When the Boston Chowhound board starts mooning over a restaurant two months prior to its opening, there's a pretty safe bet something special's a'brewin'. In this case, the "something" was Chris Schlessinger (East Coast Grill, formerly of Blue Room), and the "special" was his newest venture, the All-Star Sandwich Bar, a small yet breathable joint that embraces a wide variety of meat-on-bread and eschews the trendy wrap without compunction.

The first thing a budget-conscious diner will notice is the prices. Topping out at $14.50 for the massive "All Star Bomb", these are obviously not your mother's sandwiches. A variety of cutesy sides take a spot on the back page, from hard-boiled eggs ($1.50/ea) to sweet potato salad ($3), and there's a good selection of beer and wine ($2-$8) for those who like booze with their bread. Bostonist and guest settled in with a can of Brooklyn lager and a pint of Oktoberfest and set our minds upon a happy conundrum - which of the thirty-odd sandwiches to choose? Choices range from specialty regional offerings like Buffalo's "Beef on Weck" ($8.75) and NOLA's fabled Muffaletta ($8.25) to the lowly PB&J ($2.75), and span everything in between. After weighing the options, we settled on a tuna melt ($7.75) and the aptly named Atomic Meatloaf Meltdown ($8.75).

It's worth mentioning that Bostonist takes The Sandwich very seriously, and has been known to take hours crafting the perfect Sandwich for her eating pleasure. Bostonist is also a condiment freak, and was thusly delighted to find ketchup, mustard, relish, A1, AND Heinz 57 tabletop. However, for nearly ten bucks a pop, Bostonist was not as impressed as she had hoped to be. The tuna melt, although delicious, was partially burned, a tad greasy, and not really sporting a whole lot of tuna. Votes are still out on the Atomic Meatloaf, as the 'loaf was doused with so much hot sauce that our taste buds were effectively rendered useless. To be fair, our server did suggest that we get the sauce on the side, but the question remains: as a chef, why would you mask the flavor of your creation with a condiment so spicy it could kill a small child? The fact that our waiter disappeared after dropping off the food didn't exactly help matters - we were out of water faster than you can say "ow I got some in my eye".

While this sounds like a bad review, it's really not. The atmosphere was pleasant, the food was well above-average, the beer was cold, and the restaurant, after all, is not even a week old. I refer readers back to the first paragraph - when expectations start building two months in advance, you've gotta take any criticism with a grain of salt. A hopeful three out of five hats for the All-Star, and a promise to stop back soon to try the pulled pork.


Image Credit, All Star Sandwich Bar website. Please don't sue me.