LINCOLN SQUARE — Everyone should have a friend like Allie Cooney.
The Lincoln Square resident doesn't just post Facebook greetings to far-flung pals on their birthdays. Nope, she goes the extra mile — actually the extra 3,600 miles — to make the day special.
Last Friday, Cooney flew from Chicago to Ireland to surprise her best friend, Caroline Gray, with a visit on her 30th birthday, and she had an unusual gift in tow.
A Jimmy John's No. 4 Turkey Tom sandwich.
Cooney picked up the sub from the Jimmy John's at 2336 W. Lawrence Ave., where manager Emily Aman had been given a heads up to package the sandwich for long-distance travel, wrapping each component individually to "stay as fresh as possible," Aman said.
"It's going to be like Flat Stanley," joked Cooney as she cradled the boxed lunch.
Turkey Tom plays tourist in Dublin's Temple Bar area. [Allie Cooney]
As part of her ruse, Cooney said she had even messaged Gray that she was enjoying a Turkey Tom in honor of her birthday, to which her friend had texted back: "I would spill blood for a No. 4."
Why so much fuss over a sandwich? a reporter asked.
Cooney explained that she and Gray became obsessed with the sandwiches during college, and whenever they're together, "All of our days and nights end at Jimmy John's."
Gray, it's worth noting, is an editor at Easy Food magazine in Dublin and the author of a new cookbook — "She's a big deal," Cooney said — but the palate wants what the palate wants.
"We've discussed this at length," said Cooney. "It's the bread and the mayonnaise. There's just something really good about it."
Cooney made sure her hotel room in Ireland had a refrigerator — because there's no point in bringing a sandwich freaky far only for it to be freaky stale — and coordinated the surprise delivery with Gray's housemate.
So, the suspense is killing us, how did Gray react?
We'll let Cooney take over the narration:
"Caroline ended up going out for drinks after work, so I was waiting and waiting and finally got the 'go ahead' to come over around 11 p.m. I hurried over and rang the gate buzzer ... [and] saw her move the curtain to take a peek. It was super dark outside, so I started waving the sandwich in the air and shouted, 'Jimmy John's! Subs so fast you'll freak!' as if I was a delivery person making a routine drop off.
After a moment spent confused and squinting to see what was happening, the screaming started. She must've screamed, 'No way! No way! No way! No way!' 50 times.... She was of course surprised to see me, but there was no doubt a more important visitor wrapped up in the [Jimmy John's] paper, so she went from screaming and excitement to a state of shock where she was just pointing at the sandwich in my hand and saying, 'No. No. No. No. No. No.,' and bouncing around the front stoop. There may or may not have been tears involved.
It was truly her 30th birthday heaven!"
Cooney shared a video of Gray biting into her sandwich.
"It's so much better when it moves across the Atlantic Ocean," she said.
[Allie Cooney]
