84 IBERICO: chorizo, tortilla española, piquillo pepper and ali oli

You won't catch me refusing this montadito. Let's see: Take No. 7, starring two of 100 Montaditos' very best main ingredients, add two top-notch condiments, and put it all on a bigger canvas.

When I tried No. 7 (and No. 57), I did have a nagging thought that maybe the combination was overkill, that maybe one should get a chorizo sandwich if one wants a chorizo sandwich and a tortilla sandwich if one wants a tortilla sandwich. But no: This is a great combination.

Montaditos down: 84
Montaditos to go: 16
Next: 85 LERELE: goat cheese, arugula, piquillo pepper with olive oil

67 Manchego cheese, chorizo and green pepper

I know I've been carping about the omnipresence of the green bell pepper lately, but, man, this is a heck of a montadito. No. 56 turned me off somehow with the seminal ingredients manchego and chorizo alone, but No. 58 gave me strong second thoughts by adding tomato and arugula, and now No. 67, different from No. 56 solely in its use of green pepper, strikes me as a classic. Sometimes in ingredients there is an alchemy.

Montaditos down: 67
Montaditos to go: 33
Next: 68 Brie cheese, bacon and green pepper

58 Chorizo, manchego cheese, fresh tomato and arugula

My server, Myrelle, told me this was her favorite, and after trying No. 58 I can't fault her taste.

There's a lot going on in this montadito, and that's a nice switch from the often more simple sandwiches on the menu. These ingredient combinations form paradoxes at times, which is the only way I can explain how adding tomato and arugula can turn montadito No. 56, which I found heavy on would-be starring ingredients, into something pretty darn satisfying.

Montaditos down: 58
Montaditos to go: 42
Next: 59 Chistorra, hard boiled egg and piparra

57 Chorizo, tortilla española and green pepper*

There I was sitting at the bar at lunchtime nursing my Estrella Damm draft (it was a Friday, and Friday-Saturday is my weekend), and I looked at Stacy, my server, quizzically, and asked her, "Did they change this menu?"

She didn't think so, but I was pretty darn sure there was a "chorizo and tortilla española" offering. I was all ready, when the time came, to poke fun at 100 Montaditos for this montadito, because I was all ready to poke fun at montadito No. 57, because I was served the same montadito 50 montaditos ago. Which would make the name of this blog kind of prescient.

I kept scratching my head as I awaited my order, and finally I picked up my Samsung Galaxy S5 and called up the menu on the Web site. And I was right. See:

Sure enough, some sort of menu editor had stepped in and corrected this oversight ...

... by tossing in some green pepper. (The typographical error -- a lowercase opening word, when the rest of the menu caps them -- is a clue to the hasty edit.)

The revised sandwich is a good one. Chorizo and tortilla española are all-star ingredients, and the green pepper doesn't hurt anything. And, all kidding aside, the old No. 57 probably was different from No. 7, in just the way you'd expect: The tortilla was the star in No. 7, while the chorizo steps to the forefront this time.

I don't see any other ingredient changes on the new menu, but there are a couple of big structural changes. The original five are joined by Nos. 6 through 20, which used to be "Classic," to form an original 20. And, in what I suppose amounts to a subtle price increase, Nos. 21 through 40, formerly "special," join the "premium" category.

Montaditos down: 57
Montaditos to go: 43
Next: 58 Chorizo, manchego cheese, fresh tomato and arugula

56 Chorizo and manchego cheese

How can something so simple be too much?

The chorizo is great, and assertive. But that manchego is asserting itself as well, which is a little surprising considering how it fades into the background on some other montaditos. So I'm left unsure of what to taste, as though I'm trying to concentrate on two very pleasurable activities at once. (You know what I mean. Use your imagination.) Maybe a better analogy would be a movie pairing two screen-hogging stars. The sausage and the cheese don't clash, but they do compete.

I like this sandwich in a "What's not to like?" way; I just think its ingredients could have been put to better use separately.

Montaditos down: 56
Montaditos to go: 44
Next: 57 Chorizo and tortilla española

07 Tortilla española and chorizo

This review will be particularly bite-size. I liked the tortilla española. I loved the chorizo. What could go wrong? Not much. The combination could be discordant or it could be overkill, I suppose, but neither problem presents itself here. This is very good.

Oh, I told you I'd discuss quantum theory, didn't I? Well, we're already at that point. I'm making my way through the 100 montaditos at 100 Montaditos three at a time (carry the 1), and I'd rather not eat, say, three chorizo-based sandwiches in one sitting. But the way the menu is set up, after the original five montaditos, the numbers start to go in clusters by main ingredient. No. 6 through No. 9 feature the tortilla española, No. 10 through No. 14 feature meatballs, and so on.

Hence the quantum numbers. The first two rows fill in horizontally . . .

1	2	3
4	5	6

. . . but then 7, 8 and 9 need to be separate, and so we need to go vertical ...

1	2	3
4	5	6
7
8
9

. . . with the next numbers filling in where they can, subject to their own limitations . . .

1	2	3
4	5	6
7	10
8	11
9	12

. . . such as the fact that 13 and 14 don't play well with 10, 11 or 12 . . . 

1	2	3
4	5	6
7	10
8	11
9	12
13
14

. . . and so on.

1	2	3
4	5	6
7	10	15
8	11	16
9	12	17
13	18	21
14	19	22

What this means for you is, well, pretty much nothing, unless you're really into 99 Montaditos blog trivia (and if you are, I'm very concerned). The next review you see will be of sandwich No. 8, but the next sandwich I actually 8 ate was No. 10. Fascinating, huh?

Montaditos down: 7

Montaditos to go: 93

Next: 08 Tortilla española, manchego cheese and piparra (mild pepper from Spain)

02 Chorizo

I like chorizo, but I don't love it. If I get a board o'meat at a tapas place, I'll go for the jamón first and then the salchichón and finally the chorizo. So when I reached for montadito 2 of 100 at my local 100 Montaditos outlet, I figured it would be a rote checking-off of one of the standards.

But I was wrong. I know I'm only, uh, 2 percent of the way through this endeavor, but I can say right now that No. 2, chorizo, is a giant among tiny sandwiches.

This is a smoky, deeply flavored chorizo that leaves a beautiful burnt-orange oil slick on the bread. I know it makes an appearance later in the menu, and so I'm looking forward to Nos. 7, 56, 57, 58, 67 and 84.

Montaditos down: 2

Montaditos to go: 98

Next: 03 Salchichón