Travels in Chicago

 No trip to Chicago, Illinois is complete without a visit to Portillo’s.  All I can say is bring an appetite!  You will want to try one of everything… and I think we did.  We were visiting for three days and visited Portillo’s twice.  Does that tell you anything about their awesome food?  This place is so busy that the line can be seen during the day out the door!  And to hear people order is a treat in itself.  Some people know the lingo of how to order while me the virgin of ordering just explained what I wanted – LOL.  On the first visit, we *had* to try an Italian Beef – loaded!  The Italian beef comes in two sizes – regular and big.  We went regular this day and still had enough to share.  It’s made with their famous thin sliced roast beef topped with sweet peppers.  And here’s a hint for you – there’s three ways to order it.  Standard with a splash of ‘gravy’; Dipped which means the whole sandwich is dipped into the ‘gravy’; or Dry with very little ‘gravy’.  “Gravy” is referred to the natural juices from the slow roasted beef.  This day, we went dry.  We didn’t want to wear the gravy all day if you know what I mean – ha!  And it was delicious!  The meat was tender, the sandwich was juicy and it felt like we belonged there eating this Italian Beef all of our lives.

The next day – yep the NEXT day – we had to come back and try some more delicacies again.  Since the beef was so delicious the day before, we thought we would try it again in a different form.  This time we split a Beef-n-Cheddar Croissant.  The same thin layers of Italian beef with cheddar cheese all over it on a nice toasted croissant.  Closing my eyes just thinking of this yummy sammy – it was that good!

Which one was better?  It’s hard to say.  Both of these were so delicious…. maybe I need to try both again before I can make a decision 🙂

 

Shopping Around the World

Welcome my friends to a new year of adventure and great food!

Today we are highlighting great sandwiches of any kind.  Mom/dad here at the Hotel Thompson are the king and queen of sandwiches.  Sometimes they are huge and sometimes they are just something thrown between two slices of bread.  You never know with those two.  One of dad’s favorite sandwiches is a club on wheat bread.  There is a local sandwich shop that he always wants to frequent… that is until mom created this monster for him.  Now dad welcomes mom’s club sandwiches any day.  So without further ado – take it away mom!

What you will need:  Hoagie buns (a package of six cost $2.00 – $0.33 each bun); Meats – you get whatever you want from the deli.  We get a 1/2 pound of roast beef, ham and turkey.  Of course, a 1/2 pound makes multiple sandwiches.  They range from $4-$6.00 for each selection.  If you had to break it down, it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.75 per sandwich with all three meats.  Cheese – we also get 1/2 pound of provolone for $3.50.  It costs around $0.50 per sandwich for each sandwich.  Chips – we buy the store brand of chips for $1.00 a bag.  There are multiple servings per bag.  So somewhere around $0.25 per serving.  And we always keep pickles and olives on hands – always for nibbling.  So each sandwich will cost you around less than $3.00 per sandwich.  Not really bad and they are yummy!

Here is the fun part – arrange the sandwich however you want.  Pure and simple, right?  LOL – we prefer a little mayo on one side of the sandwich and  a little mustard on the opposite side.  You can use a sampling of all three meats or just the ones you want.  Add the cheese.  Now we have even used a panini press in the past and squished this sandwich making it hot or you can just serve it cold like this picture – whichever works for you.  It’s a simple sandwich but so delicious and easy.

You can even make them in advance and cut them into little pieces for a big football party.  We’ve done that before as well.  These are so easy to fix ahead of time.  Just a thought with the Super Bowl coming up my friends ❤