SPRINGFIELD – Though I grew up in Monson, a mere 30 minutes from downtown Springfield, my family and I never made the trip into the city for dinners and lunches, choosing restaurants closer to home. When I took my job at The Reminder almost two years ago, Managing Editor G. Michael Dobbs quickly took me on tours of Springfield showing off all the city has to offer. One of Springfield’s many highlights, in my opinion, is restaurant The Student Prince and The Fort.

As their story reads, “In 1660 on this site, John Pynchon constructed a fort to defend the tiny settlement of Springfield. In October of 1675, the town was burned to the ground by the forces of King Philip’s Pocumtuck Indians. Only Pynchon’s fort withstood the attack. The Student Prince has been a Springfield landmark since 1935. Back then, it was just the bar and booth area with about 20 beer steins on the wall. The dining room came in 1946, followed by a young gentleman named Rupprecht Scherff who began working at the restaurant in 1949 and took ownership in 1961.”

Scherff ran The Student Prince and The Fort until his passing in 1996. The Scherff family continued to operate the restaurant until 2014, when they announced the closing of the restaurant.

“A group of local business owners, led by Peter Picknelly, stepped up to save it. With the blessing and participation of the Scherff family, they made some upgrades and improvements while still honoring its proud legacy,” studentprince.com reads.

Today, the Picknelly, Yee and Vann families operate the famed restaurant. In fact, in 2008 Gourmet Magazine announced The Student Prince and The Fort as one of the 21 best classic restaurants in America.

Since my employment at Reminder Publishing I’ve taken around three or four trips to the Student Prince and The Fort. Each trip has been better than the last, and I have not experienced a meal there that disappointed.

For this week’s best damn sandwich column, Mike, Assistant Editor Jordan Houston, Staff Writer Stephanie Trombley and I took a trip to the Student Prince and Fort. Each of us ordered a different sandwich, and for the next four weeks, we will feature them in this column.

A few days before we made our plans to go to the restaurant for our sandwiches, we looked up the Student Prince and The Fort’s menu. After reading through our options, I was intrigued by the monte cristo. I had not had a monte cristo before, and it sounded like a delicious change from my usual plain–Jane turkey club sandwiches.

It is challenging to put how delicious this sandwich was into words.

The monte cristo is a ham and turkey sandwich with swiss cheese. I had it on white bread. While this sounds boring, there is a twist: the sandwich is cooked as if it was French toast, dipped in egg and grilled. It was served with a large bowl of maple syrup for dipping as well as a pickle on the side.

The Student Prince and The Fort’s monte cristo was the perfect combination of savory ham and turkey with sweet toast and syrup. As a big fan of “breakfast for dinner,” I was thrilled to have this “breakfast for lunch” option.

I highly recommend The Student Prince and The Fort’s monte cristo. In fact, as I write this, my mouth is watering thinking about the left over half of the sandwich I will get to have for dinner tonight!

The monte cristo will run you about $10, and comes with one side. To make your experience at the Student Prince and The Fort even better, order a side salad with their famous roquefort dressing. The dressing costs an extra $3, but boy, is it worth it. The entire news staff was actually planning to order salads specifically so we could each have a taste of the delicious dressing. Roquefort is a sheep milk cheese from the south of France. It’s a member of the “blue cheese family” and tastes creamy, sharp and tangy. If you’re really feeling like living large–purchase the dressing, skip the salad and dip bread in it. Perhaps take a walk around the city afterword to work off some of the delicious (and worth it) carbs!

The Student Prince and The Fort is located at 8 Fort St. in Springfield. They’re open Monday through Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Thursday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. To contact the restaurant, call 734–7475.