Chris and Rob’s Chicago Taste Authority – St. Paul, MN

D.Rough and I have driven by this place a ton of times and keep meaning to go there. In fact, we showed up once just a little too late and they were closed. The outside closely resembles a train dining car, which we generally like, and once you get inside, an entire dining area on one side looks like the inside of that dining car. It’s a really fun place!

The menu is full of hot dogs and sandwiches. It’s a little overwhelming, but the menu boards are on super flashy digital signs, which rules. Also keep an eye out for the special of the day, which (as we found out when we were LEAVING the restaurant) is usually something delicious and you’ll probably want to get.

I decided I wanted the Beef and Sausage Combo and D. Rough got the Chicago Dog. And since we were really hungry, we got some deep fried cheese curds. They have fountain pop and some cans of stuff, so I scored a Strawberry Fanta. I was on my lunch break, so I couldn’t drink an adult beverage.

The food came out pretty quickly, which was awesome. The cheese curds were pretty standard fare, so we (meaning mostly me) wolfed them down pretty quickly.

D.Rough said her Chicago Dog was pretty good and she’d get it again. Lots of toppings and giant pickle on top of her dog. Interesting presentation.

My combo was delicious. It’s an Italian Sausage link on a bun and that’s covered with Italian Beef slices. Yes, that's right, a meat sandwich with more meat as a condiment! I had them throw on some hot peppers just to complete the combo and I was glad I did. The sausage link was very good and had an awesome snappy casing. The Beef on top was really flavorful and reminded me I need to go back to Mayslack’s here, one of these days. I think I ate the thing faster than I should have, since I kept forgetting to breathe while I shoveled in all the pieces of this sandwich.

Overall, this place is really good. And now that we realize how close it is, we’ll be back for sure.

Top 5 things about Chris and Rob’s
1. Beef and Sausage combo
2. Chicago Dog
3. Deep fried cheese curds
4. Strawberry Fanta is available
5. Super awesome and thorough menu (and keep your eyes peeled for the special of the day)

Bottom 5 things
1. We missed the aforementioned special of the day
2. It isn’t a large place, so it will fill up fast
3. Parking isn’t going to be the best, since it’s on a corner lot
4. For those of you who are Vikings/Twins fans, the entire place is Chicago-themed. All kinds of Bears and Cubs paraphernalia on the walls (I did hear someone complain about the lack of White Sox stuff on the walls, though)
5. They have delicious-looking pizzas, but I don’t think I’ll ever get to one, since there are sooo many things on the regular menu I want to eat. We will see…

www.chrisandrobs.com