Superdawg

It's been a while since we posted about our adventures in Chicagoland back in 2014 (most recent post here and all posts in the series here), but better late than never...

After a fun day in the city of Chicago, we visited the iconic Superdawg for dinner. We had heard of Superdawg back when we lived in Chicago, but for whatever reason, never made it there. (That seems to have been the case for a bunch of iconic Chicago hot dog places, including Hot Doug's.) Since we were staying up in Rosemont on this trip and had a car, we were much closer to Superdawg than we ever were when we lived in the city, and we could also fully enjoy the experience of the drive-in (first one M had ever been to!).

We thought we were getting to Superdawg on the earlier side for dinner, but the entire parking lot was packed when we got there. We got pretty lucky and a spot opened up not long after we arrived, which meant we could enjoy the full Superdawg drive-in experience. Considering the long wait to put in the order from the drive-in terminal, it might have been quicker just ordering inside and sitting on the benches, but we really wanted to experience Superdawg how it "should be." True drive-ins are pretty rare these days, so we thought it would be a fun experience.

We ordered a bunch of different items from the giant menu. When everything was ready, someone brought it out to our car on one of those trays that you can hook on to the window while you eat. While this was pretty cool, there were a lot of flying insects (mostly mosquitoes) outside (it was the middle of the summer at dusk), so we opted to put all the food on the dashboard and eat with the windows closed instead.

Although there were lots of interesting things on the menu that we would have liked to try, we knew that on our first visit we both would need to try Superdawg's version of the hot dog. Each hot dog order came with a side of fries (awesome!) and arrived in these cute little boxes. 

The fries were just okay. They're crinkle cut like the ones we can get from Shake Shack, but they weren't quite as crisp. They also seemed a little drier than the Shake Shack ones. These were a bit disappointing, but at least we didn't come here for the fries.

The star of the show was supposed to be the hot dog, but that seemed like a bit of a letdown. It was okay, not horrible, but we had had better from Portillo's and Gold Coast Dogs in the past. This was a bit different than the others, though, as the tomato was green, and M thought it was a tad pickled and spicy. The sport peppers were also really spicy, but A was okay with that.

Even though each hot dog came with fries, M couldn't resist an order of the super onion chips (which you might remember from her favorites list). These are still the most memorable part of the meal for M. They were that good. They basically take the best elements of an onion ring - the onions themselves, nicely seasoned batter, good frying - and remove the worst - the nasty habit of the onions to "escape" the battered exterior of the onion ring once you bite into it. M still dreams about these.

A really likes milkshakes and malts so we opted to get a chocolate malt. It had a really good, rich chocolate flavor, and the pronounced malt flavor really enriched the flavors nicely. It wasn't so thick that you couldn't suck it up through the straw, but it was thick enough that you needed to position the straw just right to make sure you could. A was really happy with the shake. M liked it too, but probably not as much as A did.

The last thing we got was a chocolate chip cookie. We had read plenty of reviews online about how great the cookie was so we figured we had to try it. We're not sure if the reviews were old or what, but the cookie wasn't anything special. It was soft and chewy which we liked, but otherwise it was pretty plain. We've definitely had better, and A has made better at home.

Overall, we're glad we checked out Superdawg. We're not sure we'll go back again as it's a little out of the way from the city proper, and the parking lot is pretty small. It's also a little tough to eat while sitting in the car, though we did get to see an old school Cadillac boat roll through which seemed to really fit the vibe of the place. We're happy to have tried it, and if we ever do make it back, you can be sure that we'll get at least one order of those awesome onion chips!

Middle Eastern Bakery

When I first moved to Chicago many, many years ago, I was living on the South Side and A was living in Uptown, meaning long, gorgeous drives up and down Lake Shore Drive to visit each other. One of the places that A introduced me to while he was living up there was the Middle Eastern Bakery and Grocery. We enjoyed their food so much that even after he moved out of the neighborhood and we were both living further downtown, we still drove up every so often to stock up on some treats. It's a great neighborhood spot that I wish we had a version of in our current neighborhood.

The shop has lots of grocery items, especially spices, but we didn't do a lot of from-scratch cooking back then, so we mostly went for one thing - the pre-made pies in the bakery cases. There are a bunch of different varieties, and I think we tried most of them during our time living in Chicago. Since we were in Uptown for lunch at Tank, we decided to stop by the bakery, see what was new in the shop, pick up some spices, and definitely buy some pies.

The only challenging thing about buying the pies (which didn't occur to us until after we bought them) was that we weren't planning to eat them until the next day. Back when we lived in the city, we would buy large bags of pies, stick them in the fridge, and then heat them up for breakfast (at least for me it was usually breakfast). Our hotel out in Rosemont had no fridge for us to use (and you had to pay if you wanted them to empty the minibar and let you use it as a fridge, no thank you), so we were faced with a dilemma. Leave the pies at room temperature overnight (probably okay, but still a risk) or try to cool them off somehow. I decided to try to rig some sort of rudimentary cooler using the ice bucket to try to at least keep the pies a few degrees cooler until we could eat them for breakfast. Nothing happened, so either the pies are fine to keep out overnight or the cooler worked. Who knows.

We only got two pies from the bakery, even though we wanted to buy more. The one above was chicken with mushrooms, onions, and peppers, and the one below is the artichoke and feta pie. Both were good. They probably would have been better if we could heat them properly instead of just taking them out of the cooler, but these were not ideal circumstances. I think I liked the chicken pie more, and A did as well. The chicken was cut very small, and the mushrooms, onions, and peppers were nice and soft so the textures paired up very well. The artichokes were marinated and had a nice sourness to them that went well with the salty feta. The pies were just as good as we remembered.

It was great to be able to stop by the bakery to get some pies and also buy spices to bring home. (Our "souvenirs" from trips always seem to be largely food-related.) It brought back a lot of great memories of our time living in Chicago and how life was, in so many ways, much simpler back then. What a nice treat for our weekend.

Middle Eastern Bakery and Grocery, 1512 West Foster Ave, in Andersonville/Uptown.

Back to Tank

On the first full day of our long weekend in Chicago, we made a beeline straight for Argyle where a lot of the Vietnamese restaurants are. When we first booked the trip, our original plan for lunch that day had been to go to Hot Doug's before they closed, but as the lines got longer and longer the closer it got to the closing date, we just couldn't deal with the long wait. It had been 2 years since we were last able to visit Tank Noodle and we were really in the mood for some of their awesome pho, so we were pretty happy to "settle" for a visit there.

We started out with cha gio, the spring rolls stuffed with ground pork, carrots, taro, and wood ear mushrooms. Each order comes with 2 long rolls (we got the shrimp spring rolls last time since it came with 3), lettuce leaves, and a side of dipping sauce.

These rolls were wonderful and exactly what we're looking for in a spring roll. The outside wrapper was crispy, and the insides were so tasty. You could definitely taste the ground meat and the vegetables, and it wasn't just packed with lots of filler. We love cha gio and these were really great. We could eat these all the time.

After our spring roll treat, it was, of course, time for pho. I got the pho ga (chicken with beef broth), just like last time and just like every other time I get pho at Tank. It was just as great as always. I don't really have anything different to say about the pho from last time, so if you want to read more about it, the last write-up is here.

A also got the same pho that he usually does, the pho xe tang combination with sliced beef, brisket, flank, soft tendon, tripe, and meat ball. Just like with my pho ga, it was just as good as he remembered, so probably best to read the old post about Tank, since it still held true 2 years later. Last time, he jumped into his bowl of pho before we got a picture of his artistic design, so here's what it looks like when he's done adding everything to his bowl. Isn't it pretty?

We were really happy with our visit to Tank (as always). Afterwards, we visited a nearby Asian grocery store that we never went to before (which was in a spot that used to house a different pho joint, actually the first one that A and I ever went to together in the city of Chicago) and then spent some time walking around near the lake on a truly gorgeous afternoon. We're not sure when we'll be able to make it back to Tank, but we would definitely go back. We still haven't found any pho that we've liked better than Tank.

Tank Noodle, 4953 N. Broadway (corner of Argyle).

Classic Smash

We've mentioned Smashburger here before, our favorite place to grab a quick bite to eat at Terminal C in Newark Airport (a big reason we like that terminal at the moment). We finally have a branch of Smashburger in Manhattan now, which opened earlier this year, but that wasn't going to stop us from visiting them at the airport to get something to eat to kick off our Chicago trip. (Ridiculous mismanagement of security line lengths almost did, but we would prefer not to relive that frustrating experience here.)

Somehow, despite previous visits to Smashburger, we've never actually tried their "Classic Smash." So we decided to remedy that on this visit and also tacked on an order of smashfries. The smashfries are thinly cut regular fries that are seasoned with rosemary, olive oil, and garlic. They're soft and crisp, and the rosemary adds an extra dimension that most fast food fries don't have. We love the flavor of these skinny fries.

As I mentioned, we both got a Classic Smash, which is their standard burger, containing a beef patty on an egg bun with American cheese, smash sauce, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onion.

The Classic Smash is the burger we've had that's come the closest to tasting like Shake Shack's Shack Burger, one of our favorites. The onion is different (white vs red) and the sauce is a little different, but otherwise they were so similar that even the salting of the beef patty seemed to be around the same amount. The Shack Burger is only a smidgen better in our opinion. When you add in the line factor at Shake Shack and the fact that when we've gone to (the non-airport) Smashburger there hasn't been a line, they're pretty much equal options for us.

We were so happy with our Classic Smash burgers that we couldn't stop raving about them the entire way over to Chicago and stopped by our local Smashburger for more burgers only a couple of weeks later (more on those burgers another time). So happy to find another excellent burger to add to our rotation (that doesn't have an hour long line)!

Chicagoland Weekend

We just returned from a long weekend trip to Chicago to celebrate a friend's wedding, which means we have lots more recaps! We're not very good at finishing these on a timely basis, but maybe this time will be different?

Fluffy clouds over O'Hare from our hotel room in Rosemont

Unlike some of our more recent trips to Chicago, this one is probably more accurately classified as "Chicagoland" than Chicago, since over half of our meals were outside the Chicago city limits. We stayed in Rosemont, the village right next to O'Hare, and decided to make the most of our location by exploring areas of Chicagoland we've never really ventured to before. Can't wait to tell you about some of our adventures!