If you’ve already been lucky enough to experience the greatness that is the sandwich mastery from the Columbia Room’s Paul Taylor and his Get a Hero Be a Hero pop-up, then you know how good his heroes already are. And, if you haven’t been living under a rock, you know that we here at the Hungry Lobbyist are Duke’s Mayonnaise and Crystal Hot Sauce Stans. So imagine our joy when we learned that Get a Hero Be a Hero, Duke’s, and Crystal are all partnering up to get even more medical heroes fed and serve us some even more exciting sandwiches.
By way of background, Get a Hero Be a Hero is a Washington-based pop-up sandwich shop in the Columbia Room created by Paul Taylor to help essential workers and those without access to food, inspired by his love of sandwiches and his little sister, Margaret, a Nurse and Lieutenant in the Navy who was stationed aboard the USNS Comfort in New York City. The concept is simple: Order a sandwich, and Get a Hero Be a Hero will donate a sandwich to first responders, medical staff, or those in need in the Washington, DC area. Your order will not only be delicious; it will help the community while keeping Columbia Room staff employed.
Starting tomorrow, Get a Hero Be a Hero will team up with Duke’s and Crystal to not only provide Washingtonians two new extraordinarily delicious sandwiches, but also to deliver even more sustenance to those on our city’s frontlines. If you thought the “Mort & Mootz,” “Club Sub,” “Ham Jam,” “Caul Me Maybe,” “RPG,” and “Cold Cutlet King” were as good as you could get, just wait until the Duke’s x Crystal x Get a Hero Be a Hero mashups drop. In addition, United Public Affairs, the new firm launched by former Washington activist Erick Sanchez, will match all donations of the first day sales of this exciting new partnership.
Check out these bad boys:
Inspired by Paul’s love of late night fast food chicken sandwiches comes the “Return of the Mack.” Picture it: one giant fast food style chicken nugget as the patty, fried in tempura batter, and topped with American cheese, shredduce, and dill pickles. Now put it all on a potato bun. Drooling yet? The whole ensemble is seasoned with Get a Hero Be a Hero’s special sauce, made up of a healthy dose of both Duke’s Mayonnaise and Crystal Hot Sauce. It’s nostalgia in sandwich form, which, as we’ve been convinced, is the best way to consume nostalgia.
This is Paul’s take on a celebration sandwich traditionally made by Salvadorians during the winter holidays. His wife is part Salvadorian, and he first made this sandwich last year for her family, who absolutely loved it. The star is the stewed turkey, which is cooked in tomato, onion, and spices. Where this sandwich veers away from tradition is in its topping. He spiced up this umami bomb of a sandwich with some fried chili oil that is blended with Crystal hot sauce to bridge the East and the West flavors together. To add freshness and crunch, there’s the addition of a slightly salted cucumber and, of course, a generous helping of Duke’s Mayonnaise to balance it all out.
And, we would be remiss to end this article without tempting your tastebuds with some of the existing heroes that Paul is slinging at Get a Hero Be a Hero:
All these and more, along with the Columbia Room’s cocktails are available for pick up and delivery Wednesday through Saturday, beginning at 12:30pm.
For more information, visit www.getaherobeahero.com or @getaherobeahero on Instagram. Pickup and delivery orders are available at https://www.exploretock.com/columbiaroom/