JT's Genuine Sandwich Shop

New place just opened on Elston about 20 feet south of Irving Park. Featuring sandwiches from the Midwest, place is exactly what this neighborhood needs.

Tried it last night and it was really really good. I went with the fried chicken sandwich which was a thigh with pickles and a maple chipotle mayo on a buttery bun. Outstanding. Better than HBFC.

Lots of cool looking things on the menu....breaded pork tenderloin, steak and potato, Detroit Coney dog, roast turkey breast with stuffing and cranberry and several more.

Finally after 11 years of living in the area we have a really good gourmet sandwich place.

JT's Genuine Sandwich Shop
3970 N. Elston
Chicago, IL 60618
Closed Sundays

This is great! I’ve been studying their concept and compiling a list.

I had heard a month or so ago that they were planning to open.

Maybe we can see a few of our other favorites popup?

Regional Favorites

Indiana, Iowa = Breaded Pork Tenderloin sandwich
Wisconsin = Beer Bratwurst
Nebraska = Runza (Bierock)
Indiana = Zel’s Roast Beef (w/Peperoncini)
Iowa = Guinea Grinder
Michigan = Pasty’s
Ohio = Romanburger
Maine = Lobster Roll
Michigan, Ohio = Coney Dog
Toledo = Hungarian Hotdog
Philadelphia = Cheesesteak
Southern Illinois = Horseshoe
Iowa (Maid-Rite), Indiana = loose meat sandwich
Florida = Cubano
Chicago = Jim Shoo
Kentucky = Hot Brown Sandwich
Mexico = Sonoran Hotdog
New York = Push Cart and Coney Hotdogs

I actually have some business in the area soon and I am looking forward to visiting.

Hopefully they don’t go too far ‘Gourmet’ as many of these sandwiches are rather simple and common.

shakes wrote:New place just opened on Elston about 20 feet south of Irving Park. Featuring sandwiches from the Midwest, place is exactly what this neighborhood needs.

Thanks for posting, sounded interesting so went with the bride for lunch.

J.T.’s has an wide ranging selection of sandwiches. I dug my roast pork and broccoli rabe with provolone, bride enjoyed her chili. We split a tasty natural casing dog. Big selection, comfortable space, friendly sincere owner, lots of street parking. Can't wait to go back.

JT's Genuine Sandwich Shop, count me a fan!

Thank you very much for the report.
I hope the pork and rabe sandwich was as good as Dinic's in Philly!

chainey wrote:I hope the pork and rabe sandwich was as good as Dinic's in Philly!

JT's version was very good, not quite Dinic's or John's Roast Pork, both of which I've been, but really tasty and I scoured my plate for scraps when the sandwich was gone.

Chris, owner/chef, of JT's, mentioned he uses pork loin instead of shoulder as he buys pork loin to pound for the pork tenderloin and wants to minimize products for now, so, while by no means dry, and the meat was cooked perfectly, it could have been a little richer for my taste. The greens were great, the bride suggested he offer those as a stand-alone side dish.

The other thing I noticed JT's uses sliced provolone, Dinic's/John's chipped off pieces of aged provolone. Chris said he plans on using aged provolone in the future.

Let me point out the above are nits and picks, the sandwich was terrific, for one week in business the place was smooth, people looked happy, as were we, and they were pretty busy for a new joint mid-week lunch.

JT's has excellent attention to detail, I can't wait to go back.

JT's had been closed for the safety of the staff at the start of the lockdown, but they reopened May 1st with just Chris working by himself in the kitchen. He has an abbreviated schedule and menu and is only taking orders through their website for now.

We ordered yesterday and found the process to be very safe and easy. Chris has a table set up right outside their door with clear instructions to call when you arrive and stay a safe distance from the table. Then he brought out our order and placed it on the table for us to take away.

We had the breaded pork tenderloin, JT's special burger, and the regular fries. Fries stayed crisp and hot in the 10-15 minutes it took us to get them back home. Breaded pork was fried perfectly and the burger really hit the spot. We'll definitely be back again before (and after) this is all over.

Just ordered a few things from here and it hit the spot. Roast pork w broccoli raab is fantastic! Chicago style dog as a side was nicely executed too!

JT's Genuine pork tenderloin sandwich lunch was fantastic, crunchy juicy Huge on a well-managed toasted bun with pickle, mustard and onion. Side salad had Sport Peppers! Chris mentioned the salad had all the ingredients of a Chicago hot dog run through the garden so why not sport peppers. Genius!

Chris chef/owner is a great guy, friendly, easy going, puts out a tip-top product and efficient without being brusque. Comfortable outdoor seating, quality / deliciousness for cost off the charts, good hot sauce and soda selection. I sense obsession with J T's creeping up.

Edit:
Outdoor seating is around the side, the entrance to JT's is set up for well managed social distancing pickup.







JT's Genuine, count me a Fan!

First definitely not last visit to JT's Genuine.


The JT's Special Burger (two griddled patties, caramelized onions, cheddar, granny smith apple, bacon, and dijonaise) was top notch. Really great mix of flavors and textures alongside some well-cooked beef.


Fried pickles were fantastic.

As of last week, there's still no indoor dining so that's going to limit when I can get back there. Hopefully that'll change soon.

I tried the special burger pictured in the post above.

I agree that it was very good. I just didn't think it was $16.00 before tax and tip good.

lougord99 wrote:I agree that it was very good. I just didn't think it was $16.00 before tax and tip good.

Given that the financial means of participants and readers here surely varies tremendously, I don't get the point in talking about value. That being said, the JT's Special Burger costs $14, not $16.

You don't consider the price you pay for a meal versus the price of a similar meal at another restaurant in your consideration of that restaurant?

It has never occurred to me to ignore the value of a meal. I'm not sure why we would ignore the value of the meal here on LTH.

I do think price/value matter. But posting a complaint about the price of a $14 burger that you enjoyed seems petty and unhelpful. Would $12 have been more acceptable?

I don't see how the price has any bearing on how good the food is.

dukesdad wrote:I don't see how the price has any bearing on how good the food is.

Price may not have bearing on how delicious a foodstuff is but certainly has bearing on how often one can consume said product. For example, I love tinned fish of all types, sardines to caviar. I eat sardines often, quality caviar rarely.

Far as cost of a meal, I've had $5 burgers that blew me away, Red Hot Ranch I'm looking at you, and $500 dégustation where I felt ripped off.

Everyone's budget and palate is different, the more data points the better.

And, as an aside, I'm a Fan of JT's, love the food, love the guy, love everything about the place.

JT's, count me a Fan!

On a forum for opinions, one man’s trash will always be another woman’s treasure. So someone who thinks something is delicious but expensive for their taste is just another data point. May not be one that matters to you, in which case you can file in the nopedontcare folder. It’s all good…

Personally, I can understand how restaurants serving a quality product anywhere in the city right now might have to raise, say, the price of a great burger. Wouldn’t deter me from enjoying it. But if a $12/14/16 burger offends, then better to know before you go versus getting there and throwing a tantrum. So from that standpoint, the info serves the public good

lougord99 wrote:You don't consider the price you pay for a meal versus the price of a similar meal at another restaurant in your consideration of that restaurant?

It has never occurred to me to ignore the value of a meal. I'm not sure why we would ignore the value of the meal here on LTH.

truly bizarre responses to your legitimate post, thought the price point talk was valid.

EscobarSzn wrote:

lougord99 wrote:You don't consider the price you pay for a meal versus the price of a similar meal at another restaurant in your consideration of that restaurant?

It has never occurred to me to ignore the value of a meal. I'm not sure why we would ignore the value of the meal here on LTH.

truly bizarre responses to your legitimate post, thought the price point talk was valid.

Put me in this camp as well. If it's $14 not $16, sure correct that part. But more information the better, even subjective value commentary is fair game given how subjective taste in food is generally.

What I want to know is if the owner's name is Chris, who's JT?

We ordered from JT tonight to mixed results. The problem really was that the food arrived cold. We got the breaded pork tenderloin, pork and greens, burger and fries. We ended up waving everything to heat it up and it was okay but really suffered from the reheat. We think there was some good food in there and would try again but tonight’s experience was not good.

cleanplateclub wrote:We ordered from JT tonight to mixed results. The problem really was that the food arrived cold. We got the breaded pork tenderloin, pork and greens, burger and fries. We ended up waving everything to heat it up and it was okay but really suffered from the reheat. We think there was some good food in there and would try again but tonight’s experience was not good.

I have found that it is difficult to judge a restaurant's quality from a delivery option, even in the pandemic times. The restaurant is able to control so many variables which impact quality within their kitchen, but the second it is packed and sent out for delivery there are so many more variables in play including distance/traffic/whether the food was properly stored in a hot bag during transit the restaurant does not necessarily have control over. You can have an award winning restaurant, but if the delivery driver gets lost or is directed on a poor route or has an issue attempting to deliver to someone ahead of you on their route, your food can show up late, soggy and at sub-optimal temperature which is completely outside the control of kitchen.

From the Book of Delivery 1:13--

He who does not learn from “Does it travel well?” is doomed to reheat it.

Agree about delivery being a wild card and I almost didn’t post it but with still consuming restaurant food mostly by delivery, I thought it was at least kind of relevant. There are places on our usual delivery rotation for the past two years that we probably won’t go to in person. They are good and reliable at delivery but we may not make the trip.

I am still pretty excited to try JT’s.

I've had delivery from JT's a number of times to Lawrence/Damen and the food has arrived warm and tasty. Sometimes have to stick the fries in the microwave but never the sandwich.

cleanplateclub wrote:We ordered from JT tonight to mixed results. The problem really was that the food arrived cold. We got the breaded pork tenderloin, pork and greens, burger and fries. We ended up waving everything to heat it up and it was okay but really suffered from the reheat. We think there was some good food in there and would try again but tonight’s experience was not good.

I’m kind of mystified by this post. Do people really criticize restaurants for delivery food arriving cold?

And just a suggestion—next time, preheat your oven and a sheet pan ahead of the food arriving—if it’s not hot enough when it arrives, throw it on the heated pan in the oven for 5-10 mins and it will heat right up without suffering from the microwave (completely awful for heating the things you ordered).

Yep, as I said in my post above I wasn’t sure about posting but seemed relevant to me cause delivery is how we consume most of restaurant food these days. It’s just part of the whole experience. And to be totally honest, it may effect how quickly or enthusiastically I order from them again.

Since this comes not too long after a similar discussion about costs, maybe issue guidance about what is relevant.

Chicago chop cheese at J.T.’s Genuine Sandwich Shop. Fantastic sandwich, got to meet the @therealBillyZ and the affable Christopher Cunningham, of JT’s, was in residence. This sandwich is a collab between Chris and Billy and benefits muscular dystrophy. A real pleasure to both eat the sandwich and meet BillyZ.

click to enlarge





J.T.'s, count me a Fan!

Ended up having this special earlier this week as well. Enjoyed it tremendously. Also took home a container of the chicago style pimento dip which was also fantastic

WhyBeeSea wrote:Ended up having this special earlier this week as well. Enjoyed it tremendously. Also took home a container of the chicago style pimento dip which was also fantastic

Tell us more about the pimento dip!

The GP wrote:

WhyBeeSea wrote:Ended up having this special earlier this week as well. Enjoyed it tremendously. Also took home a container of the chicago style pimento dip which was also fantastic

Tell us more about the pimento dip!

I believe giardiniera was used as the pickle/pepper base and it tasted like there was some mustard in there. I'm no pimento expert, so i have no idea its authenticity, but it tasted great w/ some leftover tortilla chips