90 TRALARÍ: serrano ham, garlic pork loin and green pepper

The garlic pork loin, I'm afraid, is always going to be a tough sell for me. This sandwich also suffered from the construction problem I've mentioned before -- its best moments were at the back, where I found the probably-too-small piece of Serrano ham.

Montaditos down: 90
Montaditos to go: 10
Next: 91 CAPRESSE: serrano ham, mozzarella, fresh tomato and pesto

89 PIRIPI: garlic pork loin, bacon, cheese, fresh tomato and mayo

 

Bacon is always a good smoke-amplifying addition to the garlic pork loin, so it helped this montadito but, alas, did not rescue it.

The garlic pork loin, which has varied in texture and flavor, seems to have settled into the version I originally encountered, which was not my favorite. It's simultaneously too bland and too garlicky. I wish this montadito had had honey mustard in place of the mayonnaise. That could have rescued it.

(I was amused by the menu description of "cheese." You know, cheese. Turns out it was manchego.)

Montaditos down: 89
Montaditos to go: 11
Next: 90 TRALARÍ: serrano ham, garlic pork loin and green pepper

86 PEPITO: brie cheese, garlic pork loin, piquillo pepper and arugula

I keep saying the garlic pork loin is different every time, and this example was, uh, no different. Or, rather, it was a throwback to my first taste of the ingredient -- thinly sliced and very garlicky but otherwise kind of bland.

Brie did not prove to be a good match, either, so even my new best friend brie couldn't rescue this sandwich. This may be the least successful of the "gourmet" montaditos.

Montaditos down: 86
Montaditos to go: 14
Next: 87 TIRITITRAN: philly steak, brie cheese, crispy onion and mustard

55 Garlic pork loin, piquillo pepper and mayo

OK, 100 Montaditos, you're just messing with me now on this whole garlic-pork-loin business, right? Because no two manifestations of that meat are the same. I'd have sworn that this one was Serrano ham, but it wasn't salty enough. Maybe the difference in the thickness of the slicing is huge? The meat on this sandwich was almost of a "pulled" quality, perhaps sliced so thin that it disintegrated. Other garlic-pork-loin sandwiches have featured thin-sliced pork and even sort-of-thick-sliced pork.

Anyway, this one wasn't bad.

Montaditos down: 55
Montaditos to go: 45
Next: Chorizo and manchego cheese

54 Garlic pork loin, brie cheese and bacon

The garlic pork loin keeps being a wild card for me. No. 54 was better than No. 53 and much better than No. 32, but it wasn't as good as No. 52. The bacon helped to amplify the bacony flavor of the pork loin, but I tasted a lot of garlic. I didn't notice brie at all.

Montaditos down: 54
Montaditos to go: 46
Next: 55 Garlic pork loin, piquillo pepper and mayo

53 Garlic pork loin,manchego cheese, green pepper and fresh tomato

Well, that's weird. Montadito No. 52 had sold me on an ingredient I had given up on way back at montadito No. 32, but now No. 53 -- which, on paper, should be better than the No. 52 I quite liked -- has lost me.

I suppose that speaks to the day-to-day and even sandwich-by-sandwich difference in the quality of ingredients and the quality or preparation and, perhaps more significantly, the taster's mood. Anyway, this sandwich struck me as very "eh."

Montaditos down: 53
Montaditos to go: 47
Next: 54 Garlic pork loin, brie cheese and bacon

52 Garlic pork loin, fresh tomato, lettuce and mayo

Hey, wait a minute! This garlic pork loin is not the dry, bland garlic pork loin I tasted back in the blue-cheese section of the menu. Just look at it! Maybe that's why this garlic pork loin is just now starting its own section? Maybe 100 Montaditos cooks up both a supporting-role garlic pork loin and a feature-performer garlic pork loin?

Whatever the explanation, I am not unhappy about this development. This is good, bacony stuff. LTM would not have beeen my preferred toppings, but that didn't matter. This sandwich is all about the meat.

Montaditos down: 52
Montaditos to go: 48
Next: 53 Garlic pork loin,manchego cheese, green pepper and fresh tomato

32 Blue cheese, garlic pork loin and piquillo pepper

This is my first taste of 100 Montaditos' garlic pork loin, and I don't love it.

Then again, it's worth noting that BLUE CHEESE is the boldfaced, all-capped part of this sandwich, and it lives up to its billing. I see garlic pork loin, but mostly I taste BLUE CHEESE.

The subtlety of your garlic pork loin might be better served by one of your less-assertive cheeses.

Montaditos down: 32
Montaditos to go: 68
Next: 33 Blue cheese, bacon and arugula