 (Photos by Rey Lopez for The Washington Post; food styling by Lisa Cherkasky for The Washington Post) | By Tim Carman I hate to personify an inanimate object, but I think we owe the sandwich a debt of gratitude. The sandwich helped save restaurants. It fed us when we couldn't stomach the thought of preparing another pantry-surprise supper. It reminded us that its basic architecture — a foundation of bread, tiers of strategically placed fillings and a second, low-slope roof of bread — was blueprint enough to build magnificent handheld meals. These feats of sandwich engineering were, at times, so sublime they offered hope, even during the darkest days of 2020: They told us that the pandemic may have destroyed our favorite chefs' livelihoods, but it couldn't snuff out their creativity. The sandwich pop-ups/ghost kitchens became a byproduct of the pandemic. They were, in many ways, survival tools, but they also expanded a D.C. sandwich scene already packed with terrific options. Accounting for them all is no easy task, but I tried. Scrolling back through the photos on my phone, I see that I sampled 139 sandwiches for this guide, and that doesn't include the ones I tried more than once, just to make sure they were worthy contenders. See the sandwiches » More from The Post | Don't miss this offer Get unlimited access for just $40. | | | | |
