One place I had to visit on this sandwich tour is Castle’s Patio Inn. They have a prime beef sandwich there that’s a classic P-town sandwich, plus, I’m dying for some of their homemade cheese and crackers! So it’s off we go on week number seven of this year-long in-between the bread tour!
There’s Castle’s Patio Inn on the corner on Loucks, right off of Sheridan Road. This place has been here as long as I can remember and I hope it’s always there!
Let’s go inside and begin this seventh week of sandwiches! I see my favorite spot in the middle of the bar is open for the taking and speaking of favorite, here’s one of my favorite bartenders in Peoria, Alex, serving up an ice-cold bottle of Budweiser! Always great to see Alex and catch up with him!
Seated to my left at the bar are Cliff and Anne. They live right down the street from Castle’s and stop in frequently, but this is the first time I’m meeting them. This is one of the things I love about doing the blog, meeting new people and chatting about Peoria and other topics. While talking with them, I discovered we have some friends in common including, Maggie and Paul Berres and Adam Duvall! And so now, it’s time to cue this up!
And here’s two faces at the other end of the bar that I have met before, it’s Chris and his girlfriend Jeannie, who we last saw at the Rail II on Farming ton Road when he was playing with Tina Sparkle on the same bill with the Fantastic Plastics and I had to tell him I had my feelings a little hurt because The Fantastic Plastics stopped following me on Twitter! Well, Chris summoned them up on his smart phone and they said they didn’t know how this happened and now they’re following me once again! It’s a social media miracle! Thanks Chris!
Of course no trip to Castle’s Patio Inn is complete without sampling some of their wonderful and homemade bar cheese! It’s made from a secret recipe and this is the only place to get it and if you’ve never had it it’s time for you to stop in and try it, the best cheese spread in all of Peoria and beyond! And just like Andy Griffith promised, it tastes great when it sits on a Ritz!
Now that the cheese crock is empty, let’s take a look around in here. As you can see from the quartet of taps behind the bar, this is Cardinals country in here, which doesn’t mean a lot to me as I never watch baseball, but it’s duly noted all the same! The wooden cooler that houses the cheese is located behind the bar and there’s the dining area that’s located opposite the bar. And there’s Lacey who we haven’t seen in quite a while and she explained it’s because she doesn’t work Saturday nights when we usually stop in here. Great to see here and she’s looking pretty as always!
Okay, time to head back to the bar and check out the menu as the Budweiser trolley spins overhead. I already know that I’m going to order The Castle Crown sandwich, but I took a picture to give you a visual because that’s just the kind of thorough blogger I am!
Here’s the man who’s going to make that Castle Crown Sandwich for us, Kevin, the chef who whips up all the wonderful food back in the kitchen and speaking of the kitchen...
Kevin said we could go back and watch him put together a Castle Crown Sandwich! As you can see this is a very involved sandwich that includes grilled onions, the aforementioned, exclusive Castle’s Patio Inn Cheese, pickles and of course the slow-cooked, prime beef with extra au-jus on the bun. This is a real work of art and a classic sandwich that you can only get here at Castle’s!
I went back to my spot at the bar as Kevin put the finishing touches on the sandwich.
And here’s Kevin with the finished sandwich complete with chips on the side!
Wow, does that ever look delicious! The tender prime beef is piled high with the onions and pickles and cheese adding color and flavor to this work of sandwich art! Great work by Kevin and now it’s time to sample this fabulous looking sandwich!
There’s no way I could eat the whole sandwich, so I invited Cliff and Anne to share it with me and here we are digging in! As good as it looks in the picture above, it’s about a zillion times better biting into it at the bar! The prime beef is tender and tasty and the pickles and onions add a nice crunchy consistency and of course the real secret ingredient is the melted Patio Inn cheese oozing in and out of the sandwich adding such a rich and creamy goodness to the mix! It’s a little messy to eat, but well worth the napkin effort when you’re done! Cliff, Anne and I all agreed it’s really a great and delicious sandwich!
After we were done eating, Adam showed up and somehow made the hands of the clock disappear on the Busch Beer sign behind the bar!
I hate it when he does this, now we may be stuck in here all week as we’ll never know when it’s closing time! We may still be in here right now as you read this...hey, Kevin, how about another sandwich over here! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
MBIP Sandwich Rating
Three and three quarters Dagwood Bumsteads—The Castle Crown is a classic sandwich at one of Peoria’s classic neighborhood tavern’s, Castle’s Patio Inn. If you’ve never tried it, stop in and sample the cheesy prime beef goodness. You can get one for lunch or for dinner...or maybe both!
Castle’s Patio Inn
802 W. Loucks
Peoria
309-685-9570
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