Standing Room Only: Susie's Drive Thru
"Susie's is a veritable wonderland of grease and the only advice I have is to submit."
[Photographs: Nick Kindelsperger]
Susie's Drive Thru
4126 W. Montrose Avenue, Chicago IL 60641; 773-283-6544
The Short Order: Eclectic diner fare, with incredible milkshakes.
Want Fries with That? Absolutely. Don't pass up the cheese fries in the taco salad shell.
Want Ketchup? No one can be a snob here.
Susie's Drive Thru on the northwest side of Chicago must have a perverse sense of humor. It's basically just a stupendously small beef and hot dog stand with three stools and a few picnic tables lined up along a very busy street. But how else to explain something like the corn pole?
It's a Polish sausage on a stick, then battered and fried much like a traditional corn dog, only this one happens to also be filled with cheese. The crispy, goo-laden stick of meat is served with a side of thick Dijon mustard.
You will hate yourself and everyone else is your vicinity after the first bite. And then, without consultation from your brain, you'll dig in again.
Susie's is a veritable wonderland of grease and the only advice I have is to submit. Sure, their fries are freshly fried and a nearly perfect combination of creamy innards and crunchy exterior. But you should really get the cheese fries which come piled in a large taco salad shell (which they fry in house).
Enough gooey melted cheese is poured into to come about a third of a way up the sides. Please only consume this if you have a group to spread out the insane caloric punch.
Same goes for their Philly sandwich, which, as far as I can tell, has absolutely nothing to do with a Philly cheesesteak you'd find in Philadelphia. It looks like a gastronomic disaster, and comes loaded with mushrooms, onions, green peppers, sour cream and mayonnaise, "special spices," beef, and enough mozzarella to completely blanket a toasted sesame French bun. It's impossible to eat—greasy, and, much to my surprise, addicting. It's really something of a cross between someone's incorrect notion of a cheesesteak and a Midwest grinder.
Some items work better than others. The hot dog, at first glance, looks like a traditional Chicago dog, but closer inspection turns up sliced green pepper and fresh cucumber. It's an interesting idea but missing the natural casing hot dog, so it ends up kind of flat. But like everything else I tasted here, it somehow manages to make you smile.
With a menu like this, it's oddly the milkshake that comes across the most balanced and restrained.
They have well over 40 flavors, and on this visit I settled on the mint chocolate. It's creamy and not too sweet, with a great blast of minty flavor.
Susie's Drive Thru might not be everyone's idea of a great time, but it's a dive taken to a whole wonderful realm, and in that way it's endearing. It's also open 24 hours day, so you can indulge in the wonders of cheese fries all day long—not that I would advise you to do that.
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12 Comments:
someone please tell me they know what the "green river" and "bermuda traingle" shakes are flavored with.
carriebwc at 10:26AM on 09/21/09
I was there for Bike the Dog on Saturday and just got a shake (Hot Doug's was the trip before... ugh); the shake tasted like more viscous ice cream. Yum.
While we were there someone in the drive thru placed an order that caused one of the workers to yell "one gut buster!"... I feel like it may be worth a return trip to order that alone.
anysuchname at 10:42AM on 09/21/09
Man, this place sounds great; I'm sad that I've never been here before!
@carriebwc: I know a little about "green river": it's an old-school soda. Really bright green and lime-flavored. There may be another flavor in there, like a hint of vanilla or pineapple. I've never seen it in Chicago (once had it somewhere in the southwest suburbs--Schererville, maybe?), but it's apparently made in Chicago. And I assume the name refers to the dye-dumping that happens every St. Patrick's day in the Chicago River.
skizziks at 10:54AM on 09/21/09
...but obviously, I have no idea if that's how they flavor the shakes...
skizziks at 10:57AM on 09/21/09
...and oops, I meant southEast suburbs.
skizziks at 11:12AM on 09/21/09
There's something special about their cheesy fries, but I can't put my finger on it. It's either that the fries soak up the cheese in the right way, or maybe the cheese is of higher quality than the standard fake cheese. It's a mystery.
project_nessa at 11:35AM on 09/21/09
Green River...I've had it at Schoop's in Munster, just over the state line to IN. Powerful stuff. Like a sweeter but milder Mountain Dew.
NotAmerican at 1:55PM on 09/21/09
Thanks for the great post about my favorite Chicago hot dog stand. I'd highly recommend the Baboon shake (chocolate and banana).
@anysuchname - I'm very disappointed to have missed 'bike the dog' this year. The last one was fantastic.
Totally Sweet at 2:25PM on 09/21/09
Not a big fan of milkshakes (too many calories for a drink)! I rather get my fattening calories from the corn pole and cheese fries!
jlewfoodie at 5:06PM on 09/21/09
@anysuchname: I really thought about going to the Bike the Dog event, but wondered how my stomach would handle the situation. Was it a good event?
@project_nessa: You are right about the cheese. There is something odd going on in there.
@NotAmerican: "Sweet but milder Mountain dew" ???? That makes me want to try it.
@Totally Sweet: No problem. When it is as good as this, I'll happily go.
@jlewfoodie: I'd say give the milkshakes a shot, but I understand the reasoning.
Nick Kindelsperger at 6:45PM on 09/21/09
You forgot to mention that you can get any meat you want on the cheese friends. I'm a big fan of polish sausage and onions or gyros cheese fries.
O_Leaozinho at 10:54PM on 09/22/09
Green River is probably favorite soda. Its delicious lime flavor and deep green color appealed to me as a kid visiting my grandmother in Hammond, IN. I wish I could find it in PA -- I looove it.
@NotAmerican -- I've had Green River at Schoop's, too! Green River milkshakes as well. I'm guessing it's the same Schoop's, since Munster isn't so far from Hammond.
Sigh, memories.
ramenmou at 12:39AM on 09/23/09