Chicago Diner, Chicago, IL

The Chicago Diner.  What can I say about it that hasn't already been said before.  I usually fly into Midway and on a good day it's about a 30-40ish minute drive.  This wasn't a good day.  It took almost an hour.  Yikes.  I hope nobody back at the ranch was waiting for the crew car to get back.  

The guy I was flying with today is one of the more open minded when it comes to food.  Vegan at home and flex on the road.  This is the place to bring people to PROVE you can do it without meat.  And they did.  When all was said and done, the comment I got was, "I'd drive an hour to eat here again."  What else can a Vegan, (well, they do serve cheese, dairy and eggs but I think of it as one of those places that actually take you seriously when you say, "I'm a vegan."), establishment ask for when they put out a plate of food.

No, I mean really.  It wasn't food that was just edible.  It wasn't food that was alright enough to eat but tasted "vegan" or "fake" or "nyeh..."  It was good enough to come back for.  It's not healthy food.  It's diner comfort food.  It's not what I'll be eating on any kind of regular basis but man, when you need a dose of good food bad for you this is the place to find yourself.

Psyching myself up.  There's an eating mission on the other side of that door.

Avert your eyes!!!  These next two pictures are VEGAN OBSCENITIES!!!  Take the children from the room right now.  And you skinny vegans, my God, get the sunglasses on right now.  I've intentionally scrolled this down so you won't be tempted to look.  Or, well, you'll be tempted to look.  Fine.  I warned you.  Go ahead in all your gluttonous glory.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Shake

A better shot of 15,000 calories.  Delicious calories to be sure.

Now I'm saying this up front.  I didn't order this and I didn't drink it but I had a small taste of heaven with that spoon sitting on the table.  I do believe it's possible to live on these.  Put this on your bucket list.

We ordered 2 sandwiches and split them.  Each came with a side of wings, one BBQ and one Buffalo.  The wings, when hot, were like meat falling off the bone.  Tender, soft, perfect texture.  As they cooled they got a bit tougher and chewier but there were only 2 left that we didn't eat.  The Buffalo had a bit of heat but nothing mindblowing, just a reminder that they were from Buffalo and winter was coming.  The BBQ was a sweet, wet sauce.

BBQ wings and Philly Cheese Steak

In addition to the sweet onions and soft peppers and the creaminess of the cheese the seitan had a nice seared crust to it adding to the texture mix.

PHILLY“STEAK” 9.50 Roast beef style seitan, with sauteed peppers & onions, melted cheeze on a toasted hoagie.

THE RADICAL REUBENTM 10.50 Corned “beef” seitan, grilled onions, peppers, sauerkraut, vegan Thousand Island & cheeze, on marbled rye. 

The Radical Reuben has a soft rye/pumpernickel bread and comes scarily close to the (memory) of the real thing.  It's a softer seitan, one that seems to have been braised for hours to soften and flavor it with salt and pepper corning, the crunch of the sauerkraut and the creaminess of the dressing come together to satisfy the deepest recesses of the NY Deli memories in my brain.

2 different sides of Kale.  We both preferred the cold Kale Salad to the right.  Bursting with flavor as opposed to the "Flashed Greens"  cooked Kale which was sort of just  ... cooked.

Not a bad price for all this food.  Now if only there wasn't so much traffic from Midway to Halston St. we could do this on a day when we had less than 8 hours to kill. This truly is a place to bring carnivores, (or anyone who appreciates a really outstanding diner comfort food meal), to eat.