Chef Graham Elliot Bowles, eating a pork belly sandwich
Graham Elliot Bowles digs into a pork-belly ‘wich.

In 2004 Graham Elliot Bowles auditioned for the executive chef position at Avenues in the Peninsula Hotel. His daring ten-course tryout included foie-lipops. He got the job, and the super-serious dining room kept its four-star status. Four years later, he left Avenues to open Graham Elliot, where the guy has the time of his life playing with his food (think yam waffles and brioche Twinkies). Now, due to “a lack of cool sandwich joints,” Bowles has added Grahamwich, where exactly eight sandwiches a day will be on tap. If you can score one of the 20 seats at the communal table, you might want to try the pork belly with hoisin barbecue sauce, spicy slaw, pineapple chutney, and shiitakes on Hawaiian bread. Sounds beyond cool. 615 N. State St.

 

 

 

Photograph: Anna Knott