Primo Panini from Massa Cafe

Item Purchased: Primo Panini from Massa Cafe

Location Purchased: Massa Italian Cafe / 807 W. Roosevelt Rd. / Chicago, IL
Price: $6.59 + tax

Review: Grilled panini bread. Check. Tender grilled chicken. Check. Crispy bacon. Check. Fresh avocado. Check. Swiss cheese. Check. Warm and soggy lettuce. Che... What the hell?

Everything was going so well with this sandwich until I realized that Massa heated up the lettuce along with everything else, reducing it to the consistency and texture of a re-used tissue. Note to Massa: heating up lettuce is only okay some of the time, but not usually on a sandwich.

Everything else about this sandwich is great. The fresh avocado tastes like a nature made guacamole and the combination of bacon and chicken (strike that... the combination of bacon and anything) makes any sandwich better.

With every sandwich purchase at Massa, you receive a free bag of Vitner's potato chips. Vitner's brand chips are neither here nor there. They taste like any other potato snack product. Their mascot, however, is something to be pondered. Named Vinnie, the Vitner's mascot is on the front of every bag of chips. He is pictured as a cool saxophone player with sunglasses on. Out of the horn of Vinnie's saxophone flow five potato chips. Now, I'm sure Vitner's designer meant for the potato chips to represent musical notes, but I can't help but think of them as something else. See, Vinnie is, himself, an anthropomorphic bag of potato chips. With puffed cheeks and eyes hidden behind his large sunglasses, it looks as if Vinnie is vomiting into his saxophone and spraying his potato innards all over the place. I may have a perverse mind, but my friend Josh views Vitner's Vinnie in the same way, so you can't use this as evidence.

Fortunately, eating Vitner's potato chips doesn't elicit the same response from me.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

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