Bread & Butter Connects

A weekly sandwich review · Cincinnati, Ohio

Bread&Butter
Connects

Food is the connective tissue in all things. It is the great equalizer. So we booked our one‑on‑one at a sandwich counter and never looked back.

Every week, two coworkers — a manager and Shay Scarberry — sit down over a sandwich, talk about work and everything else, and score what we ate. We are on a mission to find the best sandwich in Cincinnati.

Illustrated stacked sandwich with a Bread & Butter flag

How the ritual works

Same meeting we always had. Better table.

  1. 01

    Pick a shop

    Neighborhood deli, gas station cooler, counter with four stools. No chains.

  2. 02

    Have the one‑on‑one

    Wins, blockers, the stuff that never fits in a status update. Napkins double as notepads.

  3. 03

    Score the sandwich

    Five categories, ten points each. Then it goes on the board for good.

Latest review

Danny Boy’s

Italian sub, extra hot pepper relish

The one that started it. We came for a status check and left with a whole series. Bread with actual structure, a relish that shows up loud, and a counter man who called us both “boss.”

  • Bread 9
  • Build 8
  • Mess 7
  • Value 9
  • Talk 10

Total 43/50

phone photo — the sub, unwrapped
Mt. Lookout · 7/24/26 · $12.50

The Board

1 in. 51 weeks to go.

  1. 1 Danny Boy’s Italian sub · Mt. Lookout WK 01 43
  2. 2 J & W ON DECK ——
  3. 3 Alveo ON DECK ——
  4. 4 Carl’s Deli ON DECK ——

Fifty points, five ways

Bread
Does it hold, or does it surrender in the parking lot?
Build
Ratio, seasoning, and whether anyone thought about the last bite.
Mess
Napkin count. A little chaos is a good sign.
Value
What you paid against how full you left.
Talk
The real category. Did the table make the conversation better?

The map fills in

One pin a week. Over the Rhine to Norwood to whatever we find on the way. If a shop is missing, that is a scheduling problem, not an opinion.

Got a spot? Send it over. ↓

illustrated map of Cincinnati — pins per stop

Two people, one sandwich each

portrait
illustration

Shay Scarberry

Orders the thing she has never heard of

Keeps the notes, keeps me honest, has strong feelings about pickle placement.

portrait
illustration

Your name here

Always the Italian, for science

Booked the first lunch on a hunch that a better table makes a better conversation.