Ask any
Chicago transplant to list the five things they miss most about the
Windy City and it's a good bet the list will include Italian beef
sandwiches, a staple in Chicago. With all the Chicago transplants
in the Duke City, you'd think anyone serving a good Italian Beef
Sandwich would corner the market and you're right.
Tiny
Sweet Peppers, offering Chicago style sandwiches and pasta, has had few,
if any, vacant tables each time I've visited. Open only Monday
through Friday until 3PM, it's a humble establishment lovingly tended by
affable proprietor Frank Bellino for 12 years. Himself a Chicago
native, Bellino opened his restaurant when he couldn't fine good Italian
food in the Duke City (tell me about it). He sold his restaurant
in 2005 to to longtime customers and friends Tia and Bill Howley who
promise to uphold the Bellino traditions.
Sweet
Peppers' Italian beef sandwich is better than many we've had in the
Chicago area. The humongous sandwich bread and green peppers are
just right, but the top roast and Italian au jus may have perhaps just a
tad too much oregano and not enough garlic to be absolutely perfect (but
it's very close). Much better is the combination Italian beef and
sausage sandwich served with gardiniera, pickled vegetables made the
old-fashioned Italian way.
On the
one occasion in which I was feeling more Boston than Chicago, I had a
tuna sub which was fresh, tasty and among the best I've had in the Duke
City. I've only been able to pry myself away on one occasion from
ordering a sandwich and the resultant pasta dish left me with no
regrets. Replete with sausage, peppers and onions and a tangy
marinara sauce, it was the best of its kind I've had in Albuquerque.
Sweet
Peppers is one of the few Duke City diners to serve excellent French
fries. They're not quite of the shoestring variety but they're
thinly sliced and obviously freshly prepared. Sweet Peppers is the
perfect antidote when I'm missing Chicago.
