Tomato paste and brandy are added to a bechamel, and then cooked lobster is warmed in it before the mixture is spread on toast, topped with cheese, and broiled. It's a refined sandwich. The grape flavor from the brandy plays nicely with the lobster and tomato, although we did get a couple of boozy bites. It seems like something you might find at a semi-formal New England lunch.

So why only 3 stars? Quality vs. effort. It's not that this is a difficult dish - it's just a bit fiddly, compared with the simplicity of a buttery lobster roll. If I have to do the work of cracking a lobster shell, I probably will pick the easier recipe and enjoy the purity of fewer ingredients instead of the nuances of a bigger sauce.

I don't understand why this recipe calls for 3 slices of bread per sandwich. I guess it makes it a little more filling, and you might argue it's a little more refined, but I prefer the more obvious flavors of the 2-slice version. In particular, I think the egg batter gets downplayed when there's an unbattered slice of bread in the middle, and that's a key to a good monte cristo. (I also like a little mustard in the sandwich, though you could always serve that on the side.)