Recipe: Devonshire Sandwich

DEVONSHIRE SANDWICH
Source: Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, PA, Sept. 21, 2001
The Devonshire trail: Restaurants give Pittsburgh specialty their own tasty touches

Dick Stadler of Squirrel Hill was looking for a good Devonshire sandwich. A friend suggested the Union Grill on Craig Street in Oakland. "Best I've tasted since the Pittsburgh Playhouse and the Press Club," she said.

Victor Tome, chef at Union Grill, says of its Devonshire sandwich sauce: "It's a simple recipe: heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, a cornstarch slurry, salt and pepper." (John Heller, Post-Gazette)

So Stadler and friends went off to try the Devonshires on a Saturday night. Here's his report, via e-mail:

"The sound level in that place was unbelievable. But fortunately, so were the Devonshires. Five of the six of us devoured them and my formerly-from-Pittsburgh friends, now satiated, returned happily the next day to Naples [Fla.].

"For my part, as I took that first delicious bite, I closed my eyes, shut out the din and I was back at the Press Club enjoying a quiet lunch ... and savoring their memorable Devonshire. As 'they' say, 'It was deja vu all over again.' "

With a recommendation like that, I could hardly wait to go back to the Union Grill. "Get your ear plugs," I urged His Honor, and we were off.

It was a week night but, as always, the Union Grill was busy. I ordered the Devonshire and a glass of Yuengling porter on draft, but Spoil Sport insisted on having salmon instead. I heard grumblings about high fat, high cholesterol, loaded with calories, heart attack on a plate, etc., as he turned to watch the TV.

Union Grill does, indeed, serve a fine Devonshire, the open-face meal-on-a-plate created here in Pittsburgh. It's as much a part of the 'Burgh as Isaly's chipped ham or fries on your salad, but few restaurants offer it any more.

Union Grill's Devonshire starts with a thick slice (about one-third inch) of turkey, roasted on site, placed on a thick, hardly toasted slice of bread. On top are a couple of slices of red tomato, then a thick blanket of pale yellow, bubbling cheese sauce. A sprinkling of parsley and two crisp pieces of bacon top it off. The sandwich is heated in the salamander just before serving, and comes to the table very hot, some of the sauce dripping off the edges onto the serving plate under it. It sells for $9.95.

I would have preferred thin, crisp toast points as the base. The thick slice of bread was too hard to cut. The sauce, though good, was baffling.

"We use Parmesan cheese," Union Grill chef Victor Tome told me later when I called him. "It's a simple recipe: heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, a cornstarch slurry, salt and pepper."

The Devonshires are so popular he sells 15 to 20 each night at the Oakland restaurant, and 10 or so at their Mt. Lebanon location. The sandwiches are identical at each location.