Yawn. If I have to write another review about a sandwich chain I might start chowdering. That’s like a New England euphemism for horking, right? In any case, there’s little new I can say about sandwiches and wraps under glass. In general they’re too chilly from sitting there cooling so as to not rot and collect carcass flies. That cold somehow saps the taste from anything organic, including meat, cheese, avocado and anything else that one uses his or her taste buds to enjoy. Amazing how that works. My Thai Chicken wrap–the same damn Thai chicken wrap found at just about any chain in Manhattan–didn’t escape this fate, as Mr. Freeze (no, not that Mr. Freeze, Mr. Schwarzenegger) choked the life out of the otherwise passable peanut sauce. I mean, even McDonald’s doesn’t have the balls to put their shit on ice right in front of your face and expect you to pay more than if you were to go to the deli down the street and order the stuff “fresh.” Why should it be okay for these sandwich chains to pull this crap when everyone else has to play by the rules of good taste? In my many years of eating at these places, I actually do have an observation. Those one-off delis, some of which are of questionable cleanliness, are filled almost exclusively with men. Ok, if not exclusively, at least predominately. And then there are places like Pax, Au Bon Pain and Pret that skew way more female. My thought? Women like the whole package; the good lighting, the general corporate layout, lack of handwritten signage, the air of some institutionalized hygiene policy and nice sandwich packaging with printed price labels instead of the white butcher paper and sharpie scribblings. It just makes sense. So Pax has a built-in audience for their sanitized completeness and for those of us who just want something fast with no fuss and no muss. [MF]
485 Madison Ave.
212/755-1212