This week’s spotlight sandwich is from Oliver’s Pizza & Pub North on Willow Knolls Drive. They’re known for their wonderful pizza, but they also have some tasty and delicious sandwiches as you’ll see if you keep on scrolling down this post.

I love the building that Oliver’s is in off of Willow Knolls Drive, it’s like going to someone’s big house for a party!

There’s Julie and Frank inside by the bar. Julie is the Director of Operations for Oliver’s and you can read more about her at the original post. Frank is a bartender at Oliver’s and he also happens to be Julie’s father. Check out their identical smiles, too cute!

Here’s our friendly waitress, Ashley serving up our sandwiches. Julie had the Atomic Burger, which is a half a pound burger that’s crusted in seasoning and topped with pickled Serrano peppers, pepperjack cheese, lettuce, pickles and tomato. It looked amazing!

Jule took a photo of me with this week’s Sandwich of Peoria…

Which is the GFF @ Oliver’s Pizza & Pub North.

This sandwich is made with thinly-sliced sirloin steak, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms with a house-made buffalo sauce. It’s topped with a layer of melted jack cheese and it’s housed in a a buttered and toasted Olivilotti-Pisanelli roll. There’s a story behind this sandwich and Julie told it to me and here it is in her own words:

“The GFF is "Girlfriend's Favorite." Chris Aldrich, part-owner/founder of Aleman Brewing, was someone who knew someone who was executive chef of a restaurant at which I worked from 2007-2010. He worked in an old school butcher shoppe in Chicago, and we contracted him to curate our menu when we opened Oliver's North. In the trial stage, he made us a steak sandwich with his own Buffalo sauce and veggies, and he offhandedly stated that it was his girlfriend's favorite. When we said we wanted that on the menu, he gave us a prototype for a menu including the "buffalo steak sandwich," but having remembered how he presented it initially (stovetop at Peoria Heights Oliver's) we renamed it the GFF--girlfriend's favorite. Chris is now married to the G (Tiz Aldrich) They have a beautiful baby girl now too!”

The sandwich is delicious and while they’re staying closed during these quarantine times to keep the staff and everyone else safe, you need to check it out when they open back up, hopefully soon!