So close to being really good.

Today was a day full of disappointments. Well. Let me explain to be a little bit less melodramatic. A friend and I were going to go on a duck tour (I’ve been in Boston for two years and never done one). Apparently, these tours are inexplicably popular, so we couldn’t go on one today. So we deferred the duck tour to tomorrow, and instead went to lunch at the Prudential Center food court. I try to avoid mall food courts unless Emily is doing something more awful, but the Prudential food court actually has some decent stuff. I’d read about a Chilean sandwich place  somewhere that had a pretty successful thing going downtown, and had expanded to the Pru. Said friend lived in Chile, so it seemed like a good idea to make up for the lack of duck tour with sandwiches.

Charcarero explains their sandwiches thusly (edited for grammar):

ACharcarero is a traditional Chilean sandwich. It begins with homemade bread that we make fresh daily. The main ingredient is either tender grilled steak or chicken (or both). Then with your main ingredient, we add steamed green beans, which gives it that authentic Chilean touch, munster cheese and fresh tomatoes. After that, we add an avocado spread, salt, pepper, and our secret hot recipe to complete the sandwich.

This sounded really good. It was okay.

First, the good: the flavors were fantastic. I can’t speak as to whether or not they were authentically Chilean as I’ve never been to Chile (side note: my friend said she’d never had anything like this in Chile, for whatever that’s worth). They were, however, delightfully spicy and everything went together really nicely, even the green beans, which I was skeptical of on a sandwich.

Unfortunately, the bread did not taste fresh, the meat was on the dry side, the cheese wasn’t melted, and the whole sandwich was room temperature. I think I went in expecting something more in line with a torta (it was, to be fair, still very similar to a torta). Now I’m not saying every sandwich should be grilled or toasted, because it’s not my place to force roles on a sandwich like that, but this sandwich would’ve been objectively better had it been warmed up, and were the meat just the slightest bit fresher.

I don’t want to give up this sandwich just yet, because it had the potential to be really good, and I’ve also yet to find a great torta place in Boston. I think I might go back sometime to their original Downtown Crossing location, and perhaps not during the middle of lunch rush, when they have a bit more time to dedicate the loving care to the preparation that this sandwich deserves. I’d also be curious to try the barbecue. I’m not sure what the difference is—I would’ve asked, but they were pretty busy, and I’m socially awkward.

Charcarero | 800 Boylston Street (Prudential Center Food Court) | Yelp