CheekyChicago

It’s noon (or let’s be real, 10:30 am) and you just felt it – that first pang of lunchtime hunger. But instead of reaching for that weeks-old Lean Cuisine in the freezer or heading to a national chain with questionable freshness, how about lunching at an organic, health-oriented sandwich shop that uses (and this is the best part) German pretzel bread!

Yes, Cheeky reported on Hannah’s Bretzel this time last year. But the uber-fantastisch sandwich shop just opened a new location right by Cheeky Headquarters and, well, we couldn’t resist sharing our first Hannah’s experience.

In the mood for a little outing a few Fridays ago, my co-worker and I decided we wanted to go out to lunch. The criteria for our lunch spot? 1. It had to be a place neither of us had been to before. 2. It had to be within walking distance. The River North Hannah’s Bretzel was a good three-minute walk tops. We were sold.

The ordering process at Hannah’s was, to be honest, a bit chaotic. At 12:30 pm the line was long and, with so many scrumptious-looking choices, it was difficult to settle on one offering. And while the line moved quickly – which was nice – the actual ordering process was very rushed and left me feeling frazzled. As I was ordering for myself and bringing back food for someone else, I was placing two orders and paying for them with different credit cards. This seemed to somewhat upset the highly formulaic process of preparing food and checking people out at Hannah’s – so much so that they gave my coworker the wrong sandwich entirely (but after she noticed, it was replaced and the manager was highly apologetic). To add to our woes, there was not a lot of seating (the place is dominated by the preparation counter) and at the busiest time of day there was no room – not even for two people – to sit.

But then we went back to our office and ate our food.

My Chipotle Butternut Squash with Edamame Soup (yes, I swear all those ingredients were in there) was unlike anything I have ever tasted before – the flavor combinations were so unique and the soup was incredibly satisfying; crunchy pieces of edamame in every bite. I paired the soup with a half-size Portobell0 and Goat Cheese Sandwich (because you can never go wrong with goat cheese) and when I was done, I only wished I had ordered the full-size.

The feeling of complete stomach satisfaction was shared by all of my co-workers. Jessica loved her Vegan Chopped Salad and Joran (whose order they had originally messed up) was very happy with her Turkey Club (and, oh, those house chips!).

Even with a bit of a chaotic ordering experience, Hannah’s Bretzel is one place we will definitely be lunching at again very soon.