Bub’s Subs creator tries hot dog restaurant in Lake in the Hills

LAKE IN THE HILLS – Inside of Chicago Grill, a Lake in the Hills restaurant that opened in July, customers place their orders at the counter and receive a number. The workers in the kitchen freshly cook the hot dogs and fries before serving the food.

Patrons eat their meals inside the 1,700-square-foot space that is decorated with street signs.

As customers finish their hot dogs, the 32-year-old owner Dominick Pulli asks them if they like their meal.

“We always try to ask,” said Pulli, who also owns the 3-year-old Bub’s Subs in Algonquin. “If you don’t ask how it’s going, if there’s is something that you’re doing that people don’t really like, you’re never going to know.”

Reporter Joseph Bustos recently spoke with Pulli about his two restaurants, which are both on Randall Road.

Bustos: What’s the difference between Bub’s Subs and Chicago Grill?

Pulli: Bub’s Subs we only do sub sandwiches and Italian beef. We don’t offer fries or any sausages. And here you’ve got our fresh cut fries that we cook in peanut oil. We use a real natural case Vienna Beef hot dog so it has that snap to it. We’re trying to do our dogs and fries similar to how Gene’s and Jude’s in River Grove does it. ... It’s my favorite way to eat Chicago dogs.

Bustos: Why did you want to open up the hot dog place?

Pulli: There’s a few hot dog places in the area, but I don’t know of any that are serving fresh cut fries that are close by, I actually don’t know where to get fresh cut fries.

Bustos: You recently closed the second Bub’s Subs on the east end of town. Why did you close it?

Pulli: While we opened this place, so we can keep a close eye on things, we wanted to make sure that we weren’t spread too thin.

We closed that one down, and we’re hoping to add delivery soon to Bub’s Subs. Hopefully we can do that. We noticed that a lot of people who lived on the east side of town, they found themselves on this side of town anyways. ... They have to come to Home Depot, Target or whatever is on this side of town.

Bustos: Was the second sub shop struggling when you closed it?

Pulli: It was doing OK, but not as well as Randall Road. It wasn’t doing terrible, but not where I wanted it to be. That location did worse in the winter.

Bustos: Why do you like being on Randall Road?

Pulli: Randall Road is full of places for people to shop, places for people to go, but it’s also filled with nothing but chain restaurants, with the exception of a few of us. There’s a few us that are up against these chains, trying to give something a little more unique, a little more homemade, something you can’t find in every single city, every single state.

Bustos: What makes you think you can compete against chain restaurants that have name recognition?

Pulli: They’ve got the name recognition, but we’re trying to build that up, we’re trying to let people know what we’re pushing for is quality and consistency, trying to make sure we can give somebody a good meal they could count on, something they can expect every single time. ... Me, when I go to places I always try to find the mom and pop shops to eat at.

Bustos: What are some of the things that are on your menu?

Pulli: Our hot dogs, we don’t have a lot of toppings choices. We keep it pretty minimal. This style of Chicago dog is a minimalist, or a depression dog. It was started in 1946 by Gene’s and Jude’s. ... We do have brats that I source from a meat market. ... Other than that it’s hot dogs, Italian beef, sausages and fries. We’re keeping it simple.

Bustos: What’s it like getting the money together to start up a restaurant?

Pulli: It’s hard. You got to save, you got to. ... It’s almost been impossible. I’ve started these things with very little money. If people knew what I started with when I started Bub’s Subs they would have said, ‘You’ll never make it.’ ... I didn’t have a sign for almost 7 months. I made the food good and people found us, with or without the sign. Slowly, I got enough money to get a sign. I worked every single shift, open to close, for almost a year. Sometimes I would be working by myself, no help, 100-hour weeks. Now we got a good crew.

Bustos: What keeps you going?

Pulli: My kids, I want to make sure I can feed them. I want to make sure I can feed other people’s kids food too.

––

The Dominick Pulli file

Who is he: Owner of Chicago Grill at 335 N. Randall Road in Lake in the Hills and Bub’s Subs at 260 S. Randall Road in Algonquin.

Town: Huntley

Age: 32

Family: He and his wife, Carrie, have two children: Dominick Jr., 7, and Anthony, 1.

Favorite hot dog toppings: Mustard, relish, onion, sport peppers and the fries packed on top.

Favorite sub sandwich: The deep dish. The toasted sub has ham, pepperoni, topped with marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese and bacon, along with homemade giardiniera and ranch.