When I was a junior in college, I had the chance to live and study in Hinsdale, Illinois. It's the kind of place where the homes are stately and oak trees line both sides of the streets and meet overhead. But the best thing about it is that Hinsdale is a suburb of Chicago. I had grown up just outside of Detroit and was familiar with big cities but Chicago was different. It had the most amazing energy and it was exciting just to walk down its streets. You could catch the train and be at Union Station in 20 minutes or so. From there it wasn't too far to some of the world's best shopping - Chicago's Magnificent Mile. (Of course, I owned a car and so I never actually took the train but it makes for a picturesque introduction, don't you think?)
One of my classmates had a cousin who was just a few years older than us and lived downtown so occasionally we would meet up with him and his friend on the weekends and they would show us the sights. One of my most favorite memories is of going to Second City, the famous comedy club. There was a hefty cover charge for the evening shows - something none of us poor college students could afford - but if you went after 11 p.m., they let you in free and the actors performed improv. This was WAAAAYYYYYY better than watching the stand-up comics perform their rehearsed patter or try out new material. It was 1989 and performers that year included then-unknowns Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, and Joel Murray.
One of my favorite places to eat back then was a sandwich shop located in Water Tower Place, the iconic shopping tower on Michigan Avenue. This shop had over a hundred sandwiches, most with clever names and fantastic meat/cheese/veggie combinations. You simply told your server the number of the sandwich you wanted to order and they could recite the ingredients and help you select options or substitutions if needed. Sadly this restaurant is no longer there and a quick googling failed to turn up the name.
I can't be certain but I believe this is where I first had pastrami on rye sandwiches with stringy-melty-swiss cheese, creamy rich thousand island dressing, and large, crunchy dill pickles. I'd like to think I had worked my way through a substantial portion of that list of 101 sandwiches, but in actuality, I probably ate there only a handful of times and most likely would have ordered that same pastrami over and over again.
To this day, I love sandwiches. It can be as simple as peanut butter and jelly (Skippy chunky with Knotts Berry Boysenberry preserves on toasted potato bread) or some leftover roasted chicken with salt, pepper, and a little mayo. Or grilled cheese, as simple or as fancy as your pantry allows. If I'm well-stocked, I'll make myself a deli turkey breast, lettuce, tomato, a slice of American cheese, with mayo and mustard. And don't get me started on hot dogs... sauerkraut, chopped onions, ketchup, mustard, relish or maybe some chili with a sprinkling of cheddar cheese and onions. YUMMMMM.
Once in a while, when I want to use up fresh vegetables, I'll thinly slice whatever I have (use a mandolin, if one is handy) and layer them on a bun with mayo, Lawry's seasoned salt and pepper. You can add oil and vinegar for a boost of flavor, but I think it's just fine without.
Here are some of my favorite options:
- lettuce (combination of iceberg and leaf)
- bell pepper
- red onion
- cucumber
- tomato
- sprouts (alfalfa or bean)
- slivered carrots
- slivered red cabbage
- avocado
- black, green or kalamata olives
- pickle like jalapenos or dill
And while I'm on the subject of sandwiches...
I don't think of barbeque as being particularly healthy, especially when you heap coleslaw on it, but this BBQ Chicken Sandwhich with Creamy Buttermilk Coleslaw from cookscountry.com was soooo fantastically yummy that I knew I'd have to share it at some point. (See picture at top of this posting). It's a relatively quick and yummy substitute for much more time-consuming shredded beef and/or pulled pork BBQ sandwiches.
No comments:
Post a Comment