Viva Las Ventas – Boston

I thought it didn’t get any better than Flour and Blunch until I went to Las Ventas. This non-descript sandwich shop resides under the same awning as the inedible Estragon, but in contrast to its how-the-heck-did-your-chef-finish-culinary-school-neighbor, Las Ventas has mastered the art of the sandwich. Las Ventas serves up high-end Spanish sandwiches with perfectly paired ingredients that almost make you forget that you’re eating a sandwich. I also never thought that caramelizing was such a lucrative art…

The Las Ventas on French bread is nothing short of amazing – tortilla Espanola seems so simple – just egg and potato, but it just shows you the power of salt. Add caramelized green pepper and aioli and you have an Herbal Essences commercial except the model is dry and eating a sandwich.

 The Castilla is another worthy candidate of your Las Ventas virginity – the chorizo is otherworldly flavorful, and everything tastes good on their crispy-crust, chewy-in-the-middle French loaf. Not a fan of French bread? No problem – you get four choices of bread. But don’t say I didn’t warn you if nothing is as good as the French…

Other options: The Extremadura is good if you’re craving pork loin and the caramelized onions add the perfect gooey finish, and the Delcampo is tasty (but absolutely not the one I recommend) if you’re a portabella lover. But seriously, if you’re getting something here, the Delcampo just isn’t the way to go.

It seems that South End is hub of amazing sandwiches. Some of the restaurants could take a lesson from my big 3: Las Ventas, Flour, Blunch – perfection between two slices of bread is pretty hard to do …

I swore I’d never go back to Estragon and had no reason to even venture near there, but now Las Ventas has me returning constantly. I just might be the one-woman effort to keep this place in business so try it and bring your friends. Trust me, you’ll come back, but don’t linger too long – you may buy all the delicious chorizos and Serrano ham behind the counter…