Chicago Diner, Chicago, IL

Sometimes I get to a place and have a couple of hours of just waiting around.  Sometimes I get lucky and the place where I wait, the FBO, (Fixed Base Operator), which is the company that parks us, gasses us up, provides facilities for checking weather, comfortable chairs in a pilot's lounge or snooze room actually has a crew car available.  This one did but we could only take it for an hour.  This had takeout at the Chicago Diner written all over it so the Flight Attendant, (I hardly ever fly with a flight attendant as the airplane I'm flying now only has 8 (lazy boy lounge type) seats and a very small galley, jumped in the car and off we went.

Hence the take out boxes.

The Chicago Diner is a vegan place so right off the bat I don't have to worry about questioning this dish or that ingredient.  Here is the Seitan Wings.  I thought they were less dense than they were almost resembling more of a baked tofu consistency than seitan.  We both enjoyed the spice and the cool ranch dressing even if they were a tad on the chewier side.

The Radical Ruben

We got two sandwiches and split them.  Sometimes I do miss foods and flavors from my old foodal life and sinking my teeth into this sandwich was a blast from the past.  I've made tempeh rubens before but this has the most amazing consistency and when you're chewing it the tastes just meld in your mouth.  One of the reasons why The Chicago Diner should be in any travelers top 10 Vegan restaurant list.

THE CALIFORNIA REUBEN 

This had a lighter Turkey-ish seitan and was a much creamier sandwich.  The cole slaw added a mayonaiseish feel and mixed with the daiya just melted in your mouth.  

The Radical Ruben exposed

There used to be a diner in NYC on 14th Street that was vegetarian and it closed several years ago.  It truly was a loss and the Chicago Diner with it's plate after plate of comfort food is my go to easy casual quick delicious go to comfort food place.  The sad part is that it's 680 nautical miles away and that, under any circumstance, is a long way to go for a sandwich.