Put five guys up there for over priced burgers

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White men will be fine?

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Elections have consequences.

I'm having to keep to a low sodium diet five days out of seven, so I have been getting Panda Express Sweetfire Chicken over rice about once a week instead of fast food chicken sandwich or Potbelly or my favorite sodium bomb Katy's Dumplings pork fried noodle. It is replacement level fuel, and for $8 I get two meals out of it.

Portillos beef is baseline and they are open until 10:30. There are far better beef sandwiches (Johnnies although I usually get sausage there, Original Mr. Beef in Orland Park), better fast food burgers (Paradise Pup, Poochie's) and better hot dogs and fries (Gene N Judes) but at 8pm on a weeknight after 11 hours of work and an hour on the Stevenson, Portillos works. Except for the fries, which suck, and I will inevitably go through McDonald's to get a medium fries and a $1 large Diet Coke.

Five Guys' burger is a shell of what it was before they sold out to private equity and expanded beyond northern Virginia. I cant eat more than 2-3 of the still delicious fries as they use peanut oil, so they are dead to me.

Now, I am a son and nephew of Greek restaurant owners. But i will assert that 90% of the old style diners left out there should be bombed. The 70s heyday of places like the Chandelier in Skokie or Seven Brothers in Morton Grove (looking out at the Admiral Oasis motel on a Saturday night and guessing how many hookers were there) is over. That generation of owners is in their 80s or dead, and if their kids took over they are generally dumb fucks who are trying to cut corners to compete with Chili's.

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

Sounds like you have a horrible diet.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

Portillo's is really good. The fact that someone can have one location doing much less business where they do a marginally better product doesn't really change that.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Thanks for the tip. My mother-in-law is on a low sodium diet as well and I just assumed that any decent Asian food was pretty much out of the question.

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“How do you get to be president and you’re stupid?” Donald J Trump - 4/10/25
When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus. - Turkish Proverb

Yes it is shakes!!

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Agree. You can find 100% better food for about 20% the price at even an average taqueria.

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

Portillo's used to be better, at least portion-wise with their beefs. You are getting less now, both with the size of the bread and the amount of beef that's put on the sandwich. It's treated as a money maker now. They still have good fries and milkshakes. Some of their pasta dishes are good as well.

But a Portillo's Maxwell Street Polish is not as good as a real Maxwell Street Polish. The last good one I had was from a vender on the east side of UIC. Tons of grilled onions, yum.

But will there be pictures of Jim Belushi on the wall?

Portillo's always strikes me as a tourist trap designed for ppl who wanna "have something Chicago" while they're in town. Their walls try really hard to convince you that you're in the most Chicago place ever, just like Five Guys' walls try to convince you that you're in a great restaurant (with all the glowing reviews all over the place)

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Portillo's, for fast food, is pretty awesome. Their chicken chopped salad is terrific. The beef and cheddar croissant with hot giardeniera is stupid good. I really like their fries. Their polish and burgers are solid.

People who say they hate portillo's are similar to the contrarians who say they hate the Beatles.

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I hate the Beatles, but Portillo's is fine. Their burgers are good, the beef is decidedly average. Their fries suck, but the onion rings are good.

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I don't think a good location exists. Maybe on a different plane of existence, but not the one I'm in.

I will allow for the occasional Cheef sammich though. Speaking of .....


I think that's a very generous assessment of their beef.

However, the Beatles do not suck ... but we've covered that ground before in other threads.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

I've now had Beef Shack and I'll never go to a portillo's again. Bad fries, burger is nothing special.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

I tried their beef and thought it was pretty decent. Haven't tried the burger yet. Much closer to me than Portillo's.

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You guys are too damn uppity with some of these thoughts.

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Which Which

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Agree strongly.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Take this bag, write everything down, and we'll fill it food.

Stupidest idea I've ever heard.

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Is this a shot at Portillo's? I will say their system and organization is top notch. They draw a shit load of people there and I don't think I've ever gotten an incorrect order from them.

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A shot at Which Wich. You don't order by telling people what you want. You grab your eventual 'to-go' bag, and write down what meat / cheese / bread / extras you want. Then hand it to them, and they put your sandwich in the bag. No talking allowed. They only hire mutes and incels.

Portillo's system is great.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

IMU is correct.

If Portillo's ran things that way and continued to serve their awesome food it would be fine. Which Which serves you crap that is just barely a notch above Subway, and won't allow you to actually speak and place your order.

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Somebody should go thru this and see which of these restaurants ended up not survivin' Covid.

See if we have any prophetic posters in here.

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i saw the 2005 white sox in aoril 2005, and the way they won that game that night (late come from behind win) i said "this is the type of team that wins championships"

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Agreed.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

Portillo's has a new location in Joliet on Larkin. Drive-thru only...3 lanes. I wonder if they'll replicate that model anywhere else.

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"I give you my word as a Biden"

My pizza takes are spot-on. Maybe you should diversify a little and stop eating pizza like a 6-year old.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.