Time Out Skewers Grahamwich With One-Star Review

With all the hype, buzz and love Grahamwich received when it first opened, it's no surprise someone came out fighting with some pretty harsh words. And that person was Time Out Chicago's Julia Kramer who gave the spunky sandwich shop one out of five stars.

In her headline, she asks, "Graham Elliot's a Celebrity. But is He Still a Chef?" In the review, she does give props to the grilled cheese and the Reuben, but that's about it. She calls the menu a "a dilettantish assortment of international sandwiches that reflect not just repeated failures of execution but a lack of care in their conception."

She rails on everything else, calling the banh mi the "lowest of the low;" says the short rib "is not terrible but it also doesn't really make sense;" and says the jibarito taco is "too-sweet pork shoulder in too paltry a portion to stand a chance against the two cold, chewy tortillas it’s wrapped in." She said the chips were "stale" and the salad "comically basic."

But she also says that Elliot "knows that after years of hype, fans will eagerly line up out the door." To which, GE replied to this writer via Twitter Tuesday night regarding Ms. Kramer, "sweet, the line gets shorter by one less person." And even added a smily-face emoticon.
· Graham Elliot's a Celebrity. But is He Still a Chef? [TOC]