Ike's Place, San Francisco

No, I haven't forgotten to post the picture for this one. Tonight, we actually have our first review that will not have a picture, because my Dec. 2009 visit to Ike's Place predates when I began taking pictures of the places I visited. So I'll try to describe things as best as I can without the use of visual aids.

Luckily, Ike's Place is so creative that this is probably the best place to have to do one without photos if I must. Those of you who read my Voodoo Doughnut review know that in addition to wonderful doughnuts, it's just as famous for its creative names that it bestows upon said doughnuts. 

What it is to breakfast, Ike's Place is to lunch. Owner Ike Shehadeh has come up with no fewer than 83 sandwiches that dot the Ike's Place menu, and that doesn't include discontinued sandwiches or sandwiches that are only available to Ike's fans that sign up via e-mail or social media for the restaurant's alerts. All sandwiches are available on your choice of freshly baked French, sourdough, wheat or Dutch crunch bread, and all sandwiches come toasted with lettuce, tomato and Dirty Sauce. If you want, you can add onions, pickles, banana peppers and mustard for free.

Plus, every sandwich has some kind of creative name, with the majority of the names having something to do with San Francisco, although that's by no means required. Here's a sampling of what you can find on Ike's menu:


Menage a Trois: Halal chicken, honey, honey mustard, barbecue sauce, pepper jack, Swiss, cheddar
Nacho Girl: Wild salmon burger, mushrooms, avocado, havarti
Paul Reubens: Pastrami, coleslaw, French dressing, Swiss
Peg Bundy: Breaded eggplant, French dressing, avocado, cheddar
Lincecum: Ham, turkey, bacon, avocado, havarti
Tom Brady: Vegan breaded chicken, garlic and herb sauce, mushrooms, avocado, cheddar
Kryptonite: Roast beef, corned beef, pastrami, salami, turkey, bacon, ham, mozzarella sticks, jalapeno poppers, onion rings, avocado, pesto, pepper jack (basically, just about every ingredient on Ike’s menu)


OK, if you've read this far, I'm sure you're wondering exactly what is Dirty Sauce? Quite simply, Dirty Sauce is the condiment that takes Ike's from being good to amazing. Dirty Sauce is Ike Shehadeh's garlic mayonnaise, with several secret spices for a simply fantastic taste.


Before any ingredients touch the sandwich, Ike's spreads the Dirty Sauce onto the bread and bakes it into the bread, giving the sandwich the distinct flavor of the Dirty Sauce in every bite. The sandwich is then toasted again once the ingredients are all loaded onto the bread, resulting in hot and fresh deliciousness that simply has to be tried to be believed.


On my visit, I went with the SF Giants, an incredible combination of turkey, bacon, mushrooms, Swiss and avocado. Quite honestly, it might very well be the best sandwich I've ever had. When combined with the Dirty Sauce throughout the sandwich, a bunch of things I already like become perfection.


Ike's is so incredible that it's won numerous awards in the short time it's been open and has become an indelible part of San Francisco and the Bay Area in just a couple years. When you manage to do that, it's because of one reason: you're really, really good at what you do.


Recap
Time to go: Lunch or dinner. Ike's is open between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.


Wait during my visit: Oh boy. Ike's is the reason that San Franciscans need more than an hour for lunch. The line almost stretched to the end of the street, and Ike's location (at the time) on 16th Street is on a pretty long street. I waited approximately two hours for my sandwich. That I'm still giving this a high review speaks to just how good Ike's creations are.


The good news is that Ike's does allow you to call in your orders, and if you do, you can pick up your sandwich without having to wait in line. I highly recommend doing this. Even better, if you're not sure you can make it to Ike's by 7 p.m. and you call your order in, Ike's will hold your sandwich for up to an hour after its doors close so you can pick it up.


Location: You can find Ike's at 3489 16th Street, a new location across the street from the original Ike's. Ike's also operates a secondary location on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto.


Parking: Good luck. It's San Francisco, which means parking will be both costly and a nightmare. There are meters available, but they will cost you a few dollars for your wait. I would recommend finding a transit option of some kind. You can take BART to the Mission/16th Street stop, which would give you a half-mile walk to Ike's. Not ideal, but at least you don't have to find parking.


Cost: Average. Ike's sandwiches tend to cost roughly $10, which can be more or less depending on what you order.


Website: Ike's Place. Ike's offers a great website, allowing its patrons to rate their sandwiches and listing the ratings of each. It's a great feature.


Signature items: Sandwiches, Dirty Sauce

Eagle's Deli, Brighton, Mass.

It's about time we had a burger place here, and what better choice than to go with the lone Boston location that I've visited? Eagle's Deli, located in the Boston suburb of Brighton, is known for doing burgers and doing them in a big way. Right across the Chestnut Hill Reservoir from Boston College (that's where the Eagle's name comes from), this place has been a tradition for the students of the northern-most ACC school for years, which is why they've been visited by Man vs. Food and claimed No. 21 on the Chowdown Countdown.


What makes Eagle's so beloved is not that they do burgers big, they do them right. Every burger is flame-grilled to perfection and topped with whatever you've chosen to devour. Sure, they have the standard toppings, but they're very willing to throw some specialty burgers up there for your pleasure.


The Cowboy Burger, for example, features bacon, grilled onions and a healthy dose of barbecue sauce. The Ranch Burger, which I chose to go with, gives a new flavor to the standard bacon cheeseburger by using ranch dressing instead of mayonnaise. Want to try a version of Philly on a burger? Order the Bianco, with onions, peppers and mushrooms. There's a lot of options available.


Of course, this being a deli, Eagle's also shines in their sandwiches. Turkey, roast beef, ham and chicken pesto are just some of the high-quality ingredients that dot Eagle's menu. Want breakfast? They've got you covered there too. There's something for everyone here.


What takes Eagle's to the next level, however, is their mammoth burgers. Eagle's is home to the legendary undefeated Challenge Burger, born out of the restaurant's idea that hungry college students consistently want to eat more and more. Originally, the restaurant's non-specialty burgers were the King Kong and the Godzilla. The King Kong weighed in at a half-pound, while the Godzilla was a full pound. Sizable, but not insane.


That was what the Boston crowd thought, too. So Eagle's upped the ante, introducing the Cowabunga Burger, a two-pound cheeseburger with two pounds of fries. Not even that satisfied everyone, so Eagle's added another pound of burger and created with the challenge. 


The rules were simple and made the challenge unbeatable. If anyone could finish Eagle's Challenge Burger, that burger would be named after the person who completed it, and Eagle's would add another pound to the new challenge.


Today, as a result, you can order a Reilly Burger (3 pounds) or a Paul Jones Burger (4 pounds). The menu hasn't been updated, but recently, someone finished the 5-pounder, making the new challenge a 6-pound burger. Oh, and just to make the challenge more fun, they throw in five pounds worth of fries. No big deal there.


But these burgers don't need the size to be incredible. They're grilled to perfection, given just the right amount of char to juiciness, with a perfect complement of toppings that create burger bliss. No matter how hungry you are, a visit to Eagle's is always a good idea.


Recap
Time to go: They serve breakfast, but the burgers are the best thing about Eagle's. Given the choice, I'm coming for lunch.


Wait during my visit: Get ready. This place is famous and you're going to be waiting a while for your meal. The BC crowd loves this place and will be there at any time of day that it's open. I waited with my brother Zach for 40 minutes when we went...and this was on a Sunday afternoon when the New England Patriots played a playoff game the night before. Be patient, it's worth it.


Location: Eagle's is at 1918 Beacon Street in the Boston suburb of Brighton, Mass., right across the street from the Cleveland Circle T stop on Boston's transit system.


Parking: Even though it's Boston, you can find parking here. Just be ready for a short walk from your car to Eagle's. You won't be able to park next to the restaurant unless you're really lucky.


Website: Eagle's Deli

Signature items: Burgers

Big Pie In The Sky, Kennesaw, Ga.

Located in a shopping center in the Atlanta suburb of Kennesaw, Big Pie In The Sky is hidden so well that if you don't know what you're looking for, you'll drive right past the Publix and miss the restaurant completely. That would be awful, because Big Pie is more than worth the short detour off Interstate 75 to find it.

Two things define Big Pie In The Sky: quality and size. The restaurant uses a wide variety of toppings, several of which aren't exactly ingredients found in your local Pizza Hut. Sharp cheddar, feta, smoked provolone and cream cheese are some of the cheese choices at your disposal, while artichokes, pesto and sun-dried tomatoes are the high-brow ingredients on the vegetable side.


That brings us to the size. When they say Big Pie In The Sky, they are not kidding. They offer their pizza in medium, large and extra large, or you can go by the slice. A medium pizza here is 16 inches. Yes, you saw that correctly. The extra large measures in at 30 inches, can weigh roughly 11 pounds and is said to be able to feed 8 to 10 people.

One of their extra larges, the Carnivore, is even used by the restaurant as a challenge. The Carnivore Challenge is attempted by two people, who have one hour to eat an extra large pizza topped with bacon, ham, pepperoni, sausage and ground beef. Do it and you win $250, which probably isn't enough to make up for the feeling that comes with eating 5 1/2 pounds of pizza.


That brings me to the slices. At the top was my choice, the West Coast Pesto, which features chicken, pesto, Romano cheese and cream cheese. The slices are taken from the extra-large pizza and cost $5 for one slice. Be warned: these are not tiny slices. That is a normal-size pizza pan that the slice is lying on, and one slice is probably going to be enough to fill most people. If you're really hungry, maybe you can put down two, but that's not likely. I almost ordered two before wisely asking the girl behind the counter, and was glad I did.

Because of its size, you're almost certain to need silverware. You can't pick it up and eat it (believe me, I tried many times) until you're about 3/4 of the way through the pizza, it's just too massive. You can try to fold it, since it is New York-style pizza, but that doesn't work much better either. Really, your only course of action is to use a fork.


It's worth it. The toppings blend so well together on the West Coast despite the unusual combination. The big surprise is how the cream cheese and pesto go together. I'd never tried the two at once before, but wow, what a pairing. It's something I'm going to have to try again, probably even on a pizza at home someday.


Big Pie does serve sandwiches, calzones and salads for those who just aren't feeling pizza. Whichever way you go, pair it with a Coke or a sweet tea (this is Georgia, after all), and you've got one excellent meal before getting back on the road in the Peach State.


Recap
Time to go: This place is perfect for lunch. It's a good dinner spot if you're feeding a lot of people, but if your party is small, lunch is the time to visit.


Wait during my visit: None. I came shortly after the restaurant opened and was served immediately. I would not guess it is always like this, but since Kennesaw's a suburb rather than in downtown ATL, the wait probably won't be too bad.


Location: Big Pie In The Sky has been located at 2090 Baker Rd NW in Kennesaw, Ga., since 2007. It's in a shopping center near a Publix grocery store.


Parking: Plentiful. With the grocery store right there, you will always find a spot somewhere.

Cost: Very wallet-friendly. The slice is a meal and costs $5. Slice and drink can be had for $7. That sounds good to me.


Website: Big Pie In The Sky


Signature items: Really big pizza