I agree with a lot of you. Portillos is way overrated. Especially for their prices. Their burgers aren't good. Everybody can make a good hot dog. There are places where you can get a good hot dog for a buck. I'm told their beef sandwiches are good but have never had it. And I doubt that they are that good. I think people just say Portillos is great even though nobody really believes it. I haven't been to Portillos in a couple years.

Name 3

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2018
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Jorr's guy has said it best. Portillo's is a great baseline beef, and you could probably say the same about their hotdogs. Portillo's isn't a bad choice sometimes, but there definitely is a lot better and a lot worse out there.


When I go to McDonald's, I'm certainly expecting quality.

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I've never really been a huge Portillo's guy as far as thinking their food was something extra special, but a friend of mine and I used to meet at the one in Sycamore every so often (before Covid came along anyway) and I always enjoyed sitting in their eating my food and having a beer or two along with it. I know that you can do that at other "better places" blah blah blah but if Portillo's is being lumped in with fast food restaurants like Wendy's and McDonald's in this discussion, any fast food place that offers beer to wash the food down with is a-ok with me.

On Saturday I was close to a Portillos from the hotel so I grabbed some beefs for lunch for my little pod. When you have not been in Chicago area for 2 years it is the best damn beef you ever had. I would have gone Tommys or Buona or some other small place had it been closer. One thing I did not like was they make the giardinara too hot. I like there to be a mild in between sweet green peppers and lava sport peppers in the giardinara. Pops does theirs 'okay'.

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miss yankee doodle dandy, arthur treacher's fish & chips and shakey's pizza.

do not miss jack-in-the-box. not enough long john silvers around and arby's potato cakes; best fast food potatoes out there.

prefer jay's beef and sausage to portillos. one thing about jay's, they employ lots of tough guys.

Buona's not a small place, it's a chain. And a god awful one at that. Their beef is much worse than Portillo's.

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The original owner was a shitty high school basketball ref who seemed to have a thing against some teams. I'm not saying he was dishonest, but he may have had some friends who were a little shady.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Correct - Wendy's is way better than both of those chains.

Made a lot of cash selling weed and tickets to sold out concerts as well.

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haha

...i want you to use all your skills and talents...

Portillo's never did Polish Sausage right. They use the wrong type of onions. I'm sure they've been told this through the years but never change. I haven't had Portillos since 2017 but assuming its not changed.

But the best hot dog in town is always your hot dog vendor on the corner. Not sure what they do but their hot dogs can't be beat. And of course, at the ballpark.

100% agree on Buona. The only time I've gone there is when I can get a free sandwich with those promo coupons from White Sox games.

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I can't imagine Justin (Jay) selling weed, though you never know. You have to be talking about one of his kids.

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it's the water. we get the best water in the nation from the great lakes. successful ex chicagoan fast-food owners who move/semi-retire and open up a new place in phoenix, las vegas or tampa..can't duplicate the taste because the water is not the same.

So because you are 433, You are Some Kind of FAST FOOD EXPERT??? LOU"s in PHOENIX doing QUITE well?? PIZZAS JUST FINE! lol

yeah, maybe.

because you are big brane, you put ketchup on your spaghetti?

how long does lou in phoenix boil his pizza in arizona salt river water?

LOU"s has an actual kitchen in Arizona, just saying! they arent shipping frozen pizzas and when they did if you think it was by truck, then your stupidty facter is EVEN higher than we all thought!

I am just surprised that with all the alleged intelligence between guys like you, FARNK, and FARVEFANEn (how would you like to be stuck with that group for a weekend?) that they Have't found a way to combine There IQ's and get jobs at Staples or The Taco Bell???

Lou Malnati's is overrated shit in Chicago.

you're probably right. Like 10 years ago, I was in Orange County CA visiting and they had a Portillo's there. They were able to match the 'Chicago' Taste in the hotdog but still no where close to the hot dog vendor on the street corner.




Ya for sure. And 'Deep Dish' is tourist food. When I was living back in Chicago I could count on one hand how many times I had deep dish. Regular Pizza thin crust flat bread tastes better than most of the country. Maybe like 433 said its' the water.

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added - this reminded me listening to Doug Buffone on the score once. He had a restaurant which was trying to do philly cheese steak in chicago. He said he could never get it right . Couldn't replicate that Philly taste. Probably the water over there where he grew up in Philly was different.

Compared to Chicago, Portillos tastes the same here. Spinato's/Aurelio's tastes the same. Rosati's tastes the same. Lou's tastes the same.

Ask the Bagel Man in Ahwatukee. People line up out the door for his bagels every morning. New York born and raised. He says water is bullshit. He boils his bagels with malt.

Mustard's Last Stand next to Ryan Field in Evanston had a similar niche back in the 80s.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

that's all great, but, my question still stands: how long does lou in phoenix boil his pizza in arizona salt river water?

if you can't figure that out, ask yourself what is the difference between hot dogs/polishes vs. pizza and fast food joints with steam tables and grills vs. sit down restaurants with bakers and wood-fired ovens. right above us, a poster talked about hot dogs and polishes and you're talking about lou's pizza in phoenix.

The Eye of Pizzadence sees all.

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in the QCA we have a few places that do italian beefs and its just ok. they are the places where they have all the chicago food supply signs in everywhere and they make a decent gyro but their beefs are just ok. when we got our portillos, it became where i go get beefs. and i've always said its a good representation.

hawg - have you been to jack in the box or carls jr. they have them out here but never tried them. they look disgusting but was curious.

Have you had a portillos beef lately? Its... not great anymore.

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