Perry's Deli is no secret downtown. It's actually run by a Bulgarian guy named Boris. It's right at Lake and Franklin in the Upper Loop and it serves massive deli sandwiches. Boris is a pretty plain talking guy whose son is a soccer prodigy about town. Boris himself was a player and is now a coach. Perry's gets slammed at lunchtime. It serves three-decker sandwiches that usually have two types of meat, three pieces of rye bread, cole-slaw, cheese, and Russian dressing. They are sloppy and titanic monsters and when you go in there and see the young suits gorging you wonder how they stay awake at the cubical the rest of the afternoon unless they're riding with Casey Jones. What's good about Perry's is that it's good bread, really good meat, good mustard, etc. It's all good quality stuff and there is no better combination than cole slaw and Russian dressing. There was a place in D.C. called Wagshals, an old Jewish deli in a fancy hood, that used to serve just that kind of triple decker. I got the Perry's special, which is a corn beef sandwich and it was fantastic, as was the pickle. You only need half a sandwich but if you go for the whole thing you will have to nap. It's $8 for one but there are good for a monthly pilgrimage for sure. Funny fact is that they have a cell phone siren and if someone pulls the phone out in line and Boris peeps him, the siren will wail. Boris still works the line during lunch and is a master of assembly worth watching. His schtick is great, case in point the live radio interview when they teed up the question, "What happens if someone talks on their phone?" and Boris, forgetting the live part about radio or not, said, "I tell them to get the fuck out."
Keeping on the sandwich tip but moving to some assembly required, I present you with two gems in the Taylor St. corridor. Start out at Taylor and Western, Superior Italian Bakery. The place is a dark cavern and the baker will normally be sitting just inside at a table with a glass of red wine. He gets up very early to bake so the wine starts at 11 am or so. The first time I went in I ordered, having been tipped off by Lou Langoni, a volunteer political warrior who knows Boris, a two-pound split. A two-pound split is a two pound loaf of bread that has been split with a knife after rising and before baking, creating a double hump of crusty goodness. If you are a bread person, this place is a miracle. Two dollars per pound of bread and the bread is brick oven fired, a really nice thick crust and soft springy middle. It's fucking genius. They also serve pizza bread for $3/slice, which is like two square feet of pizza. I was waiting to pay and I said, "It smells good in here." The baker, a tall Italian man with flour in his hair, looked at me, took my money, and said, "Bread." That's it. Bread. Best Bread I've Found In Chi Town!
Take your loaf back to your car and drive east on Taylor St. to Taylor and Loomis and Conti Di Savoia, an Italian deli there. Buy yourself a half pound of imported provolone, which is a barely recognizable cousin of the bland melting cheese version you're used to, a half pound of Alpino Salami, a pretty lean highland version, and two giant pickles from the jar. If you don't have eating grade extra virgin olive oil and aged balsamic at home, then get that too. You can now serve a delicious lunch for four by cutting your loaf down the middle and layering it with your cheese and salami, and slathering the underside of the top half with balsamic and olive oil. Cut each pickle in quarters and have at it with Coca Cola, cold in the can. Oooooh! A textural masterpiece. Pa pa pa pa pa!
Third lunch gem is for adventurers only. It requires a ride north on 90/94 to the Kimball Ave exit where you will turn left at the bottom of the off ramp into the parking lot of Chicago Food Corp., a massive Korean grocery store. In the back of the grocery is a food counter. You can get Korean lunch specialties for between $5-$7 that include pickled soybean sprout salad, a pile of tasty kimchi, a pile of some other pickle salad that has dried fish and some kind of bean stalk, a huge pile of rice, and a bowl of whatever you order. I ordered Yue Kae Jang, which you may remember me dreaming about in Soup it Up! It's a soup of clear potato noodles and beef bone marrow broth and it is very spicy at Chicago Food, everything is. My entire head liquefied about halfway through the meal. The scene is pretty fun. Very Asian America. There was a woman who was berating the cooks in Korean about giving her the wrong thing. But the cooking staff was pretty sure, along with her husband, that she had asked for the wrong thing. She wasn't backing down though, and so they brought her the correction begrudgingly as she muttered maledictions. Then she decided to scoop some of her pickled salad into a glass jar she pulled from her bag. One of the cooks peeped her and gleefully trotted out to collect the extra .50 for the to-go price. If looks could kill. It was Hi Larious. The food here is good and cheap and worth the trip. Check it out.
Home cooking tip... cheap lunch or dinner... buy ramen noodles, whatever brand you like. Grocery stores now sell World Catch frozen fish fillets for $2, cod, tilapia, salmon. Buy a bok choy or a napa cabbage, a hunk of ginger, and some green onion. Keep those around in your crisper and they'll stay good a while. Put the fish filets frozen on a plate, cover with paper towel, and nuke for two minutes. Boil water for Ramen, a little more than normal and put half a chicken bouillon cube in. When it boils slide the thawed fish and the noodles in, and the cut up bok choy and a slice of ginger and cook until noodles are done. Then add the flavor packet and some chopped green onion. The whole thing takes about ten minutes. It's healthy, except for sodium, and very tasty. Recipe courtesy of the Ramenator. You know who you are.
Foodie Friends, I have not helped you much since 