Jerrie's Dogs & More: Here's What I Liked: Ferak

JOLIET, IL - Last week's taco review column of Nena's Cantina & Restaurant on Garnsey Avenue was a home run with readers. So I needed to come up with a strong follow up this week. Fortunately, there was another restaurant, on the city's west side, that I needed to try. Jerrie's Dogs & More, right next to the Double J Sports Bar.

Jerrie's caught my eye last August at the Joliet Chamber's huge Great Joliet Prison Break-In event. That night, Jerrie's was one of the most popular food vendors. There must be something good about Jerrie's, I thought. On Wednesday afternoon, I set out to find out.

And I was right. This place offers great, reasonably priced food, and it has a super-friendly staff. The hotdogs are all beef Vienna. The beef is Fontanini. The chicken breasts and chicken wings are through Tyson.

Jerrie's is best known for its Vienna Beef hotdogs. However, I've already written several hotdog reviews in recent weeks. And since the place is known as Jerrie's Dogs & More, I wanted to go with the more.

I ordered the Fried Bologna sandwich. It comes with lettuce, tomato, pickle, mayo and you can get it white, wheat or toasted.

I went with toasted. And I went with an order of fries. The fries here are similar to those you would find at McDonalds. Overall, it was a great meal. The Fried Bologna was terrific, even better than I figured. When was the last time I ate a fried bologna sandwich? I have no clue.

Will there be a next time for a bologna sandwich? Probably. And it will have to be back at Jerrie's.

Big picture wise, Jerrie's has lots of different sandwiches: gyros, breaded chicken sandwiches, buffalo chicken, hamburgers and double hamburgers, Italian beef and breaded pork tenderloins.

There's plenty of sides including parmesan garlic rings and a tator tot boat. If you're in the mood for boneless chicken wings you can order 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 or 36.

Jerrie's also gets my stamp of approval because it has a daily menu special that has great deals including Mondays with all beef and chicken sandwiches with fries for $4.99. Wednesdays are $2 Vienna Dogs. Thursday's offering is the Pork Tenderloin with fries for $3.99.

And Friday's special feature is my new favorite: the fried bologna sandwich for $2.99.

Most of Jerrie's business comes from carryout orders, although there is limited indoor seating. Patrons next door at the Double J Sports Bar can also place food orders here. Customers can also order Jerrie's through DoorDash and Uber Eats.

Jerrie's just celebrated its two-year anniversary. It's operated by Jeff Reid, who has had the Double J for the past 19 years now. In case you didn't know the story behind the name, the restaurant on Essington Road is named after Reid's late mother, Jerrie.

"Jerrie never passed a hot dog stand without stopping in for one. You always knew she stopped because you could see some remains on her shirt," the Jerrie's Dogs & More Facebook page explains.