With my visit tonight to Corner Grinder, I have now completed my first grinder tour of Hartford, Connecticut (Franklin Giant Grinder, Maple Giant Grinder, Corner Grinder).

 

It has the same old-school layout as at Franklin and Maple.

 

 

Pizza by the slice: cheese, pepperoni, and the house special of spinach, potato, and sausage, which I will definitely try next time. You can see calzones to the left, and, out of frame, other calzones that are twice as big as those.

 

 

My point of comparison between the three shops has been the meatball-and-sausage combo, so that’s what I got. And yes, they toasted it for me. Maple and Corner will toast whatever you like – Franklin is the only one with hard-and-fast restrictions on that.

 

 

Sausage on bottom, meatball on top. Franklin did it this way as well, whereas Maple reversed them.

 

 

Based on this particular sandwich, I give the tentative win to Maple for the most flavorful meats and sauce, as well as having an open, airy, inviting setting with very friendly staff. They do everything right. Corner takes second place, and Franklin third. However, further comparisons with two other key sandwiches will be necessary for a complete evaluation: chicken cutlet and Italian combo (bunch of different Italian meats).

 

The Wethersfield Pizza House will be my next stop.