Over the course of the past year, I hit upon three excellent sandwiches. I had hoped that I’d strike gold more often. I even went to a foodie haven for sandwiches, but fond it nothing spectacular.

As is the case with 98.6% of the rom-coms on television these days, love is right under your nose or at least that’s the moral of the story.

It took me an awfully long time to finally give the Tuesday night special at Howard Street Inn a shot. Were it not for the subfreezing temperatures, I’d be sitting at a four-top for the two sloppy Joe’s and macaroni special ($7.99). They might not be as good as Mrs. March’s, but they hit the spot and bring back nice memories.

While hardly an empire, I consider Cluckers to be a pretty successful operation. They’ve made a pretty good run, primarily operating carryout/delivery and catering. It’s a little odd that they are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, but I’ve been able to work around that for one of the best chicken sandwiches around-a grilled chicken club, with plenty of crisp bacon, avocado and wonderful garlic, mashed red potatoes.

In the, don’t judge a book by the cover, category, Tap House Grill hit a homer. Located at the motel next to the Executive Airport on the Wheeling-Prospect Heights border. The quasi-sports bar didn’t draw much of a crowd on the Sunday night, friend David and I were there, but the “as advertised”, 1LB of bacon BLT, was absolutely delicious and so hefty that I brought one half home (a first for me).

Last year was the first in a long time where I didn’t have an above ordinary sandwich at a ballpark. I didn’t get to my favorite parks for sandwiches-so that’s on me.