jan milliman

Meat sauce is another local food phenomenon I’m still wrapping my head around …

I don’t have much of a history with fried bologna sandwiches.

As a kid, a bologna sandwich in my house was generally served cold, on white bread, and slathered with bright yellow French’s mustard. They weren’t my favorite lunch, but every now and then I would get a hankering for the mushy, chewy, tangy things.

As an adult, never having tried the fried version of this sandwich, it became a bit of a household joke. The dive bar on the corner of my street served them, so the running gag was that we should go there for dinner to sample this “low-brow” menu item.

Well friends, I am here to tell you that this weekend, I saw there error of my highfalutin ways. I once was blind to the glory of the fried bologna sandwich, but now I see.

As with many a culinary discovery, my revelation came at the Rochester Public Market. This past Saturday was cold enough to keep out market dabblers so parking and getting around was easy, which is always a treat.

The Mister, already an avid fan of fried bologna, had a craving, so we set off for the Zimmerman’s booth. It was so buttoned down against the elements, I wasn’t even sure they were open. But we were in luck. Inside, the grill was sizzling and there were plenty of seats at the counter.

We had shared a fried bologna here before, but this time the Mister decided to cough up the extra fifty cents for a “Supreme” version. He figured that just meant maybe some peppers and onions but he would soon be proved wrong.

In this case, “Supreme” meant the sandwich was topped with a cheese, fried onions, a fried egg, bacon, and a healthy dollop of cinnamon-laced meat sauce. My mind was blown! Now, I’m doing my best to atone for all the years of sandwich snobbery by spreading the word about Zimmerman’s. Hustle on down and try one out for yourself — just don’t go taking up all the parking spaces!