Top of the Block, Burlington, VT USA

Burlington – how lucky we were to be visiting in mid June. Quiet, quaint, and quintessential New England. I loved it here. A breath of fresh air, literally and figuratively.

Lunchtime at TTRA would require me sitting in front of a computer working, sadly. Rather than peruse the limited in room dining menu at the Hilton Lake Champlain, I explored sandwich options within walking distance and settled on the Top of the Block. Shop local!

The 8 minute walk from the hotel was easy, and peaceful. Cool breeze, sunshine through sparse cloud cover. Burlington is a great town.

A cute homegrown operation lay behind the counter of Top of the Block, somewhat disorganized but clearly full of sandwich care. Bread stacked high, they took orders with a slow pace, needing to confirm if ingredients were indeed in stock.

They were out of turkey so I opted for corned beef, even though the tuna salad was recommended to me. I chose oat bread because I find oats healthy, but I did question my decision as I waited for my order to arrive – did I really want oat bread when rye stereotypically was offered with corned beef? Slight panic, but I remained calm.

They offered to grill it, and I waited patiently for my order, enjoying the fact that this sandwich came with a side of Annie’s Bunny crackers in a tie dyed bag – total Burlington style.

I hopped on my computer back in the hotel room just in time for my Zoom call and opened up the brown bagged lunch.

Absolutely delicious!!

Tangy and tasty not-overly-salted corned beef nicely layered with pockets of air to create lovely bites down. A superstar of this dish, I was happy they ran out of turkey.

The oat bread was excellent. Absolutely excellent. I couldn’t get over how delicious it was, perfectly enhanced by the lightly schmeared garlic mayo. I instantly became a major lover of oat bread… seriously, just wow!

Lovely tomato, as expected. Crunchy single slice of lettuce adding great texture, as thin as the leaf might be it was nicely executed. The thin piece of Swiss cheese was soft, creamy, and added a subtle flavor to the overall taste profile.

Really great ratio of ingredients overall, hard to improve upon – while it might look heavy on the corned beef from the photo, the ratio truly was ideal. And incredible value at under $11, this sandwich was a steal.

I enjoyed every bite of this club sandwich while taking in an insanely gorgeous view of Lake Champlain during my Zoom lunch. I would 100% recommend Top of the Block, it was excellent!