Bluebird Sandwich

Let’s say the economy is in the dumps. Let’s say further that the real estate market has led the charge into said dumps. Now let’s say that your job depends on real estate and development because you’re, say, an architect.

Suddenly, there’s not so much architecting going on.

What do you do? Well, if you’re our friend and Wallingford resident Nicole Winn, you start making really, really good sandwiches.

As a Senior Associate at Weber Thompson, one of Seattle’s top architectural design firms, Nikki had seen her fair share of catered lunches. The problem was that they generally weren’t very good, were never organic, and always came in trash-can filling boxes filled with little plastic containers of cole slaw and fruit salad. To Nikki’s very Wallingford way of thinking, that just didn’t seem right.

So she and her partner Branden founded Bluebird Sandwich Company, delivering Parisien-style baguette sandwiches throughout Seattle.

They were inspired by the sandwiches you can buy in almost every bakery in France: so simple you don’t understand how someone could live off them, but once you taste them, your wonder how you can live without them: just really good bread and fine meats and cheeses.

They spent time sourcing their ingredients as any good foodie would: traveling around town, sampling different bakeries and butchers until they found the right combo: the bread from Le Panier had the right flavor and soft chewiness, and A&J Meats could provide grass-fed cold cuts (they smoke their ham weekly). Wrap it all in a minimum amount of compostable wrapping, and you’ve got a eco-friendly foodie’s dream.

They make as many of the condiments and other ingredients as possible from scratch, as well. A homemade tomato relish instead of sliced beefsteak means year-round consistency in flavor and texture (and no soggy bread) for example. They even hand grind their stout ale whole grain mustard.

As friends of Nikki and Branden and writers of this blog, the Wallyhoods were invited to a tasting of the wares. We hop you enjoy our impressions as much as we enjoyed the sandwiches (but doubt that’s possible):

The Picnic Sandwich (locally smoked applewood ham, gruyere cheese, heart of romaine, mayonnaise, dijon mustard) was moist and flavorful. The saltiness of the ham was perfectly balanced by the creaminess of the gruyere.

The combination of flavors in the the Brie and Apple Sandwich (french brie, organic granny smith apple slices, mango chutney, organic spring mix) gave us a pucker and made our tongue happy in so many ways: the creamy richness of the brie and the tart zing from the chutney all came together to make this our favorite of the lot.

Le Boeuf (all natural grass fed roast beef, Dubliner Irish cheddar, pickled red onion, heart of romaine, mayonnaise, stout ale grain mustard) was a good, hearty sandwich. The pickled red onion provided the perfect accent to make this standby a standout.

Nikki poaches the organic chicken breast herself for Le Poulet, to ensure it’s juicy and tender. Add some homemade kalamata and green olive tapenade, their signature tomato relish, some heart of romaine and aioli, and you’ve got the best chicken sandwich you’ll ever have. The tapenade and tomato relish are bold flavors: paired with the subtlety of the chicken breast, there’s no conflict, only love.

The Bluebird Salad was rich and hearty, with carrots, red onions, garbanzos, and chevre, it’s almost a meal in itself.

Last, but certainly not least, the chocolate chip cookies were stupendous. Their giant size belied their lightness, the texture was thick, cakey and moist and the flavor, oh, the flavor. Nikki browns the butter before mixing with the sugar to create a hint of caramel, but it was the hint of orange zest and the still-melty chocolate chips that left us going back for seconds and thirds.

There’s a five sandwich minimum order, but trust us, that only means that five people, minimum, are going to have a really, really good lunch.

Blue Bird Sandwich Company: bluebirdsandwichcompany.com