Ode to a Hot Turkey Sandwich

Fifteen years ago on the way to Montana we stopped in Wallace, Idaho for dinner and I had the best hot turkey sandwich of my life. A hot turkey sandwich is the measure against which I judge all other childhood comfort foods.  There are two places that had previously made the grade — one, a cafe in Rhinelander, Wisconsin — the other a small roadside diner in LaPine, Oregon.  The restaurant in Wallace is third.  Even though I get to North Idaho fairly often, it’s never at mealtime or it’s some time when I can’t convince myself to eat something that I deem as bad for me as a hot turkey sandwich.  I’m talking white bread, mashed potatoes and a lot of gravy.  Today I decided………..enough of this deprivation.  We went to Wallace specifically so I could satisfy the craving. I have a friend who the other day told me about someone she knew who, now that she is retired, has driven ninety miles for a meal she wanted.  “Can you imagine,” she asked me.  Yes. I can.