93 PHILLY STEAK CLUB: philly steak, fresh tomato, lettuce and chipotlealioli

Now, this is a D.C. steak-and-cheese. It won't make my 16-sandwich championship playoff, but I wouldn't refuse one if you had an extra.

Montaditos down: 93
Montaditos to go: 7
Next: 94 CESAR: chicken, manchego cheese, lettuce, crispy onion and caesar sauce

87 TIRITITRAN: philly steak, brie cheese, crispy onion and mustard

Wait: I've tasted this before. Yes, it's obvious.

Cheap gray beef? Check.
Onion? Check.
Mustard? Check.
Small, softish square white bun? Check.

It's White Castle!

Now, the What You Crave cheeseburger would come with American cheese, not brie, but no matter. The brie works here -- as it does pretty much everywhere else, in one of the biggest surprises of my 100 Montaditos adventure.

You could also call this a Krystal cheeseburger, and indeed you could argue that the mustard-without-ketchup points not to White Castle but to its Southern counterpart.

In case you're still wondering, all this White Castle talk is to praise the Tirititran, not to bury it. I love White Castle. I love Krystal. I could see this sandwich making my playoffs.

Not sure about that name, though. It sounds like something  Beavis would shriek. "Tirititran! Tirititran!" And, really, if this is going to be a named sandwich, what's wrong with Harold or Kumar or Haroldkumar?

Montaditos down: 87
Montaditos to go: 13
Next: 88 TORERO: lomo (dry cured pork loin), manchego cheese and green pepper

31 Philly steak, blue cheese, green pepper and ali oli

Now, this is what I'm talking about. Two flawed ingredients add up to something ... not flawed. If I'm going to eat 100 Montaditos' take on Philly steak, I want it with blue cheese. If I'm going to eat blue cheese, I want it with beef of some sort. 100 Montaditos' take on Philly steak is beef of some sort. Insert that cool little "therefore" symbol from the proofs in logic class.

Montaditos down: 31
Montaditos to go: 69
Next: Blue cheese, garlic pork loin and piquillo pepper

30 Philly steak, cheddar cheese, fresh tomato and lettuce

A wise amateur culinary historian named Joe H. wrote a message-board post some years back explaining the difference between the Philly cheesesteak and the popular-in-D.C. "steak and cheese." Before I read that post, I had rolled my eyes at the offer of "lettuce, tomato and mayo?" with such a sandwich. I was in Philly mode, and I wanted fried onions, hot peppers and maybe ketchup with that hot sandwich, not hamburger condiments.

So 100 Montaditos' No. 30 starts to sound like a steak-and-cheese, but once I get my mind set for those, I'm wanting mayo. Where's my mayonnaise? Without it, the effect is more along the lines of a very bland, boring cheeseburger.

Montaditos down: 30
Montaditos to go: 70
Next: 31 Philly steak, blue cheese, green pepper and ali oil

29 Philly steak, cheddar cheese, piquillo pepper and crispy onion

The piquillo pepper is the star of this sandwich, which is odd, given that it hasn't stepped to the forefront in any of its previous appearances, and given that we're talking beef and cheddar here. (It's also not visible in the photo.)

But that's what I'm tasting first and foremost, and that's not such a bad thing.

Montaditos down: 29
Montaditos to go: 71
Next: 30 Philly steak, cheddar cheese, fresh tomato and lettuce

28 Philly steak, brie cheese and arugula

Brie? Arugula? Really? It's as though 100 Montaditos is telling Rocky Balboa to go f--- himself.

Now, I've never been a fan of brie, even in more brie-appropriate dishes. By which I mean pretty much all other dishes. So I'm prepared for a gustatory disaster in addition to the philosophical one.

But, you know, this isn't bad. The brie is full of creamy goodness -- maybe my brie experiences date back to my sort-of-picky-eater days. If I can't have Whiz or provolone or American cheese, I'll take it over the previous sandwich's cheddar. And the arugula helps alleviate that something's-missing feeling.

Still, that meat. Maybe call it something else? I'm thinking it's not even an actual cut of beef -- it seems more like the shaped-slurry kind of product you find at Arby's and in gyros. I don't hate it, but I am tempted to put quotation marks around "Philly" and "steak."

Montaditos down: 28
Montaditos to go: 72
Next: 29 Philly steak, cheddar cheese, piquillo pepper and crispy onion

27 Philly steak and cheddar cheese

We have come to the "Philly steak" portion of the 100 Montaditos menu, and let me say this about that: Spain is a long way from Philadelphia.

The meat doesn't taste so bad -- it's not too chewy, and there's a nice black-pepper tang -- but it looks awful and the cut is all wrong. These are thick chunks of gray meat, not paper-thin slices that you watch turn from red to brown on a flat-top griddle.

The cheese is a decent cheddar (making its menu debut), but again it's not anything close to the Cheez Whiz or provolone or American that you'd be offered in Philadelphia.

And the bare-bones beef-plus-cheese combination is missing something. It tastes like something an annoyingly picky eater might order.

"That's it, sir, beef and cheese? No mayo?"
"Eew -- I hate mayonnaise."

"No hot peppers?"
"Eew. Tongue go burnie-burnie!"

"No sweet peppers?"
"Still eew."

"Not even lettuce and tomato?"
"Vegetables? What are you, my mom?"

Montaditos down: 27
Montaditos to go: 73
Next: 28 Philly steak, brie cheese and arugula