Yellow Magnolia Canteen

Our IDNYC membership at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is ending soon, so we spent some time last weekend visiting the garden, trying to see all the exhibitions we never got around to on other visits. One of the other things we never did on any of our other garden visits was try the Yellow Magnolia Canteen, the garden's quick service restaurant. We usually eat outside the garden, but the menu sounded interesting and eating on the premises would definitely save some time. We decided to get 2 sandwiches (both $13), which came with some lightly dressed mixed greens on the side.

The first sandwich we got was the sliced roast turkey, which came with bacon, green chile avocado spread, and pickled easter egg radishes on 7 grain bread. Between the two sandwiches, I liked this one a little more, at least once I ate all of the unexciting crusts of the bread, as the bread was a little sweet on its own. The turkey and radishes were fine, as was the bacon, although that could have been cooked a little longer. The best part of the sandwich was the green chile avocado spread, which was kind of like a spicy guacamole, and it had a nice zing to it. The menu didn't list it, but I think there was also pepper jack cheese, which was also a good match for the other ingredients.

Our second sandwich was the kimchi cheesesteak, which A liked better between the two. This sandwich wasn't at all what we were expecting. We thought it would be like most cheesesteak sandwiches we've had with chipped meat, which expectation was only reinforced when the menu called it bulgogi beef. Instead they were like soft burger patties with American cheese and kimchi on top. The bread was a hero, which I found a little too crusty. The kimchi mixed with the cheese was good, but the meat didn't have as much flavor as I thought it would and there wasn't enough kimchi to counteract that and all the flavorless bread.

The sandwiches we got at the canteen certainly aren't earning a spot on any of our "best of" lists, but they served their purpose. It was relatively quick to get the food once we ordered, we didn't have to leave the garden to get food, we got to sit outside in gorgeous 70 degree weather, and it took about 30 seconds to get to the conservatory once we were done. Just what we needed.