The presidential meal

When they enter the front door of the Bagel Bakery on Nassau Street, most customers are unsure what they would like to have. They think about their order all the way to the store, they are thinking about it when they walk in and they still don't know when they have reached the counter.

But there are a select few who know what they want before they even know where they are going. They come in search of that one sacred item, the very thing they have craved all their lives.

"I'll have the Shapiro, please," they say.

The Shapiro. Long is the way for those who seek a sandwich as treasured as the Shapiro. They must travel past a parlor area and then down a seemingly interminable corridor that leads to the sandwich counter, where the Shapiro can finally be requested.

Though the wait is only a minute or two, it sometimes seems like hours to those who want it badly enough. But there is no panic or anxiety. There is a calm that comes with knowing that the Shapiro will soon be upon them.

Despite these faithful followers, there are many who have no idea what the Shapiro is.

The first time a person lays eyes on the Shapiro is like listening to a Weird Al Yankovick CD for the first time. It is an experience from which one never recovers.

The Shapiro itself is rather impressive. To look at it, guessing why the sandwich is named after the University's president is not too easy.

Could it be the croissant on which the sandwich is served? It is crispy and buttery, but light and fluffy as well, the perfect contrast of indulgence and denial.

Maybe it is the Swiss cheese that perfectly accentuated the crusty French shell? When you bite this cheese, it bites you back, but you still can't resist it.

Perhaps it is that tangy Dijon mustard spread over the ensemble? The zest and the passion of the Shapiro are beautifully embodied by the brown-yellowish condiment.

Then there is the ham. What Shapiro would be complete without it? This juicy, succulent meat is the star ingredient that makes the Shapiro a winner. Its domesticated exoticness is what holds the ensemble together.

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And no one can forget the lettuce and tomato. These two star qualities are reminders that it's the little things in the Shapiro that makes the Shapiro what it is.

But what does all of this have to do with the naming of the sandwich?

The reason the sandwich is called The Shapiro remains a mystery. Even those behind the counter at the Bagel Bakery are unsure. Even the good people who make the Shapiro on a daily basis — those who give meaning to all that the Shapiro is — are in the dark about the true origin of the name.

How can this mystery ever be solved? A close study of the names of some of the other delicacies served up at the Bagel Bakery — the Prospect Club, the Jonathan Edwards and the Tigers, for example — can give no insight into this bonanza of a brain teaser.

Despite this failure, the consumption of one of these Shapiros makes one thing certain. The Shapiro sure does leave a spicy aftertaste!