The Best Thing I Ate All Week: Vegan Club Sandwich at Railtown Cafe

A sandwich that might be worth travelling across town for.

Jealousy is not a good look on anyone, but it’s hard to stay calm, cool and collected when you hear that Railtown Cafe is opening three new spaces this year and none of them are anywhere near your office in the lunch wasteland that is South Granville.So yes, I was delighted to be downtown this afternoon and able to pop into the new Howe Street location (Main and 1st Ave, and Granville and Hastings outposts will open later this year) to eat what might just be the best sandwich I’ve had in ages, but my envy of the neighbourhood regulars grew with each bite. “These fools don’t know how good they have it!” I muttered as I bit into my very excellent vegan club sandwich. People shuffled their red chairs away from me at the communal table.The perfectly chewy house-made focaccia was stuffed with tangy pickled beets, fresh sprouts, and a layer of chickpea hummus and avocado spread; my face was as green with envy as the cold-pressed juices they were serving up at the counter. When it was done, I got on the bus and travelled back to South Granville—where I belonged, the land that food trucks forgot, a place where taco stands and noodle bars and chic cafés dare not tread—putting a bridge between me and the best sandwich that ever happened to me. It wasn’t easy.But while I may weep each lunch hour from now on, knowing the delicious possibilities that exist just out of reach, at least for one sweet moment, I had a taste of the good life.The vegan club sandwich, $8, railtowncafe.ca

More from the “Best Thing I Ate All Week” series:

Queso Fundido at La Mezcaleria

Lemon Danish from Duft & Co. Bakehouse

Rosemary Chocolate Cookie from Beaucoup

Gnocchi from Stable House