Bolivian Llama Party

1000 S 8th Ave Suite 5.5 Underground @ the corner of 57th st and 8th Ave, New York, NY (Columbus Circle - Turnstyle Subway Station)

8/10/18

Chicha Verde (grilled chicken thighs, marinated in Bolivian beer and quilquina, cilantro aioli, chicken cracklins, bacon, tomato, and butter lettuce)

Sides: Salteñas (beni - beef, chimba - chicken, toco - pork)

3.6/5 Well, this is it. The final Sandwich Friday of the summer. Personally, I had a semi-great time getting sandwiches for 36 these last ten weeks! I say semi-great because before this summer, I never fully realized how important sandwiches can be to some people. From day one, I was made well aware of the fact that Sandwich Friday would be the most important priority of my internship, so obviously I didn't want to mess it up! The passion this company has for a handheld meal of two pieces of bread with some sort of filling is truly unparalleled by anything else I've experienced in this world. But no seriously, I had a great time. Even if I'm not a self-proclaimed foodie, I sure did learn a heck of a lot about sandwiches this summer, and that is beautiful. (Also apparently the fact that I always got the sandwiches here on time means I really won this internship).

But onto the rating. My last day really seemed to bring up a lot of emotion in the office, as this was very clearly the most intense and spirited sandwich rating out of them all. The expectations for this sandwich were high; many were excited for the flavorful promises that Bolivian Llama Party made (re: chicken thighs - not breasts. too bad Marlowe was in the Cape for this day. cracklins. bacon. butter lettuce. what else could you ask for?). Where these expectations met? Or were the people left disappointed? The answer is both. The Chicha Verde polarized the room on this vibrant Friday afternoon. It all began after Tony inhaled his sandwich and then realized he had received zero cracklins and zero bacon in his meal (maybe he just ate too fast? we'll never know). But in all honestly, I don't think anyone got any cracklins. This was a high point of contention come rating time. Nick had to catch a train so he quickly gave his rating of an even 4.0 (very high for someone who started the tasting process with multiple complaints). "Contrary to popular belief," he thought the chicken thigh was "too dry." This ended up being not contrary. Nearly everyone agreed the chicken thigh was too dry (would have been interesting to have Marlowe here for this one, but alas). However, he stated that he was very willing to give this sandwich a second chance! Maybe Sandwich Friday should be held on site? A thought for future interns. Other comments seemed to mirror Nick's: there definitely weren't any cracklins in this sandwich, the tomatoes weren't doing it, and it was pretty spicy. But for the most part, anyone and everyone had their own opinions on this sandwich, and rightfully so! Most didn't hate it as much as Elizabeth did (1.7 - yikes!) and most didn't love it as much as Alex (4.9 - wowza!), all I can say is you're gonna have to try this sandwich out for yourself. The salteñas were delicious though, even if everyone kept calling them empanadas.

I hope you enjoyed these blog posts, Foothold! Writing them was definitely one of the highlights of my summer as was spending every Friday in the conference room hearing everyone passionately discuss food (I'm being serious). Thanks for everything - I'll miss you guys!