*krazy kuban.

When I was a kid, the opening of my lunchbox was usually met with a stampede of wide-eyed grade-schoolers who huddled around to reverently whisper, "what is that?"

As a result, I have cultivated an under-the-radar personality when it comes to food. At work, this is particularly important, as one does not want to be sniffed out as the source of the too-aromatic lunch. (It must be noted that when people stomp through the hallway and bark, "Who has Chinese food?" they're usually wildly off base, and the offending colleague is eating lasagna or chili, and that is always funny.)

So it says a lot that I was all but begging coworkers to admire my lunch, courtesy of Kool Korner Sandwiches.

Normally I'd shun any establishment that would abuse my first initial in such a way, but I'd heard really great things about the Atlanta transplant, which apparently moved westward after its 86-year-old owner (who was in house when I visited) decided retirement was the snorez.

And by "really great things" I mean "good" and "sandwich." I'm an easy sell.

I opted for the classic Cuban—pork roasted Cuban-style with ham, Swiss cheese, mayo, mustard, and dill pickles on Cuban-style bread—because I'm a sucker for unadulterated authenticity, but the "regular" Cuban comes with same, plus lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and jalapeño peppers.



The clean, red-and-white decor persists since the location's previous incarnation as a Firehouse Subs, and the service is all smiles when you walk through the door (a welcome change after my snarly reception at Big John's Deli of two weeks ago). In the air there's a pleasantly invigorating scent of what I thought was cilantro, but because none of the sandwiches list it as an ingredient, I'm going to guess it's the jalapeños.

The menu is short, with 10 sandwich options—the classic Cuban, stuffed eye round, pork, chicken, ham and cheese, roast beef and cheese, turkey and cheese, pastrami, salami, and vegetarian—and a simple (and, at $3.99 almost stunningly cheap) salad with the usual suspects and your choice of meat. The roast pork is tender and perfectly seasoned to match the Swiss cheese, and the mayo/mustard mixture isn't slathered on with a trowel, just thinly spread to temper the pickles. But the true genius is in the bread.



Even LSis would love this bread, and she's notoriously picky on the subject. It's just enough, dense on the inside and crunchy on the outside, and I can testify that it makes one consume a sandwich with almost embarrassing speed. Though that meant no one at work had time to smell it out and bellow, "Who has popcorn?"

In short, this was damn good business, and it was nice to support a place that felt so family-owned-and-operated. Despite the accursed spelling.

In other news, I just discovered that I have 17 vacation days (and counting) to take before the end of the year, so I'm staycationing on the Woodside tomorrow. Just me and this guy.



Come bring us presents!