Grilled cheese or Italian beef? That's the choice that RedEye asked Chicago's sandwich fans to make in the championship round of our Best Sandwich Tournament.
With nearly 1,000 votes cast, Italian beef was victorious over grilled cheese with 74 percent of the vote when the poll closed at noon on Friday, Sept. 18.
A Chicago favorite, Italian beef was a frontrunner from the start, swiftly taking down its first opponent, the French Dip, and moving on to defeat the fried chicken sandwich and the torta. Though it faced a favorite to win-the breakfast sandwich-in the Final Four, it proved victorious once again and faced grilled cheese for a final showdown.
Fans on both side of the final showdown were passionate, but Italian beef's backers were especially vocal. Here are a few of our favorite comments from Facebook during the championship round:
"Obviously Italian beef [over grilled cheese.] This is Chicago, not daycare." --Sheena Burks
"Italian beef is going to win, big surprise there. Don't get me wrong, I like it. [I] highly doubt some people that voted for it actually think is their favorite; they most likely voted for it because it's a Chicago thing." --Denise Cervantes
"I called it from day one. Italian Beef. There is nothing better." --Clayton Hines
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