Get down with Marczyk’s Disco Chicken sandwich
Marczyk Fine Foods is a scary place for the light-of-wallet. Marczyk’s deli, however, is an equalizer, allowing even cheapskates to get a taste of the good life. It’s where the upscale market shows off its playful personality with ready-to-go meals and tempting sandwiches—like the dazzling Disco Chicken sandwich.
This petite number was spotted in the deli’s prepared food case on a recent Marczyk’s adventure, snuggled alongside a small selection of deli hits. About the size of a croquet ball, it didn’t look like much, but the posted description was intriguing: chicken, pepperoni, and pimento cheese on pretzel bread. The little sandwich is surprisingly heavy despite its puny outward appearance, making the $5.99 price tag a bit easier to accept.
Once unwrapped, the Disco Chicken almost looks, well, confident. Plucked from a ragtag group of homeless lunches, including familiar sandwiches like the reuben and plain-old turkey, the Disco Chicken is ready for the spotlight. The pimento cheese and pretzel bread aren’t immediately obvious—the cheese hides somewhere inside the sandwich, and the bread just looks like a soft, golden-brown roll. They are the Chicken’s secret weapons, and they lie in wait.
The paper-thin chicken slices are perfectly delicate and rich with oven-roasted flavor. To paraphrase Seinfeld’s Kramer, with meat this thin, the taste has nowhere to hide. A thin layer of pepperoni tops the chicken, adding a spicy counterpoint. The pretzel bread is light and tender, almost the consistency of a croissant, with a salty kick that connects at the very end. Finally, deep within, two caches of orange pimento cheese—one above and one below—burst forth.
The cheese is the real surprise, especially for an inexperienced, uncultured Yankee. Pimento cheese is a hardcore Southern tradition, the sort of grandmotherly snack that gets put out at Christmas parties and post-funeral lunches, or kept in the fridge for a quick lunch. It’s slightly creamy, but snappy and sharp with a distinct tinge of red pepper (that’d be the pimento). There’s a lot of it on the Disco Chicken, and it’s really what gets this mirrorball spinning.
Items like the Disco Chicken make Marczyk’s hard to dislike. The prices are high. The merchandise is snooty. But Marczyk’s effortlessly keeps it real by keeping everything fun. You walk into Marczyk’s clutching your pocketbook, but leave with a bag of good food, a smile, and a funky step.
