Neighborhood: Logan Square

You might have noticed a small shop that opened up in Logan Square by Mi Tocaya called Rosie’s Sidekick.  What is it all about?  Rosie’s Sidekick is a small, Italian sub shop that opened up a few months ago and aims to offer affordable Italian subs to the Logan Square community.  While Logan Square has a plethora of restaurants, it is definitely in need of more affordable, quicker restaurants so I was happy to see Rosie’s Sidekick open.

Stop by Rosie’s for a refreshing sub and take it to Logan Boulevard for a lovely picnic.  Be sure to bring cash though since it’s cash-only if you don’t want to pay an annoying ATM fee.  Rosie’s is pretty small and you can just order at the counter or call ahead of time but there really isn’t an area to sit.

While Rosie’s is known for their subs, they also have minestrone soup.   I decided to try their soup and was a bit underwhelmed.  It wasn’t very flavorful and it just felt like mainly vegetable broth with some boiled vegetables.  However, the subs were much better.  Having been a fan of Italian subs prior to becoming a vegetarian, I was super excited to see an Italian deli offering true vegetarian options – not just subs loaded with cheese and lettuce, but actual vegetables!  Their bread is also super fresh and mouthwatering.

Rosie’s offers an Eggplant Parmesan sub, and a cold Veggie sub.  The Eggplant Parmesan sub has the potential to be  a savory delight with its signature crusty bread but the eggplant was pretty disappointing.  It wasn’t breaded like it should be with a name like “eggplant parmesan” and there wasn’t a lot of tomato sauce.

It was mainly just oily eggplant and cheese.  Now sometimes I like oily stuff and I was just happy to eat eggplant, but it was not what I expected it to be.  It’s basically an eggplant sub with some melted Italian provolone, which was still decent.

But the real deal was the cold Veggie sub.  It was an extremely refreshing, well-seasoned sub with an abundance of their delectable olive muffuletta.  If you are an olive lover, you will be in heaven, I know I was!  The artichokes and roasted red peppers add a nice, contrasting texture to an intense and delightful sandwich and the pesto was a lovely finishing touch to complement the olive flavor.  This was my favorite item from there by far.

Rosie’s is also known for their cannoli so I couldn’t resist trying a cannoli.   You can get the cannoli with a chocolate chip or pistachio filling adding a fun crunchy texture to its creamy goodness.   It was a good cannoli but there were these random small chunks of fruit in there that were a bit surprising.  I wasn’t really used to seeing that in a cannoli.  It still was pretty delicious though.

While Rosie’s had some hits and misses, their cold veggie sub makes it worth returning to as it’s a perfect season for something refreshing and hearty.  I hope that they can work out some of the flavors more.  For more information, please check out my recent article and interview with the owner, Fred Pecoraro in LoganSquarist.  https://logansquarist.com/2018/06/rosies-sidekick-expands-logan-squares-selection-of-quick-gourmet-bites/