An Indulgent Elvis Encounter at Peanut Butter & Co

Sometimes when my life is particularly boring, I entertain myself with testing broadly accepted social notions.  After a day spent writing a handful of PowerPoint slides that highlight key pension reform from 2008-2012, I decided today was a great day to validate the popular statement: "Too much of a good thing is a bad thing."  How could such a thing, full of so much goodness, quite possibly be bad?

I headed to Peanut Butter & Co. to confirm exactly how much I love peanut butter (which is currently with all my large, feebly-pumping, cholesterol-addled heart).

The setup at PB&Co is quite simple, a straight-forward counter where you place your order and a scattering of small particle-board type tables.  I went for the Elvis which comes with choice of peanut butter (creamy, crunchy or flavored), wheat / white bread, and option of bacon.

The meal took about six minutes to deliver, and was served on a simple plate alongside three slivers of carrots and a small, puffy bag of potato chips.

My custom Elvis sandwich consisted of crunchy peanut butter and bacon, though the cashier's favorite incorporates their maple peanut butter.  The options are endless (if your definition of endless means 11 total scintillating peanut butter flavors).

Though the sandwich appears relatively thin and unassuming, I assure you it was a hefty beast - each delicious bite of thick-cut bacon and crunchy peanut butter immediately sank to the bottom of my deep stomach.

Not pictured with this melty badboy is the peanut butter milkshake I ordered to accompany this immensely dense sandwich.  Milkshakes at PB&Co are loose and liquidy, reflecting heavy emphasis on the word milk in the term milkshake.

Washing down each bite of the wonderfully toasted ode to the King of Rock and Roll with an equally peanut buttery shake temporarily broke me down to agree with the fact that quite possibly, too much of a good thing may be a bad thing.  I think in economics, we dub it the law of diminishing returns, and my friend, the returns were rapidly diminishing.

I pawned off the rest of my sandwich to my visiting colleague, slurped a farewell sip of the shake, and shook my nutty self out of that shop for the night.

I still can't help but believe that there is some food item out there that can quite possibly prove that statement wrong, but until that day, I bid you good night, and sweet, dark chocolate dreams!

Peanut Butter & Co
240 Sullivan St
New York, NY