First Look: Dr. Augusta’s Samitorium, Kensington Market’s new gourmet sandwich shop

By Karolyne Ellacott

Dr. Augusta's chicken sammy (Images: Karolyne Ellacott)

After meeting some six years ago as cooks at Canoe, Chris Bobbitt and Vlad Vujovic often spoke about opening up their own sandwich shop. “We came up with the idea over many tasting menus and plenty of beers,” laughs Bobbitt. Now, six years later, Dr. Augusta’s Samitorium is just what they’d envisioned. Taking over a corner lot at the edge of Kensington Market, the black-and-white tiled space offers up a tight, sandwich-laden menu.

With high-end culinary training at the forefront of their minds, the sandwich combos strive to be far more than just bread and meat slapped together. The chicken sammy ($8.85) merges poached chicken with avocado, arugula, grated parmigiano and pickled cukes. The goods are doused in the house dressing — a blend of champagne vinegar, shallots, thyme and canola oil — and tucked into slices of red fife sour dough from Blackbird Baking Co.

A roasted pork option ($9) — the most eagerly-ordered pick to date — pairs pork shoulder from Sanagan’s Meat Locker with crispy leeks and a kale slaw, while the breakfast pick piles soy-ginger glazed pork belly, a fried egg and aged cheddar onto a homemade buttermilk biscuit ($7.65).

Homemade sodas are available as thirst quenchers, complementing the craft goods ($2.75). Flavours include grape — featuring Ontario Concord grapes — and the slightly more extravagant number: the New York egg cream. “It’s basically a chocolate soda,” explains Bobbitt. “You can find these in classic New York diners —except we make our own chocolate syrup.” This version is spiced with cinnamon and cardamom, and — if mixed right — is the drink version of the black and white cookie.