McDonald's at Chicago's Navy Pier. Photo: jwrb,Flickr.

A Chicago man has filed a lawsuit against McDonald's Corporation after he says he swallowed a gold earring in his sandwich.

The man purchased the sandwich on Aug. 11 from the McDonald's at Chicago's Navy Pier, according to the suit filed on Wednesday in the circuit court of Cook County, Ill.

Hugh Jackman in 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine.' Photo: 20th Century Fox

A New York deli known for its gargantuan sandwiches has gone the way of the summer blockbuster.

The "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" sandwich is now a fixture on the menu at the Carnegie Deli, a New York landmark on the corner of 55th Street and Seventh Avenue in midtown Manhattan.

The sandwich is the carnivorous wolf's dream -- and the vegetarian's worst nightmare: corned beef, pastrami, turkey, salami, tongue, American cheese and brisket on rye.

Grilled chicken sandwich. Photo: Sarah LeTrent

Few of us want to make a complicated lasagna for solo dining -- by day six, you'll never want to see lasagna again! In this series, AOL Food intern Sarah LeTrent taste-tests simple recipes suitable for a "table for one."

For singletons, it's pretty easy to throw together a sandwich at home. Simply consider the bread a canvas and whatever's on hand the paint. Nearly any combo could end up delicious in the hands of the trial and error gods.

As any good sandwich should, this one starts with quality bread (in this case a crusty Kaiser roll bought at the local market for a mere 79 cents.) The motivation behind the toppings were not only the existing contents of the fridge, but a recent trip to Mexico packed with plantains and pollo (chicken). If only we had a paleta around for dessert!

Recipe after the jump.

After sunscreen, citronella candles and heat rash, does anything say "summer" more unequivocally than a lobster roll?

This baby, captured by VirtualErn at Flickr, appears to be the lobster roll to end all lobster rolls, the embodiment of the deceptively simple art of serving chunks of crustacean, barely dressed in mayonnaise, in a bun. Note the minimal accessories: lemon slices, crisp coleslaw and a drop of mayo. The better the roll, the fewer adornments it requires. If this specimen tastes as good as it looks, it most likely calls out for little more than a good appetite -- and, possibly, a bib.

[Via Flickr]

'Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book'
Recipes by Nancy Silverton with Teri Gelber
Photographs by Amy Neusinger
Clarkson Potter -- 2000
Buy it at Amazon

Nancy Silverton, co-owner of Los Angeles restaurants Campanile and La Brea Bakery, is devoted to the sandwich. With visions of red-checked tablecloths, illicit bottles of wine and prosciutto-stuffed baguettes dancing in our heads, this is a philosophy we can get behind. Her book is a compilation of greatest hits as well as those imported from famous shops like New York City's 'ino, with special sections on open-faced sammies, tea sandwiches, and even stacked cakes and cookies.

Takeaway tips: To skim the book is to take a class in "What Goes With What 101." Prosciutto di parma drapes seductively atop a poached egg and emerald-green asparagus in one open-faced creation and baked ricotta serves as a bed for luxe roast roma tomatoes and just-caramelized onions in another. It's the sort of book you can flip through while poking through the fridge to see what's left, salivating all the while.

Quality of pictures: Beautiful. Fancy sandwiches are now de rigeur, but one could argue that this book helped take them to a new level.

We tested: French Baguette with Butter and Prosciutto
It's a funny thing to throw a party around a sandwich, but that's happened more than once with this epic behemoth. Cut open a baguette, wind prosciutto through it and smear with Silverton's special scallion oil and imported butter. Cut into pieces. Wrap in hands. Bite. Don't tell guests what is in the sandwich. Watch them flip out. This three-types-of-fat sandwich may not be healthy, but in small doses, it will make new best friends out of total strangers.

Worth the investment: It's picnic season. Absolutely.

When fast food joints decide to expand beyond the burger, the first place they go is typically the chicken sandwich. After all, the kids in the back of the joint can basically do all the same things, just to a different patty. (Why don't the bigwigs just pick fish? Well, you know, the whole tartar sauce issue.)

Sonic Drive-In has recently added two new "premium" chicken sandwiches to its menu: Chicken and chicken bacon ranch. Both come either fried or grilled with an option for a "wheat" bun option (that apparently, per the nutritional details, does not actually contain any whole grain). As far as I can tell the quote-unquote wheat bun and slightly larger size are what make these suckers "premium."

Between the chicken and the bacon ranch chicken, guess which one tastes better? Well, the plain chicken (which I ordered grilled) is just that: Plain. A chicken patty arrives topped with lettuce, tomato and mayo on a less-squishy-than-usual bun. Though it's not that thrilling, at under 500 calories it's one of the less-heinous fast food options out there.

Naturally, the fried version with bacon and ranch dressing is more exciting even if it could use a bit more bacon or another dollop of ranch and you'll have to scurry double-time on the treadmill later. Is it tastier than the other chicken sandwiches on the market? Eh. Sonic falls into the chicken spectrum thusly: Superior to a McChicken, worse than a Carl's Jr. and can't compete at all with chicken-specializing chains like KFC or Popeye's. On my next trip to Sonic I think I'll just stick to burgers and Java Chillers.

Got a fave fast-food chix sandwich that makes the others look like frauds? Let us know in the comments.

I'm in my home town of Chapel Hill, NC at the moment, and I just had lunch at a place called Sandwhich, which does rockin' gourmet sandwiches with interesting, mostly local ingredients. As I'm eating their meltingly tender pulled lamb with Moroccan prune chutney on foccacia I'm thinking, "this has to be one of the top 10 best sandwiches I've had in my life." And that's saying a lot, as I try to eat as many sandwiches as possible. After all, what's more gorgeously elemental than some yummy savory thing between two pieces of really good bread?

So I decided to write my Top 10 Sandwiches list (which is admittedly rather South-centric), in the hopes that you would share your own favorites. Then, in a few days, I can post a master list of Slashfood's Best Sandwiches of America.

Emily's Top 10 Sandwiches:

1. Lamb tagine with prune chutney on foccacia at Sandwhich in Chapel Hill, NC.
2. Green chile cheeseburger at Bobcat Bite in Santa Fe, NM.
3. Muffaletta at Central Grocery in New Orleans, LA.
4. Pulled pork at Jim Neely's Interstate Bar-B-Q in Memphis, TN (c'mon BBQ fans, I know you've got your own fave)
5. Smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz's in Montreal (OK, so this isn't in the We'll just say "North America
6. Brie, green apple, avocado and sprout sandwich at Venice Gourmet in Sausalito, CA.
7. Everything bagel with cream cheese and tomato at H&H Bagels in New York, NY.
8. Fried oyster sandwich at Calabash Seafood Hut in Calabash, NC/SC.
9. Fried chicken biscuit at Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen in Chapel Hill, NC (honorable mention: Bojangles Spicy Cajun Chicken Biscuit).
10. Lobster roll at The Red Barn in Ghent, NY (disclosure: this is my uncle's restaurant. And it's awesome).

So let's hear it - what are your favorite (North) American sandwiches?

For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.

With airlines cutting costs, some of us are actually wistful about the days when we got to complain about the prison-level quality of airplane meals. But Biggie over at Lunch in a Box has an idea - DIY bento flight meals. This disposable metal tray contains a ham and cheese sandwich, vegetable curry (in a disposible condiment container), red bell pepper strips with poppy seed dressing, Swiss and Cheddar cheese slices, beans with sofrito (Latin American tomato-based sauce), fruit, cheese triangle and corn chips. The whole thing gets wrapped up in a tea towel, to be used as a placemat or a napkin. Beats a Post-It sized bag of complimentary pretzels, eh?

Having one lamb shoulder piece left over from my Lamb, Hunter-Style, I sat down and wondered what I could do with it. I didn't want to just reheat it and make a side. That seemed boring. Suddenly it dawned on me -- a salad sandwich. I'd never had lamb salad before, and I knew just what to do with it -- give it a Greek twist!

Next time you have some leftover lamb, chop it up, add some vegetables like diced onion and roasted red pepper, and then use tzatziki to bind it, rather than mayo. The light flavor of the cucumber is perfect for the lamb, and it's a great twist on the regular mainstays like tuna and chicken salad.

On Wednesday 1,500 cooks in Iran unveiled an attempt to smash Italy's Guinness Record for the world's largest ostrich sandwich. The event took place in Tehran's Mellet Park. At 4,920 feet, the humongous hero, which contained 1,543 pounds each of ostrich and chicken meat, easily beats the Italian record of 4,521 feet, set last May.

There's only one problem though. The sandwich was devoured in minutes by a hungry crowd before Guinness officials had a chance to measure it. The organizers are hoping that Guinness will accept video footage to authenticate the record.

It's a shame that something which took two days to prepare was gobbled up in mere minutes. The hero contained a mixture of ostrich and chicken meat with mustard and spices. The gigantic sandwich made from gigantic flightless birds was the brainchild of Tehran's city council along and a group of ostrich farmers. Ostrich meat is renowned for its flavor and is high in protein and low in cholesterol. Iran is the world's third-largest ostrich breeder behind South Africa and China.

If your kitchen gets as hot as mine, cooking during the summer can become incredibly oppressive. It's this time of the year when I explore the many delicious meals I can prepare that do not involve cooking. In the beginning of June, fellow blogger Marisa McClellan wrote a post about a no-cook dinner. Recently, I have been preparing a variety of sandwiches that do not involve cooking. Below are 8 savory sandwiches for picnics this summer:

1. Fresh mozzarella, arugula, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and olive oil
2. Berkshire ham or Red Wattle ham, butter, and Comté cheese
3. Avocado and cold chicken sandwich
4. Peanut butter sandwiches
5. Moroccan carrot and goat cheese sandwiches with green olive tapenade
6. Goat cheese and watercress tea sandwiches
   
7. Prosciutto and brie sandwiches with rosemary fig confit
8. Open-face butter and radish sandwiches

During the summer, I prefer lighter sandwiches. I am more inclined to make myself a simpler sandwich with greens, olive oil, and a light fresh goat cheese.

What kinds of sandwiches do you make during the summer?

Is there a less appetizingly named food than the 'Hot Brown?' Louisville, Kentucky's culinary claim to fame doesn't look like much either - an open-faced turkey sandwich topped with bacon and smothered in Sauce Mornay (Béchamel with cheese), it resembles nothing so much as a junkyard covered in a layer of dirty snow, bits of this and that sticking out from the off-colored drifts.

The inelegant Hot Brown was born at downtown Louisville's thoroughly opulent Brown Hotel, supposedly whipped up from kitchen leftovers after a 1920s dinner dance, when hungry flappers fell upon the chef like a pack of wolves. If you're looking for an easy treat for your pre-Derby lunch, check out the original recipe on the Brown Hotel website. Feel free to substitute ham for the bacon, or add tomatoes, onions, etc.

I often feature celebirty recipes here, and most of them I get from Frank DeCaro's very cool site. It's always interesting to see not what celebs eat, but what they actually take the time to make themselves. I think it would be great to see Joan Collins making grilled cheese sandwiches, for example.

This recipe is from musician Moby, and it's chock full of veggies: olives, peppers, onions, tomatoes, arugula, etc. All put inside a nice loaf of ciabetta bread and topped with olive oil and spices. Full recipe after the jump.

NYC's Board of Health attempted last year to pass a measure that forced fast food joints to post calorie counts on their menu boards, right where people could see them (and, I guess, be horrified by them and run screaming from the restaurant. Or...something. Not quite sure what the city's goal was).

At any rate, a judge struck down the measure, so now they're back to where they started. But they're not giving up on trying to hoard their mighty caloric knowledge on the citizens of New York! By golly, they will succeed in getting people to acknowledge the 600 calories in that Premium Crispy Chicken Ranch BLT Sandwich they're eating! And then the Board of Health officials will sleep soundly at night, feeling virtuous that they have single-handedly handled the "obesity epidemic." Right?

For the record, Burger King and McDonald's already make this information available (it took me half a minute to find how many calories were in that Chicken McWhatever listed above), they just don't advertise it like the marquee outside of Radio City. Currently, if the city's restaurants want to display their food's nutritional info, they are more than welcome to.

And I mean, really, how many people nowadays don't know that fast food is bad for them? I highly doubt that prominently displaying caloric information will make people who have already walked through a eatery's doors gawk at the fat content and walk out of the store in a huff. I mean, if I want a cookie, I'm eating the cookie knowing that it's bad for me (and even secretly reveling in that fact).

If enacted, the regulation will go into effect March 31. So, until then, we can remain uneducated, bumbling masses. Sound good?

I've been reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a book extolling the virtues of eating locally (and the horrors of eating veggies trucked in from California, Chile, and other places far afield). Beyond simply pushing organic food or a vegetarian lifestyle, Kingsolver suggests that eating foods grown locally, in season, by farmers using sustainable practices can, basically, save the world -- not to mention, be delicious. I've swallowed her pitch hook, line, and heirloom potato, and have begun deeply rethinking our family's grocery lists. Starting this process in the dead of winter is a challenge, and "the sustainable food project" is my way of sharing the struggle with you.

The sandwich, a staple of my family's diet, is a particularly interesting problem. Were I to open a pictorial culinary dictionary under "S," I'd imagine a photo of bread, meat, tomato, lettuce, mayo. But fresh red tomatoes and leafy green lettuce are anything but in season in Oregon, where I live -- and the vast majority of the U.S. and Europe for the next several months. Because it's easy to find a sustainably-farmed source, we've been eating lots of beef, ham, and crusty local bread, but what else?

I've been able to find lots of delicious, flavorful options utilizing local, organic produce.