Big Tuna: Which Chicken of the Sea Floats My Boat?

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It's Lent, and if you fast from meat, you might be looking for a good vegetarian option or some kind of seafood. So what better than a tuna salad sandwich, a lunchtime classic?

The ingredients are all relatively the same: tuna, mayonnaise, celery and bread. Maybe some onion, as well as lettuce and tomato to top it off. But from one sandwich to the next, the taste of tuna salad can largely differ depending how creamy the mayonnaise is, how prevalent the celery/onion are and what type of bread it used. This week, we tried three places along Route 30:

, 11400 Lincoln Hwy, Mokena

Everything about the $7.45 meal I got was fantastic. Except, unfortunately, the tuna salad sandwich. The fries were excellent, the coleslaw was tasty and I really enjoyed the coffee. But the sandwich didn't excite.

The bread, which was honey oat bran, tasted good but would have been better toasted. Instead, it was a bit too flimsy, especially because the tuna salad's consistency wasn't good enough to keep the sandwich together. The tuna was much too dry and bland; even the pieces of celery were too small to really give it a kick. Lettuce and tomato were on the side, but again didn't do enough to make up for the dry tuna. 

The good: The honey oat bran bread was the tastiest part of the sandwich.

The bad: The bread should be toasted, and the tuna needs to be creamier.

, 8303 W Lincoln Hwy, Frankfort

A reader suggested trying this place because the bread was fantastic. I had a few choices for bread, and opted for the pretzel bun. I think I made the right choice. This sandwich was packed with flavor, whether it was the bun, the celery/onion or the tuna salad. The tomato and lettuce that came on top of the sandwich were clearly fresh and tasted delicious.

For just $5.25, this was a steal. It came with a dill pickle (good size) and a small cup of cole slaw. But the sides didn't matter here; the sandwich was gigantic. The pretzel bun was rather large, and the sandwich was packed with tuna salad. The restaurant gives you a fork, and you'll likely need it to scoop of tuna that falls out of the sandwich.

The good: The pretzel bun is the right amount of salty, and each bite of the sandwich was different with great taste.

The bad: The pretzel bun was so large, that at times it got in the way of the great tuna salad filling.

, 101 Lincolnway Drive, New Lenox

The most important part of a sandwich is arguably the bread. Sure, the focus here is the tuna salad in the middle, but the bread made a difference with the first two places and that continued at Country Charm, which uses a croissant.

I've had the tuna here before and it was good, but this time around it didn't meet my expectations because the croissant was more stale than my previous outing. It was definitely the creamiest of the three, and also had the most prevalent use of pickles/relish. It actually tasted a lot like the quick tuna salad I make at home using canned tuna, relish and mayo, though I'm not sure it's worth the $6.99 to get it at a restaurant.

The good: The croissant is unique and was good before. I like the taste of relish, too.

The bad: This time, the croissant was too stale and at times the mayo was too powerful.

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• Frankfort establishments
• New Lenox establishments
• Mokena establishments

WINNER: Caffé Milan. The pretzel bun was delicious, and the tuna had the best use of celery and mayonnaise—a lot of taste packed into the sandwich without any one taste being too overpowering.

Out of fairness, I must mention that I ate at Williamson's in New Lenox last week with my fiancee, and she got the tuna sandwich. I had the leftovers, which were outstanding. The bread was toasted well and the texture and taste were incredible. But, because I only ate half and it was of leftovers, I didn't include it this time. I still recommend it, though.

Next week, we're looking for some Grade-A steaks! What place would you like to see compete in the Chowdown? Is there a place you've been curious about in Frankfort, Mokena or New Lenox, but want us to be your guinea pig? Comment below and enter to win a $50 gift card to a featured restaurant.