elviswright wrote:Tops
As for Italian Beef: Mr. Beef - hands down.

I concur w/ mr. beef.. much better than any other i've had!

Though not quite up to Bari standards, the folks at l'appetito makes a few tasty sandwiches. It is neat little italian deli/specialty store that sells sandwiches at the deli counter in the back. In addition to the hot paninis, they have very tasty large subs stuffed with assorted meats and lots of tasty giardinara. My faves are the italian or spicy submarine.

2 River North/Gold Coast locations (though I prefer the original Huron location.)

veeral

30 East Huron Street.
(312) 787-9881

875 N. Michigan Ave.
(312) 337-0691

JoelF wrote:Just for a counterpoint....

Out in the burbs, a good deli can be hard to find. Not that they're not out there, just hard to find, and inconvenient to say, a Woodfield-area shopper.

If you're out by Woodfield, go east on Golf and make a left at Algonquin. Right now the parking lot is a mess because they are building a Lowes there, but check out Siegelman's Deli. Great deli sandwichs and good chicken soup with kreplach.

Siegelman's Deli
912 W Algonquin Rd
847-398-0222

midas wrote:

JoelF wrote:Just for a counterpoint....

Out in the burbs, a good deli can be hard to find. Not that they're not out there, just hard to find, and inconvenient to say, a Woodfield-area shopper.

If you're out by Woodfield, go east on Golf and make a left at Algonquin. Right now the parking lot is a mess because they are building a Lowes there, but check out Siegelman's Deli. Great deli sandwichs and good chicken soup with kreplach.

Siegelman's Deli
912 W Algonquin Rd
847-398-0222

Good Call! I forgot all about that place. Certainly not Manny's or Katz's quality, but pretty darn good for Shaumburg.

I used to like Harrys Sandwich Shop on Dearborn between Van Buren and Jackson. Of course this was back when I worked in the Loop late 80's-mid 90's..not sure if they are there anymore..just remember the little Asian lady behind the counter yelling "make-a hot" if you wanted your sandwich warmed

deke rivers wrote:I used to like Harrys Sandwich Shop on Dearborn between Van Buren and Jackson. Of course this was back when I worked in the Loop late 80's-mid 90's..not sure if they are there anymore..just remember the little Asian lady behind the counter yelling "make-a hot" if you wanted your sandwich warmed

They are there and I generally go in for a bowl of noodle soup (buried at the bottom of the menu.) Most of the time, there's a little Asian lady yelling "Junior Torpedo Hot!"

Their sandwiches are ok, always fresh, but run a little on the expensive side for what you get.

Best,
Michael

I like the "Sicilian Sub" at Golden Crust on Kedzie. It's standard Italian sub meats and cheese on a thin-ish, heavily herbed and spiced pizza crust (maybe a 10 inch?), folded in half and sliced into three or four pieces. I want to say it's about eight or nine bucks, but easily feeds two. They also have a chicken version.

Golden Crust
4620 N Kedzie Ave
773-539-5860

eatchicago wrote:

deke rivers wrote:I used to like Harrys Sandwich Shop on Dearborn between Van Buren and Jackson. Of course this was back when I worked in the Loop late 80's-mid 90's..not sure if they are there anymore..just remember the little Asian lady behind the counter yelling "make-a hot" if you wanted your sandwich warmed

They are there and I generally go in for a bowl of noodle soup (buried at the bottom of the menu.) Most of the time, there's a little Asian lady yelling "Junior Torpedo Hot!"

Their sandwiches are ok, always fresh, but run a little on the expensive side for what you get.

Best,
Michael

things may have changed since then. the prices always seemed somewhat reasonable for the portion size..but this was over 10 years ago..Good to know the little Asian lady is still screaming out orders though

girlmoxie wrote:I like the "Sicilian Sub" at Golden Crust on Kedzie. It's standard Italian sub meats and cheese on a thin-ish, heavily herbed and spiced pizza crust (maybe a 10 inch?), folded in half and sliced into three or four pieces. I want to say it's about eight or nine bucks, but easily feeds two. They also have a chicken version.

Golden Crust
4620 N Kedzie Ave
773-539-5860

That sounds pretty darn good. It sounds like a higher-rent version of a college staple sandwich of mine, from Hungry Howies.

Anyone else tries this?

elviswright wrote:Tops : Hero's on Addison and most Potbelly locations.

Lower tier: Mr. Sub and Cap't Nemos.

As for Italian Beef: Mr. Beef - hands down.

You know Mr. Sub isn't the greatest, however there is something really good about their bread. It's kinda chewy and fights with you a bit. The meat quality isn't the greatest, I'll give you that...

Now Potbelly's got some good bread. Does anyone know where they get it from..?

Greasy Spoon wrote:
Now Potbelly's got some good bread. Does anyone know where they get it from..?

Gonnella

i can't let this post pass without giving a mention the the CHICKEN VESUVIO SANDWICH we serve here at the Grotto. It's served on giabatta bread (delivered daily from casa nostra bakery). this sandwich is sooo excellent - the bread just soaks up the vesuvio sauce..yum!

leesh

Greasy Spoon wrote:]

You know Mr. Sub isn't the greatest, however there is something really good about their bread. It's kinda chewy and fights with you a bit. The meat quality isn't the greatest, I'll give you that...

Wow. I think Mr. Sub's bread is exactly what makes it the worst chain sub sandwich out there. "Kinda chewy" is a very diplomatic way of putting it. My jaw actually hurts after gnawing through half a sandwich. (And I'm not exagerrating.) I keep trying it every six months or so, at different locations, just to make sure I've given it a fair shot. Nope, every single time, it's disappointed. However, it's not that bad if you throw it in the oven. Of Subway, Mr. Sub, and Jimmy John's, for cold sandwiches, I think Jimmy John's does the best (by a longshot).

Jimmy John's is the best of that very bad lot, but even their sponge-like bread is awful.

Binko wrote:Wow. I think Mr. Sub's bread is exactly what makes it the worst chain sub sandwich out there. "Kinda chewy" is a very diplomatic way of putting it. My jaw actually hurts after gnawing through half a sandwich..

Well, different strokes for different folks... My wife really likes Panera's sandwich bread, but I think it's bland and too hard. I can't stand bread that rips your mouth to shreds. A perfect example of hard sandwich bread is Red Hen... I can't figure out why everyone likes it so much.

Fontano's Meatball with Cheese and mild peppers.

I speak of the original on Polk that I eat a few times a month, not the one downtown (I had it only once there and it wasn't as good).

The meatballs are wonderfully moist and tender, great bread, and tasty sauce. The combination of its addictive deliciousness and the fact that it is so messy makes it like a clingy toddler, it just won't let you put it down.
This has a bad side to it. It makes you eat it faster than you otherwise would want to.

The Fontano's on Franklin is now, sadly, another Quizno's. 1/2 block from another Quizno's.

gleam wrote:Well, then it should be easy to find outside of Manny's, too. Their pastrami is, if I remember correctly, plain old vienna beef pastrami.

Is this really true??

The bread aside, Manny's is my fav pastrami, mostly because I find it to have a stronger cure flavor than any other I have had.
If it's really just Vienna that's good news, because I can just buy a deli slicer and make it myself.

Do the alternatives to Manny's mentioned here have a stronger cure flavor than Manny's? I know that's a vague quality, but I'm not sure how to better describe it.

kafein wrote:The Fontano's on Franklin is now, sadly, another Quizno's. 1/2 block from another Quizno's.

Huh, I never went to the one on Franklin.
The loop location I was referring to is the one on Jackson.

I just looked at their website and was surprised, first that they had a website, and second that they had Franchised and had 4 non-chicago and 2 Colorado locations.
I know the Polk locale is run by the original family (the Grandma just made my sub yesterday). I thought the downtown locale was as well, but now don't know if it was the Franklin or the Jackson locale.

griffin wrote:The bread aside, Manny's is my fav pastrami, mostly because I find it to have a stronger cure flavor than any other I have had.
If it's really just Vienna that's good news, because I can just buy a deli slicer and make it myself.

Griffin,

Manny's may use Vienna products, but keep in mind Vienna sells many (many) variations and types of it's core products (hot dogs, corned beef, pastrami). We've had this discussion in the past where, I believe, it was Evil Ronnie who pointed this out. Cooked or uncooked, strength of cure flavor, amount of fat vs lean, grade of beef, just to name a few. Not to mention variations in cooking method, most good deli's steam their pastrami/corned beef, most home cooks simmer in water.

The pastrami you buy at the grocery may be the same brand as Manny's, but will, in all likelihood, taste quite different when you make it at home. Also, if you have visions of simply buying cooked/sliced Vienna pastrami from the deli case at Jewel, it will not be similar to Manny's

Enjoy,
Gary

I agree that Manny's is some of the best Jewish-style pastrami I've had in Chicago.

The tip I'm about to share is nothing like Jewish pastrami, but it's damn good sandwich meat, anyway: Usinger's beef pastrami. Very strongly flavored with pepper and spices.

If you buy this at the Usinger's store up in Milwaukee, they call it "pastroma." Our recent discovery was that the packaged stuff labeled "beef pastrami" is the same thing. Ours came from Cub Foods in Arlington Heights, but you can likely find it at some other places. I'm pretty sure Produce World carries it.

kafein wrote:The Fontano's on Franklin is now, sadly, another Quizno's. 1/2 block from another Quizno's.

Boy that was hard to see. I walked by that Fontano's (on Franklin) for about 3 weeks during my lunch break. Inside you could see some demolition and new furniture along the walls. I was hoping they were just cleaning the place up a bit... But shortly after, the dagger in my heart. I saw that damn sign in the window. "Quizno's Opening Soon!".

I tell ya it hurts every time I walk by when I'm on my way to Pepper Sandwich Shop for a good charred burger... Speaking of, have any of you stopped by there? Not a bad burger at all. I usually get a double cheese, all the way w/fries and a coke for $5 even.

The Korean couple in there is really nice too. I always get a genuine smile when I walk in...

Peppers Sandwich Shop
211 W Van Buren St
Chicago, IL 60607-3907
(312) 922-5383

Griffin,

Gary is correct. Grocery store Vienna pastrami won't even be close.

Manny's uses Vienna pastrami "navels" (from the plate which is somewhere near the breast - they're extra fatty), and they use the N.Y. cure rather than the Romanian cure (more peppercorn and coriander). Geno (Manny's long time carver/wise guy) has admitted this to me.

I've never seen this product in a grocery store where you normally find only the Romanian cure (think milder)and only the extra lean eye of rounds and 1st cut briskets. Perhaps some of the delis which carry Vienna pastrami sell it.

If you are heating for just a few sandwiches at a time, a good method is just to 'griddle it up" in a hot pan with a drop or two of fat just to get it started.

Geno is fantastic. Even if the food was only ok at Manny's, I'd still go there just for the banter.

You might be able to find the pastrami Manny's uses at the Vienna Beef factory store. Worth calling, at least.

There was plenty about this on the other board. Vienna, like every large meat packer, does lots of things for lots of different customers, and it is exceedingly unlikely that you will be able to buy Manny's Vienna products from Vienna, and even less likely that you will be able to do what Manny's does with the meat once they get it. This isn't unique to Manny's, of course. A pretty good article was linked in the string that explained that the deli side of the meat processing equation matters most.

Again, Langer's still has a sign proclaiming that it serves Vienna products (which it once did, but no longer does). That's the best pastrami in America, and it probably was back when they got the raw materials from Vienna, too.

At least you can get Barbara Ann's hot links, just like the ones produced to Mack's specs. It's up to you not to ruin them.

PS, our love of Pepper's is not shared by all.

Pepper's

JeffB wrote:A pretty good article was linked in the string that explained that the deli side of the meat processing equation matters most.

I tried searching for this and failed to find it. Any hints?

I think it was an LA Weekly article involving J Gold. The setup was a "The Sportswriters"-like roundtable of crusty old deli luminaries from NY (plus Langer's). It has been linked on CH many times. I will see what I can find.

My new favorite sandwich and sandwich place:

Jerry's Sandwiches
1045 W Madison

All the sandwiches are $7 and include a small side.
The best sandwich (except for Manny's corned beef/pastrami combo on rye with spicy mustard) is:
Prosciutto, soprasetta, fried egplant, provolone, tomato basil relish, onion, giardinera w/red wine vinagarette on Focaccia and then grilled. This is heaven. I just wish they had longer hours...
CTB

How can people not be mentioning Chicago Bagel Authority on Armitage. The best most consistant sandwhiches in the city, with the best variety and the freshest ingreidents!

I mean does it make anyone else sad that two medicore chains, Potbellys and Panera, are being mentioned in a best sandwhich posts.

Chicago, other than Italian style sandwhiches, has some of the worst sandwhiches of any major city in the country.

Save for italian style sandwhiches, CBA is the only place that really even comes close in my mind to "that sandwhich place" that so many other cities have.

Examples of these would be Capriattis in Deleware, a couple of places in Charleston, SC too. A couple of places in San Diego. I mean all over the country, just for some reason in Chicago, if it doesnt have Salami in it, it cant seem to be all that great, save for CBA.

Sorry about the Rant, please let me know if there is any places that I have overlooked.

Thanks!

J

J:
While a quick perusal of this thread might lead one to believe that the only good delis in Chicago are Italian delis, that would be an erroneous conclusion. Like Italian food in general, those old Italian recipes for prosciutto, soprasetta, capicola, etc make great sandwiches. But, places like Manny's (Jewish deli) and Jerry's (standard sandwich restaurant) make great sandwiches too. My husband love the blackened chicken breast, chipotle mayo, avocado, onion, lettuce and tomato at Jerry's. HAPPY DELI HUNTING!
CTB