East Cut Sandwich Bar in Durham

Sandwiches—with the right fillings it can be the perfect meal blend to get all your meat, veggies, proteins, complex carbs and whatever else is necessary to get a “balanced meal’. Not to mention they are easy for anyone from young to old and somewhere in-between to whip in an instant. Probably why there is such a proliferation of sandwich shops from chains to mom and pops to liquor stores to your local bodega and corner shop that will offer them up. Also why there are so many chains across the country because what is a burger but meat between two slices of bread—that is a sandwich. And yes, a hot dog is a sandwich variation so get over it.

There are also innumerable places across SF to get them including a fair number who like to get all fancy with their meat and toppings. These “upgrades” to sandwiches inevitably lead to increase in prices and, for anyone who has read me over the years, it is this fact of sandwiches costing over $10 has led me to rail against the fact. There are mitigating factors for sure like size, how much is crammed between the bread and does it come with any sides at that price. And while I found some version well worth the upcharge, many just seemed to be a buck or two more than they should have been considering what you ended up getting.

Thus the idea that living in a place with a lower cost of living one would think an overpriced sandwich with no accoutrements would be rare to nonexistent. Turns out, in the Triangle area, things are changing as I started to see openings for a few places where this not entirely wanted SF trend seems to be invading the backwaters and burgs of NC! HORRORS! Okay, maybe not that bad, but at least three spots, two of them newish and one which seems to have been around awhile and even has gotten what they call “Best of the Triangle” awards several times. Well, I mean if it is on a best of list I have to try it right? I am all about the new, now, next and best!

Yeah, no, but when I came across East Cut Sandwich Bar in a random Google food search, one perusal of their menu had me at least interested. A number of their offerings have a Korean flair and some of their combos sound tasty. To be honest you can seemingly avoid the $10 sandwich here it seems. When you order you can choose your bread size and going with the round (different kinds of buns) will keep it under, but going with the roll will kick it up, and no, there are no sides and bacon or a fried egg are upcharges on most of them.

In order to try as much of a variety as I could, I did hit up this spot on several occasions and except for one time, I tried really hard to keep it below my price threshold to avoid any fist shaking old man get off my lawn railing about being invaded by West Coast elites and their overpriced sandwiches. And yes, it has been a lot of bread but with boredom and lack of social life I’ve been running much more so a little carbo loading now and then works out. Remember, I run to eat, not the other way around. Seriously, who likes running/working out? And if you do, well, whatever.

So I’m still doing the take-out and sandwiches just seems like the perfect grab and go thing. Looking at their menu, they also have a couple “share plates” which read well, like the mozzarella sticks. Hand breaded housemade fresh mozzarella. They make their own cheese? At least that is how it reads. Either way, who doesn’t love some fried cheese! And if you don’t, well, whatever.

There are 4 sticks for $9 which seems pricey but they were bigger than your average and if the cheese is made in house, I’ll give it a pass. The panko crust was thick which helped them stay crunchy and when you bit into it, it is full of gooey, melty, stringy cheese. They were definitely spot on in flavor and heft for me and I really enjoyed them. There is no want for cheese when eating these. You may not want to share them either.

Since they only have the two apps, of course I had to try them both. The other option is the Buffalo fried cauliflower. Menu says they are also panko breaded but just looking at them you can see they don’t have the crumbly texture of the sticks or panko in general so gonna go on a limb and say, maybe not? Still, considering I got these to go and they were covered in the Buffalo sauce right after frying, they did remain mostly crispy by the time I got them home to eat. Probably because the sauce was done with a light enough touch to not overwhelm them but still enough to get that spicy kick of the sauce. Add in a little ranch dipping on the side and these were another spot on side. At $8 you do get a fair amount, like about 1/4 a head of cauliflower.

I will say on another visit I got these again and sat at one of their outside tables to nosh this time and the ones I had were drenched in the sauce. It was pooling thickly at the bottom of the container. So much sauce caused them to be soggier than the ones I had as a takeaway. I think I’ve talked about it before but consistency can be a challenge and it presented itself here. I still like these but I think going forward I might ask for sauce on the side or something.

They offer up daily blackboard specials and on one visit was the Seoulville hot chicken, their version of Nashville hot chicken by way of Seoul with gochujang sauce covering a fried chicken breast on a toasted bun with lettuce, tomato, pickle and mayo. (I had some hopes it might be Kewpie mayo but what was on the bun was white and not of the yellowish tint) There was a lot of sauce going on here and this sandwich was messy! It did not help that the bun just did not hold up either. Halfway through and it completely come apart and was just mushy bread.

I did like the sauce and the chicken though I think you’ve got to think about the bread you are using when creating these sandwiches. If you have so much sauce you can’t use thin bun pieces which won’t stand up to everything going on here. I wanted to like it more. A few tweaks could have helped. This one ran $7.75 as a special so it was at least under my threshold of cheapness.

Chicken katsu sandwiches were just taking off when I was leaving SF and seeing them here I was game for trying it out. Once you get into their regular sandwich menu you start to get choices. Chicken katsu falls under their cutlet menu as they also offer an eggplant version. From there you choose your bread either round or hero and this is where the price changes. Round will run you roughly $8 and the hero will push toward $10 so we all know which one I’m getting.

Since a number of their sandwiches are Korean influenced I’m sticking with the theme and getting the East Katsu on toasted sesame bun with kimchi slaw, pickled red onion, spicy mayo and sweet soy. I also decided to splurge the extra $1 to get a fried egg on it because it just seemed to call for it and it still kept me under my price range.

Point of note, this was another messy sandwich. There was A LOT going on here but hey, at least the bun was thicker and hold up way better than the other one. The panko (it’s on everything!) crusted chicken cutlet was suitably crunchy and the kimchi slaw had a subtle bite to it, though I think it and the spicy mayo could have been ratcheted up more. All together it was fine? Inherently it was tasty enough to eat the whole thing but not quite as wow and different as I was hoping.

I’m a sucker for a fried chicken sandwich as you probably know considering this is my third one in this post! Here we have their Southern fried chicken—brined in buttermilk and hot sauce, hand dredged in seasoned flour then deep fried, covered in Buffalo sauce served on a toasted potato bun with lettuce, tomato, pickles and ranch. Much like the second Buffalo cauliflower this was drenched in sauce creating another super messy sandwich. All the wet caused the fillings to slip out on my first bite. Though, oddly, there was very little ranch on here, which, I guess, would have made it more messy wet. It also took away whatever crunch there was on the fry. I mean in the scheme of sandwich things it was fine but nothing really special. Also, going with the hoagie roll would push this up over $10 so I’d say there are better options on the menu. I mean, you can try it if you like and if you do, well, whatever.

Here’s where I went all in with the lomo saltado cheesesteak and yes, this will run you $13.25. I know, I know, but sometimes I gotta try stuff? Rationalization always helps when going above your pain pay threshold. This is Peruvian style stir-fried steak and onions on a sesame seed hoagie roll with tomato, pickled red onion (can’t have too much onion!), chipotle aioli, provolone and curly fries. Yep, as if bread were not enough carbs lets pack on the fries! Okay, I will admit it up front, when I got this, it was big. It is practically the size of two sandwiches. In fact, I ended up NOT eating it in one sitting—for a change. And if you do, well, whatever.

This thing is super packed with some well seasoned and cooked meat. The pickled onions add a little tang to offset all the aioli though the supposed chipotle in it was the barest hint of subtle. I do think they could have brought that more forward. And yes, another messy sandwich but the bread here really holds up to all the meat and fillings making for one tasty mouthful after another. As I said, I did break this out into two meals and doing the math that then makes it $6.85 a half—a bargain! You could easily split this with someone and if you add in one of the share plates it is a full meal. That’s right, I’m all on board for this over $10 sandwich. Ugh, I don’t feel well, I think I need to lay down for a bit.

And I’m back! What we have here kids is a mixed bag of messy. For me, outside of a few tweaks here and there I still kind of like East Cut Sandwich Bar. Between their off the beaten path location and attempts to be different with their sandwich options, they are a cute funky spot to tuck in and try something not a fast food sandwich for a change. While they are doing a healthy take out business there is no indoor dining but they have opened their outdoor seating of picnic tables to nosh at. Plus, if you order right, you can still get away with keeping the cost below $10 a pop. Or you can go all in and upgrade with egg, bacon, hoagie and just go wild like a person with money to burn. And if you do, well, whatever.