c_bob wrote:can't remember if this has been covered before, but does anyone know what kind of salami they use at Poochies? and is it available at any of the grocery stores in chicago?

thanks!

I think it is vienna beef (since that seems to be what they use for everything else) but am not 100% sure. I will find out next time I'm there though

Suiname wrote:

c_bob wrote:can't remember if this has been covered before, but does anyone know what kind of salami they use at Poochies? and is it available at any of the grocery stores in chicago?

thanks!

I think it is vienna beef (since that seems to be what they use for everything else) but am not 100% sure. I will find out next time I'm there though

Thanks! will be on the lookout at the grocery stores for some for the next grill out i go to...

Suiname wrote:

c_bob wrote:can't remember if this has been covered before, but does anyone know what kind of salami they use at Poochies? and is it available at any of the grocery stores in chicago?

thanks!

I think it is vienna beef (since that seems to be what they use for everything else) but am not 100% sure. I will find out next time I'm there though

The salami used for the Charred Slab of Delight at Poochie's is made by Vienna Beef.

c_bob wrote:can't remember if this has been covered before, but does anyone know what kind of salami they use at Poochies? and is it available at any of the grocery stores in chicago?

As others have said, the brand they use is Vienna Beef. More generically, however, it's a kosher-style salami, and you could do the same thing with a salami from Romanian Kosher Sausage or widely available Hebrew National.

For that matter, although the flavor profile is quite different, Wisconsin summer sausage is good charred, too.

yeah, romanian sausage co is great

LAZ wrote:

c_bob wrote:can't remember if this has been covered before, but does anyone know what kind of salami they use at Poochies? and is it available at any of the grocery stores in chicago?

As others have said, the brand they use is Vienna Beef. More generically, however, it's a kosher-style salami, and you could do the same thing with a salami from Romanian Kosher Sausage or widely available Hebrew National.

For that matter, although the flavor profile is quite different, Wisconsin summer sausage is good charred, too.

thanks for the info! i love the Romanian sausage co, but it's so such a pain for me to get to...but i'll definitely have to try the summer sausage grilled....that sounds awesome.

Poochie's is officially abandoning their intention to serve Gyros. When I was there they said it was too expensive because they'd have to hire more people specifically to operate and maintain the gyro machine. Too bad, but there's still plenty of excellent stuff on the menu.

After enjoying the LTH North Lunch group's outing to Poochie's today, I can say that Poochie's is still one of the top stands.

And yet...
Like Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower" eclipsed Dylan's, Josh's in Northbrook serves, in my mind, a better cover of the Poochie's grilled salami sandwich -- because there's less of it! Both serve a generous slab of kosher salami, but Josh's is on a smaller french roll, offering a better ratio of bread to meat. There's also the highly secret ballpark mustard available, a Dusseldorf-style, which is vastly superior to the Gulden's spicy at Poochie's.

I had to attend a seminar at Northwestern the other day and took the opportunity to stop in and get some salami for dinner. It was an odd time (5:15pm on a Tuesday) but there was still a steady slow stream of people.

First off, the new place is amazingly comfortable compared to the tiny little spot I frequented throughout grad school and until I moved away from the area. If Harvey had a place this big, I would have lived there.

Second, the fries were outstanding, probably the best I've had all year from anywhere.

The salami was tasty, but the either cut is thinner/longer than I remember or the bread is bigger and tougher. It just felt that the bread/meat ratio was off, too much bread. Fortunately this is easily rectifiable, and I actually liked the slightly smaller meat portion. I didn't feel like I had to go get an angioplasty afterward.

It's still a great sandwich, just not one which I'd be willing to travel 70 miles round-trip to purchase. But I'll continue to stop in whenever I'm east of the Edens.

Don't know. But the best salami for frying (soft) or otherwise ( medium/ hard) is to be found at Romanian . No doubt about it.

FWIW:

I bought some Romanian salami this week at Fresh Farms on Touhy in Niles.
I was so happy to have another reason to trek to FF on Touhy. I still love that store.

kuhdo wrote:Don't know. But the best salami for frying (soft) or otherwise ( medium/ hard) is to be found at Romanian . No doubt about it.

Although this is a very true fact, I'm pretty sure Poochies uses a Vienna product.

Threadkiller,

If you find yourself in Evanston and are looking for good fries, it is well worth stopping by Weiner and Still Champion. I think they are the best in the area.

bw77 wrote:Threadkiller,

If you find yourself in Evanston and are looking for good fries, it is well worth stopping by Weiner and Still Champion. I think they are the best in the area.

I've been there before and I think they are very good. Poochie's just happened to hit a great batch in terms of fry time and luck of the draw with potato quality.

Late lunch at Poochie's today was fantastic. I had a char dog; my wife had a Merks Cheddar burger.

I'm so happy that Poochies is going strong, same as it always was.

bw77 wrote:Threadkiller,

If you find yourself in Evanston and are looking for good fries, it is well worth stopping by Weiner and Still Champion. I think they are the best in the area.

And WaSC is in Poochie's original location.

A couple weeks ago I stopped in at Poochie's. For whatever reason I never got a salami sammich before, but I thought it was great. Although it did put me in a food coma of sorts for the rest of the day.

Poochies was originally in the WASC space? I didn't know that. I assumed they started in the "Poochie's Plaza" on Dempster.

I reasonably sure the WaSC space was originally Poochie's II.

I reasonably sure the WaSC space was originally Poochie's II.

I'm pretty sure that WaSC has been at the same address on Dempster since at least 1986, when I moved to SE Evanston. When was it Poochie's II?

This is from Time Out's capsule report on WaSC:


Fun fact
The punny name comes from a grade-school contest held in 1982 to rename it after the original owner (ol’ Harvey Bernstein again) sold it as Poochie’s II.

LAZ wrote:As others have said, the brand they use is Vienna Beef. More generically, however, it's a kosher-style salami, and you could do the same thing with a salami from Romanian Kosher Sausage or widely available Hebrew National.

exactly which is why until today I've never tried a Poochie's grilled salami as I've always grilled my own at home.

But today I found myself in Skokie around 1pm & famished, when I saw Poochie's I knew what I was having for lunch.

Grilled Salami w/sauteed onions, mustard & a light drizzle of BBQ sauce. Quite a nice sandwich and I can fully understand the support behind it.

Fries sucked, just not good.

Willie, I'll bet the fries were somewhat undercooked. When they're like that, they kind of all mush together & are very starchy. When the fries are more well done, they stay separate, one can taste the salty skin of the potatoes and they are among my favorites. With a snappy char-Polish, of course...

Feeling a bit frisky so added relish to my typical minimalist mustard/onion/sport pepper.

Two natural casing dogs & crisp fries, Poochie's 8.31.15