Half and half: Anania’s on the left, Monte’s on the right. Photo by Ray Routhier

WHAT: Chicken parmesan sandwich

WHERE: Anania’s, 606 Washington Ave., Portland; Monte’s Fine Foods, 788 Washington Ave., Portland

HOW MUCH: $11.99 at Anania’s; $15 at Monte’s

VIBE: Old school versus modern foodie. Anania’s opened in 1963 and is a traditional Portland variety store serving pizza, Italians and other sandwiches. Monte’s opened in 2019 and is a market and bakery that also does catering, with a focus on Roman-style pizza and local ingredients. The two places are just blocks away from each other on outer Washington Avenue.

LOOK: Anania’s was served on long sub roll, like the ones used on most Maine Italians. Strips of breaded chicken and tomato sauce could be seen under a thick blanket of melted cheeses. Monte’s came on a crusty, rustic loaf, cut in half. Inside was a flat, breaded chicken cutlet, a little cheese, thick tomato sauce and big basil leaves.

TASTE: The Anania’s roll was soft and it soaked up the sauce and gave the sandwich an overall creamy texture, in combination with the gobs of melted cheese. The chicken was nice and tender and juicy. The sauce, while fine, didn’t really stand out.  The Monte’s crusty bread was nicely chewy and had a little char. The standout flavors were the chunky tomato sauce – tangy and robust – and the plentiful basil leaves. It didn’t have as much cheese as the other, but didn’t really need it.

THOUGHTS: I am a big fan of old-school, comfort-food sandwiches from convenience stores and small neighborhood markets. So the Anania’s sandwich hit the mark perfectly and was exactly what I hoped for. While I don’t usually like to use the world “elevated” when it comes to food, that’s definitely what Monte’s did with its sandwich. It used really good crusty bread and really fresh ingredients, like basil leaves, to make it something different, yet familiar enough to be comforting.