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McAllister’s Deli, Club Sandwich with Pepper
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McAllister’s Deli, Club Sandwich with Pepper

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Lisa Fu
Apr 15, 2025
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McAllister’s Deli, Club Sandwich with Pepper
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The fork is made of metal. So does the spoon. It was a bigger silver spoon offered, with a white stain – milk? – on the back of the spoon. Danny was nice. By the time I was about to go, “10 min before the restaurant closes,” as he suggested, he still held the sign of the table or the order 49 at his hand.

Ten minutes now from the whole plate was served on the table. I thought I was about to eat at 1:50 and it’s 1:59. Exactly, it’s 18 hours from the previous intake of food yesterday. I had a regular size apple last night, which felt like a meal from the buddy when we were working on the road. He was so happy when I chose the big red apple at the big gas station for big trucks. He never offered me any orange juice, except by calling the police upon himself when he dropped me off. And of course, no drivers ever offered me any onion. Interestingly the restaurant staff also has the name as “Dan”!

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The interior space is better for sitting in than looking inside from sitting on the benches outside. The moment I sat down at those outside chairs, everyone else got so excited that they would arrive at their SUV and rushed into the bathroom for customers only.


Today is different: a big girl walked in after a while when I was seated at the table and went to sit in the seat ahead of me. Danny brought her a plate the same as the one he brought to me. I didn’t peek at her tray but mine was very organized. You could tell that the cook had the proper training to put all the layers of the ingredients so even. From this side it’s always the lettuce on top and from that side it’s always the sausage – even inside of the sandwich! – with double cheese right after. Is it Black Forest Ham? Wasn’t he saying “pepperoni” – how come it was served in the form of 1/4 of the pickle? Oh my god – they put their heart in it with the bacon under lettuce to have the control. “We Bacon” in between lettuce and tomatoes?

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I don’t know if it would work. It used to be chicken, and this was the first McAlister where I was offered a sandwich with Dijon mustard sauce that both me and the daddy told the staff to take out. That first sensation probably was as deep as when the lady in the hurricane in Staten Island held the box of chicken wings asking me if she should talk with the chicken in her mouth first. Why would she be there at that time on that day? The following day of the hurricane Sandy…half of the island was destroyed. Why she asked me? She was a friendly neighbor on that island. Well. There was a half chicken box offered to me at ChinaWok because the customer didn’t go to pick it up. “And we guess that was a nigger.” And they somehow decided to give it to me while I was…social with the branch owner for a work in their kitchen.

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Right then there came in a senior lady who went to sit in front of the mild redheaded girl. Both of them were regular, I guess, because Danny put that sign on only for the staff and the three of us. And they both sat with their white women’s backs towards me. Are they both Dan’s sisters? Or are both his mothers? Well. They both looked quite feminine. As feminine as the other guy working in the restaurant who I’ve never talked to. But Carol! Oh my. She had the skills to be rewarded on the red carpet. She talked like she was going to kill her mother if it was the mother that was her problem, or it could be her father with the same problem until her real husband called her out in her white Audi Q3 to shut up. Stunning – I think that was the word I could describe her and the marvelous experience from her. It’s like, “I’m Professor. But you know what, I’m homeless and i have metal illness.” Professor Peterson says the world needs help. Why would Carol have said something hush the following day after offering me an overnight stay at Red Roof? Now the Red Roof is gone. Wyndham is here in Deerfield instead. Is that the hammered steak? Or the border issue between two countries if not two states? After another year. Anyway, I should find that awesome dish and publish it here! Whether I go back to Hilton or Regus I’ll decide when I can.

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