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| A full fledged assault on your stomach |
Welcome to another delightful Chopbiscuit inspection of some of the USA's most frequented saloons, dining halls and high end bistro's. At least one of your humble contributors is on the road virtually every week and luckily have the opportunity to dine at some of the finest institutions and loathsome watering holes known to man. Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, some deity would permit us to be pirates and savage our nutriment.
I like eating. It fascinates me. I sit and look at the food for hours. I often eat while laying down in my hotel room with a bib in my lap and my outlook calendar open. Eating is my tweeting, except it's much cooler. Food is often made into the celebrity of carnage, which makes us appear to be pompous and scarce in regards to the act of eating itself. You eat because you fuel. I eat because I'm hungry. I eat because it's my job. I go out to these establishments to consume their lineups.
I then judge it.
Grahamwich
615 N State St
Chicago, IL 60654
It was another annual visit to Chicago for the NRA and Menu Masters event and we had the whole gang to parade through the Chicago streets to pillage another eatery. I coursed everybody downtown to check out celebrity chef Graham Elliot's new sandwich shop, Grahamwich. We arrived with a fairly large group and the shop was booming with some creative, eclectic visuals and the smell of cheesy popcorn. The casual counter-service spot offers sammies both hot and cold (turkey confit with candied yams, stewed cranberries and sage mago, or grilled cheese with Wisconsin cheddar, prosciutto, tomato marmalade and cheese curds), as well as snacks such as pickled seasonal veggies, G'chips, truffled popcorn and house-made sodas. Save room for soft serve ice cream with tasty toppings such roasted apple, salted caramel sauce and pie-crust crumbles. The surroundings here are minimal--vintage-inspired wallpaper,chalkboad menu and a long communal table in the back. A soundtrack pumping out rockabilly, surf guitar and old-school punk was a nice backdrop for the food.
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| Toasted marmalade on a grilled cheese? Hell's yes. |
What I injested:
After hitting The Publican the night before, (review coming shortly) I was craving a meatless lunch to hold me over until the night's events. I chose the Grilled Cheese and G'salad. The salad contains mixed greens, shaved fennel, tosted almonds, pink grapefruit and white balsamic. It was a great compliment to the comfort to the grilled cheese. I swished down the housemade Ginger Orange soda followed by the creamy vanilla bean ice cream with nutella, caramelized banana and marshmellow fluff. It was a heavy lunch that called for some one-handed pushups (Jack Palance style) after lunch.
The place was a great spin on the average sandwich shop, although a few in our group had some trouble with the service system and hospitality from the crew working the line. The crew was the hipster, artsy chic elite that often feels they are against the grain by not speaking to you and throwing around Vin Diesal movie lines because of the irony it it. Hipsters have their own way of communicating. They converse using special terms and lingo to show they are in the know. Being up on the latest slang is essential to being a Hipster.So, to basically sum it up - the service was a little sketchy, but it's definitely a must stop the next time you're craving a sandwich in Chi-town.
