Omnivore - A brief lunch at Villains Wicked Heroes
Come and get your vegetarian chicharrones
Lunch last Friday was at Villains Wicked Heroes in Midtown. This sandwich bar was opened a few months ago by Alex Brounstein, Jason McClure, and Jared Pyles. Brounstein owns Grindhouse Killer Burgers and the other two are involved respectively with Flip Burger and HD1. The theme - sandwiches named after villains - is fun.
I was expecting great things. Friends told me the Colonel Kurtz banh mi was particularly good, but it has disappeared from the menu - or maybe it’s lost in the Heart of Darkness, like its namesake in Apocalypse Now.
? ? ?
I tried the Kingpin of Crime, strangely bland porchetta with arugula and doctored mayo. The menu also promised “crispy skin.” I was expecting something like Hector Santiago’s famous Medio Dia at Super Pan (R.I.P.). Not. The crispy skin turned out to be a traditional pork rind (or “chicharron”) propping up the bread. My gluten-phobic friend Lee ordered a Nick the Pig sandwich “skeletor style,” minus the bread. It was roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles mayo, and mustard served in a bowl. I have no idea why, on a menu of kinky sandwiches, he chose the blandest.
The sandwiches were served with “disco volante,” spoked wheels that taste like chicharrones, yet are made with veggies. Tasty. Salty. Oh, how salty.