The fixings at Cedars Meat House include
the killer Lebanese garlic sauce, toum.

Cedars Meat House, a Lebanese butcher/lunch counter, lies a few blocks away from the hustle and bustle of Steinway Street's hookah parlors. Just inside the entrance is a well-appointed kebab counter. The pasterma sandwich caught my eye, partly because I’ve always been curious about the air-dried beef and partly because at $2.50 it’s insanely cheap.

Cedars’ beef shawerma is a flavor bomb.

Unfortunately the day I was there Cedars was out of pasterma. Instead I opted for a beef shawerma sandwich ($3.50). I've had plenty of chicken and lamb shawerma, but had never seen a beef version. While the guy at the counter sliced away at the slowly rotating meat tower I checked out the formidable selection of fixings. Among the 10-deep roster of the usual suspects—tahini, hummus, hot sauce and the like—were some more unusual ones like purple-hued pickled turnips. There was also what looked to be surprisingly airy mashed potatoes. “That’s garlic sauce; make sure you get it,” my pal William counseled. And so I did along with everything else.

The thin pita could barely contain its contents. The beef played nicely with all of the other ingredients. The first few bites were quite the flavor bomb. The garlicky toum, hot sauce, and sweetness of the sumac-dusted onions shone through. To wash it down I had a can of Vimto, a purplish soda flavored with black currant and raspberry. Cedars makes a dozen sandwiches in all. I’ll be back for that pasterma.

Cedars Meat house, 41-08 30th Avenue, Astoria, 718-606-1244

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It's called a carniceria for good reason.

As at most carniceria’s the draw at La Esquina Criolla (the Creole Corner) is the carne, specifically beef. Skirt, ribeye, and shell steaks sputter and sizzle on a grill strategically placed within view of the sidewalk. Steak wasn’t what lured me out in the cold rain to the corner of Corona Avenue and Junction Boulevard in Elmhurst last night. I had come for a sandwich de molleja, or sweetbread sandwich ($7.50). A few weeks ago I thoroughly enjoyed an haute bizarre version. So for this week’s Sandwich Wednesday, I checked out a somewhat more traditional approach to thymus.

Pomelo-flavored Paso de Los Toros soda cuts the richness of the sweetbreads.

Not being a butcher I’m not sure just how much sweetbreads can be harvested from one calf. I’m pretty sure that La Esquina Criolla’s gigantic sandwich contains several beast’s worth. The sweetbreads were crisp and slightly blackened outside, yet still creamy within. They had the added benefit of being grilled next to some shell steak and thus basking in some beef fat. Garlicky chimichurri sauce offset this gutbuster fit for a gaucho. I scored a pomelo-flavored Pasa de Los Toros soda to wash it all down.

I left La Esquina Criolla with a full belly, thoughts of running with the bulls, and sunnier climes. Reality quickly set in quickly as I stepped squarely into a frigid, slushy puddle.

La Esquina Criolla, 94-67 Corona Avenue, Elmhurst, 718-699-5579

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Cannelle’s smoked salmon and provolone on seven-grain
bread is like a Frenchified version of a tuna melt.

To celebrate Cannelle Patisserie’s appearance on Colameco's Food Show, I took a trip to the Paris of East Elmhurst for Sandwich Wednesday. Sandwiches are usually the furthest thing from my mind when I pay this purveyor of exquisite French pastries and croissants a visit. But a tipster had raved about the smoked salmon sandwich ($4.75). It starts with toasted seven-grain bread blanketed with provolone cheese. Once out of the oven, a liberal layer of smoked salmon is applied. Cradled in the warm, nutty loaf the cool smoked salmon and melting cheese become much more than the sum of their parts  

M. Perennou’s  croque monsieur eschews the Béchamel.

I also tried Cannelle’s croque-monsiuer. I like to translate the classic French sandwich's name as crunchmeister. It was my first, and it was delicious. The crunchy exterior of the bread gives way to slightly squishy innards, encasing ham and  Swiss cheese. There’s a creaminess to the whole thing. That's thanks to a secret spread co-owner Jean-Claude Perennou took from his sister’s recipe. Perennou used to make them at home using milk and butter laden sauce Béchamel. He switched recipes when his daughter told him, “Auntie’s croque monsieurs are better than yours.” I really didn’t think about it when I was eating it, but Perennou told me that the wonderful, bubbly crunchiness of the exterior comes from a piece of additional cheese that sandwiches the bread as it bakes.

Save for a few bits of crust from the croque monsieur I ate everything. It might be the only time I’ve visited Cannelle without having had a few buttery sugar cookies and fruit-filled abricotines. Dessert was the was truly furthest thing from my mind as I ventured out into the snow.

Cannelle Patisserie, 75-59 31st Avenue, East Elmhurst, 718-565-6200

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Crazy Joe’s opened a few months ago in Ridgewood.

Crazy Joe’s a newish spot touting “Famous Cheese Steaks, Hotdogs, Wings & Things” is not normally the type of place I find myself eating. But that name combined with a recommendation from Ridgewood scout Ernesto spurred me to take the Q58 bus to Ridgewood. Ern had also mentioned something about a special cheeesteak named for the ‘hood itself.

The Ridgewood—kielbasa, kraut, and Swiss—festooned with French fries.

Crazy Joe’s offers just shy of a dozen kinds of cheesesteak. (And to think I thought there was only one!) The traditional Philly version tops the list of 11 varieties, which includes such dubious creations as the “hamburger cheesesteak.” Each comes in three sizes small, $4.95; medium, $6.95; and large, $8.95. Co-owner Joe DeAngelis says he and his partners created the Ridgewood because they wanted a sandwich “indigenous to the neighborhood.” The combination of kielbasa, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and spicy mustard gilded with crunchy French fries is a hearty homage to what has traditionally been a Polish and Eastern European community. The Philly Cheesesteak is decent, but I prefer the steak hero from Franco's. The Thai wings—slicked with a chili-spiked satay sauce—were surprisingly good.

DeAngelis is from Jackson Heights and favors dining at Colombian steakhouses along Roosevelt Avenue. While discussing kielbasa purveyors (he gets his from either Pennsylvania or Jackson Heights) I turned him on to U Dzika, the wonderful Polish spot in the Heights. For the record, the restaurant is not named for “Crazy” Joe Gallo. That said, DeAngelis is consideruing decorating the dining room with photos of both the mafia kingpin and Joe DiMaggio.

The Ridgewood has got me thinking of sandwiches named for neighborhoods. I can only imagine what the Flushing would taste like. Got a sandwich I should check out? E-mail joe@ediblequeens.com.

Crazy Joe's Cheesesteaks, 778 Seneca Ave  Ridgewood, 718-497-5637 

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