Nom nom nom nom! Ben Kessler of Unbreaded

Philadelphia is a city full of geeks. Me and my pals here on Geekadelphia love to show that fact off, and now, once a week, we’ll be highlighting individual geeks here on the blog with Geek of the Week. The featured geek will have a little thumbnail over there on the right, along with their lovely face in our featured content section. Just another way for us to show off our awesome community, and hopefully, introduce you to some great people doing awesome things. Think you should be featured? Have a friend you’d like to see on here? Email us.

One of my favorite internet pals and food blogger extraordinaire, Ben Kessler, is unfortunate lucky enough to be our first Geek of the Week. For those of you who haven’t heard of Ben… well, that surprises me. Ben is one of the founders of Unbreaded, an excellent sandwich blog that recently won Best Food Blog in Best Of Philly. Needless to say, we were quite proud of this extremely justified award. Ben and his team update the site daily, with fresh reviews of sandwiches from around the city, each post accompanied by stunning photos and an in-depth review. And as you can imagine, Unbreaded has a Flickr feed that will make your mouth water.

So what’s the deal with Ben and his blog? What famous comic book hero would he split a sandwich with? Read on to find out!

Hey there Ben! Tell us a bit about yourself and Unbreaded!

I just officially graduated from Drexel University with a B.S. in Business Administration, but mostly I concentrated on Marketing. At Drexel we participate in a co-op program, which means 6 months out of the year I worked a full time job. I met Jeff Vogel at one of these jobs, and we soon became friends. Our daily conversations on food, blogging, technology and other things eventually lead to the idea of starting our own website. When we realized that there was no one writing about the most universal meal, sandwiches, Unbreaded was born!

Rest of the interview, after the jump!

When you’re not busy rambling about sandwiches, what do you do?

Right now I’m hustling, trying to find a job. I’d love to stay in my beloved city of Philadelphia, but finding a position here has proven quite hard. I’m staying optimistic though! Other than that, I enjoy checking out the amazing restaurant scene in this city, drinking microbrews, photography, biking, etc. I’m a geek 100% of the time so I’m constantly reading, writing blog posts, and surfing through my Google Reader. When I have free time I love to play Xbox 360 (can’t wait for Batman: Arkham Asylum!) and read comic books.

You guys are hosting your first event soon, right? What can you tell us about it.

Well, it’s called Sandwich Smash and it’s all about celebrating great sandwiches and the people who make them. We’ve got five top chefs from around Philadelphia, and they’re going to each tell the story of their sandwich, demonstrate how to make it, and then let the audience taste it. There will be beer and dessert provided by our sponsors and we’ve partnered with Philabundance to organize a peanut butter and jelly drive to support hunger relief. We are launching our full site in September, so check out sandwichsmash.com now to purchase tickets and get your name on the list for updates!

If you had to name your favorite ‘geeky’ restaurant for a sandwich, what would it be, and of course… what’s the sandwich of choice there?

That’s a tough one. I don’t really know any geeky sandwich places! PYT in The Piazza makes a great burger and has an old school Ms. Pacman table game! National Mechanics in Old City is owned by a bunch of web developer geeks and hosts Tech Karaoke on Tuesday nights, plus they have an amazing veggie burger. Also, the Pop Shop in Collingswood, NJ has that 50′s feel (reminds me of horn rimmed glasses and pocket protectors) and 40 grilled cheese sandwiches on the menu.

You can sit down to eat a sandwich with a fictional character from a video game or comic book. Who’s the character, what’s the sandwich, and why?

I’m going to have to go with Batman on this one. I grew up a Batman fanatic; sheets, undies, lunchbox, you name it. Bruce Wayne, might have a ton of money and score hot babes, but deep down inside he’s the biggest geek of all. Batman has always had the coolest cars, computers, and other gadgets. I’d insist that we eat at Wayne Manor, because I’m sure Alfred makes a mean sandwich.

Last Comic Book I Read: Y: The Last Man Vol 6., I’m almost done, no spoilers!
Movie I Saw: Inglourious Basterds: Great cinematography and ultra violence FTW!
Video Game I Played: The Force Unleashed, I know, I’m like a year late, but any game that lets me play as Darth Vader is a winner in my book. Right know I’m playing Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Learn more about Ben Kessler @ Unbreaded,  his official website, and stalk follow him on Twitter.