What to Have for Lunch: Piperade To-Go's Mr. Williams Sandwich

John Birdsall

Mr. Williams: chicken, avocado, peppers, and Manchego ($8).

​Tuesday, June 15, 2010

John Birdsall

​We couldn't say for sure whether the Mr. Williams sandwich is named after Chuck Williams, founder of Williams-Sonoma. But we do know that the back-alley, takeaway spinoff of Gerald Hirigoyen's Cal-Basque eatery operates as a sort of de facto house café for the kitchenware behemoth, whose offices and loading dock share Icehouse Alley with Piperade To-Go. A variation on the fried chicken sandwich, the Mr. Williams stacks up a katsu-like, extra-firm fried chicken breast (breaded, not with panko, but with filament-thin filo strips), avocado, roasted pepper, and sheep's-milk Manchego. That $400 Williams-Sonoma panini press you once lusted after? It's put to far better use here, where it imposes crisp ridges on the sandwich's Acme roll, than it ever could lodged at the back of your appliance cabinet. Even Mr. Williams couldn't disagree.

Piperade To-Go Icehouse Alley (at Green, near Battery), 402-4892.