The Slinger (Diner Grill)

All this talk about all-night places reminded me of one of my more interesting recent meals.

The other Friday night I went out for a few beers and a bite to eat. We hit a few places around Lincoln and Lawrence. It was no problem getting some pretty good beer but the food proved harder to find. Everywhere we went had just stopped serving. When I finally headed off to catch the El home it was well after midnight and I was about hungry enough to eat my shoe.

The Diner Grill is not far from the Irving Park stop of the Ravenswood and that is where I ended up. It's a classic diner, open 24 hours a day. Since I was so hungry I opted for The Slinger. All the sign says is: "Slinger--Don't Ask/Just Eat--$7."

When I ordered it, the cook--a beefy guy with a 3 day beard, white shirt, paper hat, and a cigarette--just said "Allllright!" and went to work.

The Slinger is, in its own greasy way, a masterpiece and it comes on a large oval platter. The foundation is a massive portion of hash brown potatoes covered with grilled onions. On top of that is 2 side-by-side cheeseburgers, topped with a couple of fried eggs, sunny-side up. The whole thing is covered with several ladles of chili. Two pieces of toast come on the side. Lord have mercy!

All this is cooked to order, of course, and the grillman has obviously been doing this for a while, so it's a good show. A very large gentleman a stool away watched the whole procedure with great interest. He was very impressed with it all and inquired many times how it was and how I was doing. I think he was even more impressed when I finished the whole thing before he was done with his omelette that he started before I began. Like I said, I was hungry.

It almost makes me ill to recount this story but I'd be lying if I said The Slinger didn't hit the spot. It was exactly what I needed and exactly what I deserved. I forgot to mention that the cook slapped down a huge tub of a well-aged, homemade, hot giardiniera, swimming in oil. Kind of like a challenge that I gladly accepted. In retrospect, I'd probably have been wiser if I'd used a little more restraint with that stuff but it was pretty tasty.

The Diner Grill may be worth a visit even if you're not up for The Slinger. Their claim to fame is their ham, sliced off the bone as you watch. You can have it as a sandwich, with eggs, or in an omelette. Not bad at all.

Diner Grill
1635 W Irving Park Rd
Chicago
open 24 hours