Sandwich Farm

Sandwich Farm
Huntsville, Madison County

This joint is not on the AL.com list of 22 Greasy Spoon Burger Joints in Alabama you have to visit before you die. 

Just a few months ago, the owner of the Sandwich Farm had a second restaurant in Huntsville, the 3 Skillets on the Courthouse Plaza. That was a real narrow dive, with a long counter with half a dozen bar stools, from which you had a clear and direct view on the cooking griddles five feet away on the opposite wall. They had a couple of very small tables in one corner, and some tables with big umbrellas on the sidewalk. Their potato hash brown was divine, and the atmosphere was very bohemian.

Fast forward to today – the 3 Skillets is no more, because the burden of managing two different localities at the same time was too much for the owner. So she decided to consolidate her assets and only operate one restaurant – the Sandwich Farm. That joint is situated at the edge of Downtown Huntsville, in a tiny business area that also houses a recording studio, a music hall, and a photographer. So there is some bohemian atmosphere there, too, plus they have definitely a much, much better parking situation than in the middle of downtown.

The restaurant does not have any sign with its name on it, just a big yellow poster with the piece parts of a burger in one window, and some strange poster with a pig, a cheese, an apple, and a loaf of bread on the outside wall between the two entrance doors. Inside, you immediately stand before a counter with half a dozen wooden high chairs. If you sit there, your view is limited to a giant black-board with drawings and descriptions of all kinds of piece parts for the several meals they offer on it. Behind that wall is the kitchen, but other than in the 3 Skillets, what goes on in there stays hidden from the customers. You can also sit at one of the many tables, which are mostly located in the longer leg of the L-shaped room (the counter being in the shorter leg of that L).

I was very happy to find basically the same menu that the 3 Skillets had. So I chose the Skillet Burger, with extra bacon. That is an in-house hand cut and ground beef patty with the usual suspects – lettuce, pickles, tomato, red onions, cheese – in a brioche bun. Brioche? Sounds French, don’t you think? And indeed, it is French - a pastry, really, that is similar to highly enriched bread with a rich and tender crumb. It has more butter and eggs in it than normal bread, and is slightly puffy on the inside, with a somewhat flaky crust on the outside. Sounds fru-fru, doesn’t it? Well, yeah. To be honest, it is slightly sweet and thus gives the burger a distinctive flavor. To be quite honest, I could live without that French sweet flaky puffiness. And the Brioche did not even elevate the burger to new lofty heights – it was rather pedestrian instead. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good burger, but really nothing special, nothing to write home about, nothing to be put on a list of things to try before you die. It was okay. That’s it.

Because they do not fry stuff at the Sandwich Farm, I had to pick a different side than the ubiquitous Fries. Which is a good thing – I did not need even more French stuff on my plate. So I chose the potato salad, which was really great. Red skinned potatoes in sour cream, only lightly seasoned – very yummy. I will definitely be back at the Sandwich Farm, but a burger I will not order there again. They have way better things on the menu. What would go well with potato salad?