a.k.a. Pete Couture:

Let’s face it: No matter our taste in food or our dietary philosophies, we all love sandwiches. Take Sirio Maccioni, the owner of the renowned Le Cirque restaurant in New York City. The New York Post reported recently that while at the Sundance Film Festival, Maccioni ignored the fancy restaurants in tony Park City, Utah, and had his driver take him to Burger King for a chicken sandwich. A man of simple tastes, after all. So Esquire magazine set out to identify the best sandwiches in America (and we refuse to call them “sammies”). Esquire obviously shares some of Maccioni’s passion for fast-food — why else would they include the McRib and the Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich? Surely, we thought, the Tampa Bay area has a good chance of being represented, what with our grouper creations and our history of Cuban sandwiches. Sorry. The Florida entries are the Cubano at the Latin America Cafeteria in Miami and the Seafood Salad sandwich at La Sandwicherie in Miami Beach.

Alright, where are our best sammies, er, sandwiches? I'm tossing the offerings at Pane Rustica into the ring, but I had a mighty fine curried chicken salad today at the new Emma Rose's tea shop on Central Ave. in St. Petersburg.