Sandwich’s best sandwiches? They’re at Star 34 Café

Star 34 Café can now say that it serves the best sandwich in Sandwich.

The restaurant beat out six other restaurants to take the top prize in the inaugural Best Sandwich in Sandwich contest. The contest took place during the annual Taste of Sandwich event Sept. 25 in downtown Sandwich.

Star 34 Café owner Larry Aliu is happy that his salted caramel cheesecake Monte Cristo sandwich was such a hit.

“I made it up in the past week,” Aliu said. “I was experimenting with what I wanted to do here and I thought I would something completely different that nobody would ever expect. There’s a lot of good places to eat here and being named as having the best sandwich, I’m grateful, very grateful.”

The 21-year-old, who grew up in Oswego and is an Oswego High School graduate, took over ownership of the restaurant about a year and half ago. His mother owns Buttermilk Café in Germantown Hills near Peoria.

Cooking runs in his family.

“I’ve been cooking for about eight years now,” Aliu said. “I like making people happy with food. And any good meal can make somebody happy and turn their day around.”

This is the first restaurant he has owned. Aliu hopes to open more locations.

Other restaurants that competed in the contest included Brothers Restaurant, Gamblers Signature Sandwiches, Bull Moose, The Old Tyme Inn, Derailed and Edgewood Country Club. Three judges – Sandwich Mayor Todd Latham, DeKalb County Convention and Visitors Bureau Marketing Director Katherine McLaughlin and Midland States Bank Market President Matt Dennison – officiated the contest.

They judged the sandwiches on not just taste, but also presentation and execution. Such criteria are used in food competitions, including the ones put on by the World Food Championships.

Latham said because Sandwich has so many great restaurants, he had a hard time judging the contest.

“It was nice seeing those that participated this year and we hope more enter next year,” he said.

Dennison also had a tough time picking the best sandwich.

“It was tougher than I thought,” he said. “All the sandwiches were so good. It was tough to go through and figure out which one was the best. I tried to narrow it down to the top three and go from there, and even that was tough.”

McLaughlin said she had a fun time judging the contest.

“It was tasty,” she said.

Sandwich Economic Development and Tourism Director Don Aleksy, who came up with the idea for the contest, hopes it will become a yearly tradition. He hopes the contest will help drum up more business for the restaurants.

“I think it will just grow,” he said. “Next year, we might have different categories. It’s going to expand. This has been a source of pride for these restaurants in our community. They’re working real hard. It’s a tough business. We just want everybody to know that they’re here, first of all.”

In addition to the contest, a variety of restaurants and organizations participated in Taste of Sandwich. This was the 28th annual Taste of Sandwich and the third year the city hosted the event.

Latham liked seeing all those who came out to the Taste of Sandwich and hopes that people will come back to see what Sandwich has to offer.

“We have a lot of businesses open in our downtown that we hope people will visit,” he said.