Robin Garr's LOUISVILLE Restaurant Reviews

81	Binky's Chicago Style Deli 528 S. Fifth St. (502) 568-2606

If you're ever in the mood for a real Chicago-style hot dog or a delicious broth-dripping Italian beef sandwich in the traditional style of the Windy City, you'll be delighted to know that Louisville now has two excellent eateries specializing in this affordable urban cuisine.

Joining Lonnie's Best Taste of Chicago, which recently moved its popular operation to St. Matthews from suburban Westport Road, now welcome Binky's Chicago Style Deli to downtown's smorgasbord of culinary choices.

I'm told that the friendly folks who own Binky's are good friends with the operators of Lonnie's, so don't look on it as competition so much as alternative - and similarly palatable - places to grab a good, cheap lunch when you're in either neighborhood.

Binky's occupies a glassed-in storefront just opposite the Seelbach parking garage on Fifth Street. It's a simple, not overly large but bright and pretty room. Lemon yellow walls and bold red trim set a sunny mood even on a dismally overcast autumn day, an atmosphere not diminished by audible but not-too-loud soul music playing in the background.

Wall posters celebrate Chicago, including a big aerial photo of Wrigley Field during the Cubbies' first-ever night game, and heroic shots of Sammy Sosa and other legendary Windy City sports figures. A couple of commercial posters celebrate Best's Kosher Premium hot dogs and Thumann's deli products.

Counter service is quick and friendly, and it doesn't take long to get your lunch delivered on yellow plastic trays lined with wax paper; the Italian roast beef sandwich ($5) gets an extra waterproof lining of aluminum foil to keep the delicious beef broth in which it's soaked. (I neglected to ask to have the broth served on the side for dipping, so I got it the traditional way, which pretty much requires the use of a knife and fork.)

The roast beef was thin-sliced and flavorful, an ample portion of meat, beefy and touched with piquant black pepper, piled on a white bun designed for the purpose, sort of like a double-wide hot-dog bun. It was served, as requested, with hot Italian giardiniera pickled vegetables and their juices, which drip down through the sandwich with the beef broth to confer a complex flavor that spells out "C-H-I-C-A-G-O" on your tongue.

Whoa!!! Put that ketchup away The traditions of the Chicago-style hot dog: * 100 percent beef hot dog * Poppy seed bun * Traditional mustard * Extras include relish, onions, tomatoes, pickle and sport peppers, and last but not least, * absolutely no ketchup! Sign at Binky's

The jumbo beef dog ($3.50) was excellent, although "jumbo" is a relative term. The jumbo dog is bigger than the regular, but Chicago-style hot dogs by tradition are not foot-longs. This not your cheap bologna-style dawg, though, but a dense, flavorful all-beef tube steak, as darkly reddish-pink in color as rare roast beef, with a palpable skin that offers just a hint of pleasant toothy resistance to the bite. It's served on a decent white dog bun studded with poppy seeds and dressed "with everything" in the traditional Chicago style. (See box.)

Lunch for two was $11.20. Lunch for two in this day and age doesn't get much cheaper than that. $

(November 2003)

ACCESSIBILITY: The dining room is fully accessible to wheelchair users. There's no visible rest room.