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

Albano's Pizzeria, Lyons, Ill.

As my college friends can attest to, I'm a pretty frugal guy. While they were buying drinks and going to bars, my wallet was known as the place dollars go to never be seen again because of how rarely they saw me buy anything. 

I've gotten a little better at that since then, but with that reputation, it follows that I love a good deal, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a better one than at Albano's, known for what it labels as the nation's largest pizza puff. I don't know if that's actually true or not, but what I do know is that it's located in the Chicago suburbs, it checked in at No. 8 on the Chowdown Countdown and it's totally worth a visit.


For those who don't know, a pizza puff is a Chicago version of the calzone, piled with toppings, cheese and sauce and cooked inside the dough. However, the difference between your standard calzone and a pizza puff is that the pizza puff is fried rather than baked, which is almost certainly less healthy but certainly not less tasty. In fact, as usually happens when you fry something, this is really excellent.


Besides being really excellent, it's really huge. As I said, I have no idea whether or not these are actually the largest pizza puffs in the country, but if they aren't, they're darn close. Albano's pizza puffs are the size of a football, as they really load on whatever toppings you ask for. On my visit with my wonderful lady Amy McFann, we went with chicken, mushrooms, olives, spinach and ricotta to pair with the sauce and mozzarella that come standard. Each bite was filled with a great mix of all of those toppings.


Notice I said we there, as in we split one. This is the way you're supposed to have the pizza puff. They are so large that the picture at the top of this blog is half of a pizza puff. Yes, half of this takes up a full dinner plate. These are not made for one person to eat. We actually had some left over after splitting it.


Surprisingly, though, while it isn't made for one person, it's priced for one person, which is the great deal I referenced at the start of the blog and why I brought up my legendary cheapskate ways. The standard pizza puff is seven dollars, with each topping costing you 75 cents. With beverages, dinner for two or more people costs less than $15. If you can get multiple people to agree on the toppings, this might very well be the best deal in Chicagoland.


Beyond the pizza puff, Albano's serves everything you'd expect at an Italian restaurant, with pasta, pizza, soups, salads and sandwiches dotting its menu. I can definitely recommend the pizzas whether you get standard or deep-dish, having tasted the quality of the ingredients in the pizza puff.


That said, unless you just don't like calzones (since you can order baked as a regular calzone), I can recommend the pizza, but I won't because of the greatness that is the pizza puff. That's the reason you come to Albano's: a unique, high-quality meal at a very low price. When you have that, that's really all you need.


Recap
Time to go: Lunch/dinner. The pizza puff is great eating for either meal, and Albano's is open seven days a week.


Wait during my visit: None. Even though it's Chicagoland, it's the land part of Chicagoland, which means the restaurant traffic isn't usually bad. Things could be a bit worse at the Cicero location, which is a little closer to Chicago proper than Lyons.


Location: Albano's offers two locations, one at 8699 W. Ogden Avenue in Lyons, Ill., and the other at 5913 W. Roosevelt Road in Cicero, Ill.


Parking: It's available right in front of the restaurant.

Cost: Very wallet-friendly. Most entrees are under $15, with the pizza puff at $7 and yielding at least two meals.


Website: Albano's Pizzeria


Signature items: Pizza puff