One Great Sandwich: Stages Open Face Turkey Sandwich

As sandwiches go, the hot open face variety is a bastard. Sure, you'll find two slices of bread and some meat on the plate. You'll also find some gravy, mashed potatoes and maybe some cranberry or applesauce as a side. Is it a sandwich? Is it a meal? It's like culottes: are they shorts, or is it a skirt?

Stages, a diner run by three generations of Greeks in Bridgeport that advertises "budget buster" specials in the neighborhood weekly, makes a fine hot open face sandwich. We're partial to turkey. Thick slabs of white meat layered over two pressed slices of white bread (with the crusts removed), served with Potato Buds, chicken gravy, and two bite-sized servings of canned cranberry sauce where you can still make out the ribs embossed in the jelly from the can. From a perspective of presentation, a blind man could do better. But this sammich is tasty, real tasty. That, a cup of coffee and a bowl of chicken soup kept the chill from our bones on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Sometimes you want to keep it simple, even when it's out of fashion. Like culottes.

Stages is located at 657 W. 31st Street.