Point-Counterpoint: The Monte Cristo Sandwich Is an Absurd Joke

You are so welcome! My boyfriend and I planned a trip to Austin just to get back to your truck!! He tries your other fabulous sandwiches but I can't resist the Monte!

JoJo's had an excellent Monte Cristo and yes, they should be crispy, not soggy.

Now that the Monte Christo is chewed over, it might be time to move on to another controversial sangwich. Never mind the odd inventor, this is the BEST sangwich I've ever tasted, bar none http://tinyurl.com/Sangwich-1

American's didn't invent the automobile, Greg.

I got as far as Jenny Agutter and got stuck. How did it pan out ?

Americans did not invent the car.

You think America invented the car? Wow.

Yesssssssssss.

The monte cristo sandwich served in the Blue Bayou restaurant in Disneyland is what just about everybody orders and shares!  Soggy?  If the sandwich is soggy there is something wrong!  Do I want to eat this every day?  No, but it sure is worth the price every now and then!

The Monte Cristo at House of Pies. Anybody? Anybody?

Soggy? Fry it correctly, and the outside should be crispy while the inside is piping hot. Comparing to a pot pie or fried chicken -- soggy crust = bad pot pie/chicken. Doubt she ever had a good one. There are tons of restaurants who serve them, and most botch it.

I cook and devour Monte Christo sandwiches all the time, and in my region (Lawrence KS) they are savory rather than sweet. That's how I make them and how all the restaurants I know of around here serve them. I get how one may be tempted to introduce syrup and powdered sugar given that it's basically a French Toast sandwich, and that does sound like a real belly buster. I like to make them with turkey, Swiss, sliced red peppers and basil pesto, on sourdough (a nice firm bread that doesn't get over-sogged with the egg). Once I made them with slices of leftover meatloaf and double Goucester.. which was phenomenal. In my mid-western experience this is a savory sandwich fried with just a little butter and they are not soggy or slimy at all...they are crunchy and hearty!  .. Also it is super yummy to make the French toast separately and then assemble a sandwich with hot meat and cold produce (like a BLT). DIVINE!

I used to enjoy this sandwich once a year (it takes a good year to recover from the calorie hit), but they DO need to be made correctly. How it is fried matters (it should remain crispy, not soggy), as does the sauce that goes with it (a fresh raspberry compote, not Smuckers!). The difference is night and day!  To dismiss this treat based on a bad experience is like saying you hate Mexican food because you didn't enjoy Taco Bell. And by the way, if you don't get the concept of salty and sweet going together, I recommend you stay away from Reeses Peanutbutter Cups and kettle corn.

I had no idea that NASA had a dedicated crew of tastebud scientists. Ok, I'm off to write a 2,000 word whiny, angry, but meaningful review on why I will never eat BBQed squirrel.

Only place with a good Monte Cristo is the Blue Bayou at Disneyland (where it was popularized)

First time I tried a Monte Cristo, I was AMAZED. It was like I had never tasted anything so delicious. I wanted another one right away.

Second time I had a Monte Cristo, my reaction was more "This tastes good, but I can feel the years slipping off the end of my life." It was superficially pleasing but psychologically vulgar, like a glow-in-the-dark Grateful Dead poster or a Ke$ha album.

Third time I had a Monte Cristo, I spent almost an hour in a TGIFriday's bathroom, and when I emerged, I instructed my friends under pain of death that no matter how hungry I was, I was never to be allowed to order a Monte Cristo sandwich again.

Your deep fried fried ham and cheese covered with powdered sugar and served with jelly must be the Texas regional version.  I ate lots of Monte Cristos growing up in the upper MidWest, and there a Monte Cristo is an egg battered, flat top fried, ham and cheese with no sugar and no jam.  Or, a french toast encased grilled ham and cheese.

So in the end, it wasn't so much a point-counterpoint as bored writers swapping bon mots and pointless anecdotes and trying to pass it off as an actual discussion. Great. I want my 5 minutes back. Plus the one I spent typing this.

Monte Cristo is the "Snakes on a Plane" of sandwiches. Sure, the concept is hilarious; but you're not supposed to actually make it.

First of all, Menudo is a pre-teen singing group, whose very existence is a warning sign of the Apocalypse. 

Second, the Best Monte Crisco sangwich I ever had was in Vermont, of all places.

Third, I once had a Monte Hall Sangwich, which tasted a little bit like chicken.

Fourth, of all the places in the world, the one I least expected to read a cuss-word infested, profane, funny and ribald Blog about that most sanctimonious of topics, food, was Bayonne, New Jersey. But Houston is top ten.

Fifth, Is never enough. Better get a half gallon just to be on the safe side.

Sixth, I see dead people.

Seventh, By golly I've linked to your Blog. Please adjust your center of balance statistics accordingly.

Double Down got an unfair rap. 

Double Down:  540 calories, 32g fat. Big Mac: 540, 29g fat. 

We down millions of Big Mac's a day.  They are not topping anyone's list of healthy foods.  But no one is running around screaming in the street about them.  Double Down comes along and it has the same amount of calories and only a few more grams of fat and we lose our collective minds over it. 

Essentially, Double Down was more or less a serving of Chicken Cordon Bleu placed in a stack.  

"I'd like a peanut butter and banana sandwich, Monte Christo style..." --- Tortelvis, lead singer of Dread Zeppelin.

My only experience with the Monte Cristo was always at Bennigan's and I always did enjoy it.  I liked the fact that I got 2 meals out of it because there was no way I could put a whole one down.  That was pretty much the only thing I would regularly order there. 

I had a similar feeling to monte cristo sandwiches, until I had one in Austin. From a food truckhttp://www.heyyougonnaeatorwha... Shiner Bock beer-battered Monte Cristo with cherry and fig preserves. SO FREAKING GOOD.

For years I though they were called "Monte Crisco" sandwiches. Which, y'know, enough said.

Capirotada rules!

I have had great Monte Cristos & horrid ones.Its all in the quality of ingredients & care taken in making the thing. Oh heck no!  Would I order one if it was in a place that had a better than average chance of serving glop? Not on your life! Would I eat them regularly if I knew I was getting a good one and not a bad one? Well, maybe once or twice a year if you call that regular.

Believe it or not Wings n More makes em. And those muther effers are deep fried. None of that "grilled" nonsense

All the Monte Cristo sandwiches I've ever ordered (or seen ordered for that matter) have never come with jam and powdered sugar. I've always seen it served with maple syrup (or nothing). Which makes me side with the Katharine here. Seriously, why would you put jam and powdered sugar on it?

I've eaten many Monte Cristo's in my day, and never, ever heard of one with powdered sugar and jam on it. Really? That's just sick, but no surprise. I just came back from an all inclusive resort in Jamaica, full of fat American kids scarfing endless french fries. The need for sugary, fattening crap to feed Yankees pushed most of the local fare off the buffet table. Your obscene dietary practices are ruining travel for most of the rest of the world. That said, you're almost alone in this kind of excess, so in a hundred years or so your life expectancy will be much lower than the rest of us, ridding us once and for all of your sickening, excessive consumerism. If all Americans want when they travel is American food, American TV, and American booze, stay the fuck in America.

Hmm, I wonder if I should put cajeta on my ham torta?

We have enjoyed preparing many of your esoteric dishes. Your Monte Cristo sandwich is a current favorite among the adventurous.

Civilized parts of the country put maple syrup on their Monte  Cristo's.

I had one...once...when I was in college and working at Bennigan's. That's right, Bennigan's. I  finished half and it sat in my gut like a brick for hoursssss. Hurt so bad.