I go to Miami around twice a year to see friends. Each time I go, they always rave about how I need to go to “the sandwich place.”

The place is La Sandwicherie, a lunch counter run by Frenchmen in Latin infused Miami (huh). You won’t find montaditos or Cuban sandwiches here. Instead, you’ll get overstuffed gourmet deli style sandwiches on croissants and French rolls, all served up until 5 am. For the sake of sandwich research and development, I had to check them out.

In between eating and greeting at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, my friend Matt and I waddled over to La Sandwicherie, on 14th street and Collins, and snagged seats at the counter. “You’ll probably want to buy a bottle of their vinaigrette to take home,” he warned, as their special sauce is what makes their sammies so good.

The sandwiches are big—about 8 inches long for a traditional sandwich—and the croissants are the size of salad plates. That didn’t stop me from ordering THREE sandwiches for myself: a turkey and camembert, a seafood salad on a croissant, and the French salami and camembert. Matt ordered up his usual, the chicken and camembert, on toasted French bread. The couple sitting next to me in their swimsuits politely noshing on their half a turkey and swiss looked at me, perplexed. “Where are you from?” they politely asked, probing for an explanation as to why a small gal like me would order so much food. First time in Miami? Training for the Ironman? First day out of jail?

The sandwiches come packed with lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and pickles, and some had more vegetables than meat. My mouth had to really stretch to get around the French salami and cheese. The warm turkey roll was delish, too. But my favorite was the lighter seafood salad on a croissant. It was just enough sandwich to fill me up, but wasn’t too heavy to make me sweat on a hot Miami day even more so than I already was. And the vinaigrette? Light and tangy, not greasy and, like Matt warned, addictive. They give you a small pot of it on the side, but I needed the bottle.

The manager, who was French, looked at me while I dug in. “Good?” he questioned. Yes, I nodded. Now pass me that vinaigrette.

When I paid for my sammies, the manager was impressed. “I have never seen anyone order so many sandwiches for themselves like that. Never in all of my years here,” he said shaking his head.

Well, my friend, all in the name of R&D.

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