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Reader Bites celebrates dishes, drinks, and atmospheres from the Chicagoland food scene. Have you had a recent food or drink experience that you can’t stop thinking about? Share it with us at [email protected].
The outside of Punky’s Pizza & Pasta looks like many other Chicago Italian-ish pizza parlors, so you might not expect much. The old-school sign with the decades-old green, white, and red logo has been refurbished by Bridgeport’s Scarlata family, who opened the restaurant in 2002, but otherwise, it seems like it could be a neighborhood pizza place (which it is, to the delight of the residential section of Bridgeport that borders the south part of Chinatown).
The foodies of TikTok blew off Punky’s unintentional veil last year when, in an attempt to incorporate a burgeoning “what’s the best chicken Caesar wrap” trend (yes, it was a trend), several influencers discovered Punky’s and waxed poetically about their optional croutons (giving the wrap a satisfying but not overwhelming crunch) and huge portions. Despite what you might be telling yourself about the nutritional benefits of Caesar dressing, this is not a culinary choice for the strictly health-conscious eater, but it’s goddamn good.
I am not a foodie TikTok person, but I do like food, and lots of it—and thankfully, there are plenty of people like myself in the Punky’s delivery area, so they’ve been thriving for years despite the fickle nature of Internet trends. I do like the wraps there, but for the truly hungry, your best bet is the pot roast sandwich. It’s a massive slab of marinated beef layered with grilled onions, sauteed mushrooms double-basted in beef juice, and the blessing of someone’s grandmother urging you to eat more because you’re looking a little thin these days. The first time I had one, I had to ask if they had the rest of the pot roast the night before. The sandwich was fresh, to be clear, but it felt like an exorbitant amount of care for a $16 sandwich: surely, this was a bigger affair at some point. But no, Punky’s made it that day, and they threw in a bag of fresh potato chips— hot, salty, and right from the fryer, making me feel almost patriotic.
The pot roast sandwich comes with provolone melted into the bread and meat, and it’s served on toasted garlic bread. It’s a Chicago meal for sure, and a tribute to someone’s home recipe in that it’s not a grab-and-go—you will want a fork, and you will need napkins and a table, so that you can rest your head every five bites or so and make satisfied cooing sounds. Trust me, the time spent concentrating on your sandwich and staying off your phone will be worth it.
Punky’s Pizza & Pasta
2600 S. Wallace
$15.95
312-842-2100
punkyspizza.com
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