Manlio runs our Dewey Square truck. He’s a sailor, an MIT trained engineer, and usually he’s a pretty quiet guy. But every year around this time, Manlio cannot stop talking about tomatoes. He talks about them to his staff. He talks about them to customers. He talks about them to anyone who will listen, even if it’s 5am and he’s loading his truck over at the HUB, or if it’s midnight and he’s unloading after movie night and spies the crates of tomatoes waiting in the kitchen.

This year’s tomatoes are some of the best we’ve ever had. They’re from Next Barn Over Farm in Hadley. And because we’re getting perfect tomatoes, we’re able to run a sandwich we haven’t been able to do in years past: the Heirloom Tomato Sandwich.

If you want to make the sandwich at home, here’s our training video. Start by buying the best heirloom tomato you can find. Let it ripen for a day on your counter. Don’t refrigerate it!!! Core your tomato, then slice it into a huge, fat slice. Cover the slice with salt and pepper on both sides. Spread a thick layer of mayo on your bread, add slice of cheddar (we use Grafton 1-year aged), your tomato slice, and a little bit of lettuce. It’s really all about the tomato.

We will have this sandwich at Clover for one more week while we can still get MA tomatoes…