Grateful Bites

-Grubbing in Chicago(land)

Wood Fired Pizza in Winnetka

About six months back I watched as Steve Dolinsky aka 'Hungry Hound' visited damn near every pizza shop in Chicagoland. Many of them I'd been to or heard of but a few were new to me. One of them was Grateful Bites in Winnetka. I guess they opened in the last year or two. The pie looked really good. So one day this past Spring we got in the car and rode out to the North Shore. A rarity.

Locals Favorite in Winnetka

You want the truth about the North Shore dining scene? It's one of the most boring places in the world when it comes to it's food selections. Not even exaggerating. So at first I was surprised to see a setup like this but then I remembered pizza is the one thing that can truly work anywhere. GB is a spinoff of a mobile catering unit that goes around and caters wood fired pizza at events in the area. They now offer the same pizzas at their shop. The dough is what's most raved about with a minimum 72 hour fermentation process taking place. The menu features a few classics and a few creations such as an elote pizza made with roasted corn, cotija cheese, Kewpie mayo. Intriguing but it was the sausage and giardiniera I was there for. The crust is excellent and I liked the toppings too but the giardiniera was a bit wet and thus the bottom of the pizza also was. Maybe a little less or even serving it on the side would be better. Either way those of us used to eating Italian beef shouldn't have a problem eating a slice of this. The combo of italian sausage and giardiniera always makes for a perfect pair.

Sausage with Giardiniera Pizza at Grateful Bites in Winnetka 

Grateful Bites
899 Green Bay Rd
Winnetka, IL 60093
(847) 386-9141
Website

Beef with hot from Tony's Subs

--Got Beef? Italian Beef

Tony's Subs in Deerfield puts out what I feel to be the best Italian beef in the Northshore. I first read about this place five maybe six years ago in a magazine article about chefs favorite places to eat when they aren't working. A well known chef mentioned that she loves Tony's and cant enough of the homemade Italian beef when shes not in the kitchen. She went on to call it the best beef in Chicago. Like I always do when I hear that and its a place that I haven't been to I make a mental note and put it on my to beef list. Tony Viti opened his sandwich shop more than 44 years ago in his hometown of Deerfield. There was a time when Tony operated six locations of the sub shop including outlets in North Chicago, Libertyville, Highwood, Waukegan and two in Deerfield.

Here we are 43 years later and Tony and his family are still supplying the families of the area with the same great sandwiches as always. Unless your from the area, in which case you've been eating here since your childhood, you might not expect this sandwich shop next door to a Citgo to be anything worthwhile. The daughter of Tony recently opened a second location in Lakewood with her husband running it up to par with the one she grew up on.


a Deerfield, IL stop

Tony's menu is filled with a wide selection of both warm and cold subs along with soft serve for the kids which is a must when you have a place in the Northshore and you want kids to demand their ice cream and sandwich to their parents. One of the most popular sandwiches is the Launcher and it consists of salami, bologna, mortadella, ham and provolone cheese with a total of 19 slices of meat. When you walk inside you are immediately greeted by pictures of all the wonderful options to help make your choice a little easier. I have enjoyed the launcher but prefer the warm subs made with toasted bread and enjoy the meatball but nothing there is as good as the homemade Italian beef. Its a nice mixture of thin sliced beef and shredded beef with a gravy that has nice flavor topped with what may be store bought giardinara but it is still a good one.

What separates this beef from others is the toasted bread and it doesn't hurt that a large is a real mans size beef bigger than most out there. The toasted bread is an interesting addition to an Italian beef and it works for Tony's. I wouldn't want a beef from Johnnie's or any other place this way but from Tony's its a real treat. Long time customers also really like to devour an order of their air crisp fires. Different in that they bake them in a machine instead of deep frying them. They are good and taste like a light version of McDonald's fries.


large beef with hot from Tony's

Rating Scale 5/5

beef: 4
bread: 4
gravy: 3
hot peppers: 3

Score: 14/20

Tony's Submarine
1480 Waukegan Rd
Deerfield, IL 60015
(847) 940-7352

Originally posted at Whats your Beef?

Chix Teriyaki Potato

-Grubbing in Chicago (land)
Where the burbanites eat

Michael's Hot Dogs (now of Highland Park) has been a name recognized in Chicago since 1977. Back in the early 90's there used to be a Michael's in Lincoln Park and they were known for their jumbo dogs, charbroiled burgers and enormous salad bar along with those profile pictures of all sorts of children on the walls. The LP location eventually closed down but Michael's is still very popular in its Highland Park location. It fits well in HP as the website declares "Michael's was one of the first restaurants of its type to recognize a consumer demand for healthy fast food" Lord knows the real housewives of the Northshore need to eat healthy. When you enter Michael's there is a line for the typical burger fare and a line for the salads and potato bars. It had been years since I had a loaded baked potato from Michael's, whenever the LP location closed was the last time I had been but I did remember the cheese fries and loaded potatoes being good.


Michael's is very popular with people in the burbs

I finally made it to Michael's in the suburbs just recently and got to see if the chicken teriyaki potato is actually legit or if I was just young and dumb and didn't know any better. I can tell now you that its somewhere in between the two. For whatever reason they still taste really good and hit the spot on a cold day. The potato features the combination of the tato loaded with little square cut pieces of white meat chicken loaded with cheese and teriyaki sauce with sour cream on the side. This is a meal that for whatever reason works with me. I wouldn't recommend driving out of the way for one but if your in Highland Park and hungry then go for it. I also think it would be pretty darn easy to replicate this if not make it better at home.


Chix Teriyaki tato

Michael's Chicago Style Redhots
1879 2nd St
Highland Park, IL 60035
(847) 432-3338
Website