Cheap Eats: Bubby's Chicago Style

(Credit: Andi Berlin/Special to Metromix)

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A meal for two under $20

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What we ordered: One jumbo Chicago dog with fries and a drink ($6.58) and one holy cow Italian beef sandwich with fries and a drink ($9.08) for a total of $15.66, way short of our Cheap Eats goal of $20 for two people.

Comments: Yummo! That’s the word they use to describe the toppings at Bubby’s Chicago Style. If you’re familiar with the dialect of Chicago fast food, you’ll know that people can get rather enthusiastic, even snobby, about their condiments.

A sign by the register reads, “NK-17: No ketchup permitted unless you’re under the age of 17.” But Bubby’s also offers imposters like sauerkraut and barbecue sauce to the often-unversed residents of Marana.

Bubby’s is Chicago food for Tucsonans, with a clean and character-less atmosphere, explanations on their menu and a veggie burger to placate the meatless. But the food is good, especially if you like celery salt, and the lingo is even more intriguing.

Food: Just because of the names, we were tempted to order the “Butkus burger” and the “Kaminski” Polish sausage with grilled onions and giardiniera, but we opted instead for Chicago standards. All of Bubby’s dogs are made with 100 percent Vienna beef franks, which have a mellow, meaty flavor with no quirky aftertaste. We got the jumbo dog “run through the garden,” so it included mustard, onions, sliced tomatoes, sport peppers, celery salt, neon green relish and a pickle spear tucked inside. I really enjoyed the supple, steamed poppyseed bun, but I had a tough time holding everything in. Bubby’s also runs a “Daley” special of two regular-sized dogs, fries and a pop for $7.95.

At almost $10 a person, Bubby’s is a tiny bit pricier than other Chicago joints around town. But the place feels fresher, and the ingredients are less fast-food and higher grade. The French fries, for example, are freshly-cut and very thick and potato-y. The baskets come out grease-free, and the bread is imported from Chicago.

The Italian beef sandwiches, which feature a puffy Gonnella Italian bread loaf, are loaded with lean, thinly sliced roast beef that has been dipped in Italian gravy. Aside from the basic condiments of sweet peppers and giardiniera (a herbaceous mixture of hot peppers, olives, carrot shards and celery), our sandwich had grilled onions and American cheese. So, on a surface level, it was the perfect sandwich. The only problem: All of the ingredients were there, but the meat could have been a lot more flavorful. It was good by all means, but it didn’t give us that primal, ravenous impulse to devour.

Service: Order at the counter.

Bar: No       

Bottom line: Bubby’s may be kind of far from Chicago (and most of Tucson), but it’s a great alternative to those suburban In-N-Out burgers and Applebee’s in the immediate vicinity. It’s a great place to go if you’re craving a “sammich.”