Goodwich is good, no matter how you slice it

Cheese grits on a sandwich: Now that’s something I’d never encountered before.

But odd stuff tends to hook me — scallops with white chocolate and mead comes to mind — in some probably unseemly combination of curiosity, schadenfreude and wondering what in the heck they were thinking. Cheese grits on a sandwich firmly fit into this category. Sounds a little messy, no?

There were a couple of small drips, but overall the grits were a smashing success. Used sort of like a spread, they added textural (from the grits) and flavor (from the cheese) dimensions to the BLTG sandwich ($8.50) at Goodwich, which is at the Soho Lofts in downtown Las Vegas.

The B was for bacon, with all the good things (smoky, salty, meaty) bacon contributes, and L sort of for the mixed greens that added more flavor than plain ol’ lettuce would have. T was for what the menu called “good tomato,” which translated to heirloom, both red and green for more contrasts. G was for grits, of course, and there was also some aioli to kind of tie everything together. Goodwich’s bread is indeed good, thickly cut, sturdy slices, and the crunchy toasted white supported it all admirably.

But the marble rye beckoned — how could it not, after all that “Seinfeld” hubbub? — and it, too, was a worthy vehicle, this time for the Cold Brown sandwich ($9). It’s meant to be a riff on the Hot Brown classic, but we liked this one a lot better because it wasn’t mushy. It had thick slices of turkey, bacon for crispness, Gruyere for punch and more of those good tomatoes.

We were equally impressed with Goodwich’s side dishes, which are far more than an afterthought. Curry-vinegar chips ($2; sea salt and pepper, dill pickle and jalapeno-sour cream flavors also available) were clearly house-made, thick for lots of crunch and with consistent flavor that reminded us of nothing more than the curry dip the Brits love with their chips. Only more even.

House-made pickles, too. We chose the dill ($2; beets and fruit also available) and they were just what we want from sliced pickles, crisp and crunchy and with plenty of dill and garlic flavor.

Service was impressive as well. It’s a counter-service place with a streamlined, quasi-industrial atmosphere, but they give you a number and find your table to drop off the food, and come by to make sure everything’s OK and even clear sometimes, too. Can’t beat that.

Oh! And the parking — on the street on the northside of Soho Lofts — is a cinch, which is something we can’t often say about downtown Las Vegas.

Goodwich is just plain good, no matter how you slice it.

Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Email Heidi Knapp Rinella at hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at www.reviewjournal.com and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.