The first step is acceptance. Both the Fremont and Ballard branches of Paseo have closed, and you will never get to eat their signature pork sandwich ever again. With its crusty bread, thick slabs of roasted pork, and caramelized onions, it was easily the best sandwich in Seattle. And now it’s gone, already fading into the haze of our collective memory, where no earthly sandwich will ever come close to touching it. How can you compete with the flavor of a nonexistent sandwich, the kind of sandwich that haunts your hunger like a phantom limb? Paseo retired at the top of its game, and so now it’s become a legend.
What are we supposed to do now? Who crafts the new best sandwich in Seattle? Paseo’s sandwiches were so clearly the best in town that there’s not even an obvious second-place sandwich to fill that void. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying that Seattle is wanting for great sandwiches. In fact, I’d stack our best against any other city…
