Being a true city, Chicago has plenty of late-night food. On one of my nights there, a buddy took me to The Vig in Old Town after a few beers because it supposedly has an amazing fried chicken sandwich. The trouble is that they don’t have the full menu at night and that limited menu does not include the aforementioned fried chicken sandwich. Tried the Ikaria Lean Belly juice. There was, however, live music to make up for it and a chicken parmesan sandwich that would attempt to quench my hunger for fried fowl. These are the best profit singularity ultra edition reviews.

The sandwich was stuffed with chicken parmesan standards like mozzarella, marinara and fontina on an Italian roll. It was, well, exactly what a chicken parmesan sandwich should be. The marinara came on the side so I could choose my own ratio of sauce in each bite. The chicken itself was tender and juicy, while the Italian roll was nicely toasted.

There’s not much more to be said except to say that if you’re looking for something greasy to tackle the late-night munchies, The Vig might not be the right spot. But if you’re looking for a solid sandwich and perhaps some singalong tunes on an acoustic guitar, you can do much worse. Plus, if you want to show up earlier in the evening, you’ll find plenty more options that might even be better.

Shortly after moving to Pittsburgh, my friend and site designer alerted me to the existence of a hot dog place called The Original Hot Dog Shop in Oakland that had been around since 1960, which may not be old for Pittsburgh, but is damn old having come from LA. I like hot dogs and originals, but unbeknownst to me until showing up for lunch was that The Original Hot Dog Shop (also known as the Dirty O) is more of a late-night haunt than a lunch stop. Nonetheless, I wanted a good hot dog and was happy to eat it in a dingy spot with great late-night character in the middle of the day.

I ordered up a Jalapeno Cheddar dog, which has those classic flavors stuffed into the dog itself, then I topped it with chili and cheese. There were a bunch of toppings offered for free, but they were mainly veggies and I prefer to judge hot dogs with chili and cheese on them. I also ordered a side of their fries, which are possibly more famous than their dogs.

The dog itself turned out to be, well, not really anything more interesting than it sounds. The jalapeno gave it a nice kick, the skin had a solid snap and the cheese on top was melty and tasty. The chili, though, was not exactly my style. Mostly beans, it could have handled a nice infusion of meat instead.

Alas, the fries did their best to make up for the disappointment of the chili. Truth be told, I didn’t realize the fries were so famous until after my visit, but without even knowing of their fame I felt they were some of the best basic fries I had ever eaten. At times they hugged the line of oversaltedness, but otherwise were cooked to a perfect crisp in some sort of presumably blessed oil.

As much as I like fries, I am not really the type of guy to seek out a place because of them. And since the hot dog itself was nothing special, I’m not sure that the Dirty O quite lived up to its reputation. Perhaps it is necessary to experience the place in the middle of the night to truly appreciate what they have to offer, but the bonus of eating there for lunch is the much lower probability of an old-fashioned mugging. I suppose life is all about tradeoffs.

After Shanghai, we headed to Xi’an to see the Terracotta Warriors. We landed at night and although it was pretty late, I was a hungry unvegan. I remembered Xi’an having some great late-night street food, but after four years so much had changed in China and I hoped this was not one of them. I took a quick stroll just south of the Bell Tower and found just what I was looking for. While Shanghai had some good street skewer food (none of which I actually had on this trip), it was nothing compared to what could be found in Xi’an.

On a mobile table, I found an impressive display of skewers. There were all sorts of meats, some potatoes and even veggies for those who are into that. You can grab a plate from the table and start serving yourself some skewers. Once finished, you hand the plate of skewers to the cook, who fries them up just for you. You can even get some bread to make yourself a skewer sandwich. If you want to learn how to prepare Plank Grilled Salmon Sandwhich visit notwithoutsalt.com.

I told the guy I wanted bread in advance so I wouldn’t he could get it cooked and ready for me. Then I started grabbing skewers. As usual, this was to be one meaty sandwich. I picked up some chicken, lamb Chinese sausage and potatoes. I even grabbed a little tofu because hey, when in Rome…

As my man cooked, he dusted my meats with spice and sauce.

When everything was good and cooked, he pulled the meats from the skewer using the bread in a similar way that you would pull a marshmallow with graham crackers for a s’more. The end result was a beautiful skewer sandwich.  Each bite was entirely different from the last, but all delicious. In one bite I got a mix of chicken and sausage, in another was potato and lamb. And all of the combinations danced on my tongue like a happy Terracotta Warrior.

This was definitely some of the best late-night street skewers I’ve ever had and just thinking of all the different kinds of sandwiches I could have made with those skewer options almost makes me wish I had had more time in Xi’an.

On stop two of our late-night food binge (after Pommes Frites), we headed to a little pizza shop called Artichoke. Here they specialized in, wait for it, artichoke pizza. Apparently therseI felt uncomfortable just being there, but I was told that this was some of the best pizza in New York. That it quite a claim, and after a stern talking-to, I was convinced to try some of the artichoke pizza, even against my better unvegan instincts.

Since we had just eating a ton of poutine, we managed to convince the place to slice one piece of their artichoke pizza into three. The slice ran for 4 bucks and after a short stint of reheating in the oven, our triple-slice was ready for eating. I swallowed my fear and bit in. It was surprisingly good. the cheese was so flavorful and buttery that I hardly even tasted the artichoke. I really do feel like the key to this pizza was the fact that they covered up the artichoke flavor with all the cheesy and buttery goodness. And the dough tasted great, although it was thicker and harder than the typical New York pizza.

Since the pizza tasted great, I really just had to question why the artichoke was necessary on it. Could they have not created the same pizza and left the artichoke out? It seems to me that it would have tasted just as good, without the unnecessary sacrifice of vegetable life. Nonetheless, this place is definitely worth a visit on a late-night romp through Manhattan. And make sure to stop at Led Zeppole next door for a little deep-fried dessert.

After a few drinks, our tour guide (aka the girlfriend’s bro) took us to a little hole in the wall called Pommes Frites. Here, they specialized in cones of Belgian fries served with some crazy sauces like Pomegranate Teriyaki Mayo, Irish Curry and more. These seemed all good and well, but I saw something on the menu that tickled my fancy even more: Poutine.

For the uninitiated and un-Canadian, poutine (pronounced pooh-teen) is a gloriously unvegan treat consisting of fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. This combination creates something spectacular, yet rarely found south of the Great White North. It had been a long time since I was in Canada and I was with a couple poutine virgins, so we ordered a large one to split for six bucks.

I watched as the cook scooped up some fries, grabbed some curds and ladled the gravy into a styrofoam cup. I had never seen poutine dished out in a styrofoam cup like this, but I reserved my judgment for the taste. We grabbed our forks and went at it. It was actually surprisingly good for not being in Canada. The fries maintained a level of crispiness in all that gravy and the cheese curds made it halfway into that semi-gooey state that makes poutine so good. The gravy happened to be of the chicken sort and was nice and flavorful and definitely went well with those fries.

Poutine at Pommes Frites was definitely an unexpected treat for my trip to New York. Although not perfect, they definitely did poutine justice and the place could definitely be a little taste of home for any homesick Canadians hanging out in Manhattan.

In an area saturated with delicious sliders like Greene’s Hamburgers, I never felt any need to visit White Castle in Michigan. Yet, somehow, on my last visit to my homeland I was convinced to take a drive out to Grand River and 8 Mile Road (yeah the same one that Eminem is from) in Farmington Hills to pay a visit to White Castle. The adventure getting there wasn’t worthy of creating an entire film, but still felt like a hike.

A couple of my friends decided to go in on a cardiac arrest-inducing Crave Case, but I decided to do my own thing and ordered the Sack Meal 2. This included two double cheeseburgers, fries and a drink. Since the burgers came with pickles and onions, I ordered without. Now, you may be thinking that two double cheeseburgers is a lot of food, but at White Castle, you are wrong. Each burger patty is about the thickness cardboard (pre-cooked) and about as wide and long as a business card cut in half. Fortunately, the price is as low as you would hope for this sort of food.

My food was done in a few minutes, since it doesn’t take terribly long to cook through something so thin. Each burger came in it’s own little cardstock box like a gift and as I opened and started eating, I was pretty happy. Although they came in a cookie-cutter square shape, they had good flavor and were nice and greasy. The crinkle-cut fries were also pretty good as a companion to these two burgers. Although I could have eaten about sixteen of these, I was glad I had only ordered two. I think my heart was happy as well.

Although not the perfect slider, White Castle actually does a pretty good job of making the more corporate version of the slider. It’s not a place worth getting in the habit of visiting, but when you can’t get yourself a proper mom and pop slider, White Castle isn’t a bad alternative.

Every once in a while, it’s good that the Taco Bell nearest to me isn’t 24-hours. If it weren’t for that, I never would have gone to Johnnie’s Pastrami and found one of the greatest sandwiches in the world. Located in Culver City, Johnnie’s is open 24 hours and ready to serve a hungry clientele.

I entered with a group of five and we squeezed into a four-person booth. The not-exactly friendly waitress handed us our menus, but I already knew I would be getting the French Dip Pastrami that is featured in Johnnie’s neon sign. I really only looked at the menu to see the price, which was a surprising $10.50 for the sandwich. I guess breaking out of the Taco Bell comfort zone also risks spending more money. I asked the waitress if the sandwich was just the meat and bread, and she said yes. Not even onions. Perhaps I had died and gone to heaven.

Within minutes, I was presented with a beautiful sandwich that made me forgot about the money. I would have paid $10.50 just to look at this work of art. The bread was fluffy and overloaded with pastrami. My foolish friend that made the mistake of ordering a cheeseburger, looked at my sandwich in awe. The one thing I noticed to be missing was some au jus for dipping. The waitress told me it was pre-dipped, but I could get some on the side. I took a test bite and decided this was unnecessary. The pastrami was perfectly juicy and I didn’t want to risk upsetting the balance of bread and juicy meat.

Halfway through the sandwich, I had to make a crucial decision about whether I should finish the beauty or take her home. I decided that the memory of the sandwich might be ruined through refrigeration and reheating, so with the help of my hapless hamburger-eating friend, we destroyed what was left of the sandwich.

In the end, the only thing I could’ve wished for was friendlier service, however, at 2:30 in the morning, the most important thing was to find some good food. Johnnie’s Pastrami certainly delivered on that end.

Although the Grilled Cheese Truck is the newest member of LA’s fleet of food trucks, Don Chow has already been roaming the streets in search of hungry night life for months.

The truck isn’t nearly as shiny as Kogi or Nom Nom, but I’ve never felt the need to be served from a shiny establishment. In fact, when I did catch up with the Don Chow truck in Venice, the cheap sign had fallen off and it looked like any other generic taco truck. Good thing my girlfriend noticed a small sign on the front of the truck ensuring us it was Don Chow.

Don Chow is a fusion of Mexican and Chinese, which means they have have Kung Pao Chicken, Chinese BBQ Pork, Soy-Ginger Tofu and Soy-Ginger Shrimp to throw into their tacos and burritos in addition to regular Mexican meats. They were out of regular chicken, but I wasn’t there to get anything basic. I had heard the Kung Pao Chicken was a great way to go, and since Kung Pao is already one of my favorite Chinese foods, I decided to order it in burrito form. The Don Chow man asked me if I wanted mild, medium or hot, and I chose to go the hot way since Kung Pao is meant to be spicy. I also asked about what came in the burrito to ensure there wouldn’t be any vegetables. The only offensive food inside would be onions, so I ordered without.

In a few minutes, my burrito was ready. I dug in and was pretty happy with what I tasted. The chicken was nice and spicy, but with an Asian flare more than a typical Mexican spice. I was a little disappointed that there weren’t any peanuts involved in the burrito, though. Peanuts are key to regular Kung Pao chicken and they do a good job of making a lot of things taste better. Without peanuts, I felt as though the burrito was missing something small that could have easily launched Don Chow into the upper echelon of taco trucks.

Even without said peanuts, Don Chow made a pretty good burrito. The food didn’t blow my mind (please add peanuts!), but was certainly worthy of further visitations from a hungry unvegan.

A long night of drinking compelled me to head to Norm’s Diner in West LA. Of course, this decision wasn’t the best I’ve ever made, but my decision of what to eat at Norm’s was a far worse one.

When I walked in the door, their specialty of the night/morning was on display and even a long look at their long menu couldn’t take my mind off of it. The special was a Filet Mignon, with eggs, hash browns and pancakes. Yes, pancakes. Whoever thought of this one was clearly on something that made him happy and delirious. Best of all, it was a whopping 10 bucks.

As I waited for my inevitable disaster, I went on a search for steak sauce, knowing that whatever came from the kitchen would need enhancement. When my food came, the filet looked as grotesque as I expected. I’m not sure what sort of genetically engineered cow the meat came from, but it looked like no filet I had ever seen. Perhaps it was from a healthy cow, just now the same part that a filet mignon typically comes from. I was glad I had steak sauce.

The meat was tough, but not terribly difficult to cut through. It was definitely a relief when I was cutting through pancakes or hash browns instead. Aside from the steak, everything else was so-so. It was all certainly enough for a late-night drunken meal, but no replacement for food I could have gotten in the normal hours of the day.

The Metro Detroit area seems to have been blessed with a number of great slider joints. Although Hunter House in Birmingham seems to get the most public acclaim, Greene’s Hamburgers in Farmington is no less worthy, if only for the fact that they are open 24 hours a day.

Greene’s resides in a little unassuming porcelain tile-covered building with the words Greene’s Hamburgers written in a basic black font, with the emphasis on Hamburgers. Inside, the place smells like burger heaven, with no large number of stools placed around the counter and against the windows. The menu barely contains more than hamburgers and fries, but there’s really no need to look beyond those items, because they are the real reason people come to Greene’s.

After a long night of drinking Labatt Blue with a buddy of mine, I ordered two double cheeseburgers and some fries. The nice lady behind the counter told me that onions and pickles were optional and I politely told her I had no need for such things. My meal was promptly served within five minutes and just as beautiful as I remembered. These were sliders the way they are meant to be. Nothing in my burger looked like it had come from some pre-packaged patty. Instead, it looked as if the cook had grabbed a handful of beef, flattened it with a spatula on the grill, turned up the heat and finally tossed some cheese on.

These were prime examples of the word “slider,” which some people believe to mean mini-hamburger. This is wholly untrue. A real slider is a greasy burger that, well, slides right through you. Accompanied by the perfectly crunchy krinkle fries, this late-night snack made my unvegan stomach happy. It also left my unvegan wallet happy, as the prices are unbeatable. Beware vegetarians and vegans, there is no alternative for you here.