GRAHAMWICH?!

Graham Elliot Bowles is opening a River North sandwich shop, which will be called "grahamwich." Hilarious. This is one of many reasons I love Graham Elliot Bowles. (The others have to do with his fondness for taking the pretension typically associated with fine dining down about 400 notches by inserting subtle humor and incorporating novelties and childhood faves like Cheese Nips into his incredible culinary creations. And also his appearance on Top Chef Masters, where he came off as hilarious, humble, creative and completely down to earth. Hmm, Anthony Bourdain and Man vs. Food had better watch out; I think there's a new food man making his way into my heart.)

I have been dying to go to graham elliot -- and am counting down the days until Lollapalooza this year in part because I missed out on last year's lobster corn dogs that sold out at his booth EVERY DAY -- and now will add grahamwich to my list as well. Unfortunately, there's not much info out on the new place, which was slated to open in late May/early June. You can visit the website, which is cute but won't tell you much, here: http://www.grahamwich.com/

According to The Stew, we can expect street food and sandwiches at grahamwich, along with homemade sodas in five flavors from hand-pulled tabs. Also look for seasonal soft serve (!!!!), such as a roasted butternut squash ice cream with marshmallow in the fall.

Grubstreet reports that he's shooting for a mid-July opening (we shall see... I hope this is not another Girl & The Goat hoax), but also that he's working on a beer with Goose Island. Clearly, I will be sampling this as soon as it's released.

If you're curious about the new place -- or you just love Graham Elliot like it's your job -- check out the Hideout at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow night when he's interviewed by the Red Eye funny man Mark Bazer during "The Interview Show." For more information, visit http://www.hideoutchicago.com/writeups.html#INTERVIEW

Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend, which makes me sad because of my love for Graham, but also because Mark Bazer's column in the Red Eye is flipping hilarious. If you're able to make it, PLEASE let me know how it goes!