An ode to a sandwich

A northern New York staple has come to Tampa, the “beef on weck” sandwich; the area is better with the sloppy, messy and oh so delicious treat. The new venue is Honey’s on North Dale Mabry Highway and it is very welcome.

I was born, raised and went to school in New England, mostly in north-eastern Massachusetts and the New York City area, before moving to the much warmer and snow-free Florida. During these years of living and traveling, I have come to recognize that some foods and cooking styles are not that readily transplanted.

There are some exceptions, to be sure, but they only serve to prove the rule. For example, in New England, I fondly recall baked stuffed lobster, the stuffing made of butter-drenched breadcrumbs; a lobster pie consisted of chunks of lobster meat baked in the same breadcrumbs. The baked stuffed lobster was torn apart with one’s hands and, when it was finished, all that was left on the plate was the bright red shell, totally devoid of meat. One can rarely find such a treat in the Tampa Bay area, the lobster here is boiled and brought to the table, unopened and, more important, uncleaned; I have an aversion to the roe. I’m sure it is a matter of economics, but I miss that with which I enjoyed years ago.

Another treat for me in the Boston area was Chinese food, not the stuff with pasty, white sauces found outside of Boston, but shrimp and lobster in oyster sauce, brown, garlicky and tasty. One can rarely find good whole Ipswich belly clams in Florida, the Casual Clam in St. Petersburg being an exception.

To some extent, the reverse is also true. A couple of southern delicacies of which I am especially fond are fried green tomatoes and smoked mullet. I had never heard of either “up north”. Enough of the preface.
The traditional “beef on weck” consists of hand sliced rare roast beef on a unique kind of roll. It’s similar to a Kaiser roll which is then topped with course kosher salt and caraway seeds. While the usual version has about one-half inch of roast beef; the sandwich I devoured at Honey’s had beef piled higher than three times that amount.

The sandwich is accompanied by a cup of jus and a second small cup of Miller’s horse radish. The first thing I noticed was that the roast beef could have been less well done, I prefer really rare. On the other hand, the meat was piled high and was extraordinarily lean.

I smeared the horse radish over the top of the meat and poured the cup of jus over the inside of the top of the roll, trying not to dislodge the salt and seeds. The top of the roll was soggy on the inside but retained the crust on the top. Nonetheless, the resultant mess was a very wonderful taste treat. Along with the sandwich, I chose fries as a side dish. These were cooked perfectly, well-done as ordered without grease and clearly cooked to order and hadn’t rested under a heat lamp for hours.

On my most recent visit, I ordered a hamburger. Honey’s burgers are usually one-half pound but they offer (push?) one twice that size. The burger can be ordered with a plethora of toppings, some conventional and others not so. For example, bacon, onions, chili, OK, but raspberry BBQ sauce or sour cream? However, they will serve the hamburger rare and that, in my opinion, makes up for a lot of weirdness!

Add an ice cold draft beer and the place is definitely a good place to visit. If one insists, there are salads and healthy stuff, but the beef on weck is the reason for its welcome as far as I’m concerned. Honey’s offers and promotes its “char-broiled” wings but the impression that the wings are not fried is false. The wings are fried and then grilled. I tasted one; it was good but equally good wings are available elsewhere in Tampa. Nope, go there for the beef on weck.

Tags: beef on weck, Carrollwood, chicken wings, fried clams, fried green tomatoes, Honey's, lobster, regional foods, sandwiches, Tampa, Tampa Bay