Drew's Taste of Central Illinois

If you can't tell by now, I love food, especially fresh food from the garden, small farm, and the home kitchen.  But like most people, I have a dark side, and when home I'm home in Central Illinois, I cross over to it.   My family shakes their heads at me, but I love two fast food dishes semi-specific to the Central IL area.  By no means are these dishes made with the freshest ingredients by the hands of an accomplished chef, but it's a taste of home to me!

My main guilty pleasure is Steak-N-Shake chili.  While most people would argue it looks and tastes like a cappuccino brown roux, to me it's a heaven in a bowl!  Little known fact, there's actually no tomatoes in the chili!  Paired with a vanilla Diet Coke, there's no better pseudo-meal in town.

The above treasure is a Gondola sandwich from Avanti's restaurant, nestled on the Illinois State University campus in Normal, IL.  If you look closely at the cross section, you'll see this sandwich consists of processed American cheese, limp iceberg lettuce, ham, and salami-far from a gourmet meal, right?  WRONG!  The "Go You Red Bird" Nation will agree with me, it's just the opposite.  What makes the sandwich is the bread, soft and sweet.  My second favorite Avanti's meal is a loaf of bread and their meat sauce.  

Want to make my day?  Send me a sandwich and a bowl of chili!  Or a puppy!