings dusted in cayenne and doused with delicious and spicy Inner Beauty mango habanero barbecue sauce. Gravy fries, cheese fries, chili cheese fries and poutine are available every day and blackboard special sides have included amazing scallion and jalapeno hush puppies with Tabasco remoulade, fried hearts of palm with goat cheese and marinara, and curried chickpea-battered fried cauliflower with mint yogurt dipping sauce.

Once a great local find, this place has been put on the national map as a destination for serious and casual eaters alike. Chef Johnny can be seen on how2heroes demonstrating some skills in the kitchen and this Monday night, June 20, at 10pm, All Star Sandwich Bar will be featured on the relatively new Food Network program, Meat and Potatoes with Rahm Fama. Chef Fama and his crew were at All Star back in March to film and Chef Johnny made a special Extra Funky sandwich that day, the Rahm Fama Lama Ding Dong with Dr. Pepper braised short ribs, fried cheddar, and sweet potato bacon mash, I was there and it was GREAT!

Rahm Fama and Kosta talking Sandwiches