83 VIKINGO: smoked salmon, hard-boiled egg, pepinillo and mayo

Another Nordic-leaning sandwich on pillowy bread, though it would have been more so with the menu's pepinillo (pickles from Spain) than with the green pepper that was on my montadito.

Montaditos down: 83
Montaditos to go: 17
Next: 84 IBERICO: chorizo, tortilla española, piquillo pepper and ali oli

82 ROMERITO: shrimp, bacon, hard boiled egg, arugula and honey mustard

This Spanish sandwich on Italian bread in America just screams "Scandinavia." (Romerito? More like Sven!) This is what I picture eating for lunch in Stockholm or Copenhagen. It's cool, it's dainty. There are no strong flavors or saturated colors.

I like the pairing of shrimp with bacon (though this sandwich could have used a little more bacon). That's what I'm expecting in the "gourmet" section: Ingredient combinations and even ingredients that haven't shown up earlier. This is a successful sandwich all around.

Montaditos down: 82
Montaditos to go: 18
Next: 83 VIKINGO: smoked salmon,hard boiled egg,pepinillo (pickles from Spain) and mayo

81 HISPANO: tuna, piquillo pepper, hard boiled egg and mayo

My sandwich has a first name: It's H-I-S-P-A-N-O. My sandwich has a second name: It's -- oh, wait, it doesn't have a second name. So maybe I would have been better off with a Jim Croce allusion. It got a name. It got a name.

Yes, we have come to the "gourmet" section of the menu, featuring named sandwiches and chapata bread. I didn't get this right away, but soon enough after first seeing "chapata" on the menu I figured it was Spanish for ciabatta, and I figured a quick Google search would bear this out. Not so fast, it turns out -- the Webiverse is surprisingly quiet on the subject. There are hints here and there, but nobody seems to have tackled the topic at length, and I'm left unsure whether it's the same bread or whether chapata is a Spanish twist on the recipe.

Anyway, it's good bread, not necessarily better or worse than the non-"gourmet" bread at 100 Montaditos, but different. A nice change of pace. And it's a good foil for the simple and tasty Hispano sandwich.

Montaditos down: 81
Montaditos to go: 19
Next: 82 ROMERITO: shrimp, bacon, hard-boiled egg, arugula and honey mustard

78 Anchovies, fresh tomato, hard boiled egg and mayo

To the extent that I'll take whatever I can get in terms of diluting the powerful saltiness of the anchovies, No. 78 with its hard-boiled egg is marginally better than No. 77 with its pickles. Suffice it to say, however, that I will not be ordering anchovy montaditos once my tour of 100 is done.

Montaditos down: 78
Montaditos to go: 22
Next: 79 Anchovies, brie cheese, piquillo pepper and arugula

72 Smoked salmon, hard boiled egg, lettuce and mayo

Smoked salmon without cream cheese was less different from smoked salmon with cream cheese than I would have thought. If I have a choice, though, I'll take cream cheese with my smoked salmon.

Montaditos down: 72
Montaditos to go: 28
Next: 73 Smoked salmon, cream cheese, piquillo pepper and arugula

59 Chistorra, hard-boiled egg and piparra

After the sneak preview of montadito No. 5, I was eagerly looking forward to the chistorra section of the menu. And No. 59 did not disappoint, though (menu editor?) all it is is No. 5 plus hard-boiled egg. Nothing wrong with hard-boiled egg, or No. 5, so there you go.

(This time the sausage was cut up a little, which I suppose made the coexistence with hard-boiled egg a little less slippery.)

Montaditos down: 59
Montaditos to go: 41
Next: 60 Chistorra (basque style chorizo sausage), bacon and piquillo pepper

22 Tuna, hard boiled egg, piparra and mayo

OK, perhaps I spoke too soon about the tuna. I liked this one. Piparra makes everything better, and egg is a better friend to tuna than tomato is.

Sooner than with the shrimp section, the tuna section of the 100 Montaditos menu came around. Or maybe I was just in a really good mood when I tasted this sandwich.

Montaditos down: 22

Montaditos to go: 78

Next: 23 Tuna, piquillo pepper, crispy onion and ali oli

16 Shrimp, lettuce, hard boiled egg and mayo

This may be the first dud I've experienced at 100 Montaditos.

I like the idea of the hard-boiled egg, but I saw it more than I tasted it. Maybe a little more salt? I'm not sure I'd ever use mayonnaise if I had "ali oil" at my disposal. The shrimp were lost. The lettuce was the predominant flavor. And "hard-boiled" needs a hyphen.

Bright side: The bread shines through in a case like this.

Montaditos down: 16
Montaditos to go: 84
Next: 17 Shrimp, lettuce, crispy onion and caesar dressing