Conte Di Savoia

-Lunch under $7 so you don't gotta eat at Subway

I've noticed quite a few new Subway's opening up around the city...WTF?!?!? to go with this they still have those corny commercials on the air what seems like all the time. Well lets just say if your going to Subway in this city you need to move to Rockford or something. Your taking up parking spots, contributing to traffic jams and eating garbage all while living in a city rich in food. So today we head off to the Taylor street area to stop in at an old time locals favorite. Its been since 1948 that Conte Di Savoia has been supplying the residents of Little Italy with European groceries, with an emphasis on Italian, as well as soup, sandwiches, picnic baskets and everything else that comes with a family owned grocery store that's been doing it up right for over 60 years.


a Little Italy staple

"For Italian families with a little more cash to spend, the large import stores on the Near West Side provided a supplement or sometimes an alternative to the neighborhood store. Terese DeFalco remembered Fiore's Grocery at Loomis and Taylor but also, "there were the big grocery stores on Halsted and Taylor that we used to go to for our weekly shopping. That would be for the olive oil, the olives and bacalà and dry garlic. They'd sell it in bulk....Whereas your grocery stores didn't." "Taylor and Halsted, well that was the capital. That's where everybody used to go," according to Louis Panico. Bountiful sidewalk displays tempted shoppers. At Conte Si Savoia, on Halsted Street, "Outside would be the wicker baskets with all the snails in them and the codfish, which is the bacalà, the dried codfish. Clams and mussels were just...it was unbelievable and all the olive oils." From the stores website.


Pic from website

Time has changed and with it so has Conte Di Savoia. Not in a bad way but in a way to accommodate its neighbors and customers. It was in 1948 they began doing more than just groceries and started making homemade soups, salads, pasta specials and sandwiches made with fresh sliced deli meats. The goal has remained the same in that they strive to provide the best quality products with great service at an even better price. Its a popular lunchtime stop with students and workers of all types. It makes sense when you try some of their offerings. The original location is at 1428 w. Taylor Street and they have since opened a spot a few blocks down at 2227 w. Taylor. One of their better deals is a Italian sub for $2.99 available after 3p. Its an appetizing sandwich and the price makes it even better not that it wouldn't still be good at it's regular price.


Conte Di Savoia's Italian Sub

The 2227 w. Taylor location will usually have a pasta special or two to go with their soups and salads. I try and get over there every now and then and pick up their lasagna special whenever I'm feeling like a meaty Italian dish. I think its something like $6.95 and it comes with a few pieces of bread and you can add a soup for a little extra. I've never been in there when the place was empty and the service is always great. Whats a damn shame is there's a Subway on Taylor street and some people, I don't know who, eat there. Do yourself a favor next time your in the hood and stop in for a nice light refreshing lunch.


Conte Di Savoia's lasagna with meat sauce

Conte Di Savoia
1438 W Taylor St
Chicago, IL 60607-4623
(312) 666-3471
2 locations
Website

Fontano's Subs

-The Sammy's of Chi

The Fontano family opened their flagship store in the Taylor St./Little Italy neighborhood of Chicago back in 1960. So you had to know its time was coming over here at chibbqking. If you cant do the math they are now pushing onto there 50th anniversary which will happen in the year 2010. The Fontano family has been offering outstanding homemade Italian submarines, homemade sausage, deli foods, salads and other Italian cooking items you would find at your local neighborhood cornerstore. Around sometime after the Polk St location opened they started to franchise out. As of today they have a few Chicagoland locations including a spot in Denver. Obviously, the original is still the best. The people that work at the Polk St. location make you feel like you've been going there since 1960 whether you've been going there since 1998 or its your first visit that day. Gotta love neighborhood friendliness and when you get a sub and ice from Mario's its a world champ one-two punch.


A Taylor St. neighborhood regular

I've been getting subs from Fontano's for over a decade now and the only thing that has changed about the sandwiches is which kind I get. My first go-to sandwich over there was always a meatball. It is still is my go Sub when over there during the winter months. They also make the their own giardiniera and other bottled goods. I would say they have some of the best bottled hot peppers in the city so what remains a constant is that whatever sandwich I get-its always got hot giardiniera on it. If your a fan of big old Italian Subs than the Blockbuster is for you. Its a big daddy that features all the Italian cold cuts plus toppings and peppers and is in my steady rotation when there. During the summer months I get to Fontano's quite often and that's because they have a couple of great sandwiches for a hot summer day. If you wanna have them cater your party or deliver to your office for a party or just lunch they'll do that too.


Tuna w/ lettuce, tomato, onions & hot peppers

Sometimes in the dead of summer, you just need something cold to eat as well as drink. You know something that's almost refreshing and wont make you feel sick or need to rest up after. It just so happens that Fontano's has my two favorite cold cuts in the city-meaning they are served cold. During the summer months I always have to get both a 6" turkey and 6" tuna. Like I said theres some foods that just work well on a hot summer day and a tuna with giardiniera from Fontano's is one of those things. Its the simple things like quality meat, fresh bread and ingredients that matter in making a good sub and Fontano's achieves great success at all three.

I always enjoyed a good turkey sub every now and then but when you take the top notch smoked turkey that Fontano's uses-it takes a regular turkey sub from good to great. Not only do they have great housemade hot peppers but they use fresh Gonnella bread and highly flavored smoked turkey. Its best to let the turkey sit a little while while the oil, mayo, peppers, spices and meats all mold together into the bread making it the best turkey sub in Chicago. You would be a real wise guy to try one for yourself and see. There's a reason they have the block on lock.


Smoked Turkey with everything + hot peppers

Fontano's Subs
1058 W Polk St
Chicago, IL
312-421-4474
Polk St. location Menu

Joe's Taylor St. Subs Shop

-Grubbing in Chicago
Where the locals eat.

Joe's is one of those little corner cafes that is a real part of its neighborhood. Located on Taylor just off Western its in a great old school area, the less visited strip of Taylor st, and has endless regulars and a diverse menu that really represents Chicago today. Joe's has all the Italian sandwiches one would expect including Italian beef, sausage, meatball, tuna, Italian cold cuts, chicken parm, eggplant parm, pepper and egg and other breakfast sandwiches like chorizo and egg, bacon, egg and cheese etc... and I'm probably forgetting a few, not to mention the daily specials like spaghetti and meatballs. Gone are the spots with character and characters like Joe. While Joe's has survived the change other places have not. The walls are aligned with pictures of the friendly Joe on vacation trips and at the ball games alongside photos of Al Capone and Walter Payton. I said this place was real Chicago. If your dining in you'll eat at a table layered with red and white squared vinyl cloths. Its old school but attracts people from all walks of life.


The corner of Taylor and Claremont

I imagine at some point when the neighborhood switched demographics they added a Mexican portion to their menu. You may not be expecting it but this little cafe puts out some really tasty flauta's, sope's, taco's and the rice and beans are stellar too. They make everything fresh on site including the salsa which is also nice. The whole menu is home cooked meals like your grandma would of made, whether she's Italian or Mexican. The kitchen has anywhere from 3 to 5 ladies in back doing their thing on any given day. I would really recommend the chicken noodle soup with fried fideo on a cold winter day. The spaghetti and meatballs is the same recipe they used when they first opened and a real treat when featured on the specials board. My go to meal at Joe's is the Mexican lunch plate combo which gets you 2 beef tacos & 2 chicken flautas with rice and beans. I'm a tacos de carne asada guy but the fresh fried hard shell beef tacos at Joe's are the best hard shell tacos your going to find in the city. Everything is made fresh including the chicken flautas which are great with sour cream and salsa on top. One of the best lunch stops in the city.


tamales are pretty good


fresh fried hard shell taco is closest thing to Tex-Mex in Chi


2 taco 2 flauta combo meal is a great lunch plate

Joe's is one of those little neighborhood corner spots that are becoming extinct and replaced with Starbucks in Chicago. They also do early morning breakfast like omelets and carry Filberts bottled pop, this place is real Chicago and I'm happy its not going anywhere. Check it out.

Joe's Taylor Street Subs Shop
2325 W Taylor St
Chicago, IL 60612
(312) 829-5980

Carm's Beef

--Got Beef? Italian Beef

Carm's beef is one of the many beef stands in the Little Italy- Taylor St. area. It sits on the 1000 block of west Polk street and has been with us since 1929. If you wanna slang a fiendish beef then it needs to be homemade, which of course it is at Carm's. They slice the beef fresh daily and put into the gravy little by little to guarantee it doesn't get rubbery and stays nice and tender. Beef shouldn't be sitting in the gravy all day unless you have a really fast turnover. Carm's is a neighborhood favorite with locals, UIC students, St. Ignatius kids and the local grammar school it sits in front of. Its roots are traced back to the 1930’s when it started as a little grocery store that made and sold Italian ice. Once UIC came around in the '60's it turned itself into a beef/hot dog stand.



Carm's was inducted into the Vienna beef hall of fame in 2006. Popular menu items include the natural casing hot dog's, subs, Italian Ice and of course...DA BEEF. I have been eating beefs from Carm since my days of basketball camp at UIC as a youth so its easy to say that I enjoy a beef from there from time to time. Anyplace thats been around since 1929 in the heart of Chicago's Little Italy deserves mine and your business. Any of you that are eating at places like Pepe's and Potbelly in that neighborhood need to hit yourself upside the head. The beef at Carm's as previously mentioned is homemade and sliced very thin, the peppers have only a medium kick even though sliced jalapeños are present along with celery but the bread is good and the gravy is very subtle in flavor so you can really taste the roast beef without much seasonings in it, not my personal preference but still a damn fine sandwich worthy of your eats. This location of Carm's is in no way affiliated with the Carm's in Hillside, IL.


beef wit hot from Carm's in Little Italy

Rating Scale 5/5

beef: 4
bread: 4
gravy: 2
hot peppers: 4

Score: 14/20

Carm's Beef
1057 W Polk St
Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 738-1046
www.carms.com