The club sandwich is back!

The Game of Thrones season opening feast was really something (where can you get something like this from a corner dog stand?) - beet and goat cheese salad, little English sausages, dark roasted vegetables, roast pork and chicken, savory potatoes: Medieval Times banquet meets the Red Wedding. Nice to have folks that love what they're doing so close to home.

What kills me is that by happenstance I have several meal commitments in the next few days, so I'm trying to find a way to enjoy them all yet still pace myself enough to have room for that turkey club once my schedule opens. It's a race against the clock.

New Menu...

https://www.facebook.com/BigGuysSausageStand/posts/1276484295746940:0

Wait, so they've done away with all the specialty sausages - crawfish, hot link, etc. - that made them special? I mean, I love these guys and what they do, but the addition of chicken strips at the expense of all the things that typically drive me to Big Guys ... I dunno. I'm sure various sandwiches, sausages and meals will show up again as specials, but I hope this isn't a move of desperation.

Vitesse98 wrote:Wait, so they've done away with all the specialty sausages - crawfish, hot link, etc. - that made them special? I mean, I love these guys and what they do, but the addition of chicken strips at the expense of all the things that typically drive me to Big Guys ... I dunno. I'm sure various sandwiches, sausages and meals will show up again as specials, but I hope this isn't a move of desperation.

Prime Rib Sandwich made a reappearance this week (as a special) and the Chicken Strips look to be tempura battered (just from a picture I saw.

I will miss the specialty sausages too. I do not believe any of the sausages on the new menu (Italian, brat, Polish, or hot dog) are housemade?

Nobody can beat their fries although they cut down the flavors (no chili?) there too.

Looks like they prefer to compete directly with Lucky Dog and Pete's. Perhaps concentrate on their booming catering business?

I don't know this for sure, but my guess would be that they were not selling a lot of the items (speciality sausages) that were eliminated from the menu. Again, it is just speculation, but if they were only selling a few of them, the cost to produce and have them available before spoilage was probably greater than the return they were getting on the few they may have been selling.

Hopefully they will rotate them thru as specials so that those who want them can get them occasionally.

The Chicken Pierre boxes (strips) are more like what I call Italian Picnic Chicken than tempura or breaded - they are simple hard-fried egged-and-floured pieces, rustic and really good. Mickey sauce is (I'd say) a light citrus honey aioli - an addicting mystery white sauce. I like the new buffalo chicken sandwich and Greek salad, and I'm confident the homemade sausages and gyros will turn up as specials in rotation with the big cuts they like to do like the prime rib. Very thankful for the plain $1 regular beef dog kickers as well for rounding out an order for kids (or the super-hungry).

Big Guys posted an explanatory comment in one of their photos:

It's like putting your kids up for adoption. But we had to get rid of the items that didn't sell. We are still going to be making those sausages as specials and for retail. Also we can focus more attention to other non sausage specials.

I'm sorry to see the sausages go (especially the buffalo chicken...the bleu cheese sauce went well with the fries), but it makes sense. I tend to gravitate to the specials anyway. The addition of the grilled chicken sandwich will be of interest to my better half and may lead to us picking up dinner from here more often.

Looks like they prefer to compete directly with Lucky Dog and Pete's.

Interesting, if depressing, thought. I agree that the menu revision takes them in that direction, especially if I'm reading between the lines correctly and they've 86'd ritzy oddities like glass bottles of Green River in favor of $1 cans of Diet Rite.

You know what special I'd like to see? A Big Guys Jim Shoe with their homemade pastrami and gyro meats.

ndgbucktown wrote:Big Guys posted an explanatory comment in one of their photos:

Looks like they prefer to compete directly with Lucky Dog and Pete's.

Lucky Dog?
Big Guys sells real food. Lucky Dog puts sweet pickle relish in their tzatziki. There is no chance that anyone that frequents Lucky Dog will want anything to do with real food. Apples to plastic.

seebee wrote:Lucky Dog?
Big Guys sells real food. Lucky Dog puts sweet pickle relish in their tzatziki.

You sure they didn't give you tartar sauce?

If they did, then what?
-Horrific mistake
-Also means their tartar sauce is a travesty.

Sad to see the sausages go. Maybe over time at least one of them might be able to return as a somewhat regular. I'm a sucker for that Italian chicken sausage they make, which was made for both the Italian sandwich and the Buffalo chicken sausage sandwich so that's a dual purpose threat with only one sausage!

What kind of brats are you guys serving over there? They look delicious. I'll be in there in the next few weeks, and I'm very much looking forward to the experience.

deepdish wrote:What kind of brats are you guys serving over there? They look delicious. I'll be in there in the next few weeks, and I'm very much looking forward to the experience.

You might be better off asking here...

https://www.facebook.com/BigGuysSausageStand

I am not sure if they are monitoring this thread.

Wow! I must have stopped getting email notifications about this thread. In regards to our menu changes, it's just as some of you have surmised, we had too many specialty sausages on the menu that weren't selling enough. The main reason I could guess is our burger is too good Also, so many sandwiches made it hard for us to run specials, and since we scaled back our menu we have been doing better and more consistent specials, basically trying to make a specific sandwich the best it can be made; whether that be a meatball sandwich, or a reuben, etc.

We will be showcasing a sausage in addition to a specialty sandwich every week. This week we brought back the buffalo chicken sausage in addition to homemade loukaniko and a sous vide strip steak sandwich that I'm particularly fond of. Next week we are smoking a whole bone-in rib roast every day and serving a fat slice on bread with some bacon we are curing in-house right now.

We definitely simplified the menu, and it does reflect more similar to the Lucky Dog or other hot dog stands around, but the difference is we are really trying to make sure the small menu we do serve is on point, more than less made from scratch, with freshly prepared ingredients, and with a strong focus on specials.

We did add homemade chicken strips to the menu. I did this because we initially had some bullshit frozen strips on the menu and I had to step-up the game on those since they were selling way beyond my expectations. We call them Chicken Pierre, I like them, they are tempura battered strips served with our sweet Mickey Sauce.

Lastly, to increase foot traffic we started offering a deal every weekday. These are obscenely cheap and I hope you take advantage of them.
Monday: $5 burger
Tuesday: $5 Pork Chop Sandwich
Wednesday: $3 Italian
Thursday: $3 Bratwurst
Friday: $3 Polish

As always we appreciate the support of the LTH community, and we hope to see all of you soon!

Thank you,
Brendan O'Connor
Owner, Big Guys Sausage Stand

B. O'Connor wrote:Next week we are smoking a whole bone-in rib roast every day and serving a fat slice on bread with some bacon we are curing in-house right now.

Hey Brenden,

This is great news! I'll be out for one of those sandwiches (or maybe even more than one) next week.

I lived in Seattle in the early 70's and there used to be a place called Kelly's down the street from where I lived. Every day, Kelly would roast a bunch of prime ribs. The doors would open at 4:00 sharp and people would line up for one of his prime rib sandwiches. The sandwiches were so popular (even with some of my vegetarian friends, who considered them a guilty pleasure and made me promise not to tell their wives/girlfriends that they ate one), that they were usually sold out and closed by 6:30 every day. I can't wait to try your version.

stevez wrote:

B. O'Connor wrote:Next week we are smoking a whole bone-in rib roast every day and serving a fat slice on bread with some bacon we are curing in-house right now.

Hey Brenden,

This is great news! I'll be out for one of those sandwiches (or maybe even more than one) next week.

Lol--copied the same line to comment on--should've figured someone would beat me to it!! Can't wait to come by to try that glorious-sounding sandwich!!!

I missed out on the meatball sandwich with neck bone gravy. Boo hoo but the chicken pierre with mickey sauce was delicious. Frank had a pork chop sandwich that he enjoyed and my son had the buffalo chicken. The fries are good, great. They are better eaten there though. One order is enough for three or four people.

As long as you keep the Turducken sausage every November, we're all good.

Big Guy's picked as best burger in Chicago!
http://chicagoist.com/2017/08/15/and_th ... ago_is.php

zoid wrote:Big Guy's picked as best burger in Chicago!
http://chicagoist.com/2017/08/15/and_th ... ago_is.php

This is awesome!

While my last two burgers from Big Guys were cooked to death which led me to at least check out their competition.

In the previous round they were up against Little Bad Wolf and they have a way over the top burger. Juicy, tasty but almost too much (3 patties, egg, bacon...).



In the final round they were up against Fatso's and our stop there was a great burger in the double thin(ish) category. Cooked with a touch of pink in the center.



I was worried...

But then we ended up at Big Guys and this time they were making a perfect burger. Thick single patty with the frazzeled onions and other toppings. It was $5 Burger Mondays to boot.



They were different animals. Fatso's the top of the burger stand food chain while Big Guys brought me into their backyard cookout.

This has always been my vision on how Big Guys puts their menu together, getting together in a backyard, trying different products over a beer. Maybe a little wrestling might be involved.

Congrats Guys! Well done!

Congratulations on the W!

Hard to believe that I've never had their burger - but then with all the other choices (even after the sausage culling) maybe it isn't so surprising...

I do know what my next trip (this weekend) will include!

stoutisgoodfood wrote:Congratulations on the W!

Hard to believe that I've never had their burger - but then with all the other choices (even after the sausage culling) maybe it isn't so surprising...

I do know what my next trip (this weekend) will include!

Mondays are a steal with the burger being $5. Just something to keep in mind for one of those Monday holidays. I'm also a sucker for the "BG Fries" - the fries as-is are already very good but then they are tossed with butter and garlic. Crazy good.

Big Guy's is still a solid choice for folks in the area, but in my opinion it is no longer a destination. I stopped in for lunch the other day with my 84-year old father who had 50 years in the restaurant business. We were going south on 1st Avenue and I detoured east and went past Portillo's to stop in.

I can't say I was impressed by the new menu. I get it, but there wasn't anything particularly interesting. No special that day, other than the polish sausage, which were discounted that day to $3. Good flavor, a little small but that's ok since the flavor was there. I had hoped to have something a little more interesting, however. We were really there for a snack, so we didn't get any fries, and my dad is not a chicken strips kind of guy.

But I was really disappointed by the upkeep of the place. The front outside table is broken, there were picnic tables out back with Vienna umbrellas, but it was next to the garbage and it was really problematic back there. I know that both seating and parking is at a premium, but something has to be done. It just gave off the impression, along with the stripped down menu, that money is tight. And it's the type of stuff where you find a 16-year old kid and give them $20 worth of food (so $8-9 actual overhead cost) and let them work on things for a couple of hours.

Hopefully their forays into catering are working, I see they are selling sausages at NIU home games this year. I wish them well, but sadly I'll probably only be back if I'm visiting family in Berwyn.

The Turkey Club is back on special this week after a long hiatus. This summer we had more catering than we could handle. As a staff of six, it's been hard to keep up with the specials and catering. Next summer I hope we have a bigger staff and can do both well. Up next week we'll have filet mignon sandwich with blue cheese sauce and grilled onions. After that, we have Prime Rib, and coming right around the corner is corned beef for half way to St. Patrick's Day.

B. O'Connor wrote:The Turkey Club is back on special this week after a long hiatus. This summer we had more catering than we could handle. As a staff of six, it's been hard to keep up with the specials and catering. Next summer I hope we have a bigger staff and can do both well. Up next week we'll have filet mignon sandwich with blue cheese sauce and grilled onions. After that, we have Prime Rib, and coming right around the corner is corned beef for half way to St. Patrick's Day.

Thanks for the update Brendan! Congrats on the busy summer and best burger.

First of all, turducken sausage is back and killing it. I could eat this every day.

Second, Brendan (if you're listening), did you guys change your hot dogs? My kids were convinced a couple of weeks ago that they did not get their beloved Vienna Beef, so I had a bite and ... maybe they were right that something was different?

Per their Facebook post just a moment ago...

We're upgrading our menu and adding on some exciting new items. So keep checking back with us over the next week as we unveil one item at a time. To start we are happy to report that we will now have whole roasted turkeys, straight from the oven, carved fresh for club sandwiches 7 days a week!

To start we are happy to report that we will now have whole roasted turkeys, straight from the oven, carved fresh for club sandwiches 7 days a week!

Remembering when The Depot American Diner would decline an order because the turkey was not finished roasting.