Swich

It seemed like Bo and Co had a hundred days off in January (ok, it was seven, but still...), and so on one of those days I decided: we're going out to lunch. Which is why on a recent freezing Monday afternoon the three of us found ourselves tucking into a delicious hot sandwich-y feast at the Swich, a new, cool place on 8th Avenue, right up from 15th Street.

Swich serves creative, hot-pressed sandwiches (or "deconstructed" salad versions thereof) and that's pretty much it. I had the Trojan Horse: rosemary focaccia filled with ground lamb, tomato, tzatziki, and fresh mint. It was juicy, hearty, full-flavored, as tasty a sandwich as I've had in a long time. Co played it safe with the Cuban, and was rewarded with a well-made version of the classic: marinated pork, swiss cheese, boiled ham and pickle chips on fresh french bread. Bo devoured her Tuna-na-na, starring white albacore with marinated artichokes and olive tapenade on crunchy 7-grain bread. I had bites of both, and both were terrific. We all split a bag of Swich's "Internationally Famous Potato Chips", which are made on premises, and are thin, crunchy, a delight. We also shared a Homemade Banana Lemonade, which was less interesting than it sounds, and not really worth the $3 price tag. For dessert? A totally unecessary but nonethless scrumptious something called Edible Happiness: basically a grilled dark chocolate, white chocolate and Nutella sandwich.

The atmosphere here friendly-hipster, there's one big communal table, the music is loud and pretty good, and one of the flat screen monitors plays SwichTV, which seems to be devoted solely to staffers doing goofy things. Bo and Co liked the place a lot, and we all agreed that it's a welcome, inexpensive, quick-bite addition to that neighborhood.