Shrimp Po’boy from The Twisted Spoke

While The Twisted Spoke probably gets more attention for their Smut & Eggs promotions (porn after midnight!) and in-your-face ads, the food has always been several notches above the usual bar food crap that most places offer only to soak up the beer and booze. The Fatboys (burgers) and bloody marys are almost legendary, but the shrimp po’boy is a more recent addition, and it’s stellar. So good, in fact, (and such a dark horse on the menu), that my brother-in-law called me last week, as he was grabbing a bite before the Kanye show at the United Center, and asked if it was, indeed, as advertised.

“The menu says it’s one of your favorites, is that true?” he asked me. They must have put that there since I did do a story about a year ago on it for ABC 7.

“Yep, it’s true,” I said. “It’s a legit po’boy.” Although sadly, nothing in Chicago even comes close to the po’boys of my dreams at The Parkway Tavern or Domilise’s in New Orleans, let alone the legendary ones I recall having at Uglesich’s many years ago. The key, of course, is the Leidenheimer bread. I thought Mac & Min’s on Madison had some pretty good ones, until they closed earlier this year. So for now, you’ll have to head over to the corner of Ogden and Grand, and check out the shrimp po’boys at The Spoke. Let me know what you think.