Chicago’s Breakfast Sandwich Game Has Never Been Stronger

CHICAGO — It’s called the most important meal of the day — but when it comes to culinary creativity, breakfast has traditionally been overshadowed by more exciting menu items at lunch and dinner.

Even brunch gets more respect.

But in Chicago, chefs are using the ho-hum breakfast sandwich and its close relative, the handheld, as their muse, with a slate of unique newcomers joining the city’s reigning favorites at Kasama, Loaf Lounge, Smack Dab and Allez Café.

Many would agree Michelin-starred Kasama in East Ukrainian Village, from chef couple Genie Kwon and Tim Flores, jumpstarted the breakfast sandwich trend in Chicago with their now-signature Filipino longanisa sausage-stuffed number. The trend shows no signs of slowing down, as more chefs tap into specialized techniques and ingredients to set their sandwiches apart.

“I’m seeing so many cheffed-up breakfast sandos, and not just in Chicago, but everywhere,” said Andrew Lim, chef/partner at Downtown restaurants Perilla Steakhouse and Perilla Fare. “I think we will see a lot more global influences on the traditional breakfast sandwich.”

Lim admits he has a soft spot for McDonald’s egg McMuffin. 

“I am not proud of this, but 100 percent of the time when I’m traveling, I’ll get one,” he said.

So when Lim decided to create a breakfast sandwich for Perilla Steakhouse in the L7 Hotel, 225 N. Wabash Ave., he took the fast-food classic and ran with it. 

It took three months to perfect the recipe, Lim said.

The first element Lim worked on was the bread. He modeled his on the celebrated English muffins from northern California’s Model Bakery. After proofing the dough, Lim bakes the muffins, then slices and sears them in butter on the grill. 

“When we are making them at the restaurant, it smells so good,” he said.

Inside each English muffin goes a folded omelet-style egg, a hefty house-made pork bulgogi sausage patty and melted American cheese. A punchy pickle pepper aioli helps cut through the fat, Lim said.

The sandwich, which debuted in May, is served with a hash brown on the side. It’s available at Perilla Steakhouse for breakfast during the week and brunch on weekends.

Crispy, Crunchy, Cheesy

At The Loyalist, 177 N. Ada St., in the West Loop, head chef Brian Francis recently introduced a breakfast sandwich that embraces the restaurant’s French vision but in a more laidback way. 

“I think the large influx with cheffy breakfast sandwiches has to do with the fact that it is, in a certain essence, ‘comfort food,’” Francis said. “It is easily relatable for the everyday breakfast/brunch customer.”

Francis loosely bases his off the bodega breakfast sandwiches he ate while working in California.  He starts with a boudin noir sausage from Paulina Market smashed on the plancha with bacon fat-charred onions until crispy. It’s topped with a crunchy house-made pommes paillasson — a French term for hash brown, he said — American cheese and a fluffy steamed egg.

“I’m big on textures, and having something crispy in a mix of mostly soft food is fantastic,” Francis said.

The sandwich is served on a Martin’s sesame seed bun and topped with house-made onion aioli and chili crisp, the latter emulating the splash of hot sauce many people put on their breakfast sandwiches, he said. It’s available 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sundays at The Loyalist, the casual lower-level sibling to three-Michelin star Smyth.

Texture was also top of mind when Taqueria Chingón’s co-founder/chef de cuisine Angel Guijosa started putting together breakfast ideas for the restaurant’s Fulton Market opening late last year at 817 W. Fulton Market.

“We’ve always been big on flavors and textures here,” he said.

For the taqueria’s breakfast burrito, crunch can be found in two places: the crispy hash brown inside and the lacy layer of chihuahua cheese on the outside.

Guijosa makes a souffle-like egg inspired by his former Allez Café neighbors at the original Taqueria Chingón location near the Bucktown-Logan Square border.

“We treat it like flan and cook it low and slow in a water bath in the oven,” he said. 

An 8-inch flour tortilla from a local purveyor is schmeared with refried beans and topped with house-made chorizo verde, pico de gallo, a hash brown and a baton of that fluffy egg. Once folded, the handheld is put on the griddle and rolled in grated cheese until golden. A vegetarian version is also available.

Guijosa also created a breakfast taco and is working on a breakfast egg pambazo, the latter something his family has been making and selling for years.

“We wanted to bring more soul into the neighborhood,” he said of his morning meal offerings.

Going Global

Sarima Café’s breakfast sandwich represents the heritages of Zubair Mohajir and Jacob Dela Cruz, the chefs behind the year-old Wicker Park spot at 1924 W. North Ave. Mohajir’s other restaurants include Coach House, Lilac Tiger, Mirra and Mariela.

A squishy Martin’s potato roll holds an egg, crispy hash brown and pickled shallots, plus tocino chicken bacon and sweet-and-sour garlic achar aioli. Achar is a favorite condiment of Mohajir, who is South Asian, while tocino references Dela Cruz’s Filipino background. 

“It’s a way to share our stories between bread,” Dela Cruz said.

And it resonates with Sarima’s customers: Dubbed the THICC Sando, it’s the restaurant’s best-selling item, with 100 or so sold every day.

“When we first opened, I had a breakfast sandwich every day for two months,” said Dela Cruz, who admits his cholesterol went up a little bit.

For those looking for a lighter and gluten-free start to their morning, Sarima offers a handheld lentil batter dosa filled with an egg, curry leaf potato, mint chutney and malagapodi, a fiery South Indian dry spice mix also called gun powder.

At Lao Peng You, 2020 W. Chicago Ave., in Ukrainian Village, co-owners/chefs and brothers Eric “Chops” Wat and Daniel Wat didn’t have to look far for breakfast sandwich inspiration. Their uber-popular scallion and sesame bing bread — a crispy, crepe-like Chinese flatbread — is the star of their morning sandwich, which debuted in late April as an off-menu item.

“Plus, Slagel Farms has such rich and delicious eggs, so it seemed like a great match,” Eric Wat said.

Available 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, the sandwich starts with a fried egg topped with a spice blend of sand ginger, coriander, brown peppercorns and white pepper that’s used in their beef noodle soup, along with chopped scallions. The bing bread is plopped on top. 

“We tend to eat this ourselves, and we wanted to share it with everyone,” Daniel Wat said.

Kimski Convenes The Breakfast Club 

Perhaps no place in the city is elevating breakfast sandwiches as much these days as Kimski, 954 W. 31st St. in Bridgeport, which turned 10 in May. 

As part of the restaurant’s new Breakfast Sandwich Club, chef/partner Won Kim and partner Ed Marszewski bring in a pop-up or restaurant noon-3 p.m. Saturdays to create their version of the handheld morning meal.

Kim credits Kasama in East Ukrainian Village with kickstarting the breakfast sandwich craze in Chicago.

“This entire event is dedicated to them because they inspired my love of breakfast sandwiches,” Kim said. “Everybody’s upgrading their breakfast sandwich game like with burgers.”

Chicago Secret Burger, Chubby Boys and Moonwalker Café have had a turn at Kimski’s Breakfast Sandwich Club, as have Kim and his graffiti artist friends who are part of his YouTube Eatiots show. Ingredients have ranged from beer cheese and a crispy garlic rice patty to fried chicken and a ramp and gouda egg scramble.

Besides getting to try a limited-edition breakfast sandwich, customers can get a specially designed T-shirt after trying five different sandos. 

“I feel like we’re in a progressive enough city so that there’s room for the sit-downs with your classic breakfast diner bullshit and these futuristic handhelds,” Kim said. “Plus, if they come with all the bells and whistles and anything different, that’s always a good thing.”