Battle of the Cheesesteaks, redux

The Late Entry: Jury's on Lincoln Ave

I was off my game today when I headed to my regular writing / watering hole, only to find that The Bad Apple is not open until 4:30pm. And I call myself a regular. But I guess the silver lining is that I'm not the kind of writer who hits the bar before Noon.

Jury's on Lincoln in Lincoln Square: Messy & Fanciful

So I stumbled, hungry and thirsty, to Jury's in Lincoln Square to grab a Stella and some ESPN at the place where I usually grab crab cakes with my wife and kid. As it turns out, there's a "Philly Steak" on the menu, so I thought I'd take a crack.

More off my game, this time as a cheesesteak connoisseur, I had my nose stuck in some editing without even thinking about onions, peppers and all of the other stuff I don't typically want on my Philly when I order.

Not a Philly type haunt, the barkeep at Jury’s probably didn’t even think to ask how I take my steak. So when my late lunch hit the bar I was met with slight disappointment (so I thought) that I had ordered an artisan sandwich. But so what…

Jury’s take was different for sure. Their version of a Philly steak comes on quality bread, probably the best French bread that I have had outside of France.

Usually I don’t like onions on my cheesesteak not because I don’t like onions, but because it sweetens the taste and totally changes the effect. For me the onions just don’t work; and some things on your favorite foods just don’t work. Just like that you never order a cheesesteak hoagie to go for the simple fact that the “hoagie” part (the lettuce and tomato) will be a soggy, wilted salad by the time you get it home.

But at Jury’s even the onions worked, even though they were red onions, which are supposedly the sweetest when cooked. Likewise, the bell peppers worked too even though they spent their time falling out of the roll while hanging by a thread onto the stretch of Mozzarella cheese that kept it all together.

As a sports fan, I’d say that Jury’s gave me a head fake. If I were a teacher, I’d give it an A+. And an A+ is an A+, even for poor students like me and some of the rough-and-tumble Philly types (cops, fireman, and other tough guys) who wouldn’t be caught dead eating and artisan sandwich.

No Tastykakes, but still…nice work, chefs. Chicago cops, just park on the sidewalk as usual and get your butts into Jury’s.


Andy Frye writes about sports and life MySportsComplex.blogspot.com, and also tweets several times daily @MySportsComplex on Twitter, mostly about sports but sometimes food too.

So put that in your mouth, and chew it.