YOUR PERFECT WEEKEND STARTS AT VIRTUE CIDER FARM

else doing them,” she says. “It’s just like chicken wings. Anybody can do chicken wings. Anybody can do egg rolls. I feel honored that I started a trend in Chicago and everybody wants to do it because of me.” To complete the circle, the Jerk Taco Man, probable originator of the jerk taco craze, now has a jerk egg roll on his menu.

Dinkey still controls the Eggsplosion Rolls Facebook page, which she uses to steer fans to her new location, Dinkey’s Lucky Rolls. She’s now inside a small carryout kitchen next to the video slot and poker machines at Bobby’s, a strip mall gaming parlor in Hillside, part of a burgeoning suburban chain. Dinkey has been planning to expand along with it, offering her rolls in each new location, along with breakfast, sandwiches, nachos, wings, rice bowls, and tacos—“Make it jerk,” recommends the menu. She’s projecting egg rolls in 29 total locations.

To ensure consistency, she’s mandated a two-week egg rolling course for employees. Graduates—eight of them so far—get a certificate upon completion.

She’s hired a restaurant consultant to help her grow, and she’s plotting a return to the west side too, Chicago Avenue in particular. Meanwhile, there are always new egg rolls to conceive. “I’m steady creating,” she says. “I love this business. My mind—I eat, sleep, poop egg rolls.”

@MikeSula