A plethora of chefs with fine dining pedigree took the opportunity to create their own pop-ups when the pandemic forced the closure of most restaurants in 2020. Have a Good Sandwich founder Joe Morski had made the move to start his own pop-up a year earlier and has since grown a dedicated following in the Logan Square area.
Early in the summer of 2019, Morski was working at famed dining destination Elske but knew that fine dining wasn’t where he wanted to be long term.
“I knew this wasn’t my end game [working at Elske],” Morski said. “I always had this idea of wanting to do more, and even though fine dining was fun and I’m happy I did it, I wanted to do my own thing.”
While he knew he wanted to branch out, Morski said he wasn’t sure exactly what his next venture would be. Like many truly successful career shifts, the idea came about naturally.
“I’d been frying chips for a number of years just as a hobby, and one day I tinkered with this milk bread recipe I found online and didn’t realize how easy it’d be,” Morski said. “I ended up making BLTs for a concert my buds and I attended, and it was so much fun, I figured why not start doing this. That was end of July 2019.”
The Pop-Up Takes Shape
Have a Good Sandwich began with just five sandwiches, the pop-up operating out of Morski’s apartment near the Avondale-Logan Square border. Morski used his own Instagram account at the beginning and didn’t register the official name for the first few months. What started out as entirely word of mouth through friends quickly grew into something more.
“When I started this, it was really just my friends and friends of friends,” Morski said. “Now, it’s about five or so people I know per week, and everyone else is solely through Instagram. It’s really grown into its own thing.”
By January 2020, Morski had left his position at Elske and was selling sandwiches through the Have a Good Sandwich pop-up full time. On a normal week, Joe prepares and sells 80 sandwiches, 20 each day from Tuesday through Friday. His wife, Cheryl Hinman, a manager at beloved Logan Square pie shop Bang Bang Pie and Biscuits (2051 N. California Ave.), makes all of the sweets. Even Morski couldn’t predict the demand he would one day see, the chef said.
Have a Good Sandwich sold out of its most recently offered variety, the grilled cheese, quickly, moving all 80 available sandwiches in 14 minutes. Contrast that with last year, when 60 sandwiches sold out in about an hour – and the demand is only continuing to grow, Morski.
“Cheryl and I were drinking wine at a bar, and someone driving by pointed me out and shouted, ‘Have a Good Sandwich!’” Morski said. “That was a pretty cool feeling.”
What The Future Holds
What’s next for Morski and the Have a Good Sandwich pop-up isn’t set in stone, but customers and fans can expect to continue seeing new menu items, as well as the occasional return of old favorites. When asked which past sandwich was his favorite, Morski didn’t hesitate to answer.
“BLT is the best sandwich of all time. I wish I could do it forever,” he said. “Also, my ham, pimento cheese and pickle sandwich has been really popular, so I’ll probably do that one again.”
Have a Good Sandwich is on a brief break through the month of September while Morski determines what the future may hold. The dream is to open a Have a Good Sandwich restaurant, Morski said, and with the success and drive the chef has already shown, that dream may be realized soon.
Have a Good Sandwich can be found at the pop-up’s Instagram page, and come October, orders can again be placed directly on the shop’s website on Mondays starting at 4 p.m.
Featured image: Have a Good Sandwich
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