And I’ve had Portillo’s dogs at locations as diverse as Villa Park, Elmhurst, Downers Grove, and Glendale Heights and they all had the same dogs and the same lame crinkle-cut frozen fries. I hate consistency. But they make a good Garbage Salad.
My last Polish deli went out of business and now, after a deli that demonstrated that peace in the Balkans through food, even around the Adriatic, was possible has left me bereft of the choice between Albanian sheep feta or Serbian goat feta. I can’t even find decent olives,but the Poles will sell me okay potato pancakes, though I’m sad that German couple who used to sell them from their Oakbrook Terrace deli after they retired from running a restaurant in Elmhurst retired again. Theirs were brilliant and made me glad I didn’t have a gall bladder.
The thing about Eastern Dupage is that it was largely populated after WWII by Central and Eastern Europeans from the South and Southwest Side. You used to be able to eat well here. Still can, if you branch out a continent or two, but a friend finds he has to go to Milwaukee to get proper Kraut food.
Me? As long as there’s dill in the cupboard I’m happy, but there isn’t any so I’m not. It’s what happens when you marry a woman who is half Polish and half Brit: half the time she doesn’t know what’s edible.
They do. They have a custom blend Vienna dog, as far as I know. They’re no Gene & Judes, (or, in my neighborhood, there’s Chickie’s on 28th and Pulaski, which is better known for it’s fantastic beef–I’d say best or second best in the city–but they have a hot dog that is just as good.) Part of the problem is there are so few independent hot dog stands that use natural casing dogs these days. I swear, it feels like nine out of ten times I take my chances on an unknown hot dog stand, I get burned with an awful dog that’s not only skinless, but has been floating around, overcooking in hot dog water for hours. Portillo’s puts out a consistent product, with a well-seasoned dog that has the requisite “snap” to it. It doesn’t keep me from trying new stand after new stand, but the more I have mediocre hot dogs in the city, the more I’m impressed by Portillo’s consistent and well-executed products. When I’m driving in the suburbs and want a quick, relatively low calorie snack, I pop into a Portillo’s for one hot dog.
Meanwhile, I live in a very Polish and Mexican neighborhood, so I’m good to go as far as those cuisines are concerned–plus I got dill up the wazoo in the garden, so if you need some, dropzone, you’re welcome to it. I honestly don’t know what to do with all that dill. I made Polish dill soup last week, as well as a cold cucumber-dill soup, and I barely made a dent. The dill has taken over half my garden.
I’m not totally clear on the point of this thread, but that could be because I’m on my third martini. Nevertheless, I’ll play along. What could be more Chicago than that?
Portillo’s is a worthy Chicago establishment, if only for their Italian Beef sandwiches, which I rate as second only to Al’s #1. And much easier to access in diverse locations if I happen to find myself stuck in suburbia.
Johnnie’s is my #1 competition with Chickie’s. Good choice.
Here’s one man’s labor of love ranking all sorts of beeves throughout the city and its environs. The one that kind of surprises me is the low ranking of Patio’s beef (the one on Taylor.) That’s where I usually end up instead of Al’s, although I have to do the one-two punch of Al’s and Mario’s Lemonade at least once every summer.
Portillo’s is a good, above-average product but I work in Bolingbrook and would go to the local Doggie Diner for an Italian beef ten times out of ten. They make a great gyro, too. I’ve noticed that they (DD) do differ some location to location; within an acceptable range but one restaurant isn’t guaranteed to be the same experience as the other. We have a Patio here as well but they do nothing for me.
My wife loves Portillo’s chopped salads and I warn her that if she ever wants to move out of the area, she’ll have to give them up.
That guy’s sick. Or should be, considering what he eats.
Never had a bad beef, but had one from a place I recall being called Flip’s on Main St in Downers Grove. They’re long gone.
I’m actually not that into the meat so I’ll order a soaker (dip the bread in the au jus) or two if they let me.
Awkward statement. Wife’s a Southside Polak but she likes her beef dry with hot giardiniera and lots of . . . ketchup. Try maintaining your cool when you order that. Countermen who have been in this country for decades suddenly think their English has failed them. It’s just about the only thing she puts ketchup on and I think she does it to embarrass me, forgetting I’m from Minnesota and put ketchup on nearly everything, including crappy hot dogs. I figure that I put it on bologna and Scott Peterson dogs are like bologna. Unfortunately, not like Scott Peterson’s garlic bologna, which if pretty good and caused my daughter to say, “Oh, so THIS is what bologna’s supposed to taste like.”
(speaking as a suburbanite) I’ve been there and there’s a difference between 55th and Western and 47th and Pulaski? (converting to suburb-speak=it’s about a mile and a half) Oh, like my part of Lombard and the nearest reaches of Addison, which is actually an industrial park, a slough, a hunting dog training field, and a radio-controlled helicopter park. This is some sort of gang territory thing, right? 'Cuz my money’s on the dogs.
Neighborhoods? I’m from Minnesota, lived in the W and NW burbs, and worked and commuted through places I only know by street names because I was too scared to get out of my car ;). “Interesting” is something I avoid.
Eldest, who set the world record for a ticket for not having proof of insurance with two separate jail spells (one night in Dupage and three in Cook County), losing her license, two times having her car impounded, and having it repossessed), was in Cook. Wife was concerned taking the bail money through the parking lot “because everybody knows what you are holding when you walk toward that building.”
“Yeah, but I drove past it once or twice a day (construction on the Ike) and they know how many cops are looking at you.”
BTW, Vienna Beef is having their fourth of July tent sale for the next few days. I think I’m going to pop in and pick up a 10lb sack of natural casing hot dogs. They still end up ringing in at $4.50/lb, which seems a bit high to me, but Vienna beef were never cheap.
The last GREAT gyro I ate was in DeKalb, at It’s Greek to Me, 35 years ago, but they layered hunks of seasoned beef, lamb, and pork on the spit, not the seasoned hamburger shit you get these days. I should make the drive, but not without calling first to find that my trip will be futile.
And my favorite deep dish was from My Pi, which I found still has some locs in Chi. Unlike Lou Malnati’s, there wasn’t a second crust and they didn’t put the cheese directly on the dough, which is what turns it to pudding.
We had a pretty good dog stand, too, but some ladies objected to their obscenely (literally) long, thick, and pink dogs.
and they all had the same dogs and the same lame crinkle-cut frozen fries. I hate consistency. But they make a good Garbage Salad.
