I put in a catering order this weekend and it was stupid good and a ship-sinking amount of scratch food. All homemade sausages (they use a different size for catering, and the surface ratio was perfect), a mound of grilled shrimp on charred garlic bread, house-whipped ranch with a ton of fresh dill, grilled peppers and onions and fresh carrots and celery, crusty bread, and a big pan of their dark-roux gumbo which is more straightforward than subtle, and which I appreciate greatly.

A skirt steak special (sandwich) looked so good on pickup that I went back a separate day for one. Like the burgers, extremely beefy and juicy coming off the well-seasoned grill. As much as I do like the sausages - especially accompanied by the in-house sauces, and the pan-caramelized peppers - I think their burgers and other meat specials are a notch up.

I skip the sausages so often I'm starting to feel a little guilty, but the sandwiches are so good. Next time they introduce the turkey club, one of the best of its kind I've ever eaten, I'm planning to gain a lot weight.

No idea how I miss these things, but apparently the legendary turkey club is back for the week! Get 'em while you can, though I imagine they'll be even better at peak tomato season.

They posted on FB last night that they were out of turkey for the club, but would be doing the full turkey dinner this Sunday. Roast turkey, mashed and sausage stuffing...

It's on my list!

Ugh, had my wife swing by last night to bring some sandwiches to the softball game I was at and they had just ran out of the Turkey Club. This sandwich, when done well, is way up near the top of my list. Bummed I missed out on Big Guy's version. I'll have to keep better track of comings and goings!

!!!!!


From their Facebook page:
"Smoked chicken wings and rib tips are on special this week, you're gonna want to get these while you can."

I'ma call to see if there's any hope I can score some for lunchies today.

Tips are all gone. Wings are a buck each.

Our homemade pastrami is on special this week. We've let our special fall by the wayside recently, I've been battling cancer, and I'll be fine, but I had to pass the torch onto Big Mike my main prep cook to take over creating a special to go live every Monday. We're working on a homemade gyro right now for next week, and you can expect turkey clubs, smoked meatloaf, big ass ham sandwiches etc. to be coming back around in weeks to come.

Brendan I'm sorry to hear that, but congratulations on the the outcome. That pastrami looks insane <said while getting in the car to drive out to Big Guys>.

Happy to hear you're on the mend and nice of you to provide the great pic and reminder to get out there!! That Pastrami looks like it has healing properties for sure!!!

Had the pastrami on Monday and it was as good as it looks. Great smoke undertones throughout and, since I don't really do bread product (OK, I snuck a wee bit of the marble rye in) - it was a perfect compliment to their awesome fries! Looking forward to the gyros next week....

Wow. Swung by last night and picked up two pastrami sandwiches and three steamed dogs (for the kids). I got one sandwich with kraut and one without. Both delicious. The pastrami was excellent. They threw in a large fry which I couldn't believe I forgot to order. Get it if you can...

Last time I had the turkey club, one of my surprise favorite sandwiches of all time, I was a bit let down (maybe it was the sad tomatoes? Replacing them with some from my yard worked out well). That said, the pastrami was as revelatory this week as the first time I had the club all those months ago. Man, so good.

I wish I could join the chorus of praise for the Big Guys pastrami sandwich, but I just can't. The sandwich I had today wasn't very good at all. The meat was very dry; as if it was pre-sliced and held, then reheated for the benefit of my sandwich. It didn't have much flavor/spice to it, either (perhaps as the result of said reheating). I didn't think it was possible for a fatty cut of beef to be as dry as this was, but there you go. Also, the sandwich was served on squishy marble rye that closely resembled the texture of white bread. It was not the dense Jewish style rye bread I was hoping for. Have a look.

Big Guys Pastrami Sandwich


I would have been much happier with one of their great sausages or burgers, which are always on point. Having said that, I'll admit to being a pastrami snob, so YMMV. All I can say is the hand sliced to order pastrami sandwich at Jakes in Milwaukee has got nothing to worry about.

The fries, OTOH, were F A N T A S T I C in every way.

Big Guys Fries


These beauties came fried extra crispy without me having to ask for them that way. They were nicely salted as soon as they came out of the fryer and they weren't greasy at all. These were some of the best fries in town.

Please know that I am not dissing Big Guys in any way. I love the place...just not the pastrami sandwich.

Sorry Stevez, man that makes me so mad, all I can think of is the cook on Thursday night must have just left your meat on the griddle for way to long. We have to pre-slice the meat but we don't hold it, we just warm it to order. I wish we had a line of pastrami orders and we could slice pastrami to order all day, but the method we used seemed to work really well, that is if someone doesn't reheat the meat to death. Was your bread toasted? It should have been buttered and cooked on the griddle, but I like the thick-cut marble rye we use. Anyhow I think you just caught a bad beat on your particular sandwich. Next time we run pastrami you've got one on me, and I promise you'll really like it.

No worries. Like I said, I may be more picky about my pastrami than most, but yes, I think the reheating killed it.

Brendan -

Your health is on my mind and your gyros is on my table. Glad you're on the mend.

This is an A+ flavor sandwich; the house meat and dill and cherry tomatoes remind me of the "Better than a Gyros" at Publican Quality Meats, and the feta recalls the best "zesty" examples (have you considered lemon juice or even rind/zest for color as well as tang?). At the same time it sticks together with the right salt and flavor profile to not get too fussy for those regulars of Pete's Red Hots down the street (which makes a damn good suburban gyros salad).

Total hit. The only possible improvement would be crispier meat, or actually even more mistreated pita (there is something about a stale pita on a dirty griddle that makes the classic even better for me - the BG choice is almost too fresh and pliant).

I had the pastrami early in its run last week; it was as assured as an Arrieta shutout.

What's got two big thumbs and heard that Big Guys was slingin' gyros?
This guy.

Quality effort all around. I'll agree with Santander about crisping the meat, and lemon juice for a pop in the tzatziki, but this gyros was outstanding. The tomatoes were the crowning glory. Brendan, I forgot to wish you "good health" in my dayquil and long bike ride induced haze, glad you are doing ok.

I found it totally balanced - nothing overwhelming any other parts, not too salty at all, not a garlic bomb. Have you seen a prettier gyros? (cell pix - temper your expecs, pls)


Fresh cuke dotted the tzatziki:


Gyros had a coarse grind which was different than any I've had before. I've never had a homemade rendition before. This is not made by Kronos, this is scratch:


Today's fries were the best fries I've had in YEARS. Pure. Perfection.


Grapevine says the turkey club will be back in a few weeks. It's pretty much mandatory, imo.

It's Thanksgiving all week at Big Guys. This is setting our plan in motion to sell a a bunch of deep fried turkeys this Thanksgiving.

Dinner plans made!

woah, gyros? I gotta head down there.

B. O'Connor wrote:It's Thanksgiving all week at Big Guys.

Since I'll be in Mexico for Thanksgiving, I welcome the chance to have an early go at one of my my favorite meals of the year. I made the trek out to Big Guys this afternoon to partake, and I wasn't disappointed (other than the depressing thought that the best Thanksgiving dinner I'm likely to eat this year came in a Styrofoam box. Note to self: Next time, bring china and silverware to Big Guys ).

The Big Guy's are hitting it out of the park with this one. A generous helping of real turkey (I was able to get all dark meat on request), served over a sausage roll to catch the drippings (sort of a thanksgiving version of chicken bread) along with real mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dressing and cranberry sauce. Along side was a container of gravy to be used as required. All for the princely sum of $11.

Big Guys Turkey


Big Guys Dressing


Big Guys Sweet Potatoes


Everything was scratch made and delicious. The deep fried turkey was great, but my favorite bite was the dressing, an ingenious mixture of stale buns and Italian sausage moistened with what tasted like broth and much butter. What can I say, I love dem Thanksgiving carbs! My lunch was very satisfying. If they had a napatorium next door, I would have been a customer.

Keep up the good work, Big Guys!

The Turducken Sausage is Back! Topped with bread-less sage stuffing, real gravy and whole cranberry sauce. Its Thanksgiving foreplay at its finest. We'll be running this until Thanksgiving.

B. O'Connor wrote:The Turducken Sausage is Back!

How does a Turducken sausage work? Are there three layers of casing? Or is it just three ground meats mixed together?

JoelF wrote:

B. O'Connor wrote:The Turducken Sausage is Back!

How does a Turducken sausage work? Are there three layers of casing? Or is it just three ground meats mixed together?

See post #60 in this thread...then go eat one!

One of my favorite things to eat.

B. O'Connor wrote:The Turducken Sausage is Back! Topped with bread-less sage stuffing, real gravy and whole cranberry sauce. Its Thanksgiving foreplay at its finest. We'll be running this until Thanksgiving.

TurduckenSausage.jpg

It tastes like ... Thanksgiving

jeffs wrote:

B. O'Connor wrote:The Turducken Sausage is Back! Topped with bread-less sage stuffing, real gravy and whole cranberry sauce. Its Thanksgiving foreplay at its finest. We'll be running this until Thanksgiving.

TurduckenSausage.jpg

It tastes like ... Thanksgiving

No doubt it's better than this, right?

=R=

I want to give this a bump and a mention. Mom wasn't feeling well this year, and I had my own issues going on complicating the holiday. We catered the deep fried turkey from Big Guy's and it was delicious. Add to that Brendan was on site carving the turkeys upon request, and I wonder why I would go through the hassle of doing it myself next year. Great job from the people at Big Guys.

Wanted to give you guys a heads up on our special this week. We are selling BBQ platters for $18 filled with some really great stuff. The menu includes: Chicken Tips, Hot Link, Pulled Pork, Mac & Cheese, Collard Greens, Baked Beans, Bacon Potato Salad, Relish Cup & our Pineapple Coleslaw.

This is from our BBQ catering menu, we are hoping that by selling this as dinners somebody will reserve us to come cook this on-site for their company picnic or family reunion or whatever outdoor party they want to make awesome.
http://www.bigguyssausage.com/bbq-smoked-catering.html