THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609270735
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GUY FRIDDELL
LENGTH: 53 lines
Two years in the making, three new sandwiches have been invented by McDonald's chef Andrew Selvaggio, who formerly headed Chicago's swank Pump Room.
Some would regard that transition from the Pump as not just a step down but a parachute jump.
To Selvaggio, it's fun to have the chance ``to change the direction of American tastes.''
His three creations are Crispy Chicken Deluxe, a fried chicken-breast sandwich; Grilled Chicken Breast Deluxe, a marinated chicken-breast sandwich; and Fish Filet Deluxe.
May I suggest three competing ones for other fast-food chains:
1. The Eat and Read Sandwich.
A neighbor in my childhood had to prepare sandwiches each morning for a brood of six, the last in line being Big Bubba, my friend.
Time she got to him, moving like a fast freight, she just slapped left-over scrambled eggs twixt two slices of light bread and wrapped that makeshift meal in an ink-smudged newspaper page.
To leave his hands free to throw rocks at posts on the way to school, Bubba always jammed the scrambled eggs sandwich in the right-hand back pocket of his overalls and sat on it during the day. Ere long its eggy fragrance permeated the classroom, until, at last, Miss Eubanks called time for lunch.
And, lo, when Bubba took the sandwich out of his right-hand back pocket, the image of the newspaper was inked indelibly onto the bottom slice of his sandwich, which, thereby, he could read as he ate.
Sometimes on Monday morning, his Momma's hand fell on a page in Sunday's comic strips in color. At recess, those mornings, we begged Bubba to let us look at the gaudy coloring of Little Orphan Annie or Mutt and Jeff.
It was as edifying a sandwich as you were likely to find.
2. A Sandwich to Start Horses.
In William Faulkner's novel ``The Rievers'' appears an episode about a race horse that was unbeatable. Just before the starting gun, its handler would give it a whiff of a sardine that jump-started the horse to lead the whole field around the track.
Sardine tins come with all kinds of sauces: mustard, soy bean, and so on. Long ago, a body would mash up the sardines, flavored with a shot of vinegar, and there you were, a sandwich for horse and rider.
3. The World's Basic Sandwich.
Hereabouts, one may find fresh tomatoes until October. You may add what you please to a tomato sandwich, but purists insist on simply fresh tomatoes, mayonnaise and bread. There's no reason that a chain of restaurants couldn't import fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes from Florida or California. No recipe, year-round, can top a simple tomato sandwich. I'll buy that. ILLUSTRATION: Drawings by CNB