A taste of coworking in Austin

Well, sometimes we have difficult tasks but we do what we can to tackle them. And so it was with empty bellies and discerning palates the LaunchPad Coworking team sat down one day to try out a gut-busting number of potential menu items for the café.The experience was filling and not just physically. We got a good education about quality, quantity, cost, preparation, and presentation. We debated fancy vs plain. We tossed around phrases like “cross-collateralized” and “inventory increases” and “malleable salad.”

And, to tell you the truth, as we sat, looking at the spread before us, not allowed to touch a single bite until after the talk about why bread is the most critical ingredient when it comes to sandwiches, we got a little… impatient.

Among those sandwiches on the ballot were:

• The Mozzarella Basil on sourdough, featuring both pesto and some fresh basil.
• Tuscan Tuna on rustic sourdough, a mayonnaise-free variety of an otherwise classic sandwich.
• Brie and Green Apple on baguette, sort of like a trip to Paris without the expense.
• Whitefish on baguette, which got us trying to put our finger on what we were reminded of by the smoky flavor.
• Good Old Dependable Turkey on three seed bread, enough said.
• Roast Beef on rye, spiced up with either jalapeno sauce or steak sauce.
• Tofu No-Egg Salad on three seed bread, for the tofu heads.
• Confetti Salad Sandwich, a vegetarian’s dream on Audrey Hepburn-thin pita.

Slicing was our first obstacle, since we were dividing the sandwiches into smaller-than-average portions. This provided an excellent opportunity to throw caution and neatness to the wind and just dig in.

The Tuscan Tuna was an early frontrunner for favorite. But just deciding that wasn’t enough. We like to debate every detail and every detail of every detail. And so the question became—do we leave this as a salad or offer it as a sandwich? Maybe both.

It seemed like we’d have been more apt to debate whether the Veggie Salad Sandwich should be a salad, since it even has salad right there in the ingredients. But that wasn’t the case since it seemed pretty clear, pretty quick that it would and could be both. No pita for the carb-phobic, pita for the carb-fearless.

It was agreed that the turkey — we tasted fresh roasted from Central Market — was a no-brainer, a true standard, comfortable and reliable. Really a must.

The roast beef gave some of us pause. Instead of your basic beefy sandwich — plain and meaty — the two options (jalapeno and peppered mayo) were fancied up with artichokes, lettuce, and sharp provolone. As proof that taste really varies from palate to palate, some of us felt the jalapeno really stood out and one of us could hardly taste it at all.

And while we agreed the whitefish kicked some serious ass, in the end we know there will only be one offering from the sea and so it was decided that the tuna was the way to go especially since the non-mayonnaise style was enough of a variation to make it different from other tuna offerings around town, but not too different as to make it inaccessible.

To brie or not to brie was a question answered by facial expressions. This sandwich was like some online personality quiz. It was easy to tell who among us was more adventuresome and who among us was more of the “no way in hell do I want apple on a sandwich I’d rather have a PB & J.” (For the record, this reporter has always struggled with brie, always tried to find a way to like it, and found the apple to be a great addition.)

When it came to sides, no one was particularly fond of the two versions of slaw — so it’s back to the drawing board on how best to serve up shredded cabbage. But the chickpea salad, accentuated with crumbled feta and fresh parsley, had us fighting each other nearly to the death to see who would get to finish up the samples.

The three seed bread was our frontrunner favorite bread but bear in mind it wasn’t that the other breads failed us. We just want to work on which bread works best with which sandwich. And for our next tasting we’ll try out ciabatta and spelt, too.

Five sauces — some of which can also serve as salad dressings — faced our serious scrutiny. Here’s how they fared:

• Horseradish Mayo: Yum.
• Tahini Garlic: Super Yum.
• Lemon Garlic Olive Oil: Yum.
• Cider Vinaigrette: Not So Yum.
• Black Pepper Mayo: Yum But More Pepper, Please.
• Pesto: Super Yum.
• Sun Dried Tomato Pesto: Yum But More Tomato, Please.

At that, we had to stop or risk bursting. And so, soon enough, we will return to the table for a much anticipated round two as we continue to work toward a menu that is full of items that are the absolute most tastiest, least sloppy (gotta be careful not to mess up the keyboards of our coworkers), and offer a good balance between reliable comfort food and original items you’ll find yourself addicted to (you know, in a good way).