The Other Critics

Gagliardi Loves the Sandwiches at Stag’s Lunchette; Hirsch Discovers Candybar in NoPa

Stag's Lunchette
Stag’s Lunchette

Ms. Tablehopper (Marcia Gagliardi) pays a visit to five-month-old Stag’s Lunchette (362 17th Street) in Oakland, and falls in love, first, with their house-cured pastrami sandwich. She writes, “[It’s] one of the very, very best I’ve had in the Bay Area” and adds, “the amount of handiwork that goes into each sandwich here is notable.” She also calls out Stag’s version of the Reuben, with “housemade kimchee-like kraut inside, spiked with caraway.” And there’s also the “chicken melt with their utterly SICK house-cured bacon, Swiss cheese, and grilled radicchio and onions on focaccia.” You heard the woman. [Tablehopper]

And over at the Examiner, Jesse Hirsch discovers four-year-old nighttime dessert cafe Candybar, on Fulton near Divis. He writes that the “lighting is low and velvety” and “every table is crowded with multiple desserts (or their crumb-and-frosting remnants).” He’s newly intrigued, he says, each time he returns to peruse the menu, and he’s especially fond of their twist on the ice cream sandwich (honeydew ice cream, berries, and chocolate ganache sandwiched between almond macarons), and the Drunken S’More,”hot Bailey’s chocolate sauce spilled over toasted marshmallow and a chocolate ganache tart (with a splash of salted caramel).” [Examiner]

Gagliardi Loves the Sandwiches at Stag’s Lunchette; Hirsch Discovers