CHATTER
Mortadella Mortification
In which readers chew on our David Brooks/sandwich post
Darrow MontgoMery
City PaPer has offered its readers several news revelations this summer, but none have inspired them to comment so swiftly and deeply as Zach Rausnitz’s Tuesday morning post revealing the name of the sandwich shop a New York Times columnist wrote about this week (“These Italian Cold Cuts Are Ruining America, Says David Brooks,” July 11). Brooks’ anecdote—one paragraph within a longer hand-wringing column about class warfare entitled “How We Are Ruining America”—recalled how he took a friend who doesn’t have a college degree to an unnamed gourmet sandwich shop. Confronted with placing an order, “ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette” caused his friend to “freeze up,” so they went to a Mexican place instead. “I’m really dying to know what ‘gourmet sandwich shop’ David Brooks insensitively brought his friend with only a high school degree to,” @jeansgallo tweeted. She wasn’t alone. When Rausnitz revealed that the shop was undoubtedly Radici, a Capitol Hill eatery selling sandwiches matching what Brooks described, a comment deluge followed. “I know we’re all talking about Don Jr. and Russia, but @wcp FOUND THE SANDWICH SHOP,” @PolitiCarty aptly tweeted amid mounting evidence that Trump & Co. counted on Russia to help win the election. While most commenters emerged to mock Brooks, a delightful subset focused on how delicious the sandwich in question looked. “Class warfare aside, that is one good-looking sandwich,” @engrRG tweeted. “Would have been worth the horrific emotional scarring to have stayed, IMHO,” he added. “Not to take away from the class issue, but isn’t this where customer service comes in and you ask an employee what the ingredients are and their recommendations?” ntaylor08 wrote in the comment section on City Paper’s website. “Here’s a suggestion. ... Next time you’re presented with a word you don’t know, ask what it means,” Larry Holt echoed on Facebook. And then there was the unsolicited advice for the uppity Italians at Radici who have the audacity to use Italian words to describe their offerings. “@Radici_Market You guys should consider selling a baloney sandwich called the ‘David Brooks,’” @Daniel_Luzer tweeted. “Thanks for the idea! But we would have to call it Mortadella,” the café tweeted back. —Alexa Mills
700 BLoCk of 7TH STReeT NW, JuLy 7
EDITORIAL
eDiToR: liz garrigan MANAGiNG eDiToR: alexa Mills ARTS eDiToR: Matt Cohen fooD eDiToR: laura hayes CiTy LiGHTS eDiToR: Caroline jones STAff WRiTeR: andrew giaMbrone SeNioR WRiTeR: jeffrey anderson STAff PHoToGRAPHeR: darrow MontgoMery iNTeRACTive NeWS DeveLoPeR: zaCh rausnitz CReATive DiReCToR: stephanie rudig CoPy eDiToR/PRoDuCTioN ASSiSTANT: will warren iNTeRN: j.f. Meils CoNTRiBuTiNG WRiTeRS: jonetta rose barras, VanCe brinkley, eriCa bruCe, kriston Capps, ruben Castaneda, Chad Clark, justin Cook, riley Croghan, jeffry Cudlin, erin deVine, Matt dunn, tiM ebner, jake eMen, noah gittell, elena goukassian, aManda kolson hurley, louis jaCobson, raChael johnson, Chris kelly, aMrita khalid, steVe kiViat, Chris kliMek, ron knox, john krizel, jeroMe langston, aMy lyons, kelly MagyariCs, neVin Martell, keith Mathias, traVis MitChell, triCia olszewski, eVe ottenberg, Mike paarlberg, noa rosinplotz, beth shook, Quintin siMMons, Matt terl, dan troMbly, kaarin VeMbar, eMily walz, joe warMinsky, alona wartofsky, justin weber, MiChael j. west, alan zilberMan
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