Cali Sando

Cali Sando
🥪 🥬 🍅 🥑 🥒

An Old-School California Sandwich on Modern Bread

When I moved to Southern California in the summer of 1981, the California vegetarian sandwich was already a familiar café favorite. Avocado, alfalfa sprouts, tomato, cucumber, lettuce, Monterey Jack, and mayonnaise piled onto whole-wheat bread—it was a sandwich that celebrated fresh produce and the SoCal lifestyle.

Its roots reach back to the natural-food movement of the late 1960s and 1970s, when whole-grain breads and vegetable-filled sandwiches became signatures of California’s vegetarian cafés. Follow Your Heart in Canoga Park, for example, has served its avocado, tomato, and sprout sandwich since 1971. There isn’t one definitive recipe, but avocado and sprouts became hallmarks of the California sandwich.

A craving for that old sandwich inspired this Cali Sando, with the familiar layers tucked between slices of Hero Classic White Bread instead of the traditional whole wheat. The bread brings something new to the sandwich: two slices provide 90 calories, 22 grams of fiber, and 10 grams of protein, with zero sugar and zero net carbs according to the manufacturer. Those numbers are for the bread alone, before adding the fillings.

And while the weather is still lovely here in Las Vegas, it’s lunch by the pool again—this time with a little California nostalgia.

Cali Sando Recipe

For a sandwich that holds together and keeps the bread from getting soggy, layer from the bottom up:
1. Hero bread spread with mayonnaise (or veganaise)
2. Monterey Jack cheese
3. Peeled and sliced cucumber
4. Tomato, lightly blotted and seasoned with fine sea salt and pepper
5. Sliced avocado
6. Alfalfa sprouts
7. Lettuce leaves
8. Hero bread spread with mayonnaise
The cheese and lettuce help shield the bread from moisture. Press gently, then cut in half diagonally; sandwich picks help keep the layers in place.

So old school, but still around today…

Do you have fond memories of the California sandwich? Was there a favorite café or restaurant where you used to order one?