Road Tips

Boneyard Barbecue - Champaign, IL

I had finished my morning meetings in Champaign on a recent visit there and I had contemplated stopping at The Burger Barge outside of Peoria for a burger on the way home.  The only problem is that by the time I would have gotten there it would have been close to 3 p.m., too late to enjoy a great burger if I was planning on eating with my wife later that evening.  I decided to go find a barbecue restaurant that I'd driven past on my way into Champaign the previous evening - Boneyard Barbecue.  I pulled in there around 1:30 and had missed the lunch rush. 

Boneyard Barbecue is located at 25 E. Springfield St. in what was the old Fireside restaurant.  (See map)  After a place called Rocks closed up in the summer of 2009, Anthony Donato teamed up with Eddie Geovanti's - owner of Geovanti's in Champaign - to open the Fireside, a contemporary bar and grill known for their wings, burgers and - for Springfield, IL natives - their own variation of the horseshoe sandwich.  

Donato eventually bought Eddie Geovanti out of both the Fireside and Geovanti's, but found that running both businesses was troublesome, considering he also ran a property and business management company on the side.  Enter George Dries.

Dries was the owner of BoBo's BBQ, which was basically a mobile food service that parked in lots around Champaign selling his Southern-style barbecue out of his food truck since 2008.  Bobo's was a popular destination for people in and around Champaign and he soon found that he needed a permanent place to sell his barbecue.  Donato was looking for a partner for the Fireside location and the two got together to change the bar and grill into Boneyard Barbecue in the fall of 2011.  

Dries and Donato updated the inside of the restaurant to make it more of a sports bar atmosphere that also sold burgers and sandwiches along with BoBo's barbecue specialties.  There is an outdoor patio (albeit along busy Springfield Ave.) and a large party room for private events.  The owners are also huge University of Illinois sports fans and the outside of the building is painted in the school colors of navy blue and orange.  Large "I's" for Illinois adorn the outside of the building.  For an Iowa Hawkeyes fan like me, it was a little galling to walk into the place.  

I took a seat along the north side of the rectangular bar with the windows looking out onto the patio behind me.  I was greeted by a bartender, Hannah, who was outgoing and chatty.  Rather chatty.  Actually, I noticed that with all the help at Boneyard Barbecue were chatty with their customers.  Not that there were a lot of customers in the place at that time of the day, but Hannah sure liked to talk.  

She gave me a menu to look through and, as always, when I go to a barbecue place that I'm not familiar with I like to go for a combination platter just to try a little bit of everything.  They had a handful of combinations - brisket and pulled pork, ribs and brisket, ribs and chicken, ribs and pulled pork.  Actually, what I really wanted was ribs, pulled pork and brisket.  I just decided to go with the brisket and pulled pork.  What was sort of interesting and rather peculiar was that you had to order your choice of barbecue sauce to go on the meat.  They didn't have sauce bottles or containers anywhere in the restaurant.  You had your choice of mild or hot, or a combination of the two.  I got mine with the combination.

Two sides came with the barbecue platter - I got baked beans and mac & cheese.  I had to pick between those two and fries, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet corn, cole slaw, sweet potato fries, cottage cheese or green beans.  

After about 10 minutes, Hannah came out with my barbecue combination.  The mac & cheese, I could tell, was going to be pedestrian, at best.  And it was.  And the baked beans weren't much better.  I should have asked her for some sauce on the side to help zip up the beans because they were pretty weak on taste.  And that was another minor quibble on my part - there was no extra sauce available in bottles or containers. 

The brisket was more of a pulled beef variety rather than sliced.  However, it was moist, tender and tasted good with the smoky and very sweet barbecue sauce that Boneyard Barbecue had to offer. I forked some of the excess sauce on the plate in with a bite of the baked beans and it helped the taste tremendously.  

The ribs featured four bones slathered in the barbecue sauce.  I really wish I would have gotten the sauce on the side when I got to the ribs because I could tell that they had a unique rub on the outside.  The ribs were very meaty, also moist and tender.  The sauce was a little overpowering for the taste of the rib meat.  It was also so sweet it was sticky.  One thing that Boneyard Barbecue needs to offer is wet naps or at least a warm wet towel to use while eating the ribs.  I had to go into the restroom and "squeegee" my face and hands off after I finished the meal.  

Hannah came over to me and asked, "How was it?"  I told her the truth - it was good.  I can't say it was outstanding barbecue, but it was good.  I've gotten spoiled on good barbecue in Kansas City and in Des Moines, two places that, I feel, has the best barbecue in the Midwest.  But Boneyard Barbecue acquitted themselves very well and would have stacked up against many barbecue places I've eaten at in the past.  If I do get a chance to go back I'll try the ribs dry or with sauce on the side.  I want to taste the meat on the ribs without the interference of the sauce.  Not that there is anything wrong with the sauce, but it did overpower the taste of the meat.  And I've found that if barbecue joints do that with their meat, they're trying to hide something.  

El Toro Restaurante - Champaign, IL

I spent the night in Champaign, IL recently, in town for a morning meeting the next day.  It was one of those evenings where I really didn't know what I wanted for dinner.  Being on the road so much, I sometimes get burned out on restaurants and don't know exactly what I would like to eat on a given night.  I had thought about Indian or barbecue.  There was a steakhouse just down the street from my hotel.  I decided to get in the car and head north on Neil Street toward the downtown area.  I passed William St. and I noticed a restaurant with a lighted and festive looking outdoor patio.  It piqued my interest, so I went back around the block to see what it was.  It turned out it was a Mexican restaurant - El Toro Restaurante. (See map) I debated with myself for a few seconds trying to determine whether or not I wanted Mexican food or not.  Then I thought, "You know, a margarita would taste pretty good."  So I pulled into the parking lot on the west side of the building and went inside.

El Toro is a 10 restaurant family-owned regional chain with three locations in Champaign/Urbana, and five more Illinois locations in Rantoul, Bloomington, Monticello, Danville and St. Joseph.  They also have El Toro Bravo restaurants in Cincinnati, OH, and Walton, KY on the southern edge of the Cincinnati metro area.  The original restaurant is on W. Springfield Ave. in Champaign.  In 1998, Victor Fuentes and his uncle, Manuel, opened their first restaurant, originally called El Torero.  It was a small place, seating only about 100 people, tops.  The Fuentes were joined by Victor's brothers and sisters, his wife and other family members in the business.  

The Fuentes family opened their second location - called El Toro I - in Urbana in 2002.  A third location on S. Neil Street opened in 2004.  Their growth continued with the purchase of a Mexican restaurant in Springfield, IL (since closed) and opening the St. Joseph location in 2007.  They moved from the original location to a space that was two and a half times larger on W. Springfield early in 2007.  Victor and his brother, Sammy, are the main partners in the El Toro chain today.  

Business at the S. Neil St. location had also grown tremendously over the years.  They ended up moving in February of 2011 to a new location at the corner of William St. and S. Neil, closer to downtown.  Even though the restaurant faces William St. and the main entrance is from the parking lot behind the building, the restaurant location maintains a Neil St. address.   

It was around 7:30 when I got into the place.  I was met at the hostess stand by a pleasant young lady who asked me if I wanted to eat in the bar or in the dining room.  I took a look in the bar area, a very nice bar area that had high tables, high backed chairs, a nice bar with a couple televisions on the back wall.  

There are two dining rooms in this particular El Toro - the middle room off the bar area that is well-lit, and the front dining room that features a fireplace, wooden beams across the ceiling and full-size windows looking out onto the patio on the south side of the building.  Since it was still winter, the patio was closed, but strings of lights illuminated the outside of the place.  

The hostess sat me at a table in the middle room off the bar area and dropped off a menu with a small menu listing their specials they had that night.  My server for the evening, Alfredo - a pleasant 40-something man - came over to ask me what I wanted to drink.  I told him that I wanted a margarita on the rocks, no salt.  

As I waited for the margarita, I took a quick look through the menu at El Toro.  Now, I've said for a number of years that there has to be some sort of a Mexican restaurant godfather who comes up with the menu items for Mexican restaurants.  A number of them - like Azteca in the Quad Cities and El Maguey in the St. Louis area - all seemed to have the same combinations and under the same number.  El Toro was another cookie-cutter Mexican restaurant when it came to their menu.  Combination number 23 on the El Toro menu is a taco, chile relleno and a tostaguac - which, I believe - is the number 22 on the Azteca menu.  The number 1 on the El Toro menu - a taco, two enchiladas with rice and beans - is, I believe, number 1 on the El Maguey menu.  Nevertheless, it's all good in my book.  It's like going into a McDonald's and knowing that the number 4 value meal is the same everywhere.  

Alfredo came out with my margarita.  Chips and salsa had been placed on the table by another server moments earlier.  He wanted to know if I was ready to order.  Since the menu was similar to many other Mexican restaurants like El Toro, you'd think I'd have an idea as to what I wanted.  But I really didn't.  They had a lot of seafood specialties on the menu - I was leaning heavily toward the shrimp tacos.  But I was thinking of getting a chimichanga or maybe some fajitas.  I told Alfredo that I needed a little more time.  

The chips were fresh and warm and the salsa was pretty average.  It was very similar to the other cookie-cutter Mexican restaurants where I've eaten. The salsa wasn't bad at all, just similar to others.  

The margarita, I have to say, was outstanding.  The mix was not overly sweet or syrupy.  It had an adequate amount of tequila in the mix - at least enough where I could taste the booze.  I made short work of the margarita.  

I had picked up the specials list for the night and saw something on there call the "Fajita burrito" - a large burrito filled with fajita meat (your choice - chorizo, chicken or steak) with grilled onions and bell peppers, then guacamole is added.  It's folded and then topped with a melted Mexican cheese.  When Alfredo came back I ended up ordering the steak fajita burrito.  Even though the margarita was excellent, I decided for my next drink to get a bottle of Dos Equis Amber beer. 

My meal took a little longer to get out to me than normal for Mexican restaurants of El Toro's type.  I'm sure they were cooking everything up from scratch on the grill and then placing it inside the burrito.  It was a huge burrito that covered the majority of the large plate that it came on.  There were some herbs - probably cilantro - that were mixed in with the Mexican cheese sauce on top of the burrito. 

The burrito was packed with a lot of meat and veggies.  The steak fajita meat was good and flavorful.  It wasn't outstanding or it didn't knock my socks off.  But it was typical of this type of Mexican restaurant.  Good and serviceable.  That's all I'm looking for in a Mexican restaurant like this.  

I couldn't eat the whole thing, so I ended up picking most of the steak out of the center of the burrito.  I dipped the steak in the salsa a couple times to help zip up the taste and that was good.  I ate what I could and left a good portion of the large burrito on my plate.  Alfredo wanted to know if I wanted a box, but I declined.  It was all I needed.

The fajita burrito special at El Toro was a great value - $7.95 for that big thing.  My bar tab for the margarita and the Dos Equis Amber was higher than my food tab (like that's a surprise).  As I said, the burrito was good - not outstanding - but good Mexican-style comfort food.  The margarita was well above average.  At a place like El Toro you know you're going to get a pretty good meal at a pretty fair price.  I'm sure there are other options for Mexican food in Champaign, but considering I sort of came across El Toro as I was driving down the street I was happy that I found it.  The margarita, alone, is worth the trip to one of their locations.  That is, if they make them all the same - and I'm guessing they do. 

Big Mouth's - Champaign, IL

I stopped off to see a dealer in Champaign, IL on my way to Indianapolis recently.  It was late in the day and I offered to take one of the guys out for dinner.  He declined, saying that he had to go look at furniture with his wife.  He said, "Believe me, I'd rather go out with you."

Then he said, "Hey!  You're a big burger nut.  There's this place here in town that opened up last year called Big Mouth's.  You really ought to go check it out." 

Big Mouth's is a small Chicago-style hot dog place that happens to serve burgers, as well.  It began in November of 2006 in Normal, IL by two former Illinois State University students, Nick Lavorato (right) and Matt Martin.  They wanted to bring the taste of Chicago-style hot dogs and char-grilled burgers to Chicago area students going to college in downstate Illinois and across the Midwest.  They're looking to expand into Madison, WI and West Lafayette, IN in the coming months. 

The concept is pretty simple - they came up with a fun little place that caters to the daytime lunch crowd and to the late night partiers coming out of the bars.  Big Mouth's is open until 3 a.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings to accommodate the hungry bar patrons at closing time. 

They opened their second location in Champaign in the heart of the University of Illinois' Campustown area (see map).  They stuck with the same decor theme as the original location in Normal - orange walls, some picnic tables and regular chair and tables.  Big Mouth's doesn't serve beer, which is OK.  They also serve their Chicago-style dogs either char-grilled or steamed.  If I had to choose between the two, I'd still take a steamed Chicago dog over a grilled one. 

I got into the Big Mouth's in Champaign around 7:00 p.m.  It was a rainy evening and I was able to find some parking on the street around the block from the location.  The front door of the place was literally torn off and I didn't know it.  I grabbed for the handle and it fell into my shoulder.  OK, not a pleasant beginning for my first visit.  I asked one of the guys at the counter what was up with the door and he said, "Oh, man!  Is it broken again?  Well, we'll have to try to fix it." 

The menu is affixed to the wall and you order at the counter.  They call out your name for pick up when the order comes up.  But the names they've given their signature "Big Mouth Menu" items show that Lavorato and Martin have watched a lot of the same movies and television programs that I have over the years.

Their "Big Mouth Menu" includes the "Sonny Corleone" (James Caan's character from "The Godfather") which is two char-grilled Chicago dogs.  The "Al Czervic" (Rodney Dangerfield's character in "Caddyshack") which consists of two grilled Polish sausages.  The "Fred Sanford" (Redd Foxx's character from "Sanford and Son") that is a double cheeseburger.  The "Johnny Drama" (named after Kevin Dillon's character on HBO's "Entourage") which is a double chicken sandwich.  And there's the "Jackie Burkhart" (named after Mila Kunis' character on "That 70's Show") that's a double veggie burger.   Each Big Mouth Meal comes with an order of french fries, a 32 oz. pop and a fried Twinkie.  Now, I've never had a fried Twinkie, but I understand at 2:15 in the morning they're pretty tasty.

Big Mouth's in Champaign also had "The Farley", an homage to the late comedian Chris Farley that consists of two one-pound char-grilled hamburger patties topped with french fries, mayo, ketchup, mustard, pickles and onions.  Now, that would be interesting to see.

Even though the "Fred Sanford" was tempting, I just got the regular char-grilled cheeseburger and a pop.  I got grilled onions on it and passed on the mayo. 

Since I was the only one in the place at the time, I took a look around at some of the artwork on the walls.  I understand Lavorato and a friend of his went to great lengths to find some of the kitschy items they hung on the walls.

After about 15 minutes, I got my cheeseburger.  I have to say it was very good.  Very messy, but very good.  Unlike some cheddar cheese burgers I've gotten in the recent past, the cheese didn't overpower or detract from the taste of the burger.  The grilled onions also were very good.  I normally don't get grilled onions as they seem to give me heartburn, but these were a very tasty compliment to the burger.  And my stomach wasn't upset. 

While Big Mouth's may not be the best burger I've ever tried, it's a good one.  I may have to try a burger and a Chicago dog sometime when I'm really hungry in Normal or Champaign.  Their motto says it all "Big Meals for Big Mouths".  Unless you really try, you'll never leave Big Mouth's hungry.    

(Update - Big Mouth's closed in the summer of 2011.  I have no story as to what happened to the place, other than it closed.)

Farren's Pub and Eatery - Champaign, IL

I was in the mood for a beer and a burger while in Champaign, IL recently and I found a place called Farren's Pub and Eatery in downtown Champaign. 

Farren's is on Randolph Ave., a main street in Champaign (see map).  But it's sort of hard to find.  It's located back off the street and the only way you can find it is the small sign next to an alley way. 

 

Walk in and down a ramp, you find a small dining area and a nice little bar.  The kitchen area is just to the right behind the bar.  There weren't a lot of people in the place - it was 8 p.m. on a weeknight - and I cozied up to the bar. 

The menu is basic - they have sandwiches, appetizers and salads.  But their signature is their burgers.  They have just regular burgers and they have specialty burgers, such as the Green Chile burger (burger with jalapeno cheese and green chile sauce), the Motherload (mushrooms, blue cheese sauce, bacon) and the Russell (mushrooms, blue cheese sauce, jalapeno cheese - named after a guy named Russell who ordered it every day). 

I went with the Russell, but realized that I probably got the Motherload as it had bacon on it, but no cheese.  The burger meat is cut from a tube of ground beef they have shipped in to the restaurant each day.  The bartender told me that sometimes they cut the burgers a little too thick ("We lose some money on those") but mine was about 3/4" of an inch thick. 

It was a tad overcooked, but the bun made up for it.  Light and tasty, the bun was very good.  I'm a firm believer that a good bun makes or breaks a burger more often than not.

Farren's had a good beer selection of both domestic and export beers.  They had a number of good micro and regional brews listed, as well.  I went with a semi-warm Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.  I know Sierra Nevada beer should be served a little warmer than most beers (about 45 to 50 degrees), but it was definitely warmer than that. 

The burger with some crispy handcut fries (they were OK, not the best I've ever had) was a little expensive - $8.95.  Add in three Sierra Nevada's and the bill with tip came to about $23.00.  A little on the high side for a burger with some beer, but it was good, nonetheless.

The burger at Farren's Pub and Eatery was very good and a spot hitter for me.  It's a place I'd recommend for a good burger in the Champaign area.   

Timpone's - Urbana, IL

Actually, Timpone's is not your usual pizza joint. It happens to be a very good Italian restaurant - so good that people from Chicago regularly drive down to eat there.

Timpone's is located right next to the University of Illinois campus in Urbana. If you didn't know it was there, you'd go right past it.

I've eaten at Timpone's three times. The first time I went, I took the guys from Glenn Poor's in Champaign there. One of the guys got a pizza. It looked great and smelled great. Stupid me, I went with the pasta. I don't quite remember what I had, but I do remember it was outstanding.

The second time I went there, I was tempted to get the pizza. But they had a seafood pasta special that evening and I'm a sucker for seafood pasta.

The third time, I met a rep buddy, Mark Petty, for dinner when I was traveling thru Champaign-Urbana on my way to Indianapolis. He said, "Have you ever tried the pizza here? It's outstanding!" I told him I'd been tempted in the past, but didn't pull the trigger. So we ordered a small one as an appetizer.

The pizza was - as Mark said - outstanding. The crust was light and crispy. The sauce was tangy, but not overpowering. The sausage chunks were perfect sized and lightly spicy. It was a great appetizer for two big guys who love food. In fact, it was so good, we ordered a second pizza for dinner.

Timpone's is kind of a dress up place, although I was in there in jeans one evening and they didn't seem to care. The pizza is just as good as their main entrees. If you want pasta, they've got great pasta. If you want pizza, it is outstanding.