World Class Ham: The A&T Grill [pics]

Catching the photo of ham-on-the-bone from Jeri's Grill in the year-end slideshow reminded me that I'd been meaning to post something about the A&T Grill, where I've had the best ham-on-the-bone in my life. The A&T seems to me the essence of a solid neighborhood diner, and even on LTH it seems pretty unsung (a cursory search turned up 2 half-mentions).** The food is good and plentiful and fairly priced, and the service is pleasant. There is not much in the way of atmosphere, though; the interior looks like it was remodeled in 1986, with an extra dose of 80’s blandness. It's easy to imagine it had some character before that, based on the evidence of the sign out front:



(The sign's martini glass must testify to some earlier incarnation of the A&T....)

"A&T" = Abundant and Tasty, and the adjectives seem fair. The omelets are no-nonsense, and enormous, and very good. The menu has influences of Greek (from the owners, I suspect) and Mexican (from the neighborhood). Sample omelet ingredient: gyro. (Someone else can tell me how that tastes.) Here is a (pretty poor) picture of a (pretty delicious) chorizo/cheddar omelet:



Now, the ham. Admittedly, I've had ham-on-the-bone exactly twice-- once at Jeri's, once at A&T. For some reason, ham's been a hard thing for me to get excited about ordering; it seems like wasting a draft pick-- picking a guy you know will be hardworking and unremarkable-- adequate. In this case, this attitude is flawed. They've been getting their ham-on-the-bone, I was told, from the same source since 1963. They cook it in-house, slice it thick off the hunk and on to the plate. Here is a picture of the final product, which does not do it justice:



Here is a picture of the ham, right out of the oven, which does it more justice:



I've also had a Monte Cristo sandwich there, which featured generous slices of the ham, and was world-class, as far as Monte Cristo sandwiches go.

So I guess my argument would be this: the A&T is everything a good neighborhood diner should be. Realistically. in the authentic-diner category, the spectrum is pretty narrow-- there isn't a great variation between Pretty Good and Excellent. (I'd make the same argument for American Chinese food.) But, still, the A&T Grill is excellent, as excellent as authentic-diners come, especially their breakfasts. That's my argument. (Jeri's, as a foil, I've found to have great dinery atmosphere and completely mediocre food.)

Can someone back me up? Is anyone with me? Or am I crowing over nothing?


A & T Grill
7036 N Clark St
(773) 274-0036


** http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=896 and
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3464, both of which deal with more general Rogers Park themes.

daveco_hen--

Thanks for posting. A&T is on one of my regular routes, and I have often wondered about it, particularly on Sundays, when my local favorite, Prairie Joe's is closed, and Blind Faith and Walker Bros. are just too crowded and expensive. I guess the reason I've never been there is that there is just too much competition in the area from Mexican and, with Salamera, Peruvian choices. But I will add A&T to my list. Do you recall if they have grits? And how was the coffee?

daveco_hen wrote: The A&T seems to me the essence of a solid neighborhood diner,

Daveco,

I used to stop at A & T, which I agree, is a good solid neighborhood diner, on a regular basis as I'm a fan of rice with my morning eggs. I don't specifically remember the ham, but your picture is calling to me.

Speaking of ham, best ham I've had in a long time's been at Eden's Fast Food, in fact, the ham looks a lot like the one in your picture.

Also, speaking of rice with eggs, I stopped at Hamburger King for the first time in years the other day, nothings changed, the Akutagaua (hamburger, egg, green pepper, onion, bean sprouts all mixed together) was good as always, rice ok and the gravy, overly goopy by half, still, somehow, hit the spot.

Enjoy,
Gary

Hamburger King
3435 N Sheffield
Chicago, 60657
773-281-4452


Edens Fast Food
6045 N Cicero Ave
Chicago, IL 60646
773-736-3385

I've also eaten at A&T at least once but don't remember anything much about it; that picture of the ham makes a powerful argument for it, though.

Been a regular at A & T since the early 80's. It actually used to be across the street. the current location was called "The Greenleaf" before the A & T folks took it over. The location was Jimmy Fulton's Broasted Chicken before it was the Greenleaf (I can't seem to get out of the neighborhood).

I agree that the ham is excellent. They also do a nice skirt steak and eggs. The Steak is done with some Greek seasoning and very nice on those days where maximum breakfast is required.

Many in the neighborhood swear by their meatloaf, but I have not had it. They do hand formed hamburgers which are pretty good.

It's a great place to observe humanity in its colorful Rogersparkian variety. . . church ladies to Mr. leather contestants.

Wow, you never cease to amaze Gar. When Joe Aktugawa cooked it, it was so much better tho. The Yet Ca Mein pork-hardboiled egg slices, etc. soup was wonderful hangover cure before Cub games, too.

Josephine--

I never understood grits. I feel like you need to grow up with grits in order to have any feelings towards them; I didn't; so I didn't notice if they had them or not. The coffee-- and this comment will probably call into question a lot of things, not the least of which is any business I have recommending diners-- well, I don't drink coffee, really. My gut tells me they serve that ubiquitous "Superior" brand, "The Coffee with the Humorously Ironic Name," but the A&T is full of surprises, so maybe it's better than that.

I actually had breakfast at A& T this morning.

For slightly generic Greek coffeeshop food, quite good. Pretty good hash browns, the ham was quite nice.

But man, the atmosphere-- 80s blandness sums it up, and I could just hack that, but then Phil Collins comes on singing "Take a Look at Me Now" and I could literally feel my soul being sucked from my body-- of course it's been in my head all day. Is any food worth THAT price?

daveco hen wrote:I never understood grits. I feel like you need to grow up with grits in order to have any feelings towards them; I didn't; so I didn't notice if they had them or not.

Some years ago, I would have been in complete agreement with you. Whenever I was where grits were available, I would order them and ate them somewhat grudgingly. I then read somewhere the mistake most of us unacquainted with them make: they are served plain and we are supposed to dress them up. Think of mashed potatoes without butter or gravy, perhaps not too attractive.

A few weeks ago, I went on a one week grits for breakfastathon largely inspired by JeffB's comments about grits at Harry's Hot Dogs. JeffB would get grits in a styrofoam cup with two sunny side up eggs and a slice of Velveeta cheese ... ok and lots of hot sauce which I conveniently excluded! Stir that around for a rich cheesy and egg yolky yellow glowing breakfast fit for royalty.

I will occasionally make stone ground grits in a crockpot with cream and milk for ubber grits deliciousness.

Once I started dressing up my grits, my attitude changed quite a bit. Now I look forward to my grits.

Regards,

That martini glass on the sign has me racking my brain trying to remember what it was before. I'm almost positive it was a quasi-night club of some type. For some reason the word STAR sticks in my head. Like it may have been RED STAR INN or NEW STAR INN or something like that. But I just can't remember.

It was the Greenleaf before it was A & T. Before that, it was Jimmy Fulton's Broasted Chicken (we're talking the late 60's here). Jimmy Fultons relocated there from the N.W. corner of Estes and Clark. (Used to take returnable bottles there in my red wagon, spend the money on broken stick Affy Tapples.) I just can't get out of the hood.

I preferred the broken stick frozen bananas. I would get them on my way to summer camp at Touhy Park.

dan1234 wrote:It was the Greenleaf before it was A & T. Before that, it was Jimmy Fulton's Broasted Chicken (we're talking the late 60's here). Jimmy Fultons relocated there from the N.W. corner of Estes and Clark. (Used to take returnable bottles there in my red wagon, spend the money on broken stick Affy Tapples.) I just can't get out of the hood.

OK, talk about confused. For some reason the name I was thinking of struck me today. The name was The Stars Inn. So I looked it up to see if I could find any listings. And according to Google, the place is still there. But the address is listed as 7030 N. Clark, right next door. I swear I remember the lounge being really large at first and then redesigning the space to shrink the lounge and add a restaurant next door.

Strange too, for the life of me I don't remember Jimmy Fulton's. And I spent a lot of time in that area during that time.

daveco_hen wrote:So I guess my argument would be this: the A&T is everything a good neighborhood diner should be.

Dave,

No argument here, stopped in yesterday for a late breakfast and really enjoyed my order of easy over eggs, crisp hash browns and juicy, nicely spiced sausage patties. Yes, I know, you recommended ham, I simply forgot, next time for sure.

It had been years since I was last at A & T, though given the comfortable room/seating, good service and reasonable prices I'll be back soon.

Next time ham!

Enjoy,
Gary