Pork Jibarito from Cafeteria de Pancho - $6.95

2200 N California Ave, Chicago, IL - (773)772-7811

I made an earlier post here on a jibarito from Borinquen's which is supposedly the restaurant that invented this unique sandwich.

My little sister said Pancho's made a better one, so I wanted to check it out since I enjoyed the first one so much, and once again, I was impressed. It's the essentially the same sandwich as Borinquen's: flattened plantains for a bun, your choice of meat, and the standard toppings of lettuce and tomatoes. They tasted about the same, but the tie-breaker would have to go to Pancho's for having the larger serving size. But both restaurants are in the same neighborhood and worth checking out so whichever you stumble upon first should be good.

Jibarito from Borinquen's - $ ???

1720 N California Ave # 1, Chicago, IL 60647 - (773) 227-6038

Esquire magazine rated this one of the best sandwiches in America so I had to try it out the last time I went to Chicago. At first glance, it looks like a regular sandwich, but the "bread" is actually dried and flattened plantains. Then inside, you have your choice of meat (pork, chicken, or steak) and lettuce, tomatoes, mayonnaise, and from the looks of the picture, perhaps a few other sauces that I can't recall. It came with a side of rice and each table has some spectacular habanero hot sauce to compliment the dish.

I took the picture before I decided on making a food blog, so I can't remember the other specifics nor the price. The steak sandwich is in the upper left corner of the picture and the pork is on the right. I went with two other friends and two of the three of us (myself included) thought the pork was better than the steak but we liked both sandwiches very much.