Adios, Costco's carne asada bake. Howyoudoin' hot turkey provolone sandwich. The preeminent membership warehouse store has once again switched out one of their food court offerings for another. Replaced by the new sandwich, the aforementioned carne asada bake was itself a replacement for a turkey wrap that was jettisoned about two years ago.
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I tasted the newest offering and the flavor profiles are very similar to their popular chicken bake, albeit in a far greasier, less easy-to-eat version. The bread is good–described as a torta roll but more like what Jack in the Box calls a ciabatta. The crust is sturdy and almost impermeable to liquids. And boy does this thing drip out the liquid. Whether it's coming from the melted cheese, the broken pesto-like mayo, the softening slice of tomato, the wilted red onion, or the slices of turkey itself, it is perhaps the greasiest thing since their pepperoni pizza.
Since Costco seems to rotate this one spot in their food court marquee every two years and still offers a regional specialty in some stores (I've heard that poutine is served at food courts in Canadian Costcos) is it too hopeful to wish for a Kirkland-branded bánh mì in 2014?
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.