Salt and Pepper Diner

3537 N Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 883-9800

Ah yes, a Kuma's stop in "gotta finish off those top 5 shakes" clothing. To get the official blog biz out of the way, we entered S&P with low expectations and on a completely full stomach. Not to mention that it was below freezing outside and we had to endure the frenzied free Dewey Cox performance at the Cubby Bear to find (illegal) parking. Even with all those conditions at play, I have to say, the shake was damn good...and yes, I had the famed vanilla shake, as opposed to my confection of choice, a chocolate malt (see photo of Nat below).

A photo of a shake. My flash sucks.

The S&P shake gets major points for being much thicker than the standard fare (my #1 gripe re: shakes vs. malts). If it hadn't been so cold, I would have finished the whole thing, but I lost interest after about five minutes waiting of waiting on the Addison Red Line platform. Bottom line, good stuff, and I'd definitely hit this place up if I ever go to the Metro again.

On to Kuma's. After all the discussion on LTH about the (then) new items, the Goblin Cock and the Minsk, as well as the raves about the Brown Shuggah Beer, we were due for a trip.

The Minsk: Pastrami, Sauerkraut, Onions, Brown Mustard

The Goblin Cock:Bacon, Cheddar Cheese, ¼lb. Vienna Hot Dog, Tomatoes, Onion, Neon Green Relish, Sport Peppers, Pickles, Celery Salt Mustard

Nat got the Minsk, and he wished he had gotten the Goblin Cock (although I believe he reported the Minsk as solid). I can't really say much more than that the GC was tremendous. The perfect amount of each ingredient, the key being not too much cheese. I feel like excessive cheese, or bacon for that matter, would spoil the affect of the hot dog, which really serves its purpose as a "topping" rather than some meal-on-top-of-the-meal (as the Minsk appeared to be). What could have been a gimmick turned out to be a magnificent melding of meats. Only drawback is that it is kind of a challenge physically to eat, but the sturdy bun never fell apart.

Couple final notes: I wasn't completely enthralled by the Brown Shugga and it didn't give me the slightly added buzz I was expecting. Also need to mention that this was the best service either of us had ever had at Kuma's. Pacing was perfect. Food came out in a timely manner, waitress was accommodating of one person in our party arriving late. All food came out just as ordered. Really can't say enough about this place. Unfortunately the shakes list is dwindling down, and we'll have to find other excuses to make it back to Kuma's before we finish this project. Hopefully nobody would care or notice if we just replaced the Veggie burger visits with further Kuma's excursions.