Mimicking One of My Favorite Restaurants - Grilled Portobello Sandwiches

I love the Coldwater Cafe in Tipp City, Ohio for two reasons. The first is that I annually have lunch with my dance teacher/mentor there, the second is their Grilled Portobello Sandwich. It's big and flavorful and juicy and I look like a pig when I'm eating it because I always end up with juice running down my arms. It's so good though, I'm willing to suffer the embarrassment of looking like a cavewoman just to savor the deliciousness. I love it so much that when I snagged some sliced Portobellos on manager's special, I knew exactly what I wanted to make with them. I hadn't had the sandwich since my last lunch, which was last year, so I could only vaguely remember what was on it. Therefore I decided to go my own way with it and just experiment based on what I already had in the fridge and what I thought my parents would eat. For being a bit slap-dash, it's mighty tasty and definitely work replicating. I'm particularly pleased with my simple cheese sauce, which complimented the meaty mushrooms nicely.

Grilled Portobello Sandwiches
makes 3
3 Portobello Mushroom caps
1/2 sliced Red or Yellow Pepper
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
3 Whole Wheat Buns
3/4 cup chopped Romaine Leaves
1 Sliced Tomato

For the Sauce:

1/4 cup Feta
1 Tbsp Sour Cream
2 Tbsp Chopped Onion
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Basil
Salt & Pepper

1. Grill mushrooms with a bit of the olive oil brushed on. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.
2. While they cook, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil very briefly. The garlic should not brown and the onion should just become a little soft.
3. Combine the sauteed onion and garlic with the feta, sour cream, and basil. Season with some salt and pepper.
4. By this time you should probably flip the mushrooms and brush them with more oil. Put the sliced peppers on the grill and cook everything until heated completely through and the mushrooms are very limp.
5. When the mushrooms and peppers are cooked through, remove from heat and briefly toast the buns. Smear 1/3 of the cheese spread on each of the tops and divide the mushrooms, peppers, romaine, and tomatoes between the bottoms. Assemble those suckers and serve immediately (soggy burgers=yuck).

According to my dodgy calculations, they're about 290 calories each, which I think is pretty good for such a filling sandwich. If you really need to skimp, you could always use Pam or something similar for the grilling rather than olive oil, I just think it has a nice flavor. I think time I'll try marinating the mushrooms just to see if I can make them flavorful. The sandwich I have at Coldwater has really tasty mushrooms, whereas mine took a backseat to the cheese spread. I'm not sure if it's because they were a bit old or if they just needed more added to them than oil and salt and pepper.