The menu at Mike & Patty’s in Union Square’s Bow Market features some of the best breakfast sandwiches you can get your hands on. We’re partial to their Classic breakfast ‘wich, with its yeasty, house-made Flourhouse English muffins and fresh, humanely sourced eggs from Vital Farms. Simple and simply divine.
Somewhat hidden on that menu is a terrific turkey sandwich, called the Patz (for the Patriots? Patty herself? It doesn’t matter). It starts with eight ounces of lean, fresh turkey that’s so flavorful and moist I can’t believe it’s not well brined before roasting. The slicing is somewhere between deli-thin and a Thanksgiving carve and it all comes nestled between toasted Mike & Patty’s Flourhouse multigrain bread, accented with lettuce, honey mustard and house mayo. Add-on options are cheese and tomato. You can add an egg, too, but for me, keep it simple, take it as they make it, no extras. Although you might ask the crew to go light on the rich mayo and add in a good sprinkle of black pepper, and you’ll be smiling as you bite into your two-hander. The multigrain bread is airy, lite and slightly nutty, a fine vessel for the main attraction. And like all Mike & Patty’s pickups, your Patz is neatly wrapped in foil to seal in the comfort yum.
The grab-n-go eatery was started by two breakfast sandwich-obsessed friends – Mike and Patty —who worked at Formaggio Kitchen South End. The original Mike & Patty’s located in Boston’s Bay Village is still in operation today. Bow Market was its second outpost, which opened during the pandemic in a small storefront and has since relocated across the marketplace to a larger facility. There are currently five Mike & Patty’s locations in the Boston area, plus its Flourhouse Bakery in Newton that makes those sublime English muffins.
After 4 p.m. Mike & Patty’s offers a Seeded Sub menu featuring a Philly cheesesteak, chicken parm and steak bomb all served on Flourhouse sesame seed sub rolls. Mike & Patty’s shares it counter and kitchen space with Hot Box— a South Shore pizza/ North Shore roast beef sandwich concept. The South Shore pie, also known as bar pizza, is small (typically 10”), near-crustless and super crispy—it’s fried on the bottom as the pan is oiled and the sauce and cheese come to the edge and often caramelize. The North Shore sandwich features thin-sliced roast beef with BBQ sauce, house mayo and American cheese on an onion roll.
We’ve flagged all the above for future food review. As for your parm or Patz and where to eat it, most Bow Market eateries—Mike & Patty’s/Hot Box included—are to-go counters. Options are the inviting, open air atria — there are space heaters, but these bone chilling temps might make that less inviting for the now — and marketplace oases Rebel Rebel wine bar and Remnant Brewery, will let you bring in your turkey two-hander to wash back with a glass of organic wine or a pint of ale. Remnant also has a coffee bar café for you to enjoy that turkey sandwich.
Cambridge writer Tom Meek’s reviews, essays, short stories and articles have appeared in WBUR’s The ARTery, The Boston Phoenix, The Boston Globe, The Rumpus, The Charleston City Paper and SLAB literary journal. Tom is also a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics and rides his bike everywhere.
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