Wolfgang Puck Express, Chicago O’Hare Airport, IL, USA

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Ordered at Wolfgang Puck Express in the American Airlines terminal at the Chicago O'Hare Airport

Overall Score 58.2/100
Presentation 6/10 Meat Quality 7/10
Fruit / Vegetable Quality 6.5/10 Bread Quality 6.5/10
Mayo / Sauce Usage 8.9/10 Value 4/10
Ingredients Ratio 7.7/10 Sides /10
Holdability 7.1/10 Overall Taste 4.5/10

I stayed up all night for my flight to Boston from Beijing. I wanted to start adjusting to the time difference before I left China, and an all-nighter provides a great platform to do so.

Check-in, have a beer on the way to security (you can BYOB in the airport) hit up the lounge for another drink, drink some more as I wait, get on the plane, drink even more, fall asleep at 9am Beijing time for 12 hours, wake up in Chicago 8am; it’s a proven method I’ve used many times, and this was no exception.

Customs and immigration were a breeze, as always (every time I enter the states I expect to be searched thoroughly thanks to the long list of countries I have been prior, although I’ve never once been checked; maybe they look for other signs of contraband/smuggling?) and I ended up in the American Airlines terminal with 3 hours to kill.

My first instinct: I want a McGriddle sandwich. It’s a breakfast comfort food I rarely eat, ever (even when stateside), but something about it just screams “America!” and it’s fun to treat myself to this high caloric meal when I stop at places like the Chicago airport. Fortunately with my business-class ticket in hand (thanks to my brother!) I decided to hit up the American Airlines lounge and grab a bite there…. Until I realized there is no free food in the lounge. Well that’s a bummer… and a great opportunity to try a club sandwich in the states.

After walking around the entire American Airlines terminal, I thought a club sandwich didn’t exist here. I was baffled. I eventually walked all the way back to security and found what I was looking for: a rotisserie turkey club sandwich by Wolfgang Puck Express. This will do, this will do just fine…

I grabbed my sandwich from the checkout counter and walked over to a corner where I could people watch. It was my first time back in the states (Guam doesn’t count I assume) for 10 months, all of the time I was surrounded by Asians, so American people-watching would be an activity that entertained me until my connecting flight to Boston departed.

A sign reading “Served Ice Cold” should be plastered above this sandwich stand. They must keep their sandwiches around 35 degrees – cold enough to think it’s frozen, but warm enough so that it’s still a soft sandwich and not actually frozen. Unfortunately, such a cold sandwich doesn’t allow you to taste all of the ingredients and even makes them a bit hard.

This must have been the root of the problem with the rotisserie turkey – while you could tell it was well sliced and of good quality, you simply couldn’t taste it; it was either flavorless or just too darn cold, but you could tell the quality was there and it wasn’t turkey I had normally experienced in an airport. The bacon was almost unnoticeable and in fact, I literally might not have known this turkey club sandwich contained any if the label on the outside didn’t tell me this. That being said, I couldn’t tell if I liked the bacon as an addition, because every 3rd bite contained bacon flavor without the actual bacon… it was almost like mini bacon bits were scattered throughout this club.

The lettuce was crispy and cold, and the tomato was ripe and juicy, but the juices were ice cold as they came out of each bite. Again, great ingredients seemingly ruined by the over-refrigeration. Fortunately, the coldness didn’t hurt the delicious avocado jardinière, which was actually lovely. I guess a jardinière means the avocado is served with a mixture of spring vegetables, such as peas, carrots, and green beans, however all I could taste was a guacamole – I was so happy they used this instead of mayonnaise.

Lastly the bread held the sandwich together nicely, and simply made it easier to eat. The label said “rustic roll” but generally it was a tasteless piece of tick white bread that you’d normally find used as bread with the butter served at your favorite dining establishment; I simply wasn’t impressed.

Was it Wolfgang’s creation, the fact that this was his express outlet and not a restaurant, or that this meal was had in an airport? I’m not sure exactly what led to this club sandwich not being nearly as good as it should be, and while I’d love to put all of the blame on the fact that it was nearly frozen, overall the sandwich’s ingredients just didn’t blend well together and while of high quality, the sandwich wasn’t vibing as one delicious meal.

By the way, check out that list of ingredients on the back. Do I need to add all of those to our official list?! As you can also see, bacon is pretty much the last ingredient. And talk about a lot of sodium….

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