Took the UP-West Metra line from Ogilvie Station to La Fox, where my brother-in-law and niece & nephew picked me up.  Immediately, we cruised towards the Portillo’s on Randall Rd. for a drive-thru experience.  My nephew Justin prefers the ribs at Portillo’s – an aggressive order I can appreciate.  Madison, my 13-year-old pescatarian niece, opted for the caesar salad and french fries.  Their mom & dad went classic with hot dogs and I needed a beef, sweet & hot.  Didn’t get it dipped or wet, just ordered as is.  And I might be doing that from now on.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the flavor and soaked up goodness of dripping wet beef bread.  But it’s become almost unmanageable.  Soggy to the point where I can’t hold it together and beyond publicly acceptable messiness, depending on the situation.  Look at how picturesque this beef is without wetting or dipping:

Picture says a thousand words.  Enough juice gets in there residually from the beef dripping to keep the bread pleasantly moist.  Fries and a large coke and I was GTG.

Side Note:  I spotted this on their counter:

Peach Crush?  Never seen that before.  And I used to work as a merchandiser for American Bottling Co., which handles Crush.  I loaded many a pallet of Orange, Grape & other assorted Crush products, never dreaming I’d see a Peach.  Not that I craved one, but I like Snapple Peach Tea.  Even after sucking down that giant Portillo’s pop, I knew I needed a sample from this 2-liter.  Wasn’t bad.  Actually, it tasted exactly like a Jolly Rancher.