Sandwich Lab: Of New Sandwiches and Menu Revisions

Beginning Monday, January 30th 2023, we’re adding three brand new sandwiches to our menu, moving a couple of sandwiches to the Secret Menu, and making a small improvement to a Smokehaus classic! By the conclusion of this blog post, we hope you’ll be thoroughly informed of these updates. The Secret Menu sandwiches aren’t going away entirely, they’re just going to be hidden, and at the end of this blog post, we’ll provide instructions for how to find them.

Blog post too long? Don’t feel like reading? Here’s a quick breakdown of key sections:

  • New Sandwich Introductions: The Club-Mariner, mmMmm, and The Sunday Sushi

  • Sandwich Update: The Gorilla

  • Menu reconfigurations/Secret Menu: Big Dipper/Squealy Dan, The ‘06/The Phoebe

Onward to new sandwiches!

Back in November, we held our occasional Sandwich Lab training and menu development session. Six members of our staff each submitted a sandwich for peer review, and of those six contenders, the three highest rated sandwiches—based on Taste, Use of Ingredients, how the sandwich Highlights NWS, and the sandwich’s Feasibility—earned a spot on our menu: The Club-Mariner, mmMmm, and The Sunday Sushi.


Introducing: The Club-Mariner

A club sandwich like you’ve never seen before! An homage to the Golden Age of comic books in what may be the Golden Age of sandwiches!

The Club-Mariner combines the flavor of land and sea, featuring the opulent pairing of Traditional Smoked Atlantic Salmon and crispy Smoked Pancetta, dressed with sweet hausmade quick pickles, lettuce, and a kiss of wasabi mayo on two slices of toasted white bread.

The Club-Mariner was the highest-rated sandwich at Sandwich Lab, and was developed by our in-haus graphic designer, newsletter writer, social media coordinator, and all-around cool dude, Zac.


Introducing: mmMmm

(stylized as “mmMmm”)

If you’re wondering how to pronounce the name of this sandwich, just imagine yourself taking the first bite: Maple-sage Smoked Turkey, massaged with Sriracha & Hoisin, then toasted, sits atop a mayo-spackled hero roll, and is further dressed with thinly-sliced cabbage, red onion, pickled ginger, and cilantro. The sweet and spicy flavors dance on your taste buds, as the wave of umami pulses to a rhythm only you can feel. You can’t help but to proclaim, almost in song*, “mmMmm!” You might’ve wanted to say more, but your mouth is full and you do not want to rush this bite.

Deli manager and chief goofball Leif developed and pitched mmMmm to the Lab.

*That’s a glissando’d octave up and down of B, for any readers with perfect pitch, or any sort of musical background. Trust us, we tested it.


Introducing: The Sunday Sushi

Another umami-bomb joins our menu, especially tailored to the “not too spicy” crowd! The Sunday Sushi doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s the first time a sandwich of its sort has appeared on our menu. The Sunday Sushi takes a classic Midwestern hors d'oeuvre, oftentimes nicknamed “Lutheran Sushi”, as its influence—savory sliced Smoked Berkshire Ham, brushed with scallion cream cheese, and wrapped around a dill pickle spear—deconstructs it, adds sliced cabbage, and puts it on a hero roll. This combination has graced many a Smokehaus sample tray and employee snack session, and now it’s available for your everyday nutritional needs!

Michael, our Mail Order Director and in-haus music festival aficionado, finally codified The Sunday Sushi into sandwich law before the council.


Introducing: The (Improved) Gorilla

When Eric Goerdt speaks, we listen. And not just because he’s our boss, but also because he’s a rare intellect, a wellspring of knowledge and insight about food and life. So, when Eric said “The Gorilla should have pickles,” we listened. 

Henceforth, dear reader, The Gorilla will include sliced dill pickles as a base ingredient!


In order to make room on our paper menus for The Club-Mariner, mmMmm, and The Sunday Sushi, we’ve folded two of our sandwiches into similar offerings. Say (sort of) goodbye to The Squealy Dan and The Phoebe! Before we explain the changes, please know that over the phone and at our ordering window, you’ll still be able to order both of these sandwiches by their original names! The changes will mostly affect your online ordering experience, or a newcomer’s navigation of our paper menus. We understand that this may cause some minor headaches, but rest assured, our staff is prepared to help you navigate the reconfigured menu.


Reintroducing: The Squealy Dan has become a variant of The Big Dipper!

The Squealy Dan aka The Ol’ Standby aka The Smokehaus Staff’s Favorite Morale Sandwich bears such a strong resemblance to The Big Dipper that it’s only natural to combine them.

•The (new) Big Dipper has meat options: choose from Porketta, Smoked Pork Loin, or dry-cured Salami Mix.

•The (new) Big Dipper still comes with zesty three-pepper dipping sauce. This is an improvement over The (old) Squealy Dan, which notably did not include dipping sauce.

How to make your Big Dipper a classic Squealy Dan: choose Smoked Pork Loin or dry-cured Salami Mix as your meat, hold the green olives, and add black pepper.


Reintroducing: The Phoebe has become a variant of The ’06!

The Phoebe is a Smokehaus spin on the classic deli sandwich known as a Rachel, which is itself a variant of the classic deli sandwich known as a Rueben. The Smokehaus spin on a Rueben is called The ’06.

The official changes to The ’06 are as follows:

•Meat options: Smoked Bison Pastrami, Corned Bison, or Maple-sage Smoked Turkey Breast.

Cabbage medley options: hausmade Sauerkraut or hausmade Kimchi.

Cheese options: Swiss cheese becomes the default. Cheddar cheese or provolone cheese are available as substitutions.

How to make your ’06 a classic Phoebe: choose Maple-sage Smoked Turkey Breast as your meat, select Kimchi, and substitute cheddar cheese.


We appreciate your patience and adaptability as we enact these changes to our menu, and we’re excited to get these new sandwiches out of your thoughts and into your hands, mouths, stomachs, and hearts!

The 5 Top Smokehaus Sandwiches of 2020 (So Far)

There will be no surprises in today's blog—just a sober look at the eating preferences of our customers since January 1st of this year.

Take a guess which sandwich will be #1. If you find that you're correct, give yourself a pat on the back, you savvy market analyst, you!

#5 The Great Summer Caper

The once Summertime special that proved too viable to restrict to one season. The Great Summer Caper consists of a toasted Lake Superior Bakehouse Bagel (or one of our new gluten-free bagels), scallion cream cheese, capers (duh!), tomato, red onion, lettuce, and the true star of the show, Black Pepper & Coriander smoked Atlantic salmon.

BP&C (as commonly* abbreviated) is a highly popular fish case offering which, before the Summer of 2018, didn't show up on any sandwiches. Which isn't to say it wasn't requested on sandwiches. It was. Often.

Now, thanks to the Summer special that just wouldn't quit, you can substitute BP&C on all your favorite fish sandwiches, or The Wagner, if you're feeling bold and saucy.

*by me.

#4 The Pastrami Mommy

Of the sandwiches on this list, the Pastrami Mommy has evolved the most. Formerly an exclusively Bison Pastrami sandwich, served on a very dark rye bread, it is currently made on our lighter hausmade rye bread (thank you, Jerry!), typically with Beef Pastrami, though still intermittently with Bison Pastrami when the smokers have time or reason to make it.

For those who don't know, the price of bison has skyrocketed since the Wild West-esque days when I began working at NWS—thus, we reserve the majority of our bison production for Corned Bison and Bison Buddies.

Back to the Pastrami Mommy: Changes aside, the popularity of this sandwich has remained consistent, likely due in part to Guy Fieri's enthusiasm about it on our decade-oldDiners, Drive-Ins, and Dives spot, but ultimately due to the merit of this sandwich.

Hausmade rye, mayo, and hausmade mustard, piled high with a quarter-pound of pastrami, zesty pepperoncini, provolone cheese, and mixed greens. Sounds tasty, right?

#3 The Cold Turkey

The savory-sweet delight that's nearly impossible to quit: Maple-Sage Smoked Ferndale Farms Turkey Breast cradled in a few ounces of Crayo, nestled alongside mixed greens and Swiss cheese, all on a hausmade ciabatta (thanks again, Jerry!).

Frankly, if our sandwich menu ever vexes you, the Cold Turkey is a great default. It's a sandwich that many, even among our very sandwich-spoiled staff, view as comfort food. It's the perennial, "nothing too exciting today, just the Cold Turkey." Which is not a bad thing at all. Add a Jean Jacket if you want some excitement.

#2 The Northern Bagel

A simple foundation with an abundance of flavor is the secret of this sandwich. Our Traditional Smoked Atlantic Salmon already has a lot going for it, from its outer smoke-catching pellicle to it's brown sugar-sweet, moist and flaky flesh. Marry that amazing flavor to hausmade scallion cream cheese and a Lake Superior Bakehouse bagel, and you've got a winning combination.

One major benefit of this simple setup is accessibility. You can eat this thing anywhere, and you're probably not going to make a mess. It's a great sandwich on-the-go, whether that's the trailhead, the beach, or the car. And while the technical aspect of this sandwich may suffice, more importantly, it also tastes really good.

The Northern Bagel is even available from the comfort of your own home kitchen!

#1 The Cajun Finn

Honestly, did you imagine anything else would be in this spot?

The Cajun Finn's reputation precedes it. The Cajun Finn has had such an impact upon our deli and our community that it has made its way onto a piece of our merchandise—which, by the way, is on sale for $15 during the month of March: That's $5 off! And lifetime 10%-off your in-store purchases as long as you're wearing the shirt-slash-any of our merch!—and at least a couple other menus in town *wink emoji*

This blog hasn't featured any specific sales numbers for these sandwiches, but based on the sales records from which this content emerged, the Finn sold roughly as many units as the three sandwiches below it combined.

Having fond memories of your last Cajun Finn? Want to hit that high again? Have a kit shipped to your doorstep!

It's looking like it will be a busy weekend in the Canal Park area, and with favorable winds and sunshine, that should hopefully carry over to our deli.

If you're craving NWS sandwiches and smoked fish, but not craving the wait, try our Delivery/Pick-up service.

5 Things: January 31st, 2020

Here we are, already one-twelfth of the way through 2020. It's going by so quickly. Let's not tarry: Here's a snapshot of our week:

Eric's been out of town (and will be for a bit longer).

Beyond being a great boss/leader/guru, Eric is a family man. While he's been down in Iowa, helping out with family things, we've been doing our best to just hold it together. Eric, if you're reading this, we miss you!

In his element; in his favorite shirt.

We're rearranging our sandwich menu.

The sandwich menu is verging on out of control—and we're adding eight sandwiches to it within the next two months, including six next week. With that in-mind, our amazing illustrator and creative director, Flo, has been out of the (extremely distracting) office all week, re-hand-painting (and color-coding) a large portion of the menu.

The Smokehaus wouldn't be the same without Flo's amazing eye for food-styling, design and illustration. Thank you, Flo, for everything you do!

A few Flo fishes

Hannah and Andy have been emptying out the 3rd-floor office.

All the walls on the left hand side (pictured below) are coming down, and being replaced with more cooler space—and maybe a desk for Andy—while the rest of us cram into the new office space, at least until the renovation is complete and equilibrium is attainable.

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Here's a short pictorial tribute to this office:

Walkie-talkie codenames.

Apologies to everyone else who has to live with us in the DeWitt-Seitz Marketplace—we are the weirdos walking around the building with walkie-talkies, making up codenames like "Cougar," "Meltdown!," "1225," and "Hot Snake," to communicate with each other while we transition between office spaces.

If you run into us in a crowded elevator, it's okay to look away and pretend we're not there. We understand.

Codename: Leify Greenz

Sub-list: What I would bring to the game day celebration.

Maybe you love the sport and maybe you just love the food—Either way, enjoying time with friends and family is never a bad thing. You're spending your time on a deli and smokehouse's blog, so you likely have a decent handle on setting up a snack table, but you might be looking for something special (or easy—or both) to take your game day snack table to the next level. Well, we've got options.

My recommendations, based on what we currently have in-stock:

All-Season Fillet

Let's face it: smoked salmon is what we're known for. The All-Season is our ultimate party favor—all the flavors so no-one feels left out; easy to prep (we've even got card with helpful instructions in our deli); food for fingers, forks, or your favorite crackers. One fillet is probably enough for everyone at the party to get a chance to enjoy it.

Salumi

Thin-sliced dry-cured meat—packs a lot of flavor into each bite and goes a long way. Right now we have Salamini, Saucisson Sec, and Spanish-style Chorizo in spades.

Snack Sticks

Whether you keep them full-length or cut them up into itty-bits, these snack sticks are guaranteed to please, for any palate—Bison Buddies have a little bit of kick, Big Jims remind me of ground beef and taco seasoning browning on the stovetop, Royale With Cheese are a bacon-cheeseburger in a stick, and Smoked Salmon Sticks are made with delicious sockeye salmon and tied together with buttery goodness.

The Usual Suspects

Two delicious hausmade cheese spreads and an exquisite salmon spread—just dip in your knife or cracker, then place immediately in mouth.

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Cheese Spread

Honestly, our entire cheese selection is a fairly safe bet, but this spreadable cheddar is guaranteed to appeal to everyone.

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That's all for now! See you next week. If you're still itching for more NWS content to imbibe, check out this week's series of Sandwich Lab blogs.

Sandwich Lab: The Catbus and The Sorta-Torta

The two Sandwich Lab specials we'll be talking about today share a common thread—attempts at encapsulating favorite food experiences using the ingredients readily available at our deli. One to a savory Japanese pancake, the other to a staple of Mexican lunch menus.

Emma and Patricia have each come up with creations that blend components we've had all along into sandwiches that stand out from our other offerings. Without further ado, let's take a closer look at The Catbus and The Sorta-Torta.

The Catbus

The Catbus is an okonomiyaki-inspired sandwich that's named after an iconic Studio Ghibli character, and as such, it is pure Smokehaus sandwich menu in intention and execution: an attempt to recreate a favorite food experience with ingredients we have on-hand, paired with a pop-cultural reference for a name.

Sand Lab 1.jpeg

Okonomiyaki, a savory Japanese pancake sometimes referred to as "Japanese pizza," translates to "grilled as you like it." Haus-baked Prince Myshkin rye bread, toasted alongside red onion and kimchi, dressed with mayo and sriracha, and garnished with cilantro is undeniably how we like it: simple, savory (prepare to come face-to-face with the subtle power of fish sauce), and just a little spicy.

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The Catbus joins our menu on Monday, February 3rd, alongside Alᚦings Considered, the Sorta-Torta, and the Salmon Melt.

The Sorta-Torta

The Sorta-Torta is a bright new addition to our sandwich menu. Between the slices of Spanish-style Chorizo, fresh jalapeño, sriracha, and black pepper, there's plenty of spice to wake up your taste buds, with hausmade cumin slaw, mayo and cheddar cheese to balance the scale.

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This sandwich is like no other on our menu, and that's just how Patricia planned it.

Spending many of her years on this planet in the Twin Cities, around plenty of places that offered fantastic tortas, she wanted to see what she could use around the Smokehaus to recreate that experience. A few standard torta ingredients are absent or remixed—aficionados will notice the lack of refried beans, and choosing a hero roll over pan francés—hence, the "sorta," but there's no need to dwell on what this sandwich isn't, because it's tasty as heck.

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The Sorta-Torta joins our menu on Monday, February 3rd, alongside Alᚦings Considered, the Catbus, and the Salmon Melt.

Thanks for tuning-in yet again to this series about the upcoming additions to our sandwich menu. We hope you are too—whether you'll be visiting our deli tomorrow or in a few months, they'll be here for you.

We're so dang excited to share all these new sandwiches with you next week, but let's not forget about the returning favorites from last year's Sandwich Lab cycle—the Wagner and the Sebu-Chan

WHAT IS SANDWICH LAB?

A STORY PILFERED FROM PAST BLOGS.

*Bum bum*

IN THE DELICATESSEN SCENE, NEVER SHAKING UP YOUR SANDWICH MENU IS CONSIDERED ESPECIALLY HEINOUS. AT NORTHERN WATERS SMOKEHAUS, THE DEDICATED DELI EMPLOYEES WHO INNOVATE ON THE SANDWICH MENU ARE MEMBERS OF AN ELITE SQUAD KNOWN AS THE SANDWICH LAB. THESE ARE THEIR STORIES:

AT NORTHERN WATERS SMOKEHAUS, OUR WORK IS PLAYING WITH FOOD. THAT MEANS SOMETIMES, IN THE LINE OF DUTY, WE STUMBLE UPON AN AMAZING COMBINATION OF INGREDIENTS THAT EVOLVES OVER SEVERAL SHIFT-MEALS INTO A NOTEWORTHY NEW SANDWICH. OTHER TIMES WE UNCOVER A MORE EFFICIENT WAY TO BUILD A SANDWICH, OR WE SWAP AN INGREDIENT ON A CURRENT MENU ITEM. SANDWICH LAB IS AN ANNUAL GATHERING OF OUR STAFF TO REFINE OUR SANDWICH-LINE SKILLS, TO COME TO AGREEMENT ON ANY CONTROVERSIES, AND—THE BEST PART—TO INTRODUCE OUR PET SANDWICHES TO THE GREATER SMOKEHAUS COMMUNITY.

NOTABLE SANDWICH LAB FINDINGS FROM PREVIOUS YEARS INCLUDE THE CEDARS’S SECRET, THE PURPLE RANGE, AND THE PORK LION. LAST YEAR’S SANDWICH LAB HAD SO MANY GOOD SANDWICHES THAT WE COULDN’T DECIDE ON JUST ONE OR TWO TO ADD TO THE MENU, SO WE DECIDED TO GIVE THEM ALL A CHANCE TO SHINE, AS MONTH-LONG SPECIALS.