A stretch of Grand Avenue boasts both classic old-school sub shops and new renditions of Italian subs. Here are our favorites.
To traverse one of Chicago’s best sandwich streets, walk to the corner of West Grand Avenue and North Aberdeen Street and look up. That’s where you’ll find a massive American flag flapping atop Sterling Bay’s towering 200-foot-tall flagpole.
Grand Avenue also has plenty of bakeries. At the eastern edge of the stretch is D’Amato’s Bakery, which produces crackly sub rolls in one of the city’s only coal-fired ovens. Constructed in 1912, the oven was grandfathered in by city health inspectors when Nicola D’Amato purchased the space in 1970. Venture to the west end and you’ll see Publican Quality Bread, which officially opened in 2014 but moved into a much larger facility on Grand Avenue in 2022. Head baker Greg Wade won a James Beard Award — one of the industry’s highest honors — for Outstanding Baker in 2019 for his devotion to naturally fermented and whole-grain bread.
The street is synonymous with the Italian sub. Akin to a hero, hoagie, grinder or po’boy in other parts of the country, the sandwich probably originated in Italian American communities in the Northeast before making its way here. Though there are regional differences, most versions stick to a mix of cured Italian meats and cheeses such as fresh mozzarella or provolone, all layered on a long, crusty roll.
The majority of patrons will order Bari’s Italian sub, which is one of the finest sandwiches in the city. Much of that has to do with top-quality meat and the attention employees put into each sandwich. I’m also a huge fan of the shop’s housemade giardiniera, which isn’t shy with the heat, but also has a wild complexity in the background.As much as I love the sandwich, I do have mixed feelings about the bread. For years, the subs were built on the rolls from its next-door neighbor D’Amato’s.
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