The Silver Palm

I had the pleasure of eating at the storied Silver Palm recently. My concert BFF and former roomie Julie and I stopped in for some drinks after a show (Lil Wayne!) at the United Center. I had been wanting to go here forever. The Silver Palm is named after the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, which is now operated by Amtrak and runs between D.C. and Miami. The coolest part? The dining room is, in fact, a 1947 Budd dining car that sits exactly as it was during its operating days!

Julie was hungry, so we got some food menus. And being that I'm me, I couldn't resist taking a peek. Once I saw the "3 Little Pigs" sandwich, I couldn't resist trying it... even though I wasn't hungry. The consummate food critic and ultimate love of my life, Anthony Bourdain, once declared this meat-tastic concoction at The Silver Palm the greatest sandwich in America. Probably not the healthiest choice at midnight, but... oh well. It was worth it.

Here's what you're getting with the 3 Little Pigs: some smoked ham (all right), some fried pork tenderloin (mmhmm), 2 slices of bacon (I'm listening), 2 fried eggs (!!!) aaaaaaand a whole hell of a lot of gruyere. On a Brioche bun. I mean, that's a whole lot of my favorite things on the same plate. And when you smash them all together and call them a sandwich, I am one happy camper.

If you ate the 3 Little Pigs three days in a row, there's a pretty safe bet that you'd keel over and die from some sort of congestive heart failure directly related to overconsumption of all things Miss Piggy. But there's also a pretty strong chance you'd die happy.

I don't have any pictures because it was 1 AM and once the 3 Little Pigs arrived, there was very little chance I was going to delay sinking my teeth into something Anthony Bourdain loves this much with something crazy like Droid photography. So I will try to do it justice with a written description.

The ham is perfection, adding just the right amount of sweetness to counter all things savory in this dish. The bacon adds a very necessary element of crunch, while the overeasy egg yoke that breaks over the sandwich provides an unprecedentedly silky richness. All. Over. Everything. And then it happens again with egg number two. If that weren't enough, there's the gruyere. My favorite kind of cheese. Just hanging out, upping the decadence ante by about 4,000. The Brioche is fresh and soft and a little on the sweet side, miraculously staying together long enough to serve simultaneously as an impeccable complement to the fillings and their ideal vehicle from table to gullet.

In a word: unbelievable. And that's really all there is to it. Except that it also comes with fries.

But if you're still hungry for more, you can take Bourdain's word for it: watch him take on the 3 Little Pigs with No Reservations. (That makes two of us.)

And if you love pork too much to simply spectate when it comes to this sandwich, step up to the plate at The Silver Palm, located at 768 N. Milwaukee Avenue,right here in Sweet Home Chicago.