Not on the payroll at Goose Island Clybourn (yet!) but some spring cleaning of the hard drive unearthed this shot from our visit there a few weeks back. Wished it wasn't hidden, because this was going to be included in that post. more ›

In any time, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a classic, but in these tough economic times, we find ourselves going to it more often than in the past, giving us the chance to revisit this important cornerstone of any diet. The key to any successful sandwich starts with the outside: what kind of bread do you use? If the bread is too coarse for the contents of the sandwich, the sandwich can be ruined. In this case, we found that the soft, supple wheat bread suited the sandwich perfectly. Next, we spread onto one slice of bread our peanut butter of choice. Like choosy mothers, we prefer JIF, but experience has shown us that you can closely recreate the same texture using Skippy or Peter Pan brand peanut butter. more ›

We were stoked when the news broke that John Manion of Nas and Old Oak Tap was taking over as Executive Chef of Goose Island Clybourn that we made it a point to pay a visit last weekend to see what changes were happening to the menu. more ›

Keeping a day job in the northern suburbs has re-acquainted us with many of the charms of growing up on the North and Northwest sides. That includes exploring the "border" suburbs when we want to get our nosh on. A co-worker who keeps asking us for restaurant advice (but never heeds it) offered to make a run to a long-forgotten hot dog stand a few weeks back. He brought us back an Italian beef sandwich from Herm's Hot Dog Palace in Skokie (3406 Dempster St., 847-673-9757). As a teenager, we used to bike — or take the Skokie Swift — to visit "Big Herm's" and grab this delicious sammich. more ›

Sometimes you just need to check your pride at the door and do what must be done. Which is why we found ourselves Saturday afternoon at Macy Field's, Christmas shopping and looking for a nosh. The Walnut Room is still the Walnut Room, and the seventh floor food court is still dominated by fast food concepts from celebrity chefs. The newest, from Marcus Samuelsson (C-House), is probably the best of a lot that includes Rick Bayless Frontera Fresco and Takashi Yagihashi's Noodles by Takashi. Incidentally, all three chefs are members of Macy's Culinary Council, dating back to the store's days as Marshall Field's. more ›

Now that Philly's Best has opened up a Greektown location (769 W. Jackson), we get to deal with a completely different brand of last call idiocy for late night eats. Lucky for us the Markellos brothers have both a sense of humor for dealing with drunks and make some of the best Philly cheese steaks and grinders in the city. A longtime favorite of ours from our days on the North side is the Monterey Chicken grinder, a molten blend of skinless chicken breast, ham, bacon, cheese and ranch dressing that's good for at least two meals (if you buy the large one for $8.99). It'll definitely absorb a fair amount of alcohol. more ›

Our recent visit to Star Lounge Café delighted our specialty coffee needs but we will confidently say that their sandwiches alone are a reason to go back. Particularly for breakfast. They offer an egg, bacon, and cheese sandwich as well as a bagel with peanut butter and banana (childhood fav!) but the sandwich that stuck out most was the brie, spinach and mushroom hot panini. And yes, for breakfast. The savory brie oozed out the slightly buttery, toasted ciabatta and there was just the right amount of vegetables inside- enough to make us think we’re actually having a healthy breakfast and not enough to overpower the sandwich. Choose grapes instead of chips and you’ve got yourself a meal. The secret to their sandwich? They get it from the highly adored lunch spot, Southport Grocery. Ahh yes. It’s all starting to make sense. Star Lounge’s specialty is coffee and they’re stickin’ to it. Better to get your sandwiches from a place that specializes it than throw some turkey on bread and serve it to your patrons like many coffee shops do and shouldn’t. more ›

Back when it opened at their new location, we gushed about Hyde Park Produce. Their deli counter doesn’t just have prepared foods, olives, cookies and cheeses. They also make amazing sandwiches on fresh, crusty white rolls. They’re a bit pricey (at $5.99) but worth it; each sandwich is piled high with at least 1/3 lb of meat. more ›

Gio's Café and Deli in Bridgeport holds a soft spot in our heart. Years after we moved to the neighborhood, Giovanni Liuzzo, Ignacio Bautista and their staff still make the best Italian food in Bridgeport. Gio's was the subject of our very first post here on Chicagoist. Since then we've introduced numerous friends to the place and its charms. more ›

At the corner of 26th and Wallace in the wunnerful Bridgeport area is a pizza parlor called Punky's. We've mentioned Punky's before, mainly because we like their rhyming motto, "If your last pizza was funky, call Punky." Now, Vince "Punky" Scarlata and his staff make a good pizza, but we're even bigger fans of their sandwiches. Punky's makes a good breaded steak, chicken parmigiana sandwich (listed as "breaded chicken" on the menu), pepper and egg, and eggplant sandwiches. They even make a good chicken ciabatta sandwich, although it's spelled "chiabatta" on the menu. more ›

It's a blessing and a curse to live so close to Skylark (2149 S. Halsted). The latter, of course, is that it's often hard to walk home after a long night of inebriation through moderation. the blessing is that their food menu goes a long way toward taking some of the starch out of the dog that bit us. more ›

One of the great things about shopping at farmers markets is having the luxury to grab a quick bite while looking for deals. Green City Market has Hoosier Mama pies, fresh crepes, organic baked goods from Bleeding Heart Bakery, fresh juices and smoothies, among noshables. more ›

Lunchtime in the Loop is a beautiful thing. Like an elaborate dance sequence, busy downtown hot spots service customers with a graceful efficiency, and businessmen rub elbows with the bike messengers for an “everyman’s meal” – fries and a dog, Italian beef, or a back-to-basics deli sandwich. more ›

(Ed. Note: This week for "One Great Sandwich" we're going to try something different. In the spirit of the Tribune's "fish taco" offensive from last fall, Ms. Stolpman made a sandwich in the hopes that any sandwich makers, restaurants, coffee shops, etc. look at it and place it on their menus as an offering to customers. We now continue with our regularly scheduled post.) more ›

A few months ago, we profiled the bánh mì at Tank on Broadway as One Great Sandwich. After a flurry of comments, Matilda checked in, saying "Ever try the Vietnamese bakery on Lawrence just west of Rockwell? good stuff." Well, we have. It's called Nhu Lan, and they've been a welcome addition to a pretty barren stretch (culinary speaking) of Lawrence Avenue since near the beginning of the year. more ›

As sandwiches go, the hot open face variety is a bastard. Sure, you'll find two slices of bread and some meat on the plate. You'll also find some gravy, mashed potatoes and maybe some cranberry or applesauce as a side. Is it a sandwich? Is it a meal? It's like culottes: are they shorts, or is it a skirt? more ›

Costello’s, 2015 W. Roscoe and 4647 N. Lincoln. more ›

The Clásica has been one of our favorite sandwiches ever since we wandered into a Bombon café last year and randomly picked a sandwich from their menu. Standard sandwich ingredients are accentuated with an ethnic flair: mixed greens, tomatoes, avocado, and grilled onions coupled with chicken milanesa, Chihuahua cheese and poblano chile-pepper spread. The sandwich usually comes with a side of homemade chips, but we always substitute the chips for a small house salad: mixed greens, sliced radishes, sunflower seeds, cherry tomatoes, a sprinkling of parmesan and a tangy dressing. more ›

Chicagoist alum Scott Smith once described Morgan's on Maxwell as "a great destination for anyone who wants to take a date to dinner without missing SportsCenter." The burgers and other sandwiches here, however, have some merit. Although every time we step into Morgan's we can't help but think about all the dugouts, tube socks and "Grown Folks Music" we used to buy in the same location when Maxwell Street was, well, Maxwell Street. more ›

One of the best new tea shops to open up in the past year is Hi Tea in the South Loop. With over 50 brands of loose leaf tea available for purchase, as well as selections like yerba matte, it's a great place to while away a lazy weekend. more ›

Esquire Magazine's "Best Sandwiches in America" article is a must-read, if only for us because it gives us a checklist of places to hunt down the next time we're on vacation (btw, Katz's pastrami on rye is really all that). Although we have to question the inclusion of the McRib sandwich, we have no qualms with seeing Chick-Fil-A make an appearance on the list. more ›

The corner of Dempster and Chicago in Evanston still retains some vestiges of its hippie past, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It actually reminds us of the less annoying parts of Lincoln and Wicker Parks. We've been fans of Bagel Art in Evanston for as long as we can remember; we usually have a sesame seed bagel with plain cream cheese every morning on the way to work. They also make a few good sandwiches for a quick bite during the work day, fuel for grinding out miles on the old Green Bay Road bike trail during summer, or just futzing around Evanston. more ›

Love for the Hopleaf is easy to generate, despite it being one of those Yogi Berra joints - so crowded, no one goes there. This is especially true in this post-smoking ban era, now that people can actually (gasp) eat in the front section without getting choked out by massive clouds of carcinogens. It's been years since we started going to Hopleaf for Kwak and mussels, but only recently discovered the massive amounts of awesome that constitutes an order of CB&J. more ›

Chicagoist's general rule toward our vegetarian tendencies is, if we wanted a dish-chock full of meat, we'd eat it. As such, plates full of fake meat masquerading as juicy animal parts (a vegan Reuben sandwich, for instance) generally hold little appeal, and we instead opt for dishes full of clearly identifiable veggies or simple marinated tofu. more ›

When this Chicagoist writer left a job in Ravenswood late last year, we knew we'd miss our officemates dearly. We also lamented the fact we'd no longer be within walking distance to First Slice Cafe for lunch. The cafe, located on the first floor of the Lillstreet Art Center, is home to a small menu of fine creations, one of our favorites being the Chicago-Style vegetarian sandwich. more ›

The first time we ate the chicken focaccia sandwich from Miceli's Deli and Food Mart in the Heart of Italy neighborhood, the weather was markedly different. Specifically, it was about seventy degrees warmer and we didn't appreciate it as much. Focaccia sandwiches are much more agreeable in cold weather, don't you think? There's something about all those heavy ingredients and flavors that simply cry out for consumption when the mercury takes a nosedive. more ›

The tuna melt is to a menu like a sweater vest is to a wardrobe. One of the most versatile fashion staples, a vest can be dressed up, or dressed down. The tuna melt comes in as many varieties as there are restaurants that serve it up. We’ve found some restaurants add spices for zing, while some keep it simple. Others serve it open-faced for more formal fork-and-knife consumption, while others piece it together for casual, two-fisted power chowing. more ›

Chicagoist's brother-in-law is a man of many excesses, most of which revolve around pork products. And while we aren't quite the connoisseur that he is, it's no big secret that Chicagoist loves bacon. So what's so great about Milk & Honey's BLT? How about this — everything. The bread is perfectly toasted Italian bread that gives a satisfying crunch while maintaining its inner softness. The bacon is neither a greasy slab of fat nor... more ›

Bridgeport's treated us well. As we've written numerous times both here and elsewhere, the neighborhood grew on us. When we first moved out south eight years ago we never would have thought that we'd have lived here as long as we have; we just thought of Bridgeport as a stop-gap to moving back to the north side. Now it seems like others are clued in to what we knew long ago: this neighborhood rocks.... more ›

In our experience, most people who eat at Costello's Sandwich and Sides get the same thing every time. It's their Costello's Match. Former Chicagoist editors Scott Smith and Erin Shea love the Heartland and Smokin' Turk, respectively. Our boyfriend's favorite is the Italian Grinder. For us, our Costello's Match is the Turkey Focaccia. Generally speaking, the Turkey Focaccia is a basic turkey sandwich — turkey, provolone, lettuce, tomato, vinaigrette. But what makes this sandwich... more ›