Off menu items in Chicago

Petit pois' post about Palestine Pancakes at Walker Brothers, and this post at NYC-food-centric blog Eater got me thinking:

What's your favorite off-menu item in a Chicago restaurant?

Not necessarily my favorite, but the first one off the top of my head: cheese tater tots at Hot Doug's.

Hi,

At Pita Inn you may request pickled turnips and olives at no charge. It's not on the menu and not freely offered, though always available upon request.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

At Pita Inn you may request pickled turnips and olives at no charge. It's not on the menu and not freely offered, though always available upon request.

Regards,

In my experience, it is more freely offered at the Wheeling location than the Skokie location.

While I have only been there 3-4 times and find it barely OK relative to the competition, I was at La Donna once with a large group and one of us asked if they could whip up a spaghetti puttanesca even though it wasn't on the menu. To their great credit, both the waiter and the kitchen took the request in stride and the dish they produced was as good and pungent a version as I've had anywhere, and better than most of what we ate that night.

Spaghetti Carbonara at La Scarola.

Enjoy,
Gary

Rob,
Ask and you shall receive. Every Pita Inn we go to will give the olives and turnups if you ask.
Paulette

Thanks to Erik M for highlighting this off-menu TAC soup.

Kuay Tiaw Tom Yam

Cathy2 -- thanks for the tip about olives.

We had planned to get take-out from Pita Inn today, and my wife loves olives.

We got a generous serving (more than a dozen) of tasty olives. That plus a Kifta sandwich ($2.95) and the business lunch special ($3.95) with shish kabob, kifta, shawarma & falafel w/pilaf, salad, & pita made for a fine lunch.

Total cost with tax was $7.50 and we have leftovers!