Road Tips

Nobori Sushi - Glenview, IL

Whenever I get into a "food funk" on the road, I've found that sushi usually pulls me out of it.  One evening in the northern Chicago suburbs, I wasn't certain what I wanted for dinner.  I didn't want pizza since I knew I was going to go out for pizza the next evening.  A burger was out of the question.  I thought about Thai food or a steak, but those ideas just didn't trip my trigger.  I did a quick Urbanspoon search to see what was in the area and found a place called Nobori Sushi on Waukegan Ave. in Glenview.  (see map)  I set my GPS and took off for Nobori Sushi.

Noburu Nakamura is the man behind Nobori Sushi.  He grew up in the Kanto region of Japan and immigrated to the U.S. over 30 years ago to work in a sushi restaurant in New York City.  There are dozens of sushi restaurants in Greenwich Village and Noburu found work at one such restaurant.  About 25 years ago, he moved to Chicago and began to work in a number of sushi places around the area.  

In 2010, Noburu decided to open his own sushi restaurant suburban Glenview in a strip mall along busy Waukegan Ave.  The name "Nobori" means "sun rising in the morning" and Nakamura believed the restaurant would also rise to greatness.  

It was around 7:30 when I entered Nobori Sushi.  The place was half full of patrons, so seating was no problem.  I looked to sit at the sushi bar as I'm want to do when I eat sushi by myself, but there were curiously no chairs in front of the small sushi case.  I was ushered toward the back of the restaurant and given a menu by, I believe, Mr. Noburu Nakamura himself. 

The restaurant is not large and has your typical contemporary Japanese restaurant decor.  A number of tables and chairs hug the wall and it has a number of can lights that helped keep the ambiance to the restaurant warm and inviting.  

I was there for the sushi even though Nobori Sushi has a number of teriyaki entrees including chicken teriyaki, beef and asparagus teriyaki, and tuna or salmon teriyaki.  They also had a number of noodle-based dishes to choose from on the menu including ramen noodles and yakisoba with chicken, vegetables and noodles.  

When Noburu came back to ask me what I wanted to drink I asked for an Asahi beer, then told him that I was ready to order up some sushi.   I ordered a spicy tuna roll, some smoked salmon sushi, as well as tuna, yellowtail and shrimp sushi.  He said he'd have it right out.  

And less than 10 minutes later he came over with the sushi platter.  The spicy tuna rolls were wrapped with seaweed and weren't exactly the largest spicy tuna rolls I've ever had.  But they were very good and had a nice kick to the flavor.  The smoked salmon sushi was also very good with a nice forward smoke flavor to the bite.  I liked the shrimp sushi, as well.  It had a nice sweet taste and the shrimp meat was firm, not soggy.  While the tuna was also pretty good, I'll have to say the yellowtail was a little mushy and had a hint of a fishy taste to it.  It was probably at the end of its cycle in the sushi case, but it was far from bad.  

Noburu came over after I finished and asked if I wanted another Asahi or more sushi.  I contemplated getting a couple more pieces of either the tuna or the smoked salmon, but decided I'd had enough.  I was full enough from what I had just eaten.

 

Nobori Sushi was fine - a pleasant find of a good sushi meal.  The service was fine, the food was above average and the place was comfortable.  Not being able to sit at the sushi bar to watch the chefs prepare the meal was a little disheartening, but I was comfortable at the table.   There's a number of good to great sushi places in the Glenview/Northbrook area and Nobori Sushi can be added to that list.  

Pizzeria Antica - Bloomingdale, IL

Out of habit, I find myself staying from time to time at the Hampton Inn in west suburban Addison when I go into Chicago for meetings.  It's sort of far out of the city, but it's easy to get to and away from.  It's sort of centrally located for the dealers that I have around the Chicagoland area, plus there's a number of restaurants in the vicinity.  For the past number of years, I usually head east into Addison or Elmhurst to get something to eat when I'm staying there.  On a recent overnight there, I decided to look toward the west to the Bloomingdale area to see what they have to offer.  I found a little Italian/pizza place called Pizzeria Antica. 

Pizzeria Antica is a small family-owned restaurant that opened in the fall of 2007.  Gaetano Ancona is the principal owner/chef at the restaurant, but other family members are involved in the restaurant.  Pizzeria Antica is located in a small building on W. Lake St., just past Bloomingdale Rd (or Roselle Rd north of Lake).  (see map)  There is only one way in to Pizzeria Antica from the westbound lane on W. Lake.  And you can only go west out of the place when you leave.

It had been a long day of meetings and driving around the Chicago area when I decided to head west on Lake to Pizzeria Antica.  It is, indeed, a very small place seating only 26 people.   There were two other people in the place finishing up their meal when I got in after 8 p.m.  I was greeted at the front counter by a young lady and I thought that you actually ordered your food there.   But it turns out that they do have sit down service at Pizzeria Antica. 

I took a seat at a table and took a look through the menu.  Pizzeria Antica specializes in thin crust pizza and they have a number of specialty pizzas such as the Antico - a pizza topped with Italian tuna, capers, mushrooms and onions; the Frutti de mare - octopus, shrimp, calamari and crab meat are on that one; and the Wurstel - it has hot dogs, mushroom, basil and extra virgin olive oil on it.  None of those sounded appealing to me in the least.  

Since Pizzeria Antica opens at 11 a.m. for lunch, they also have a number of sandwiches, salads and appetizers.  But I was there for the pizza that evening. 

My regular reference pizza of sausage, mushroom and pepperoni was what I was looking for.  And that's exactly what I ordered when my server came over to take my order - a small (10").  (They also have a 12" medium, a 14" large and a 16" extra-large.)   I also noticed that they had Peroni beer on the menu.  I ordered up a bottle of Peroni to drink while I wanted on my pizza.    

It took less than 20 minutes from the time I ordered to the time the pizza made it to the table.  The pizza featured ample amounts of pepperoni, chopped fresh mushrooms and chunks of sweet Italian sausage on the top mixed in with caramelized mozzarella cheese.  It was cut into triangles.  

The crust was crispy and a little crunchy.  It easily held the toppings without drooping.  Parmesan cheese, ground oregano and red pepper flakes were available on the table to put onto the pizza.  However, I tried the first piece without any additives.  The flavor was very good.  The sausage was a little bland, but the pepperoni slices had a nice spicy and salty bite.  The mushrooms were also very good on the pizza.  It passed my "Does it taste good with a beer?" test that I have for every new pizza that I try.  

Because the toppings and cheese were so plentiful on the pizza, I was able to eat five of the eight slices of the pizza.  I asked the young lady for a to-go box as I had a fridge and a microwave in my room back at the Hampton Inn.  Pizza for breakfast is always a treat.  

When I was getting ready to leave, the server asked me how my pizza was and I told her that it was very good.  It wasn't the best I've had in the Chicago area, but it was still very good.  She gave me a printed menu to take with me and I didn't notice until I got back home that it said on the front, "Moving soon!"  Honestly, I don't know if the menu was printed up two months ago or two years ago.  I'll keep checking back with them to see if they finally moved and I'll be sure to update this entry.

While I do like finding these small gems of a restaurant in my travels, I can see why they probably would like to move.  The place is small and you can't get into the place if you're coming from the west on Lake St.   I'm hoping that wherever Pizzeria Antica moves to, they'll keep the same pizza ovens that are obviously seasoned with thousands of pizzas they've cooked in them over the past five plus years.  I'll definitely follow them, as long as they're close to the hotel when I stay there.  I'll be sure to let you know when they move and where.  

Canta Napoli - Mount Prospect, IL

I had been on the road a lot toward the end of 2012 and I was getting pretty burnt out on restaurants, hotels and driving.  I was in the Chicago suburb of Mount Prospect one evening and I was hungry, but didn't exactly know what I wanted to eat.  I hadn't had Italian food for quite awhile and I decided to look for one in the immediate area.  Doing a quick search on the Internet, I found a place called Canta Napoli in what would be called the downtown area for Mount Prospect.  It wasn't far from the hotel, so I put the address in my GPS and headed toward the restaurant.

Pulling up to Canta Napoli at the Southwest corner of E. Busse and S. Emerson (see map), I found a very nice looking restaurant with a little patio out in front.  Of course, since it was in the Winter the tables and chairs were put away for the season.   I went inside and was greeted by a hostess with what I figured was an Eastern European accent.  There weren't many people in the place and she seated me at a table next to a window in the dining room to the right as you walk into the restaurant.  

Canta Napoli has been open since August of 2008.  The owners are, I believe, a brother and sister - Adrian Hudema and Adina Gherman.  They call Canta Napoli a family business and Adrian Hudema is the managing partner of the restaurant and Adina Gherman is the general manager.  Maurizio Fonda is the chef at the restaurant.  

The dining area at Canta Napoli is very elegant.  It features a lot of intricate woodwork with dark wood beams and trim.  I can imagine that the place can get a little loud with all the woodwork and the large windows.  But I determined that this would be the kind of place my wife would like.  

My server for the evening, Kristiana - who also had a thick European accent - came over and asked if I wanted anything to drink.  It had been a long day and I ended up getting a Peroni beer to start off.  She also told me of a couple specials they had that evening that weren't on the menu.  To be quite honest, I had a little bit of trouble understanding her. 

In addition to traditional Italian entrees on the menu, Canto Napoli is also known for their wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizzas.  I thought about getting a pizza for a moment, but they didn't seem to have pepperoni and the only sausage pizza they had listed on the menu was paired with rapini.  I didn't know what the hell rapini was, so I passed on pizza altogether.  (Rapini, I found out later on when I looked it up, is a common Southern Italian leafy vegetable that is also known as rabe or broccoletti.)  

I hadn't had pasta for awhile and they had a lot of pasta to choose from on the menu.  The one thing that jumped out at me was the tortellini with prosciutto, mushrooms, peas and onions in a cream sauce.  They also had a linguine with clams and mushrooms with your choice of a cream or tomato sauce.  They also had linguine with mussels with either the cream or tomato sauce.  It all sounded damn good.   

Canta Napoli also features a number of chicken and veal dishes.  I thought about getting the Veal Limone - veal with mushrooms in a white wine, lemon and butter sauce.  When Kristiana came back with my beer, I asked if the veal came with a side of pasta.  She said it did not.  Hmmm...  I really wanted pasta and I was sort of stumped what to get at that point.  She left me alone for a moment to make a decision and I weighed the tortellini and the linguine with clams and mushrooms in my mind.  When Kristiana came back to take my order, I decided upon the tortellini.  Once again, I had trouble understanding what she said came with it, so I just said I'd take a house salad.

The salad was a bowl of fresh mixed greens with a vinaigrette dressing.  Parmesan cheese was on the table and it livened up the already tasty salad.  It was a nice start to the meal.  

The highlight was the homemade bread that was brought out prior to the salad.  Served in a small stone bowl, the bread was warm, chewy and downright delicious.  I put a little olive oil on a plate and mixed in some parmesan and black pepper.  The bread was excellent.  I was worried that I would eat too much of the bread and I wouldn't be able to finish my tortellini.

Once the tortellini came out, all bets whether I could finish it were off.  It was a huge bowl of tortellini pasta mixed with cheese-filled prosciutto, sliced mushrooms, peas and slices of onions in a heavy sweet cream sauce.  It was enough for two people.  And the taste was absolutely wonderful.  But it was - OH! - so rich.  My goal was to eat half the bowl because I knew that I wouldn't be able to finish all of it.  

I was able to make a significant dent in the pasta, but I was getting pretty full.  I could keep eating the delicious tortellini and feel miserable from being full, or I could pull the plug on the meal and call it good with a little over half the tortellini eaten. When Kristiana came over to check on me, I told her I was done, she asked if I wanted the rest to go.  Even though I did have a fridge and a microwave in my hotel room, most cream-sauced pastas don't hold up well when reheating.  It's never as good as when you get it fresh in a restaurant.   The tortellini at Canta Napoli was simply outstanding.  

For my first trip to Canta Napoli, I was extremely happy with everything about the restaurant.  The ambiance, the service, the food - all were excellent.  Even though I couldn't understand Kristiana from time to time, it was still a wonderful experience.   I definitely plan on going back at some point, probably taking my wife there the next time we go into Chicago for a weekend.  

Kamehachi - Northbrook, IL

I had been on the road for a few days and ended up in the northern suburbs of Chicago one evening.  I was tired of burgers, didn't want a pizza, thought about going to find a steak, but I soon lost interest in that.  I realized that I hadn't had seafood for a while, but didn't feel like finding a seafood restaurant.  However, sushi came into my mind and while I was tempted to go back to one of my all-time favorite sushi places - Blu Fish - I decided to seek out another place for sushi.  (Click here to see my entry on Blu Fish.) Looking through Urbanspoon, I found a sushi place in Northbrook - Kamehachi.  I got the address and put it into the GPS.  In less than 10 minutes from my hotel, I pulled up in front of Kamehachi.

The original Kamehachi has a long history in the city of Chicago.  It is recognized as being the first place to get sushi in the Chicagoland area.  In the mid-60's, Marion Konishi, a young Japanese-American mother of two from San Diego who grew up in a Japanese internment camp during World War II, moved to Chicago with the help of relatives who ran restaurants in New York.  She opened Kamehachi in 1967 - the name roughly means "8 turtles" in Japanese.  Turtles and the number 8 are considered a sign of luck and longevity in Japanese culture.  Trying to make a go of a cuisine that was completely foriegn to the meat and potatoes crowd in Chicago in the 60's, Konishi worked as a server, greeter, sushi chef and cook at the restaurant.  Working with Japanese men whose upbringing viewed women as subserviant, Konishi's firm and forward manner in her restaurant garnered her the moniker of "The Dragon Lady".  

Kamehachi's first location was on N. Wells St. in an area that was sort of a hippie/Bohemian enclave in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.  Kamehachi's unique cuisine caught on with the laid back neighborhood and was a favorite of many of the young and rising stars who graced the stage at the famed Second City theater just across the street.  Notable actors such as John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis all dined at Kamehachi in Old Town before they became famous.   

Marion Konishi passed away in 1990 and her daughter, Sharon Perazzoli, took over Kamehachi.  Four years later, she moved the original restaurant from the small building they had been in for nearly 25 years to a larger location two blocks south to the corner of Wells and Schiller. (see map)  In 1999, the Northbrook location opened and three years later, Kamehachi opened a location in the Streeterville neighborhood in Chicago.  Perazzoli and her daughter, Giulia Sindler, (pictured right) oversee five Kamehachi locations across the greater Chicagoland area.

The Northbrook location is in a shopping/restaurant area along Shermer Road across from Village Green park in what would be downtown Northbrook. (see map)  I had never been in that part of Northbrook before and was surprised to see a number of other restaurants in the immediate area. I made notes of what I saw while I was driving around so I could go back and try some of the places at a later time.  I was able to find a parking spot right in front of Kamehachi on Shermer Road. 

I went in the front door and soon found out that it even though it faced the road, the front door of Kamehachi is actually on the opposite end of the restaurant facing the parking lot behind the building.  However, a young server saw me come in and asked where I'd like to sit.  There was a sushi bar and a small bar opposite the sushi chefs.  I took a seat at the sushi bar and she dropped off a menu for me.  

The restaurant, itself, featured a contemporary decor with recessed can lighting in the ceiling.  A series of Japanese-inspired prints hung on the wall on the east side of the restaurant.  The dining room was large and comfortable.

The sushi bar was pretty big and they had five sushi chefs working that evening.  A waterwall bubbled behind the sushi chefs.  It was sort of a nice and soothing touch as you sit at the sushi bar.  

A young man came by to ask me what I wanted to drink.  I asked for an Asahi beer, but they only had Sapporo.  That's fine with me.  Asahi is usually No. 1 with me for Japanese beers while Sapporo is No. 1A.  

Other than sushi, Kamehachi has a number of cooked entrees including chicken or steak teriyaki, Chilean sea bass, and sukiyaki - slices of tender beef simmered with cabbage, tofu, onions and mushrooms and served with Japanese noodles.  Speaking noodle dishes, Kamehachi features a number of entrees with all types of noodles - thick noodles, thin noodles, tea noodles and some others - many of which can have beef, chicken or seafood added.

But I was there for the sushi and I was hungry.  I had only had a breakfast bar during the course of the day and I started out by ordering two of the Spicy Tuna Roll Deluxe - a regular spicy tuna roll with cucumber and avacado added.  It's like a California roll, only with tuna and the spicy mayo added.  I was surprised when it came out so soon - less than five minutes after I ordered and the restaurant was pretty busy.  The Spicy Tuna Rolls were, well, sort of bland.  They didn't have quite the zip in taste that I've had in other tuna rolls at other places.  I will say, however, that the wasabi was pungent and very forward when mixed with the soy sauce, and the ginger was some of the freshest and best tasting that I've ever had.

I then ordered up some of the Chu Toro (medium fatty tuna), smoked salmon, regular tuna and yellow tail.  The order of sushi also came up rather fast.  I tried the Chu Toro first and found it to be nice and chewy, but it had a hint of a fishy taste, sort of like it was getting toward the end of its shelf life in the sushi bar case.  The smoked salmon didn't have much of a smoked taste to it, which was very disappointing.  I love a good smoked salmon and Kamehachi's was not that great.  The yellow tail and regular tuna were all right.  They weren't anything special in taste.  I thought the whole meal was sort of average, at best.

The sushi I had at Kamehachi was all right - it wasn't the best I've ever had, nor was it the worst.  I also thought it was a little expensive for what I got.  I didn't think the sushi had the great taste sensation that I look for in sushi, but the wasabi did help and the ginger was probably the most fresh ginger I'd ever had at a sushi restaurant.  Still, I was good and full after the meal and I wasn't sorry that I found Kamehachi.  If anything, finding Kamehachi opened up other possibilites of eating establishments in the immediate area.  (Photo courtesy Michelle Reitman)

Bulldogs Grill - Wauconda, IL

I have a small dealer in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago who I see from time to time.  We had a meeting one evening recently and afterward I asked him if he wanted to go grab a bite to eat at Smokin' T's, a nearby very good barbecue joint that he turned me on to a couple three years ago.  (Click here to see my entry on Smokin' T's.) He begged off citing family plans, but he said, "Hey, if you're looking for a fun place to eat, there's this place up the road in Wauconda that has these outrageously great cheeseburgers and duck fat fries."  That piqued my interest and asked him to tell me more about a place called Bulldogs Grill.  He said, "It's like a 50's diner, but they have a chef and all these wild cheeseburger concoctions.  It's about a 10 minute drive from here."  Even though it was in the opposite direction of my hotel that particular evening, on my way out of his place I decided to take his enthusiastic advice and hang a left instead of going right at the stop sign down the road to go up to Bulldogs Grill. 

From what I can determine, Bulldogs opened around 2009 in Wauconda.  The small Lake County town was undergoing a transformation from a sleepy lakeside community to a restaurant destination for the people in the area as well as vacationers.  Aaron Aagerwal had been a chef for a number of years and his friend, Joe Kafka, had once been a bartender before he entered the corporate world of banking.  After Kafka was laid off after the banking crisis in 2008, he decided to partner with Aagerwal to open Bulldogs Grill in an old restored building on Wauconda's Main Street.  Today, Bulldogs sits smack dab in the middle of a number of cafes, pubs and other restaurants in downtown Wauconda.  

I drove in front of Bulldogs Grill just around 7:30 p.m. on a weeknight evening (see map).  There was a parking spot just down the street and I was able to pull in easily.  Because Bulldogs also sells ice cream by the scoop, there were a number of people that were milling about in front of the place enjoying their cones.  I walked in behind a family of five people and had time to take a look around the place before I ordered at the front counter.

The main area as you come into Bulldogs is set up like you'd find a 50's style diner.  The area was heavy on the black and white tile, bright fluorescent lighting, a counter with old style stools, and art-deco style tables and chairs on the opposite wall from the counter.  Bulldogs also had a number of pictures and articles on the wall touting the awards they've won in the short while they've been in business.  

Bulldogs Grill features a "Man Cave" in the back part of the restaurant that has somewhat softer lighting, a couple of flat screen televisions that were turned on to baseball games, some posters and a smattering of tables.  It was more spacious than the front area, but it was still cozy enough.  I figured that I'd just sit back there after I ordered.

I went back up to the counter as the family was just finishing up with their order.  Looking over the menu board, in addition to the burgers, Bulldogs also has a number of hot dogs on the menu including the "Baconator" - a bacon-wrapped hot dog, deep-fried, then placed on a bun before being topped with chili and cheese.  Oh ho ho!  My arteries hardened up after reading that!  They also have Philly cheese steak sandwiches, pulled pork and chicken sandwiches, as well as a handful of Mexican entrees including tacos, enchiladas, and deep-fried fish tacos that are marinated in a chile lime sauce, and a number of wraps and flatbread sandwiches.  And Bulldogs Grill is famous for their award winning wings made in a homemade Buffalo sauce.  For the health conscious, they also have soups, salads and a kids menu.  Kafka's and Aagarwal's philosophy is to buy their food fresh and local, and to provide a great value for what they serve.  

But I wanted a burger.  And with 36 different burgers on the menu, Bulldogs Grill has a wide array of toppings and combinations to choose from.  I was interested in about four or five of them - The Area 51 burger (named after the secret testing military base in Nevada) had green chiles, pepper jack cheese, guacamole and a spicy mayo on it.  The Shroomer had mushrooms and provolone cheese on it.  The California BLT burger had avocado, bacon, cheddar cheese and chipotle mayo on top of the 9 oz. burger.  And just the regular bacon cheeseburger looked interesting to me.   

The menu also features a "challenge burger" - the Bluto Burger.  If someone can eat the four 1/2 burger patties, grilled onions and pepper jack cheese with Bulldogs apple barbecue sauce, with each burger topped with 3 pieces of applewood smoked bacon, jalapeno cream cheese and then finished off with a stack of onion rings - along with a pound of french fries - in 30 minutes or less, you get a t-shirt and your name on the Bluto Burger Hall of Fame.  While I was standing in line to order, a waiter brought out this Bluto Burger to two young guys, both of whom were going to share the plate (above right).  But as you can see by look and posture of the one guy, they were beginning to have second thoughts about what they ordered.  

By the time I got around to order, I had found out that the duck fat fries were only available on Friday nights.  Sort of a bummer, but, oh well, that was fine with me.  But I saw something else that got my attention - garlic parmesan fries.  And they were only something like $2.50 for a small side of them.  I decided on getting the hangover burger - the 9 oz. never-frozen patty topped with a fried egg, bacon and American cheese to go along with the fries.  And to drink, I got a couple bottles of ice cold Capital Supper Club beer.  I was given a number and went to find a seat back in the "Man Cave".  

It takes a while to get your food at Bulldogs Grill.  Good burgers take time to cook.  Plus the kitchen area isn't all that large and when they get a good sized crowd in there they can get backed up.  The food orders are picked up at the counter next to the kitchen and brought out to the table.  The wait staff yells out the number and the more they have to yell the number to get the attention of the person whose order they have, the louder they get.

I'm glad I got in when I did.  Even though they closed at 8 p.m., they had a large group of motorcycle riders - mainly older gentlemen - who came in and ordered food just before they closed.  About 20 of them came back and took over the remaining tables in the back room.  It suddenly became a little loud and crowded back there.  

After about a 20 minute wait after I ordered, a waitress came back with my burger and fries.  For a small order, I knew the fries would be too much.  Just looking at the size of the burger, I knew this was going to be a lot of food for me to try to finish. In fact, the burger was so big that I had to cut it in half before I could even handle picking it up.  

The taste of the burger was very, very good.   Even though the egg slid off the burger when I made my first bite, I could get enough the taste of it to know that it went well with the taste of the fresh burger meat.  The crown of the gourmet bun had a crispy outer shell with a light and chewy inner core.  Two large pieced of bacon criss-crossed the burger and the American cheese was thickly melted on to the burger, itself.  The flat grill taste of the burger was delicious.  It was a very outstanding burger.  And a great value for $6.50!  I've had burgers like this for nearly twice the price that didn't taste as good as the one at Bulldogs Grill.   

The parmesan and garlic fries were as good as advertised.   They were covered in parmesan cheese that had crusted onto the fries.  I couldn't find any hint of fresh garlic on the fries, but I was guessing that it was there because they had a wonderful forward garlic taste.  I was glad that I didn't have to talk to anyone else that particular evening because my breath would have warded off vampires for a two-mile radius.  If this was a small order, I'd hate to see what a large order would be.  A small order would easily satiate two people, if not as many as four, mainly because they were so rich.  I could only finish about a quarter of what they brought to me. 

They brought out a double cheeseburger to one of the guys who were in the motorcycle club.  He sort of looked at the two 9 oz. burgers piled on top of one another in wonderment.  The size of one burger is huge at Bulldogs Grill - you can almost imagine what two look like.   

This is the second time my small dealer in the far NW suburbs has turned me on to a great place to eat.  Maybe I need to go see him more often, especially in the late afternoon.  The burgers at Bulldogs Grill have been voted the best in Lake County for the past couple of years.  And it's no wonder.  The burger I had was simply one of the best burgers I've ever had.  I don't know how they could get topped, unless they open a second location - just like they recently did in nearby Grayslake.   Bulldogs Grill is a long way from most places in the Chicagoland area, but if you're ever around the far north suburbs you need to seek the place out.  You won't be disappointed.

Tom & Eddie's - Lombard, IL

Let's say, for a moment, that you're a retired executive from a large corporation.  And for funsies, let's call that corporation McDonald's.  What do you do after climbing the corporate ladder starting out as a grill cook and working your way up to be the C.E.O.?  Do you become a NASCAR owner?  Do you contemplate becoming a Smashburger franchisee?  Do you have a passion to find the perfect burger and have a place that is comfortable and affordable to have such a burger?  If your name is Ed Rensi, that's exactly what happened after he retired in 1998 from McDonald's.  And along with his long-time friend, Tom Dentice - also a former executive with McDonald's - they opened their first fast casual gourmet burger place Tom & Eddie's in August of 2010.  I don't quite remember how I heard about Tom & Eddie's, but I had it bookmarked as a place I wanted to try.  On a recent trip into Chicago for business, I had a chance to try one of their burgers.  

Ed Rensi was going to school at Ohio State, working three jobs and had no car when he saw an ad for a "grill man" at a new drive-up restaurant by the name of McDonald's.  It was 1966 and Rensi's wife, Anne, was pregnant with their first child.  In order to make ends meet, Resni ended up working 100 hours a week - at .85 cents an hour - his first year at McDonald's.  However, his dogged determination paid off and within a year he was promoted to manager of the McDonald's store in Columbus.  He ended up becoming a regional manager in Philadelphia, eventually getting promoted to regional Vice-President.  In Philadelphia, Ed was instrumental for the development of the first Ronald McDonald House, a temporary home for families who children are suffering from serious illnesses.  Rensi was eventually promoted to the Oak Brook, IL headquarters of McDonald's as Vice-President of Training and Operations.  Ed was responsible for product development and in 1983 oversaw the project that eventually became Chicken McNuggets.  He was elevated to the Chief Executive Officer position the following year.

At right, Tom Dentice and Ed Rensi (Picture courtesy Northwest Quarterly)

Tom Dentice's rise through the ranks at McDonald's is similar to the journey his good friend Ed Rensi encountered.  It was 1965 and Dentice had just finished an 8-year stint in the Air Force.  He needed a job to help pay the bills as he had a wife and a baby at home.  He saw an ad in a local newspaper for a "manager/trainee" for a McDonald's franchise in Columbus, OH.  He got the job and within the next year he hired a young college student by the name of Ed Rensi.  As Rensi rose through the managerial and executive ranks at McDonald's, he never forgot his first manager.  Dentice eventually became the V-P for Training and Operations, retiring as the Senior Executive V-P for Franchising in 1998.  

Hamburgers never left the blood of both Rensi and Dentice and both had been thinking about a gourmet burger that was affordable and served in a place that was fun for the family.  After initially looking at becoming Smashburger franchisees, the two traveled the world - together and separately - eating burgers of all kinds (Rensi said he gained 21 pounds during his travels) gaining knowledge of the upscale burger business and trying to figure out exactly what they wanted to do for their concept.   

Rensi and Dentice began a partnership program with the College of DuPage's culinary and hospitality program, working with school chefs and students to develop a unique menu that featured burgers, chicken sandwiches, salads, sides and gourmet milkshakes.  Over an eight week period in late 2009, Tom & Eddie's hosted a test restaurant that served over 1000 meals to students, friends and community organizations in return for feedback about the food and concept.  Tweaking the plan along the way, the two were confident that their fast casual concept would be ready for the public.

From the beginning, they wanted to make sure that people knew that Tom & Eddie's would not be another McDonald's with cheap burgers.  They visited test kitchens, looking for the very best beef to make their hamburgers from.  They settled upon a 100% fresh Angus chuck natural beef with no hormones or antibiotics introduced into cattle who also only ate a vegetarian diet on the farm.  For the animal-rights people, the beef Tom & Eddie's uses is "certified humane" by a national non-profit organization that inspects and certifies farms and facilities that raise beef in a humane way.   

Rensi and Dentice also worked with Chef Charlie Baggs, a food industry veteran who heads his own consulting firm in the Chicago area.  They hired Baggs' corporate chef Lance Avery to help give their foods a signature taste.  Finally, they decided up on getting their fresh baked buns from the Turano Bakery in Berwyn, IL.  Turano hamburger buns are some of the best around.  

Finding a facility was the next thing and they settled on a former Boudin Bakery location in the Yorktown Center mall in west suburban Lombard, not far from the McDonald's corporate offices in Oakbrook.  They ordered in two 3-foot long flat top grills - one for the burgers, and the other for the other foods that cook at different temperatures than the burgers - and opened their doors toward the end of August 2010.  The first location was a hit and they soon opened a second Tom & Eddie's location in far west suburban Geneva, then a third one in north suburban Deerfield, then a fourth one in far north suburban Vernon Hills.  They are working to open a fifth T&E location in Naperville in the coming weeks.

The Lombard location is located on the southwest corner of the Yorktown Center mall just off Highland Avenue in what they call The Shops on Butterfield, across from Rock Bottom Brewery and caddy-cornered from Brio Tuscan Grille (see map).  Tom & Eddie's is a fitting restaurant for the mall which has a number of upscale restaurants in the immediate area including The Capital Grille, D.O.C American Bistro, and the Claim Jumper.  (There's a Cajun restaurant at Yorktown Center called French Quarter that I'd like to try at some point.)  Parking is plentiful in front of Tom & Eddie's.  

The inside of Tom & Eddie's could sort be described as contemporary art deco.  There are a number of two seater tables and a set of higher four seat tables along the large windows that allow an abundant amount of light to shine into the restaurant.  Three-sided booths are along a half wall and bench seats are along the back wall with tables.  The kitchen area is open to the left of the main counter and there is a soda pop dispenser along with shelves of hot sauces in the center of the restaurant.   An outdoor patio was available for al fresco dining.  

The front counter is where you order your food and drinks.  The menu for the restaurant is located on the wall behind the counter (or you can get a printed menu to take with you).  Burgers are the draw at Tom & Eddie's, but they also feature a "Lean and Green" part of their menu that features salads, chicken sandwiches, veggie burgers and burgers that are made out of ground turkey and ahi tuna.  And the prices are more than reasonable.  Most of the burgers, depending upon the toppings you add, are under $10 bucks.

Tom & Eddie's feature seven signature burgers including the Ampersand that is topped with gouda cheese, applewood smoked bacon, barbecue sauce and Tom & Eddie's in-house made haystack onion straws, then topped with a fried egg.  The Blue Chip features a burger topped with a sliced avocado, Tom & Eddie’s roasted garlic aioli, a tomato slice and crumbled blue cheese topped with homemade potato chips.  The Love Me Dew has Tom & Eddie’s homemade spicy mayonnaise, topped with pepperjack and peppadew sweet piquanté peppers.  And the most interesting of them all is the Bushel and a Peck - they start off with Granny Smith apple slices, then add homemade walnut butter, melted Brie cheese and finish with caramelized onions.  Although that doesn't sound appealing to me in the least, I have a feeling my wife would love something like that.

Or, you can "build your own" burger at Tom & Eddie's.  And that's exactly what I did.  You have your choice between a 1/2 pound or 1/3 pound burger and then you choose from three fresh baked gourmet buns - sesame seed, ciabatta or multi-grain.   If you want cheese on your burger, they have everything from American, Swiss, pepperjack, gouda, brie and blue cheese.  Then you get your choice of 10 different condiments that include organic ketchup, garlic aoili, Jamaica sweet relish, basil pesto and an eggplant spread.  And then you have a choice of 10 veggie or fruit toppings that include lettuce, sliced red or caramelized onions, sport peppers (for the hot dogs they have on the menu, no doubt), hot giardiniera (it IS Chicago), and something they call puckered pickles.  

From there, you can order "premium toppings" including sauteed crimini mushrooms, a fried egg, extra cheese, applewood smoked bacon and fire roasted tomatoes.  It seems like a lot of choices, but I sort of knew what I was going to get once I saw the combinations they had.  I ordered up a 1/2 pound burger cooked medium with Swiss cheese on a sesame seed bun.  I had them put the organic ketchup and yellow mustard on it (but I found that when I got to the table that there were bottles of yellow mustard and Heinz organic ketchup already there), as well as a sliced red onion.  I also had them put the crimini mushrooms and some Applewood smoked bacon on it, as well.  The girl behind the counter asked me if I wanted any sides - they have hand-cut fries, sweet potato fries, the haystack onion rings, or fresh made potato chips.  I figured that the burger would just be fine for me.  

For something to drink, I ordered a glass of the Two Brothers pale ale.  The girl who took my order was too young to pour and serve the beer, so she asked another lady, to do the honors.  As the other lady poured my beer, the girl gave me a number on a plastic strip shaped like a paddle.  She said, "This is your key and you put this in your holder on the table and we'll bring your food to you."  

The other lady, who poured my beer - Tammi - asked me if I'd ever been to Tom & Eddie's before.  Since I hadn't, she sort of showed me the ropes.  She said, "Well, you get your pick of tables, then you put this little paddle in the holder.  If you need anything like another drink or more food or whatever, you just hit this button on the base and we'll be right there!"  The contraption is called the "Key Call Table Locator System" and it is part of a system that allows for monitoring of orders and sends a signal back to the food pick-up area to show where the customer is seated in the restaurant.  It also allows  Tom & Eddie's to monitor, record and average times that it takes for a customer to receive their food after they've ordered.  

Tammi told me, "Our concept is similar to the fast casual concept like Panera Bread has where the food is made quickly after you've ordered.  Only we bring the food to the table rather than having the customer wait for it.  It just gives us a little more of a personal touch with our customers."  

About 15 minutes after I ordered my burger, Tammi brought it to the table.  The presentation was very nice - the burger was served on a concave, sculptured plate.  It had a load of sauteed crimini mushrooms on top of the bacon with all sitting on a thick slice of Swiss cheese.  Three large red onion rings were with the burger - any more and I would have taken some off.  The gourmet sesame seed bun had rack marks across the top.  It was light and fluffy, and felt substantial.  

The first bite told me this was an excellent burger.  The Black Angus beef had that wonderful flat-grilled juicy taste to it.   The burger was cooked to a perfect medium with a little pink in the middle. The crimini mushrooms were absolutely fabulous. I'm guessing the sauteed them in butter and Worcestershire sauce.  The bacon was flavorful and the red onions weren't overpowering.  The bun was also perfect - not too chewy, but substantial enough that it stayed together with all the great juicy toppings.    

Tammi came over to me to see how I liked my burger.  I couldn't lie to her, "This is simply an outstanding burger."  

She said, "Great!  Glad you liked it.  You'll have to come back and try another type of burger sometime.  That's what I like to do, experiment with different toppings."  

Tom & Eddie's is a winner.  The burger was just excellent, one of the finest gourmet burgers I've ever had.  I liked the fast casual "made-to-order" concept and the sort of laid back atmosphere in the place.  I'm hoping they don't grow too big, too quickly.  Five locations in about two years is just about enough for this place.  But I can't say enough good things about Tom & Eddie's.  For a great gourmet burger, it was about 50% cheaper than what you'd find for a burger at a fine dining restaurant.  It was a great burger at a great value. 

Peggy Kinnane's - Arlington Heights, IL

To mix things up a bit, I've been staying at a new Hampton Inn in Mount Prospect on my recent trips into Chicago.  Although it's not quite as convenient as the Hampton Inn in Addison in terms of getting there from anyplace around the Chicagoland area, it is close to my largest dealer, Abt Electronics.  Plus, it's in the middle of the Randhurst Village Shopping Center and there's a number of newer and established places to eat in the immediate area.  Arlington Heights is just down the road and they have a handful of interesting places to eat.  I decided to try an Irish pub by the name of Peggy Kinnane's one evening.     

Peggy Kinnane's opened in 2001 and is owned by Irish ex-patriot Derek Hanley.  Hanley comes from a long line of pub owners. His grandfather, John Joe Kinnane, had been a noted goalie for an Irish football (soccer) team before he opened Setright's Pub in Cratloe, County Clare.  John Joe's son - and Derek's father - Jack Hanley, was a band leader who played in many pubs across Ireland before he opened his own place in Templemore, County Tipperary.  Jack Hanley married an Irish lass by the name of Peggy Kinnane, hence the name of Derek Hanley's establishment in Arlington Heights.  

Derek Hanley (pictured right) came to the United States in 1985, settling first in New York City, then he moved up to Boston after a couple of years where he met his wife.  Hanley and his wife moved to Los Angeles, then to Denver, then back to his home in Tipperary, before finally moving to Arlington Heights around the turn of the 21st century.

While Peggy Kinnane's is located in a revitalized area of downtown Arlington Heights (see map) the inside of the building is rather unique.  The stone walls are all imported stone from County Clare in Ireland.  The woodwork and the long curving bar were all constructed in Ireland and shipped to the United States.  And all of the knick-knacks - known as bric-a-back in Ireland - on display on the walls and shelves of Peggy Kinnane's are all authentic items from Ireland, many items that were passed down through the family that were once on display in both his grandfather's and father's pubs.  The only thing Americanized about Peggy Kinnane's is the modern brick facade on the side of the building that houses apartment/condos above the restaurant.

It was around 8 p.m. when I got into Peggy Kinnane's.  A young hostess greeted me and asked me where I wanted to sit.  She suggested the bar area, but it was a little busy in there and there wasn't much room at the bar.  I looked around the corner at a table with a bench seat against the wall, but realized that I'd be the only one seated alone in the area.  I wandered around with her before settling on a spot near the elongated end of the bar that had curved around into the dining area.  She dropped off a menu and my bartender server for the evening - who went by the name of "Smith" - came over to greet me.  I ordered up a Smithwick's and took a look through the menu.  

I had been on the road for a couple days up to that point and I wasn't overly certain what I wanted to eat that evening.  The menu at Peggy Kinnane's features a slew of appetizers, soups and salads, burgers and sandwiches, as well as Irish staples such as Shepherd's Pie, Irish Lamb Stew, fish and chips, and boxty - a thick potato pancake-like concoction that can be served with vegetables, grilled chicken, and/or seafood.  I've had boxty once a number of years ago at a place in Minneapolis and I remember it as being good.  

The menu is so extensive at Peggy Kinnane's I was having a tough time trying to figure out what to get.  I was hungry, but I really didn't know what I was hungry for.  I was thinking about getting one of their burgers - the "Ulster" featured Swiss cheese, bacon and sauteed mushrooms with their "Emerald Isle" sauce (basically 1000 Island dressing.  But I didn't know if I wanted to try a burger that evening.  The reuben looked inviting, as did their cold-served corned beef sandwich.  But, once again, I wasn't overly certain I just wanted a sandwich.  The Shepherd's Pie and the boxty with a sauteed chicken breast, mushrooms, tomatoes, and scallions in a white wine cream sauce both sounded good, but it also sounded too rich for my stomach that evening.  I was in a quandary and decided to hold off and have a couple beers before I ordered up my meal. 

After about a half hour of trying to figure out what I wanted, I  got Smith's attention and ordered up the Peggy Kinnane's meat loaf - a piece of meat loaf slathered in a Jameson whisky glaze sauce, grilled lightly and then topped with a mushroom gravy.  It also came with a side of mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables.  When he brought it to me, I knew there would be no way I'd be able to finish off the whole meal.  The meat loaf was a large slab over a half-inch thick topped with the mushroom gravy.  The vegetable medley featured an abundant amount of sliced carrots, broccoli and cauliflower.  The mashed potatoes were just a scoop off to the side.  

The meat loaf was all right - it had an OK flavor to it and I would have liked to have had more of the mushroom gravy on the top, but it was fine.  The potatoes were rather pedestrian as I only had a couple small bites of those.  However, the vegetable medley was very fresh and cooked perfectly.  They weren't mushy, nor had the taste been cooked out of them.  Whoever cooked the vegetables at Peggy Kinnane's knew exactly what they were doing.  

I left about a quarter of the meat loaf, nearly all of the potatoes and a smattering of sliced carrots on my plate.  Smith asked me if I wanted to have it wrapped up, but, no, there was no way I'd eat this as a leftover even if I were taking it home with me.  

After I finished up paying my bill, I took a walk around Peggy Kinnane's just to see the place.  There's a nice little backroom near the restrooms that featured a fireplace and a nice place to hang.  The dining area was rather spacious and they also had an outdoor seating area.  It had a great feeling to the place.  It definitely wasn't the type of place where someone put up a couple Irish flags and called the bar an authentic Irish pub.  

As I said earlier, the bar snaked around the north and west sides of Peggy Kinnane's.  The woodwork and stonework throughout the place were elegant and impressive.  I got the two pictures above off of Peggy Kinnane's web site because the pictures I tried to take inside the low-lit restaurant didn't turn out very well from my phone camera.  

I thought my food was pretty good at Peggy Kinnane's, but like corned beef and cabbage it's tough to add pizazz to meat loaf.  I did think the food was rather high in price - $15.95 for a meat loaf platter. (Burgers were a minimum of 10 bucks and other menu items seemed to be rather high priced, as well.)  But Smith provided good service for me and I really had little to no complaints about the place.  Peggy Kinnane's is a unique experience and one that I'm glad I found in Arlington Heights. 

Jake's Pizza - Mount Prospect, IL

I was staying in the northwest suburbs of the Chicagoland regiion on a recent visit there.  I wasn't familiar with many of the places to eat in the area, so I found myself driving around trying to figure out what to get for dinner in Mount Prospect.  I went past an interesting looking place that had a number of beer signs in the window and decided to head back around the block to check it out.  I pulled up next to the place - Jake's Pizza - and did a quick Urbanspoon search on my smart phone.  It appeared to have good reviews all around, so I grabbed my Chicago Tribune and went inside.

Jake's Pizza is a small chain of pizza restaurants that were once part of a chain of over 50 locations.  The original Jake's Pizza opened in October of 1961 when 24-year-old John "Jake" Flowers opened his first restaurant in Mount Prospect (see map).  He sold his first local franchise in Jake's Pizza in the mid-60's and at one point there were 15 Jake's Pizza locations in the greater Chicago area.  

In the seventies, Flowers brought on a partner, Samuel V.P. Banks.  Banks was a Chicago lawyer of note and at one time a prosecutor who brought obscenity charges against 60's comedian Lenny Bruce.  Banks then became a high-powered defense attorney for mob-linked and corruption defendants.  His brother, William Banks, was a long-time and somewhat powerful alderman representing the 36th ward in Northwest Chicago.  

Flowers and Banks set up a corporation - Jake's Pizza International - and began to expand franchises.  At one point, there were Jake's Pizza restaurants in North Carolina, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Arkansas, Arizona and Nevada.  In the early 90's, the company signed on television personality Vanna White to be a spokesperson for the company and to appear at some restaurant openings.  It wasn't long afterward that the company offered an initial public stock offering.  And it was also about that time that John "Jake" Flowers retired from the company, but maintained a seat on the company's board of directors.  

That's when things began to unravel.

The company raised over $3 million on its IPO, but under-financed franchisees and a hefty price-tag they had to pay to Vanna White caused the value of the stock to dive.  The stock price sunk to a low of around 30 cents a share and the company eventually had to declare bankruptcy protection.  Flowers came back out of retirement and dissolved the partnership.  From what I understand, it was a pretty acrimonious breakup between Flowers and Banks.  Flowers eventually bought the company back from the bankruptcy court in 1997 for just a tad over $250,000.  

Today, there are 10 Jake's Pizza restaurants around the Chicago area, primarily in the northern and western suburbs.  I'm not certain if they're still franchise-owned or if John "Jake" Flowers owns the restaurants.

So, the one in Mount Prospect is, indeed, the original Jake's Pizza.  I wasn't sure of that until I found some bankruptcy information on line regarding Jake's Pizza International.   I'm sort of surprised that I'd never heard of Jake's Pizza before my first visit there.  

It was around 8 p.m. when I walked into a nearly deserted Jake's Pizza.  Not necessarily a good sign, I thought, but I'd pretty much committed to eating there.  I was greeted by a middle-aged lady who was also going to be my server that evening.  She asked me where I'd like to sit and I took a look at the bar area to the left as you come into the place.  They had a ball game on one of the televisions, but I wasn't interested in that. I ended up sitting in a booth with a hanging light above it so I could relax and read my paper. 

The inside of Jake's Pizza was well lit with a series of high-backed wooden booths and a number of tables with ice-cream parlor style chairs throughout the room.  It was nice, clean and modern.  I'm guessing the dining room had been added on as the bar area looked a little dated.  A satellite radio station playing an eclectic mix of classic rock, blues and modern rock played in the background.

My waitress gave me a menu to look over and in addition to pizza at Jake's they have appetizers, salads and sandwiches.  But pizza is the prime menu item at Jake's.  They have both thin crust and deep dish pan pizzas along with a handful of specialty pizzas that include toppings such as shrimp, chicken (made with their homemade alfredo sauce), and pizzas made with barbecue sauce.  I'm pretty predictable when it comes to my pizza, especially when it comes to trying new places.  I have to try a sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza and that's exactly what I ordered from the lady when she came back to take my order.

Since it wasn't busy in Jake's Pizza (although there were a handful of "to-go" orders that were picked up while I was there), I got my pizza pretty quickly.  It looked and smelled very good.  It was cut into party slices like a good Chicago tavern-style pizza.  There was a plethora of fresh mushroom slices on top and the sausage and pepperoni were swimming beneath the slightly caramelized mozzarella cheese.   

           
The crust was thin enough - sort of crispy to the bite, but not overcooked.  The taste of the pizza overall was delicious.  Surprisingly delicious!  The sausage had a nice little bite to it, the pepperoni slices were plentiful and very flavorful, and I really enjoyed the somewhat forward pizza sauce.  It wasn't too sweet, but had a nice spicy flavor to it.  It was a superb pizza all around.  

I hadn't eaten all day long and was very hungry.  Since it was a thin crust pizza I was able to finish the whole thing.  And one of my keys of a good pizza is whether or not it tastes good with a cold beer.  Jake's Pizza was an excellent combination with a beer.   

Sometimes finding a pretty good restaurant out of the blue helps add to the experience.  I was absolutely impressed with the pizza at Jake's Pizza in Mount Prospect.  I'm wondering if the other Jake's locations are as good as the original one.  Sometimes that's not the case, but I'm guessing they've got to be pretty close.  Now that Jake's Pizza is on my radar, I'll be more open to trying another one of their locations at some point.    

Viceroy of India - Lombard, IL

I'd had a long day calling on accounts in Chicago recently and got back to the hotel around 7:30.  I was sort of hungry, but didn't really know what I wanted.  I decided to check Urbanspoon to see what was in the area and I came across an Indian restaurant in Lombard by the name of Viceroy of India.  I hadn't had Indian food for awhile and the reviews of Viceroy seemed to be positive, so I ventured over to the restaurant on a cool, blustery evening. 

The Viceroy of India in Lombard is the second of two locations for owner Surinder Kumar Jain.  The primary location is in Chicago on W. Devon Ave. in an area some of the locals refer to as "Little India" because of the number of Indian restaurants and stores in the immediate area.  Jain opened the original Viceroy of India in 1986 and also has interest in an Indian restaurant by the name of Shakira in Downers Grove.  

It turns out that I had been past the Viceroy of India location in Lombard many times as it's just down Roosevelt Ave. from one of my favorite beer and liquor stores in the area, Famous Liquors.  I pulled into the restaurant with the neon band around the top of the building about two blocks east of Famous Liquors right around 7:30 (see map).  

As I pulled in, I noticed there were an abundant number of cars in the parking lot and I wondered if the place was packed.  I happened to look into a window on the west side of the building and saw a large room packed with people listening to a speaker.  I momentarily thought about going somewhere else, but then turned back toward the door when I smelled the Indian spices emanating from the building.  I had to go in to get some Indian food.

It turns out the large room with all the people was the banquet facility for Viceroy of India.  I understand a number of groups use the room for meetings and presentations on a regular basis.  The well-lit and comfortable dining room was about 1/3 full of guests when I was seated in a booth along the wall.  The host gave me a menu and I started to figure out what I wanted.

As I was looking over the menu, another waiter brought this basket (above right) of very thin, tortilla-like bread with two sauces - one a green sauce that had some unbelievable and indescribable Indian herbs in it, and a brown sauce that was sort of sweet and sour.  I'm still not much of an expert on Indian food so I can't tell you what this is, but I loved it.  It's akin to getting chips and salsa in a Mexican restaurant as the large, folded very thin bread (probably deep fried) broke off into chip size bites.  The green sauce was absolutely fabulous.  

Looking through the menu at Viceroy of India, I thought about broadening my horizons once again.  I thought about getting the Rogan Josh, small cubes of lamb meat cooked in an onion and tomato sauce.  I thought about the Keema Curry - lamb in a similar sauce as the Rogan Josh, but enhanced with garlic.  But I'm just not that big on lamb.  I thought about getting the Viceroy Special Biryani - basmati rice with large chunks of chicken, lamb and shrimp cooked with herbs and spices with bell peppers and tomatoes.  I wasn't overly sold on the bell peppers and tomatoes, however.  

I wimped out and went back to the chicken dishes on the menu and the butter chicken caught my eye - tandoori baked chicken chunks cooked with an onion and tomato cream sauce infused with special imported  herbs and mild spices.  That really sounded good and I was going to order it until I decided at the last moment to go with the chicken curry.  I also got some garlic naan to go along with it.   

I had just finished my first Kingfisher beer when the food showed up at the table.   The waiter dropped off the chicken curry and the garlic naan and I noticed that he didn't bring any rice.  I found out later on that rice was considered an extra at Viceroy of India - three bucks for a bowl of rice if you wanted it.  I thought that to be very strange for an Indian restaurant considering rice is so cheap.  The chicken curry on its own was $12.95, so I figured rice woud come with it.  

I ended up putting some of the chicken curry on some of the garlic naan and ate it that way.  The chicken was a little tough and overcooked.  The curry sauce was fine enough, but not overly flavorful like I've had with other curry sauces in the past.  Actually, it was pretty bland compared to other curry sauces I've had.  

The garlic naan was exceptional, however.  It was very pungent and flavorful with a lot of garlic laced throughout the leavened bread, so much so that Cindy swore to God that she smelled garlic on me when I got home the next day.  Dipping the garlic naan in the curry sauce was the highlight of the meal.

I don't know if Viceroy of India was all that good of a value.  And based upon my limited knowledge and background of Indian food, I would call their food average, at best.  I wasn't all that enamored with my chicken curry, but the garlic naan was exceptional.  The service was very good - a plus considering a handful of Indian restaurants I've gone to in the past have horrible service - and the dining room was rather comfortable.  But I think I'm going to try other Indian restaurants in the area before I head back to Viceroy of India.  

Bob Mele's Little Villa - Des Plaines, IL

It's always fun to find new places that I didn't know about before. On a recent visit to Chicago, I asked a dealer if he'd like to go get dinner somewhere.  He said, "Do you like Italian?"  I love Italian.  He said, "It's nothing fancy, more of a spaghetti and meatballs kind of place.  But I like it."  We got in the car and he directed me to a restaurant just south of the corner of Wolf Road and Central Ave. in suburban Des Plaines (see map).  

I pulled in to the parking lot and said, "Oh!  Little Villa!"  

My dealer said, "No, Bob Mele's Little Villa!"  

I'm sure I've probably driven by the place in the past as Bob Mele's Little Villa has been around since 1959 serving home style Italian food and pizza.  Little Villa's ingredients are always fresh and never frozen.  It continues to be a family run business with Bob Mele's daughter, Barb, running the business today.

(By the way, there is a Little Villa Pizza place on S. Elmhurst Road in nearby Mount Prospect.  I'm not certain that there's any connection between the two Little Villa's, but this is the Bob Mele's Little Villa restaurant in Des Plaines.) 

It was around 7:45 when we got into Little Villa for dinner.  The brightly lit dining room was inviting and comfortable with a number of tables and booths in the room.  Little Villa also features a nice bar area with bar and table seating, as well as a basement banquet area for meetings, parties and receptions up to 75 people.

Our waitress for the evening, Barb, greeted us and dropped off dinner menus for us to look through.  In addition to pizza (three styles - thin crust, pan pizza and stuffed), Bob Mele's Little Villa features entree dishes consisting of veal, chicken, steaks and chops, along with a long list of pasta dishes and house specialties.  For the lighter fare, Little Villa also features a number of appetizers, salads, soups and sandwiches.  Their lunch menu is what I would call as significantly different from their dinner menu with more of an emphasis on sandwiches, wraps, salads and panini sandwiches. 

Because the menu is so extensive, I was having a hard time figuring out what I wanted to have.  My guest, Jim, told me that he'd never had a bad meal in the place and that everything he's ever had was good.  They had a number of different pastas to choose from - from spaghetti to mostaccioli to fettuccine to tortellini to...  You get the picture.  But they also had a number of choices of sauces to go with the pasta such as a meat sauce, marinara, alfredo, pesto, creamy vodka and a pomodoro sauce with crushed plum tomatoes, fresh garlic and basil.  

I wasn't certain I wanted pasta that evening, so I was focusing more on the veal or chicken dishes.  But I have to tell you - a couple guys seated in a booth near us got a thin crust pizza that looked damn good.  I wanted something more substantial than pizza that evening and always figured that I could come back at some point and get one.  

The veal dishes featured the usual piccata, marsala, parmigiana and Vesuvio - sauteed in wine, garlic and olive oil with a hint of tomato, then served with broasted potato wedges.  The chicken dishes featured the same four styles along with chicken cacciatore, risotto with chicken, artichoke hearts and asparagus tips cooked in butter and white wine; and an Italian-style 1/2 chicken - your choice of fried or baked.  

Jim told me that their lasagna topped with their meat sauce was "excellent".  I looked over some of the other house specialties at Little Villa and saw that they had their own homemade manicotti stuffed with a flavored cheese, then topped with their meat sauce and mozzarella and baked.  Ummm....  That sounded REAL good, too!  And, of course, they had their own seafood fettuccine alfredo with shrimp.  To make matters worse for me, I saw that Little Villa also offered combination dinners - your choice of two items from either Chicken Parmigiana, lasagna, manicotti, eggplant parmigiana or ravioli.  The lasagna and manicotti were both screaming, "Pick me!  Pick me!"

But once again, I was looking more at the veal end of things.  I ended up selecting the veal piccata - veal medallions sauteed in white wine and lemon with capers.  I got a pasta side - mostaccioli with my choice of the meat sauce or marinara (I got the meat sauce).  And a choice of soup or salad.  I got the salad with the homemade oil, vinegar and herb Italian.  

My guest, Jim, got the chicken parmigiana with the meat sauce on his pasta.  He got a salad with their homemade garlic dressing.  

Like an old time Italian supper club, we were brought a bread basket and a small relish tray.  Jim smiled broadly as they put the relish tray down on the table.  "Isn't this just great?  An old school Italian restaurant with a relish tray!"  The bread basket featured homemade crunchy breadsticks, as well as soft Italian bread with sesame seeds and a couple rolled Italian breads.  Olive oil and parmesan cheese were provided on the table to dip the bread in.   

The relish tray featured a three bean salad, pepperocini's and - to my surprise - pickled beets.  I wasn't interested in the beans at all, but I couldn't wait to dig into the pickled beets.  The beets had more of an Italian dressing taste to them rather than the sweetness that I've grown to like with pickled beets I've had in the past.  Actually, they were pretty good.  They didn't have an earthy taste to them and I sort of liked the vinegar aftertaste.  

Our salads were brought out and I have to say my salad was good, but was nothing special.  The homemade Italian dressing was serviceable, but it was your typical run-of-the-mill Italian restaurant salad with fresh lettuce, onions, sliced cherry tomatoes and the like.  Fresh ground pepper would have livened it up a bit for me.

Our entrees came out not long after we finished up with our salads.  My veal dish (below left) featured three good sized veal medallions swimming in a wonderfully aromatic pool of the white wine and lemon sauce with capers.  I couldn't wait to dip some bread into the sauce.   

Jim's chicken parmigiana was a substantial portion that filled up a good portion of his plate.  The melted mozzarella covered the top of the chicken that already had been slathered in marinara sauce.  

My veal was very good.  The veal was tender and very flavorful, but the sauce that came with it was the real winner.  It had a great lemon taste with a thick consistency to the sauce.  And I was right - dipping the Italian bread in the sauce was a secondary treat.  I was overly happy with my veal piccata.  

The mostaccioli with the meat sauce was good, too.  I did like the meat sauce they have at Little Villa - it was thick with the right combination of meat and tomato sauce.  

Jim said that his chicken parm was very good, too.  "It's so rich," he said.  "There's no way that I can finish it."  But he made a significant dent into it, leaving probably three or four bites left before he said, "No more!"  

Our very efficient waitress, Barb, asked us if we had room for homemade tiramisu or a cannoli.  Oh, God! I was tempted, but I was so stuffed and satiated from the meal.  I had overdone it with the bread, but I could not stop sopping up the piccata sauce that came with my veal.  It was so very, very good.  

I went back on my own on another trip into Chicago to try Little Villa's pizza.  I ordered up a small sausage, pepperoni and mushroom.  They have both thin crust and deep dish pizza, so I got the thin crust.  

It didn't take long to get my pizza out the table.  (My server that evening, Kristen, was very good and efficient.)  The pizza was loaded with cheese and toppings.  The sausage was mild, the mushrooms fresh and there was plenty of pepperoni slices on the top.  The crust was crispy with a little snap to it.  While it wasn't the best pizza I've had in the Chicago area, it was still very good.  A good rule of thumb for me is whether or not it tastes good with a beer.  Little Villa's pizza certainly did.  

So I've now tried the veal piccata and the pizza at Bob Mele's Little Villa.  But I'm also intrigued by their lasagna and the maniccoti, too.  There will definitely be more chances to visit the place.  I was overly happy with my veal and the pizza on my initial visits to Little Villa.  Barb and Kristen were both very good waitresses and the atmosphere was friendly. Bob Mele's Little Villa was a great find.  

The Standard - Elmhurst, IL

I hadn't been to the Elmhurst area just west of Chicago for dinner for quite sometime.  There have always been a number of wonderful dining options in Elmhurst, but this particular evening I wanted to try something new.  Sitting in my hotel room, I found a place that I wasn't overly familiar with on Urbanspoon - The Standard - and it appeared that it was just down York Road in the Elmhurst City Centre, Elmhurst's downtown restaurant, shopping and entertainment district.

The Standard is owned by Steve Syregelas and opened in May of 2007.  Their concept is to take classic American food and offer a fresh and modern approach.  The food is all made with the freshest ingredients and made from scratch each day.  I likened it to higher end comfort food.  They also have a full service bar where they make a large assortment of specialty drinks and martini's using fresh fruits and seasonal ingredients.   

The Standard is actually just off York Road on Schiller on the ground floor of a public parking garage (see map).  I was able to find a parking spot on the street just across from the front of the restaurant.  I went in and was greeted by the bartender, Christopher, who was also wearing the hat of host for that evening.  The bar area looked rather interesting with a backlit wall showcasing their various bottles of liquor.  No one was seated at the bar and I asked Christopher if I could sit there.  He said, "Absolutely!  I could use some company!"  

The dining room was also rather interesting. It's sort of a stylish and modern take on a classic American diner.  The dining room was designed by SYRE Design, which, I'm guessing, is probably connected to owner Steve Syregelas.  The key component of the dining room are the large modern light fixtures hanging from the ceiling.  While the restaurant was not bright, it certainly wasn't so dark that you could read a menu.  

Christopher sat a dinner menu down in front of me and I began to go through what they had to offer.  He came back a moment later and asked me if I wanted anything to drink.  They had three beers on tap - the Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat beer (which is one of the very few wheat beers that I like); another beer that while I can't remember what it was, I wasn't interested in getting it; and a beer whose spigot I didn't recognize.  I asked Christopher what the other beer was and he said, "Oh, that's the Magic Hat 9.  It's out of the Magic Hat Brewery in Vermont." 

I wasn't familiar with it and I asked what kind of beer it was.  He told me that it was a pale ale.  I immediately signed up for that.  And I'm glad I did.  It wasn't as forward or as heavy as some pale ales can be.  It was a very smooth drinking beer.  It turns out that it's been available in Illinois for quite some time, but I wasn't familiar with it.  I'm certainly familiar with it now.  

Looking through the menu, I found The Standard to have a wide variety of interesting salads, sandwiches, appetizers and specialty entrees.  They also had a handful of steaks and seafood dishes to choose from.  A waiter came over to talk to Christopher and Christopher said, "Hey, what's the special tonight?  Maybe this gentleman would like to hear about it."

The waiter proceeded to tell me about a chicken entree where they take a grilled chicken breast and add ham and Swiss cheese and some other ingredients.  It sounded like their version of a chicken cordon bleu.  It was tempting and I kept that in the back of my mind.  

On their web site, the picture of their burger looks fantastic and they had a handful of different variations to choose from.   All the burgers are 1/2 pound patties and cooked over a wood-fired grill.  Their Classic cheeseburger had American cheese with all the garden fixing's.  The Backyard burger had cheddar cheese with bacon and barbecue sauce.  And they had a Maytag burger featuring Maytag blue cheese and caramelized onions with lettuce, tomato and pickles.  I almost pulled the trigger on that.

But I had been on the road for a while and every now and then I get to a point that I need a good comfort food dinner.  The Standard's specialty entrees featured a roasted turkey dinner with cranberry/orange sauce along with apple stuffing, smashed potatoes and homemade gravy.  They also had a meat loaf dinner that caught my eye.  For fish, they had a sesame encrusted sushi grade ahi tuna with Thai peanut sauce, baby bok choy and rice.  And they also had a wonderful sounding Steak Diane - beef filet medallions in a mushroom madiera sauce and their smashed potatoes.  I was having a hard time trying to figure out what I wanted.

I had narrowed my choices down to the Maytag burger and the meat loaf served with a mushroom bordelaise sauce and topped with onion straws and served over a bed of smashed potatoes.  Christopher came over and asked if I was ready to order.  I told him that I was torn between the Maytag burger ("Just had one of those earlier," he said), and the meat loaf.  He said, "Oooo...  That is a tough choice.  Our meat loaf is very good."  

I did a mental coin flip in my head and it came up meat loaf.  He said, "Either way, I don't think you'll go wrong."

Less than 10 minutes after I ordered, a waitress brought out my meat loaf and sat it down in front of me at the bar.  It featured three medium sized slabs of meat loaf that appeared to be slightly grilled, then placed on the smashed potatoes, then topped with a liberal amount of the mushroom bordelaise sauce.  I was expecting onion straws on top of the meat loaf, but I was instead served with what appeared to be two small homemade onion rings.  Fresh parsley was then sprinkled over the top.  The presentation for a meat loaf dish was very nice.  

The meat loaf was firm, yet easy to cut with a fork.  Along with the mushroom sauce, it tasted very good.  The herbs and seasonings that were in the meat loaf added to the taste sensation of the sauce and the meat together.  

The smashed potatoes were, well, smashed potatoes.  They were fine, but nothing outstanding.  Actually, I wish I would have gotten more than just two of the onion rings as they were delicious.  The batter was fresh and flavorful, and the onions cooked inside had a great sweet taste to them.  Surprisingly, I didn't find the onion rings anywhere on the menu, not even for an appetizer or a side.  I thought they were excellent. 

For a first time dining experience at The Standard, I was very impressed.   The menu was very interesting, the meat loaf entree was very good, and Christopher's service was excellent.  They weren't overly busy that evening so I was able to get his full attention when I needed it, but nonetheless it was exemplary.  As I said, Elmhurst has a number of good to very good dining establishments and I'm glad that I was able to try The Standard on this particular evening.  Next time - the Maytag burger! 

Salerno's di Lucca - Mount Prospect, IL

I truly believe that Salerno's on Grand west of the loop in Chicago is the best thin crust pizza I've ever had (see that post here), with Vito and Nick's on Chicago's South side a close second (see that post here). But I've eaten at a couple other Salerno's and wasn't overly impressed with their pizza. (See those posts here and here.) Then I found the secret - at the other Salerno's I'd been ordering their thicker crust pizza. The dough is more raised and more chewy. I'd rather have the crust paper thin and somewhat crispy. It's all a matter of taste, but I'd take a thin crust over a deep dish pizza any day. And I love deep dish pizzas from the likes of Lou Malnati's and Pequod's. So, imagine my surprise when I found another Salerno's restaurant not far from the hotel I was staying at one evening - Salerno's di Lucca in Mount Prospect.

The only problem is that this Salerno's is not part of the other Salerno family restaurants that I've tried in the past. It was somewhat confusing to me, but the gentleman who owns Salerno di Lucca in Mount Prospect - Frank Sbragia - has been involved in a handful of restaurants over the past nearly 40 years. In addition to running Salerno's di Lucca over the past six years, Sbragia has also run other Italian restaurants such as Rossini's in Niles, IL; Sassi in Prospect Heights, IL; and Spazio di Lucca in Deerfield, IL. Sbragia, who was born in Lucca, Italy, learned a little bit about cooking authentic Italian food from his father who was a chef. When I asked one of the waitresses at Salerno's di Lucca if they were connected to all the other Salerno's around the Chicago area, she said, "No, we're not. But we're better."

I kind of got a little chuckle out of that. We'll have to see...

(Frank Sbragia pictured far right)

Salerno's di Lucca also has a thriving catering business that can take care of groups from 15 to 500. Their catering menu features a large list of Italian specialties, appetizers, panini sandwiches, desserts and even ribs.

Salerno's di Lucca is located in Brentwood Square strip mall at the northwest corner of E. Kensington Rd and Wolf Rd. in Mount Prospect. (See map) There's a few other restaurants in the complex including an interesting looking Mexican restaurant and a hot dog joint. But I was interested in pizza that evening.

After a confusing entrance into the restaurant (I tried to go in the emergency exit), I found the restaurant to be about half full of patrons that evening. I was told by a lady that I could sit anywhere and I chose a table toward the back of the restaurant. The decor of the restaurant isn't much - a number of tables with vinyl tablecloths dot the floor of Salerno's di Lucca. White Christmas-type lights ring the upper walls and over the large front windows. It wasn't pretentious at all and somewhat inviting.

The dinner menu is not much different from the catering menu other than offering a few more sandwiches including a "build-your-own" sandwich menu that features your choice of a number of Italian meats, cheeses and breads. They also have a number of eclectic pizzas with toppings that include roasted egg plant, grilled portobello mushrooms, roasted red and yellow sweet peppers, and goat cheese.

A waitress - one of four or five they seemed to have working that evening - came over with a basket of assorted breads. Olive oil and parmesan cheese were on the table and I tried some of the bread as I looked through the menu. The Italian bread was a little dried out, but they had some sort of a bread stick that was sort of crispy on the outside and hollow on the inside. It was actually pretty good.

My waitress, Janet - a younger lady - came over and took my order. I went with my standard Italian sausage, pepperoni, and mushroom pizza - a small
. I had finished my first beer by the time she brought the pizza out about 15 minutes after I'd ordered. I asked for a second beer and she disappeared with my empty bottle to presumably go get a new one for me.

The pizza featured a very thin crust and a generous amount of fresh toppings. While the crust wasn't all that crispy, but it was sturdy enough to hold the toppings and cheese in place. The pizza sauce was a little sweet, maybe a tad too sweet for me, but it wasn't a deal breaker. The sausage chunks were very flavorful, as were the fresh sliced mushrooms. The pepperoni slices were also very good - they weren't as salty as I've found with some pepperoni on other pizza. With fresh parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes and dried oregano sprinkled on top, it was a great pizza to eat with a beer.

Speaking of beer, I had a slice of pizza and realized that Janet hadn't brought me back my beer. When I said that she disappeared, she really did. I didn't see her again. The one waitress who I had talked to about the Salerno's connection finally came over to check on me and I said, "Hey, my waitress went to get me a beer about five minutes ago. I haven't seen her since." So, she went and got me a beer. Janet only showed up after I couldn't eat any longer and dropped off the check. I asked her for a box for about three pieces of the pizza and some other waitress showed up with it. Janet didn't get a good tip.

One of the hallmarks of a good pizza is how it tastes a day down the road. I did have a refrigerator in my hotel room and a microwave so taking the leftovers with me was a no-brainer. After a long day working a dealer event and having no lunch, the final three pieces of pizza were a welcome snack the next evening. The crust held up well and didn't get soggy like some leftover pizza can be.

While I can't say that Salerno's di Lucca was better than the Salerno's on Grand pizza, it was very good. Fresh toppings, very good crust and a sauce that was a tad too sweet, but still it was good. Other than my server's less than stellar service, Salerno's di Lucca was a great find in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.

Osteria Ottimo - Orland Park, IL

I had to stay on the far south side of Chicago recently and I was in sort of a quandary as where to get a meal that evening. The lady at the front desk of the hotel told me, "There's a great little Italian place just down the way, walking distance from here. It's called Ottimo (OH-teem-OH). The people who do the Francesca's restaurants around Chicago? They are behind this place." It had been awhile since I'd had pasta so I made the short walk across the way to the restaurant.

Osteria Ottimo is located back in a strip mall along S. LaGrange Road in Orland Park, just down the way from Orland Square Mall (see map). As the lady at the hotel told me, Osteria Ottimo was founded by Mia Francesca owner Scott Harris. The first of what is now 20 Francesca restaurants around the greater Chicagoland area, Mia Francesca opened 20 years ago on North Clark in Chicago. One of the very first posts I ever wrote on Road Tips over six years ago was about the Francesca's restaurants. (See that post here.) It was long before I settled into this format and voice with Road Tips, so compared to some of the essays I do these days, it's a pretty short entry.

One of the unique things about Harris and his Franchesca franchises is that he maintains a 51% stake in the restaurants while giving the head chef the other 49% to run the business as his own. The menus at the Francesca's restaurants are similar, but Harris allows his chef partners to do some of their own things in the kitchen, as well.

Partnering with Harris at Osteria Ottimo is Patrick Concannon, a restaurant industry veteran who also has a stake in the Don Juan's contemporary Mexican restaurant in Chicago. Concannon's family started Don Juan's in 1983 and the restaurant features a lively twist on traditional Mexican foods. Harris and Concannon are both from the far south side of Chicago and opened Osteria Ottimo in January of 2009.

The restaurant is not that large, but still can seat over 100 people comfortably. There is a small bar area to the right when you walk in. There's sort of a rustic Italian feel to the place with subdued lighting, high ceilings, brick walls and an open kitchen toward the back. I sat at a table along the wall opposite the bar area. The restaurant was about half full that evening, but there were a lot of people at the bar. I ordered up a Samuel Adams Winter Lager and took a look through the menu.

At first glance, the menu has the usual antipasti, salads and Italian entrees. But it's what is on the menu that made it interesting. They had a Vongole al Forno antipasti that featured baked clams in seasoned breadcrumbs with garlic, oregano and parmesan cheese. That sounded awfully rich. They also had a sausage and peppers platter. I ended up getting an order of their calamari as a starter - you could ordered them fried or grilled - and they're served with garlic aoili sauce or hot giardiniera. I got them fried (although grilled was interesting) and the garlic aoili sauce.

For salads, Osteria Ottimo features a roasted beet and goat cheese plate, along with a caprese salad with fresh tomatoes, basil and buffalo mozzarella cheese. I almost got that, but the calamari was going to be a nice starter for the meal.

After the waitress brought out the calamari - which was very good, by the way - I was ready to order my dinner. The linguine frutti di mare - linguine with clams, shrimp, mussels and calamari in a spicy tomato sauce caught my eye. So did the crespelle - crepe filled chicken, spinach, and Tallegio cheese and paired with either parmesan cream sauce or a Porcini mushroom sauce. I almost pulled the trigger on the crespelle with the mushroom sauce, but then I saw the Fettuccine Funghi Salsiccia - fettuccine pasta tossed with sauteed wild mushroom slices, sweet Italian sausage, a light marscapone cream cheese with white truffle oil and fresh herbs. Yes! That's what I want.

My waitress brought out the entree after awhile and I found myself staring at a large bowl of pasta, sausage and mushrooms with a dollop of marscapone on top. The pasta was swimming in the very light white truffle oil sauce.

From the first bite, I knew I had a winner. The sausage was sliced from a link and had a nice smoky and tangy taste to it. The mushrooms were sort of sneaky in their taste - on the tongue there wasn't much to the taste. But after a bit, the earthiness of the mushrooms took hold and it was a pleasing taste. The pasta was cooked perfectly - not too mushy that you can get with some pasta restaurants.

I wasn't able to finish all the pasta, but as the waitress pointed out I did get all the "good stuff." "I love this pasta dish," she told me as she picked up my bowl to take back to the kitchen. "And I do the same thing. I eat all the good stuff like the sausage and the mushrooms first, then try to finish the pasta. I never can."

Years ago, I used to be very averse to restaurants - especially Italian restaurants - that were situated in strip malls. That comes from a time nearly 25 years ago when good strip mall restaurants were few and far between. As more restaurants came into existence, however, and many of them went into ever increasing strip malls across America, I've since softened my bias toward these restaurants. Osteria Ottimo was as good as many of the fine Italian restaurants in the Chicagoland area. The service from my waitress was excellent - she didn't hover, nor did she forget me as often happens once the meal is served. The food was well above average for an Italian restaurant and the menu, alone, was interesting enough that it makes me want to get back to Ottimo at some point. However, since I don't have any dealers on the south side of Chicago - yet - it may be awhile before I get back there. But, then again, it's only a couple miles north of Interstate 80 and on trips to South Bend and Fort Wayne I can always make a stop back into Osteria Ottimo on my way by.

Blufish Sushi Bistro - Glenview, IL

I happened upon Blufish Sushi Bistro one evening when I was in the northern suburbs of Chicago. The on-line description of the place was sort of vague, but it got a number of glowing user reviews on Google. I thought I'd check the place out to see if it was really worthy of the five stars everyone seemed to be giving the place.

Blufish Sushi Bistro is located in the Playa del Prado shopping center at the corner of Willow Road and Pfingsten in the Glenview/Northbrook area. (see map) The main store in the L-shaped strip mall is a Jewel-Osco store on the east side, and Blufish Sushi Bistro is located on the south side of the strip mall, just to the west of a McDonald's and a Starbucks. Blufish has a second location that opened in the summer of 2011 in Park Ridge, about five miles south of the Glenview location. (see map)

Blufish Sushi Bistro is a contemporary Japanese restaurant that features, of course, sushi, as well as steaks, seafood, and eclectic food fare such as Beef Tataki - thin slices of seared beef served with a Ponzu sauce; Gyoza - pan fried and steamed pork-wasabi dumplings; and shumai - steamed shrimp dumplings served with a spicy sauce.

Blufish features a pleasant and cozy dining area with a small lounge in the front. Contemporary fixtures and lighting are found throughout the place. One side of the dining room has banquette bench seating. I'm not a big fan of this type of seating in a restaurant. It's like you're sharing a seat with the person next to you, often someone you don't know. I was greeted by a pleasant hostess and I asked if there was room at the sushi bar. There happened to be one seat left. Yes, yes - I know. I don't like to sit in banquette seats because it's like sharing a seat with a stranger. But I'll sit right next to a person I don't know at a sushi bar, sharing the table top. I'm weird about that.

The hostess guided me to a seat at the far end of the rather unique sushi bar and she gave me a menu to look through. The table top of the bar was underlit with a soothing aqua blue light. It was like nothing I've ever come across before. Vota candles were lined up along the top of sushi bar.

Quite actually, the sushi menu at Blufish was immense. Not only did they have the individual nigiri sushi, they had a number of interesting rolls and featured sushi entrees. One that jumped out at me was the Dragon Fire -it featured soft-shell crab, asparagus, & eel all wrapped with thin slices of tuna. It's then topped with black tobiko (which is flying fish roe - I had to ask) then topped with a chili sauce. It's then covered with Bacardi 151 rum and set on fire. It sort of sounded like the Playboy roll at Naked Tchopstix in Indianapolis. That's the kind of sushi roll you want to share with more than one person because the lighting of the flame is good entertainment.

Blufish also had the Tuna Flight - a sampling of all the tunas available that evening. And they had 7 different types of tuna on the menu and I thought that would be a great starter. I ordered one of the Tuna Flights and a large bottle of Asahi beer. The waitress came back and apologetically said that they had sold out of the O-toro and Chu-toro tuna - the two fattiest grades (and the best tasting) of all sushi tuna cuts. I picked up the menu again and quickly ordered a spicy tuna roll as well as a spicy salmon roll (something I don't see very often in sushi restaurants). I also ordered a couple pieces each of the tuna, smoked salmon and the yellowtail.

Even though Blufish was busy, my sushi platter showed up in front of me in less than 10 minutes. The presentation was absolutely stunning. I just sort of sat there and looked at the platter for a minute before I dug in.

The first thing I tried was the spicy tuna roll. It was great - it had a sneaky spicy taste to it. But the better of the two spicy rolls was the salmon roll. It was even a little more spicy and had a wonderful sushi flavor to it. Both the spicy tuna and spicy salmon rolls were wrapped in seaweed, another nice little touch you don't often find at other sushi places.

The tuna sushi was outstanding, as was the yellowtail. The yellowtail had absolutely no hint of fishy taste to it, something that I encounter from time to time at other sushi restaurants. The smoked salmon was a little disappointing - it didn't have that good smoky flavor I like in my smoked salmon sushi. But, still, it was excellent in quality and taste. I was far from disappointed in my sushi at Blufish.

Blufish Sushi Bistro has just gone to the top of my list for sushi restaurants in the north suburbs of Chicago. The atmosphere was excellent, the interior of the place was interesting and the food - and service - was top-notch. Blufish was absolutely fabulous. There's a lot of very good to great sushi places in the Chicagoland region and Blufish is definitely one of them.

Connie's Pizza - Westmont, IL

Recently, I was going through some of my old posts on Road Tips for a recommendation for a friend who was traveling to Chicago. I was looking for a post on Connie's Pizza, a five restaurant chain of pizza places primarily on the south and west sides of Chicago. Going through the blog, I realized that A) I didn't have an entry for Connie's on Road Tips; and B) I hadn't been to Connie's for quite possibly five years. I remedied that earlier this past fall with a visit to the Connie's Pizza in west suburban Westmont (see map).

While Connie's Pizza touts their restaurant as family owned since 1963, it was a year earlier that it really started. Jim Stolfe and a partner bought a pizza joint on 26th Street in the south Chicago neighborhood of Bridgeport. Both would work day jobs, then work at night making pizzas. A few months into the partnership, Stolfe's partner wanted out, saying working a day job was enough for him. Not having enough money to buy him out, Stolfe traded his 1962 Oldsmobile Starfire for his partner's half of the pizza joint.

The original restaurant that Stolfe and his partner bought on 26th Street was named Connie's. They didn't have enough money to change the sign, and according to his son, Mike, who is the current CEO and President of Connie's Pizza, the elder Stolfe was pretty low-key and didn't have a big ego, so he kept the sign when he bought his partner out. (Jim Stolfe retired in 2008, but was still coming in six days a week after his retirement.)

Mike Stolfe getting a pan pizza out of the oven. Photo courtesy Gazette Chicago.

By 1966, Stolfe had outgrown the original location and moved to a 3,000 square foot building at W. 26th and Normal. Nearly 20 years later, Stolfe's business had grown to the point that he needed to make another move. That's when he moved into their flagship location on Archer Ave. near the confluence of the Stevenson and Dan Ryan Expressways just south of downtown Chicago (see map). The Archer Ave. location was 15,000 square feet and served as both a restaurant and Connie's Pizza's catering headquarters.

From there, Stolfe branched out to other areas of Chicago. At one point, they had 8 locations throughout the Chicago area. Today, in addition to their flagship location, Connie's Pizza has places at Navy Pier and McCormick Place in Chicago, as well as locations in far western suburban Naperville and the Westmont restaurant. If you go to any sporting event in the Chicago area, there's a good chance you'll see Connie's Pizza for sale at ballparks and the United Center.

Jim Stolfe's name was in the news in 2007 when he testified in the infamous "Family Secrets" trial against reputed mob boss Frank Calabrese, Sr. Stolfe told the court that Calabrese had demanded "street payments" from Stolfe's business beginning in the early 80's. Jim Stolfe was scared that he or his business would be harmed, so he began to make payments to Calabrese like he was an employee. Stolfe testified that he made payments of around $270,000 dollars to Calabrese in exchange for "protection" for over 20 years. Calabrese was subsequently found guilty of extortion in addition to other charges along with other Chicago area mobsters.

I had eaten at the Connie's Pizza in south suburban Orland Park a handful of times when I had dealers in that part of the city and when I'd stay overnight. However, they closed up that location last year, as well as a location out in far western Carol Stream. But their location along busy Odgen Ave. in Westmont is still open and I went there that particular evening.

It was well past the dinner rush, so there was hardly anyone in Connie's when I got there. I was seated in a booth and given a menu. Interestingly, there was no one else in the dining room I was in (there are two dining rooms at this particular Connie's), save for an elderly couple that was seated directly behind me. I find it sort of strange that they insist on putting different parties in close proximity to each other even in a nearly deserted dining area. And it was sort of poignant as it appeared this couple was out on a first date. It was not difficult to overhear their conversation and how they talked of loneliness, their love of casinos and their interests. I tried my best to concentrate on reading my Chicago Tribune.

Connie's Pizza features a number of different styles of pizza - an ultra-thin Neapolitan, their famous thin style, a medium-depth pan pizza, a deep-dish pan pizza, a stuffed pan pizza and something called a half-pan Sicilian style pizza. Each of Connie's pizza is topped with their proprietorial pizza sauce that is made special for them from California tomatoes, and with high quality mozzarella cheese that is made specifically for Connie's at a Wisconsin dairy farm. Connie's features two dozen fresh toppings to put on their pizzas.

I went with my old stand-by - a small (10") sausage/pepperoni/mushroom thin crust pizza. I contemplated trying the Neapolitan pizza as they said it was new on the menu, but decided to go with what I knew to be as very good. I also had a couple glasses of the Leinenkugel Oktoberfest beer that was a little flat out of the keg as it was toward the end of it's annual life cycle as a seasonal beer.

One of the nice things that you get at Connie's is a small round loaf of their homemade bread. It's warm out of the oven giving it a nice flavor with a soft and chewy taste. It's very good. So good that you don't want to load up on the bread out of fear that you won't have room to eat the whole pizza.

After about 20 minutes, my pizza arrived at the table, oozing with cheese and overloaded with large chunks of sausage, an ample amount of tangy pepperoni slices and a like number of fresh sliced mushrooms. Connie's thin pizza is one of those where the cheese and toppings are more thick than the crispy pizza dough on the bottom. Those are the absolute best types of pizza. You get a great deal of cheese and toppings with every bite with out a lot of the cooked dough.

It was all too much for me to eat in one sitting. I had a small corner of the bread and was sorry to see that go to waste, but I did have them wrap up the remaining two slices to be able to take with me back to the hotel. It was a nice little breakfast the next morning for me.

I know Chicagoans who think Connie's is the best pizza in the world. While I wouldn't go quite that far, Connie's thin crust is truly a very, very good pizza. I need to get to Connie's more often as it is pretty easy for me to get to when I go into Chicago on Interstate 88. I know it won't be another five years before I get back there.

Morton's The Steakhouse - Rosemont, IL

A few weeks ago, the C.O.O. for Cambridge Audio and a private consultant working on future initiatives for the company came to Chicago to visit some dealers. Since Chicago is part of my territory, I was the one who picked them up and squired them around town for the day. After a long day of meetings, Peter from Cambridge Audio, and the consultant, Vincent - both Brits, and like most Europeans I know - declared that they were ready for a big Midwestern steak. They were staying at the Hilton O'Hare and not far from there is one of the Morton's steakhouses. I'd never eaten at a Morton's, even after all the years of traveling to Chicago. Since Peter was picking up the check that evening, I decided to drive to the Morton's in Rosemont (see map).

(As an aside - for you crime drama and football fans out there - Morton's in Rosemont was the place where Chicago Bears wide receiver Sam Hurd was arrested by federal agents and charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine after an undercover sting operation mere days after our visit there.)  

Morton's The Steakhouse is one of the more famous steakhouses in the Chicago area, now with 77 locations in 26 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and six countries. Morton's was founded in 1978 by Chicago restaurateur Arnie Morton who opened his first restaurant - the Walton Walk - between Rush and Michigan in downtown Chicago in the 1950's. Morton, who grew up learning the restaurant business from his father who ran a restaurant on the south side of Chicago, soon became close friends with Hugh Hefner, helping him start his Playboy Enterprises of clubs, restaurants and resorts in 1960. As a VP for Playboy, Morton helped open dozens of Playboy Clubs around the world.

In 1974, along with partner Klaus Fritsch, whom he worked with at Playboy, Morton opened Arnie's, an upscale and tony restaurant on the near-north side of Chicago that catered to high-dollar Gold Coast residents. In 1978, Morton opened his first Morton's the Steakhouse on State Street, near the corner of Rush St. Business was slow at first, until one Frank Sinatra began to frequent the place during his visits to Chicago. Being able to see Frank Sinatra at Morton's suddenly made it a hot place. That's when people began to find out that Morton's served USDA Prime, thick cut, dry-aged steaks.

Arnie Morton (left) and Klaus Fritsch (right) - the original partners in Morton's the Steakhouse.

Business flourished before Morton sold his interest in Morton's The Steakhouse to the Quantam Group in 1987, prompting the expansion of the Morton's brand name nationwide. Morton closed his namesake Arnie's restaurant in 1994 after his lease ran out and died 11 years later suffering from Alzheimer's. His son, Peter, is the founder of the Hard Rock Cafe chain of bars and restaurants. Another son, Michael, is the head of the N9NE group of upscale contemporary steakhouses in Chicago, Dallas and Las Vegas. His daugther, Amy, ran the now-closed Mirador and The Blue Room establishments in Chicago. And another son, David, is behind the Pompei Italian restaurants in Chicago, as well as one of the partners in the DMK Burger Bar restaurants (see my entry on DMK Burger here). Continuing in the family tradition, Morton's grandson, Harry, is the owner of the Pink Taco restaurants in Las Vegas and Los Angeles (see my entry on the Las Vegas Pink Taco here).

It was recently announced that the investment group who owns the Morton steakhouses - including investment company Castle Harlan - will sell the restaurants to Houston-based restaurateur Tilman Ferttita, the man who is behind the Landry's and Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. (To see my entry on a visit to Landry's in Las Vegas, click here.) The deal was supposed to be consummated earlier this month, but I haven't seen any confirmation of that happening. 

(As an aside, I have somewhat of an aversion to both Landry's and Bubba Gump. If they were the absolute last option for dinner, I may go there. But I try to stay away from either after bad service and food experieces at both places in the past.  I'm hoping Fertitta keeps Morton's the way it is.) 

The Morton's in Rosemont is located near the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, in the flight path of planes landing at O'Hare. As you enter the restaurant, you go into the upper level of their 12-21 bar (all Morton's have a 12-21 bar, which pays homage to the date the first Morton's opened on December 21, 1978). A hostess greeted us and ushered us down a wide and winding staircase to the dining area downstairs. As we were being shown to a booth, we passed the open kitchen where they had slabs of strip steaks on an open tray, daring us to order them on the spot.

The picture above right is literally the menu at Morton's. The waitperson brought out a large tray of aged steaks - New York strip, ribeye, porterhouse, filet, T-bone and bone-in ribeye. She also had a live lobster staring at me at a plate on the side. After describing the cuts of meats and fresh seafood they had to offer at Morton's that evening, she also had a number of side dishes that they serve family style. She eventually handed us small paper menus, but by that time I was already to order up.

I ordered the 20 oz. New York strip, rare. I chose sauteed mushrooms for the side and for a starter I got a center cut iceberg wedge salad. Vincent also went with the New York strip, medium rare. He ordered a cup of the lobster bisque for a starter and got a side order of the steak fries for the table. Peter went with the smaller of the two filets (10 oz. versus 16 oz.), medium rare, as well. He ordered oysters on the half shell for an appetizer and got a side of steamed asparagus (grilled asparagus is also available).

I was heartened to hear that Vincent fancied beer over wine. Although a nice bottle of red from Morton's extensive wine list would have been nice, we all three ended up ordering bottles of Sierra Nevada's Torpedo India pale ale. The Brits love their hoppy beer and the Sierra Nevada Torpedo did not disappoint.

My wedge salad was absolutely fabulous. It was topped with a creamy bleu cheese dressing with large chunks of bleu cheese. It had fresh chopped tomatoes, crisp chopped bacon and even more chunks of bleu cheese on the top. I had the waitperson load it up with fresh crack black pepper. It was a massive amount of greens to eat. So much so that I was still trying to put a dent into it when our steaks showed up at the table.

Vincent said the lobster bisque was "outstanding". He said it was creamy and rich with large chunks of lobster meat. And Peter said his oysters were very good, as well.

The steaks, in a word, were awesome. My New York strip was cooked perfectly - red rare with a cool center. It was lean, flavorful and overly tender. The sauteed mushrooms were a great complement to the great steak. We passed around the sides and the steak fries were large and crispy on the outside, but moist inside with a great potato taste. The asparagus was cooked perfectly (I always seem to overcook asparagus - this still had a little *snap* to each bite). 

Vincent and Peter both said their steaks were great. Peter told me prior to going to Morton's that they had eaten at the Tornado Club in Madison, WI the night before (see my entry on the Tornado Club here) and said that it would be tough to beat that meal. But Peter told me afterward, "The Tornado Club was outstanding, but this may have been the best steak I've ever had."

The service at Morton's the Steakhouse was exemplary. The maitre d' AND the restaurant manager both stopped by to ask how everything was and to thank us for coming in. The maitre d' asked me, "How was your steak cooked, sir? To your liking? Not overcooked?"

I told him it was perfect and he said, "I'll let the chef know." And he walked right over to the open kitchen, leaned over the counter and mentioned something to the chef. The chef turned and gave him a "thumbs up".

We closed the place down that evening, savoring our great meal, talking strategy and rehashing the days meetings. As we left, everyone we encountered - from our waitperson, to the manager, to maitre d', to the bartender, to one of the cooks in the kitchen, to the hostess who took us down to the dining room in the first place were all overly expressive with their sincere appreciate for our business. It didn't appear phony or forced at all. My first experience with eating at a Morton's was a real treat. I'm sure the meal wasn't cheap, but it was worth every penny Peter paid for it that evening. I hope I get a chance to go back to a Morton's again at some point.

DMK Burger Bar - Lombard, IL

When Cindy and I were in Chicago last summer for our little mini-vacation, we had lunch at Uncle Julio's in Lombard (click here to see that entry). We parked in the lot near the restaurant, but another place caught my eye. It was DMK Burger Bar. I'd read about DMK Burger Bar in Bon Appetit and in the Chicago Tribune and had always wanted to visit their Chicago location (see map). I went there once, but parking is at a premium and I couldn't find a spot that was close. It turns out they had just opened their second location in Lombard just a day or two before. While I was intrigued by DMK Burger Bar, we wanted to stick to our rule of not visiting a restaurant during its first three months of existence, just to allow them to get the kinks out. We had lunch at Uncle Julio's that day, but I was in Chicago recently and was able to stop into DMK Burger Bar for a burger.

The DMK Burger Bar in Lombard is located in the Fountain Square shopping and entertainment area of Lombard, in between Oakbrook Center Mall and Yorktown Center Mall (see map). It is the second location opened by partners Michael Kornick and David Morton, who also are involved with Fish Bar, next to the Sheffield Ave. DMK Burger Bar location.

If the name Morton sounds familiar, it's because David Morton is the son of Arnie Morton, the legendary restaurateur who founded the Morton's steakhouse chain, as well as the founder of the Playboy Clubs and Resorts. Some of Morton's children have dabbled in the restaurant business, as well. Peter Morton founded the Hard Rock Cafe chain, Miichael Morton is the owner of the contemporary N9NE steakhouses in Chicago, Las Vegas and Dallas, and David Morton founded the Pompei Italian Restaurants with four locations in the greater Chicago area.

Michael Kornick has his own legacy as the executive chef at the long defunct Gordon restaurant (a place that I ate at a couple times years ago and it was absolutely fabulous), as well as working on various projects with Richard Melman of the Lettuce Entertain You restaurants. Kornick was also the executive chef at the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston for a spell.

Kornick (pictured right) became involved with two partners to work on and open two restaurants - Marché and Red Light - but the partnership quickly dissolved. With the help of his wife, Lisa, Kornick opened mk, a highly popular eclectic restaurant in the River North area of Chicago. Kornick started his relationship with the Morton family when he was hired as a consultant/chef/partner for N9NE, then partnered with David Morton to open DMK (a combination of David Morton's and Michael Kornick's initials) Burger Bar in 2009. Kornick is also a multiple James Beard Foundation nominee for best chef in the Midwest.

The menu at DMK Burger Bar consists of nine grass-fed beef burgers that all cost $8.00 each (with the exception of the Big DMK, the bison burger, and the guacamole burger). For the more health conscious, DMK Burger Bar also has turkey burgers, lamb burgers, and salmon burgers, as well as a veggie burger and a portobello mushroom burger. They also feature sides of salads, onion straws, fried okra and dill pickles, and a number of delectable French fries - called Chicago fries - that include sweet potato fries served with a lemon Tabasco aioli sauce, salt and pepper fries with homemade ketchup, parmesan cheese fries with truffle cream, and Amish bleu cheese fries with bacon.

Since it was during the noon hour when I got to DMK Burger Bar, I had a hell of a time trying to find a parking spot in the lot in front of the business. With Uncle Julio's across the way and a Starbuck's next door, parking is at a premium during the rush hours. I was able to find a spot behind the restaurant and went in. I took a seat at the bar and the very friendly bartender greeted me with a menu. Not only does DMK Burger Bar have a number of eclectic burgers to choose from, they have a very good beer list. They had eight beers on tap and another nearly three dozen beers available in bottles. I ended up getting a Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold lager beer they had on tap.

While the bar area is bright and open with white tiled walls behind the bar, the dining area is a mix of brick, contemporary lighting and a wall lined with banquette seating. Not only was the bartender overly friendly and chatty, but so was the wait staff and the manager. They certainly were doing their best to make you feel welcome.

Picking a burger was going to be tough. At new places, I usually like to go with the basic cheeseburger, with possibly bacon and mushrooms on it, to get the feel and taste of the burger. But the were so many mouthwatering burgers being described on the menu that I was having trouble figuring out that I wanted. The Number 8 (you order by the number) was a basic cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, mayo, onions and pickles. The Number 2 was topped with chili rubbed onion-strings, Amish bleu cheese and a spicy chipotle ketchup. The Number 1 had aged cheddar, barbecue sauce, smoked bacon and charred balsamic red onions. You can see what I was up against.

But what really jumped out at me was the Number 4 - real roasted green chiles (not the stuff you get from cans), smoked bacon, Somoma jack cheese and a sunny-side-up farm fresh fried egg on top. I couldn't pass that one up, so I ordered that with a small side of the salt and pepper fries with the homemade ketchup. (I've since learned the sweet potato fries with the lemon Tabasco aioli sauce is to die for. Next time...)

About 15 minutes after I ordered the burger, one of the waitresses brought it out to me. The presentation was nice - the sunny-side-up egg was prominent on top with the bacon off to the side on the light and flaky homemade bun. It was time to dig in.

From the first bite, it was exquisite. The green chiles gave the burger a great peppery taste, but it wasn't spicy in the least. The grass-fed beef was cooked to a pink middle - exactly as I like it. Although I'd rather have a hard fried egg on my burger, the sunny-side-up egg wasn't all that messy. Along with the jack cheese and the smoked bacon, it was a superb burger.

The salt and pepper fries were absolutely great, as well. I normally don't like to get fries all that much, but these were fabulous. They were crispy on the outside, but moist on the inside. The homemade ketchup was tangy and somewhat tart. Overall, it was an outstanding meal.

I like to stay out in the western suburbs of Chicago when I'm in town for more than a couple days, mainly because it's centrally located for the dealers I call on in the area. DMK Burger Bar is about a five mile drive from where I like to stay and I'm sure that there will be more visits to this particular restaurant in the future. It was a burger worth of mention when my updated Best Burger list comes out in 2012. As I said, it was an outstanding burger.

 

Uncle Julio's - Lombard, IL

When I first ate at an Uncle Julio's location in Atlanta, I thought it was pretty good Mexican food (see that post here).  In doing research for that entry, I was surprised to find out that there was one in the western Chicagoland suburb of Lombard.  Since I'm in Chicago quite a bit, I knew that I wanted to go try the Uncle Julio's there at some point.  When Cindy and I were in Chicago earlier this summer, I took her there for lunch one afternoon.  

Although Uncle Julio's is a chain of now 16 locations, it's only found in five markets -  their home base of Dallas-Fort Worth, Washington D.C., South Florida, Atlanta and now two in the Chicago area including a new one in the city on North Ave. (see map).  The Lombard location is located in the Fountain Square shopping and entertainment area, in between Yorktown Center mall and the OakBrook Center mall (see map).  

Cindy had wanted to stop at Yorktown to look for some shoes at Von Maur and it was getting to the point that we either had to eat lunch or start thinking about dinner.  We had a lot of options for lunch in the area, but then I remembered that Uncle Julio's was just down the road.  I said, "Do you want Mexican for lunch?"  She said that was fine and we got to Uncle Julio's from Yorktown in less than five minutes.  

It was a beautiful afternoon, one of the best days of the summer, and there was next to no one in the Mexican hacienda-style dining room.  We had our choice and, of course, we decided to sit outside on the veranda.  

 The outdoor veranda had rolled up windscreens and heaters to keep the heat inside during the cooler days and evenings, but it certainly wasn't needed that particular day.  The hostess left off menus with us and later a waiter came by with chips and salsa.

The chips at Uncle Julio's are made fresh and in-house with their unique automatic tortilla maker.  They take flour balls and stick them in the top of the machine.  They're flattened, cooked and then cooled as they slide down a spiral pathway to the bottom.  While it takes the romance out of the way handmade tortillas are made, they can usually make a dozen of them in a couple minutes.  For a high traffic place like Uncle Julio's, that's a big time and money saver.

Our waitress came out and immediately began to pitch us on the lunch specials, margaritas, appetizers and some other signature items Uncle Julio's has to offer.  It was sort of a quick and hard sell on some items, but we did sign up for margaritas as it was a perfect margarita day.  

Knowing that we would be eating somewhere in downtown Chicago that evening, I didn't want to load up on food.  They had fish tacos on their lunch menu - the good kind where they aren't breaded.  It was not only a good day for a margarita (I downed the first one in about five minutes), but a warm Summer day is the perfect time for grilled fish tacos.

Cindy was torn between a couple things - one of the featured specials was "Camarones a la Parilla", basically shrimp fajitas.  The other thing she was looking at was something that caught my eye right off the bat, the El Campo, that allowed you to choose from either beef or chicken crispy taco and an enchilada with either beef, chicken or cheese.  Following my lead, she took the seafood route and went with the shrimp fajitas.

Like most Mexican food, it didn't take long to get the food to our table.  My fish tacos came with a spicy avocado sauce on the side, along with shredded red cabbage and black beans.  That was a nice touch, I thought.  Most fish tacos will come with regular cabbage and you usually get refried beans at most Mexican restaurants rather than black beans.  The fish was fresh, as were the tortilla shells.  With a little of the avocado sauce and some of the red cabbage, the fish tacos were delicious.  

Cindy was amazed at the amount of shrimp that she got with her meal.  She said, "Oh, my God!  There's like a pound of shrimp here!  I won't be able to eat all this!"  She made a significant dent in the pile of shrimp, however, and let me finish off what she had left.  The shrimp were grilled with a sort of cumin, chili spice that gave them a little bit of a spicy bite to their taste.  Actually, they were damn good.  

While we're not big on chains, I don't know if I can really classify Uncle Julio's as a "national" chain.  It's more of a local chain that happens to be in five areas of the U.S.   Like the one in Atlanta, the food was good - surprisingly good.  I thought the service was a little pushy toward some items on the menu - probably high profit products for them - but, overall, the experiece we had at Uncle Julio's was overly favorable.  While it's still more of an Americanized-Mexican restaurant, they do have some authentic Mexican dishes throughout their menu.  Uncle Julio's is a suitable Mexican restaurant if you want a little better food with a good menu selection.

Juicy O Pancake House - Downers Grove, IL

Due to a scheduling screw up, I was stuck in the Chicago area for an extra night as I had to wait a day to help supervise the delivery of a pair of $90,000 Focal Stella Utopia EM speakers to a customer.  I had gotten in the night before thinking that we were on for a 9 a.m. delivery by the freight company.  I called my dealer first thing in the morning and he said, "You didn't get the call?  They changed it to tomorrow morning!"  Ugh!  Since I suddenly had time to kill - and then some - that day, I decided to treat myself to breakfast at a place I've wanted to try in west suburban Downers Grove called Juicy O Pancake House.  

Juicy O first opened in the fall of 2005 after partners Jimmy Banakis and Jimmy Bannos got together to open a family style upscale breakfast restaurant in the western suburbs of Chicago.  Banakis and Bannos were no strangers to the Chicago restaurant scene - Banakis was a long time employee for Rich Melman's Lettuce Entertain You restaurants in Chicago (they include Shaw's Crab House, Twin City Grill, Maggiano's Little Italy, and Hub 51 - all of which have been reviewed on Road Tips).  Banakis then worked for Connie's Pizza before striking out on his own in the mid-00's.  Jimmy Bannos is the owner of Heaven on Seven, another favorite Road Tips restaurant with three locations in the Chicagoland area. 

While Banakis never thought a breakfast place could be profitable, he soon found once he hit middle age that most of his contemporaries were going out for breakfast with friends rather than dinner.  Along with Bannos, Banakis came up with a concept to have higher end offerings of breakfast items, along with a few lunch items, to serve in the restaurant.  The Downers Grove location (see map) was the first to open, and they've since opened locations in far west suburban Naperville and in Willowbrook on the SW side of Chicago.  Juicy O has proven to Banakis that breakfast can be profitable.    

The menu at Juicy O is large and very diverse.  They have nearly 20 different types of omelets, well over a dozen different types of pancakes (including potato pancakes and Southern cornmeal pancakes), a half-dozen different types of French toast (including the "Elvis" with bananas and peanut butter - Eeeyew!), crepes, frittatas, breakfast sandwiches, four different types of Eggs Benedict and scramblers and skillet items where you can throw just about any combination in the pan and cook it up.  And, of course, true to their name, Juicy O has 10 different juices on the menu, from fresh squeezed orange juice, to pomegranate juice, to apple juice, to a spicy tomato juice, known as the "eye opener".  Juicy O does not have a liquor license, so a little shot of vodka in the "eye opener" is not an option.  

They also serve lunch at Juicy O with burgers, sandwiches, salads, wraps and hot toasted panini.  If I'm not mistaken, I believe Juicy O is only open until 3 p.m., but they do private parties at their locations at night if you want to reserve the place for a party or gathering.  

After I went out and got a change of clothes for the next day (I violated my cardinal rule in traveling - always pack for one day extra, because you never know), I got to Juicy O in Downers Grove about 10:30.  I was shown to a booth in the back part of the well-lit restaurant.  Even at 10:30 a.m., the restaurant was about a third full with people eating breakfast - some in large groups, others by themselves.  There were at least two business meetings going on at tables around the dining area at Juicy O with men in business suits discussing whatever.  

Whenever a menu is so vast and various as the one at Juicy O, I have a lot of trouble figuring out what to get to eat.  I wasn't quite in the mood for either French Toast or pancakes, although they did have a stuffed blueberry and banana French toast where I thought I could just order them with the blueberries.  I thought about the corned beef hash skillet with green peppers, onions, potatoes, two eggs and cheese mixed in.  They had an Italian sausage skillet similar to the corned beef hash item.  A steak and cheddar cheese omelet caught my eye.  But then I decided to go with the "Lotsa Meat" omelet with cheddar cheese.  It came with a side of homemade hash browns, and I also got a side of whole wheat toast, a small glass of fresh squeezed orange juice and a large milk to come with it.

On the walls at Juicy O, they have a number of whimsical sayings, quotes and pictures - even in the restrooms.  There were sayings like, "Work is fine for killing time, but it's a lousy way to make a living."  Or, "The secret to life is truth and honesty, and if you fake that, you've got it made."  And this little ditty, "Time is money!  Stop reading these stupid signs."  It sort of reminded me of the Lettuce Entertain You 50's/diner-style restaurant Ed Debevic's.  Banakis probably got the idea for some of these signs from Ed Debevic's.  (Come to think of it, I haven't been to Ed Debevic's in years.  I need to go there sometime when I get back to downtown Chicago.) 

To many, the highlight at Juicy O's is getting donuts hot off their own in-restaurant donut maker (below left).  They make small donuts and them roll them in sugar and serve them to the table warm and toasty.  The only problem that day was that service was a little slow at Juicy O.  The waitress I had was stuck in neutral and didn't seem to enjoy her job very much.  I probably waited 10 minutes from the time I sat down until she finally came over to take my order.  In fact, she never came around to offer me any donuts until I was fully done with my breakfast.  By that time, there was no way I wanted any donuts.

The reason I didn't want any donuts had a lot to do with all the food I got.  I was sort of taken back by the size of the omelet which covered half the plate, and the hash browns covered the other half (above right).  I knew I wouldn't be able to finish the whole breakfast, but I knew I'd make a serious dent in it as this would be breakfast and lunch all in one.  

The omelet was good, nothing outstanding about it, though.  True to its name, it did have "lotsa meat" with chunks of ham and bacon throughout.  I thought, however, they skimped a little on the sausage.  There didn't seem to be a proportionate amount of sausage compared to the bacon and ham in the omelet.  The potatoes were OK, as well.  It's pretty hard to screw up fried potatoes.  If I had to rate the breakfast I'd give it 2.5 stars out of five.  It wasn't great, but it certainly wasn't bad.  It was breakfast.  Maybe if the service would have been better...  

I'm sure Juicy O does stellar business with the breakfast crowd.  My wife and I are sometime-breakfast eaters and if we lived close to a Juicy O we'd probably go there from time to time.  Actually, it turns out that my wife and her sister had eaten at this very Juicy O restaurant a few years ago, not long after it opened when they were in Chicago for a weekend.  I remember her saying that it was just OK and nothing special.  And she's right - it was good, but certainly nothing spectacular.  I think I'd rather seek out a Walker Brothers Pancake House before I'd go back to Juicy O.  

Himalayan Restaurant and Bar - Niles, IL

I've made a conscious effort to broaden my horizons by seeking out Indian restaurants while I'm on the road. The food is generally fairly priced and there's a lot of it on your plate. During a trip to Chicago recently, I found an Indian restaurant in north suburban Niles - the Himalayan Restaurant and Bar. I decided to give that a shot one particular evening.

Unlike many of my colleagues who are well-versed on Indian food, I am still in the learning stages of what I like and don't like about the cuisine. My first encounter with Indian food over 20 years ago was not a pleasant experience and I stayed away from Indian restaurants like they were the plague. That was until my wife accidentally had Indian food one time with a friend of hers (they thought the sign said, "Italian" and not "Indian"), and after a couple outings with colleagues to Indian/Pakistani restaurants in Atlanta. (Click here for the link to previous Indian restaurants I've visited.) I decided that I liked some of the Indian cuisine that I've tried and wanted to have some more.

The Himalayan Restaurant and Bar opened in Niles in 2003. Partners Vivek Raj Kunwar and Kiran Byanjankar, along with Chef Bishnu Subedi, saw a need for Indian/Nepali food in the northern suburbs of Chicago. Subedi learned to cook Indian and Nepali cuisine in Kathmandu, Nepal. After moving to the United States in 1999, Subedi worked in a number of Indian restaurants in the Chicago area, first as a server, then as a chef. The partners opened a second restaurant in far west suburban Bloomingdale in 2008, and then followed up with a third location in far north suburban Gurnee.

The Niles location is located along Golf Road, near the intersection of Milwaukee Ave. in Niles (see map). It's set back in a strip mall and you have to do a little driving around to find the place. Actually, getting there from my hotel was sort of a chore as the power was still out in many sections of the north suburbs from a powerful storm that had hit the night before. Thankfully, the power was on at the Himalayan when I got there.

Entering the Himalayan, I found it to be similar to other Indian restaurants I've been in. The dining room is large, spacious and well-lit. Without some of the pictures on the wall, you may have thought it was more of an American-style family restaurant. I was seated at a table next to the wall and given a menu. A waitress soon came over to take my drink order. It had been a long day and I was ready for a cold beer. I ordered a tall bottle of Taj Mahal beer.

One of the nice things about the menu at the Himalayan Restaurant and Bar is that a number of items on the menu are designated as "kid friendly", meaning that children will usually find those dishes to be pleasing to their pallets. There are also a number of foods on the menu that are listed with a "G" which means they're good for groups or family style dining. And they also listed a "Spice-O-Meter" chart with one star being mild and three stars means you'll break a sweat.

Still being a neophyte when it comes to Indian cuisine, I was trying to remember some of the things that I'd tried in the past. I remember my colleague, Todd, talking about tandoori style food during our previous visits. Tandoors are clay ovens used to make breads at a high temperature. The first time tandoors were used to make food other than bread happened in the late 1940's in India when an Indian restaurant owner cooked seasoned chicken pieces in his tandoor. It became an instant hit. In fact, today, the original restaurant - Moti Mahal - is now a popular chain of restaurants in India.

Traditional tandoori chicken is marinated in curd and tandoori marsala sauce. It is usually much more spicy to the bite in Asia, but toned down considerably for Western tastes in the States. It is a deep reddish/orange in color, thanks to spices such as cayenne, chili powder and turmeric which are put on before cooking. The tandoori oven has to be red hot for the chicken to cook - up to 900F (480C) - helping seal in the juices of the chicken. Todd has told me that the chef has to watch the tandoori chicken to make sure it doesn't overcook. "30 seconds too long can make it dried out," he once told me.

I was interested in getting the tandoori chicken, but I also was interested in the chicken tikka - marinated chicken grilled and sauteed in a creamy onion tomato sauce. Chicken tikka is usually a safe bet when it comes to ordering Indian food for the uninitiated. I also took a quick glance at the chicken vindaloo, something I remember having - and liking - in previous visits to Indian restaurants. Chicken vindaloo is a dish with chicken chunks that are cooked in a creamy curry sauce. It's more spicy than chicken tikka, but I remember thinking that it wasn't all that spicy when I had it.

I decided upon getting the chicken tandoori. The waitress said, "Do you want a large order or a small order?"

Well, she had me there. I didn't know the difference. So, somewhat embarrassed, I blurted out, "Large!"

She said, "If you have any left over, you can take it home. Yes?" I also ordered some of the garlic naan bread - something I remembered as being REALLY good in previous visits.

A waiter came out with my beer and a small basket of flat bread, along with a couple bowls of an unknown sauce. The green sauce had a very strong herb taste to it and it was very good. The red sauce was a little spicy and I guessed that was some sort of a curry sauce. It wasn't overly spicy for me, but I can tolerate spicy flavors more than most people.

Not long after that, the garlic naan bread came out. Cooked in the tandoor oven, this stuff is about as good as it gets. Brushed in melted butter, the naan bread is light and fluffy. And the garlic! Wow! But the problem is that it's so good that you have to watch yourself if you're eating by yourself or you'll pig out on the bread and not be hungry when your meal shows up. Oh man, garlic naan is great!

Suddenly, the waitress brought out this huge plate of chicken tandoori. Six whole pieces of chicken - a couple cut in half - were staring back at me. Now I know what she was talking about when she said I could take some leftovers home. There was no way that I'd be able to eat all of the chicken on my plate.

The outer skin of the chicken had a nice little spice to it, nothing that I would call outrageously hot (I believe it was listed a two-star entree on the "Spice-O-Meter"). But it did help zip up the taste a bit. The tandoor also gave it a nice smoky, charred taste to the chicken. However, like my colleague Todd warned me, chicken tandoori can get overcooked, even if you leave it in the tandoor a few seconds too long. Unfortunately, the chicken was somewhat dried out and tough to chew. A couple of the pieces were good, but the majority of the chicken was overcooked. And that was too bad because the couple of pieces that weren't were pretty good.

I ended up getting a box for the rest of the chicken and took it with me back to the hotel. Thinking for a second before I walked in, I realized that even though I did have a refrigerator in my room, I knew there was no way I'd eat any more of this chicken. So I tossed it out in the garbage just outside the door. I don't like to waste food like that, but I have to say that it was one helluva bargain for all that chicken tandoori. The entree, itself, was $12.95. The garlic naan was $2.65. My Taj Mahal beer was a little expensive at $7.50 a bottle, but there was a lot of beer there, even though it wasn't all that great of a taste. It was a 22 oz. bottle. I ate a helluva lot for under $30 bucks and a tip.

OK, so chicken tandoori isn't something I'll probably order on my next visit to an Indian restaurant. As Todd told me the next day, "Yeah, it's tough to find really good chicken tandoori." I'm gonna stick to the cream sauce entrees in the future, I believe. And I'm sure the Himalayan Restaurant and Bar has some great chicken vindaloo, something I'll try on my next visit.

Yard House - Glenview, IL

Nearly four years ago, along with my wife and some friends, we stumbled in to the Yard House in Glenview, IL.  (Click here to see that entry on Road Tips.)    Yard House is a national chain of upscale beer bar/restaurants that features over 100 different types of beer on tap at any one of their locations.  We had a couple beers in there that night after an awesome Mexican feast across the street at El Jardin Norte and I always wanted to go back and have a meal at the Yard House.  Earlier this summer, I had the chance to do so.

 

The Yard House in Glenview (pictured right) is located within the Glen Town Center shopping and entertainment complex on what was the former Glenview Naval Air Station.  After the naval base was closed in the mid-90's, it was developed into a number of shops, restaurants, movie theaters, and residential complexes.  The Yard House is located in the heart of the Glen along Tower Drive (see map). 

 While Yard House could be classified as a national chain (they have over 30 locations in nine states with locations in Virginia and New York opening later this year), nearly every Yard House is located within an upscale shopping/entertainment complex.  Not only do they feature a large and eclectic mix of national, regional, local and imported beers (click here to see the beer menu for Glenview), but their food menu features a wide array of foods from appetizers, salads, sandwiches, pizza, and entrees with steaks, seafood, pasta, and barbecued ribs. 

 To understand how the Yard House gets it's name, you have to go back to 17th century Britain where carriage drivers would have beer poured in yard long glasses while they drove dignitaries around the villages.  A British yard glass held 1.14 litres, which is the same as about three plus bottles of beer.  The Yard House features a number of yard glasses, but you have to pay a deposit on the glass in case you break one when you drink it.  I've drank out of yard glasses in the past and while I am a quick drinker, I find the beer to get warm too quickly and the glasses rather unwieldy.     

The original Yard House began in 1996 when former Denver resident Steele Platt (pictured at left) and a couple partners opened the first location in Long Beach, CA.  Platt had earlier run a number of restaurants and clubs around the Denver area.  In 1987, Platt closed the Boiler Room - a Denver dance club that specialized in serving a number of different brands of beer - after a rent dispute with the landlord and with local officials who had cited the club for excessive noise from dance music in the past.  Platt had run the clubs and restaurants for about 15 years before pulling up stakes and moving west.        

Financial hassles followed Platt to his new home in California.  He bummed around Southern California, working at a car dealership and as a bartender before he came up with an idea to have 200 different types of beer on tap which incubated from his days owning the Boiler Room.  At that time, Platt was emerging from bankruptcy, primarily from debts still owed on a house in Denver and for bills that were still open to vendors after he closed the Boiler Room.

In the meantime, Northwestern Mutual Real Estate Investments had taken over the Shoreline Village shopping complex in Long Beach after the previous owner had defaulted on a loan they held.  Looking for an exciting restaurant to go into the nearly empty shopping center, Platt, along with partners Carlito Jocson and Harald Herrmann walked into a meeting with Northwestern Mutual officials and pitched their idea of a place with 200 beers on tap.  The group's concept was to offer good food, a great selection of beer and good music in the restaurants.  The only problem was the group had no money and Platt had previously filed for bankruptcy.

Taking a large leap of faith, mainly because they believed in the concept and after they had thoroughly checked out Platt's history in Denver, Northwestern Mutual invested about $2 million dollars in the Yard House.   The first Yard House had a two story keg room with five miles of beer lines going to the bar. At any given time, the Yard House could move 6,000 gallons of beer through its line system. That same delivery design is used in the other Yard House locations.  

The first six months were the toughest - cash was tight and the group was under-capitalized. But they made it through the first bumpy months and the business took off.  By 2003, Yard House was the 3rd largest privately owned restaurant group in Southern California.  And today, Shoreline Village has full occupancy and is the premier shopping, eating and entertainment destination in Long Beach. 

In August of 2007, the group sold a majority interest of Yard House to TSG Consumer Partners, an investment group from the San Francisco area. Platt and Herrmann are still is involved with the business as they continue to expand in the coming years. The company doesn't franchise any locations, keeping all of the Yard House locations under private control.   Today, each of the over 30 locations average over $8 million dollars in sales annually.  Yard House is doing pretty well.  

It was a hot and very humid evening when I was lucky enough to find a parking spot just down Tower Drive from the Yard House in Glenview.  A storm was brewing on the horizon, but a number of patrons were outside on the street side patio enjoying their dinner.  The restaurant was packed, but the hostess told me that if I didn't mind eating at the bar, there were some seats open.  I found one and parked my butt waiting for the bartender to greet me.

Being that they were very busy, I finally got a bartender's attention after a couple of minutes.  I looked through the beer menu and saw that they had the Bell's Pale Ale on tap - one of my all-time favorites.  I signed up for one of those and took a look through the menu.   

I really didn't know what I wanted to eat that evening and the menu wasn't helping things.  The Yard House has so much to choose from - jambalaya, garlic chicken and noodles, pan seared ahi tuna, lobster garlic noodles (I've heard those are just scrumptious), pepper-crusted beef filet, Cuban roast pork dip, pepperjack cheeseburger with roasted garlic aioli.  I didn't know which way to turn.  The Yard House is just not your typical chain like Applebee's or T.G.I. Friday's.  

I had eaten pretty large the night before and I thought I would take a closer look at some of the salads they had on the menu.  I looked very hard at the New York strip salad.  They take a big bowl of lettuce greens, add roasted peppers, avocado, green beans, fried potatoes and a red onion, topped with a gorgonzola vinaigrette with beefsteak tomatoes and fried pickled egg.  Then they put strips of steak with the salad.  The bartender asked if I had any questions and I said, "Yeah, on the New York strip steak salad, how much steak do you get?"

 He said, "It's a regular sized 12 to 14 ounce New York strip.  Then they slice it into strips."

I said, "Can I get the steak rare?"  He said I could.  "Sold," I exclaimed.  

The Yard House is not only a pretty good restaurant, but it's an upscale sports bar, as well.  Dozens of flat screen televisions hang from the walls and around the bar area.  A Chicago Cubs game was on and I was glancing at that from time to time while I looked through that day's edition of the Chicago Tribune.  

 My steak salad showed up in a little while and it looked outstanding.  The steak was cut into deep red strips and the salad was a jumbled mass of veggies.  And from the first bite it was outstanding.  The steak was juicy and tender, the salad greens were fresh, including the veggies.  The little bit of gorgonzola on top of the meat was a great taste sensation.  It was simply wonderful.  I was highly surprised and very happy with what I got.  

As I was sitting there enjoying my meal, outside the storm front that had been brewing off to the west had finally hit.  High winds and howling rain forced a number of the people who were outdoors eating their meals inside.  Suddenly, the lights flickered and finally went out for a couple minutes.  Emergency lighting came on for a moment, then the electricity came back on.  As I left the restaurant later that evening, workers were picking up chairs, tables, umbrellas and other items that had been blown about by the storm.  It turned out that gusts of over 75 miles an hour had hit the area knocking power out to hundreds of thousands of electrical customers around the Chicago area.  The northern suburbs were especially hard hit with many people not getting their power back on for up to three days.  It was a tough drive back to the hotel with all the tree limbs and power lines down along and in the major streets and roads.  I was happy to find that my hotel in Skokie had power when I got there.

I really didn't know what to expect in terms of food quality at the Yard House.  But I was pleasantly surprised with the quality and the taste of the food- as well as the seemingly endless eclectic selections on the menu - at the Yard House.  I guess you'd have to call it "American Fusion" cuisine at the Yard House.  They take a lot of basic favorites and add a little splash to bring out some wonderful taste sensations.  I liked the Yard House a lot, not because they have a ton of beers to choose from, but more for the selection and quality of food.  In fact, to me, the beer will almost be a secondary reason I go back to a Yard House in my travels.  

But having close to 200 beers to choose from doesn't hurt... 

Merle's #1 Barbecue - Evanston, IL

A thank you to Road Tips reader Peter Lawrence who suggested that I try the third of the three Clean Plate Club restaurants, Merle's #1 Barbecue in downtown Evanston (see map).  The other two restaurants under the Clean Plate Club umbrella - Davis Street Fishmarket and Pete Millers - I've already visited and have written entries about them.  You can find the entry on Davis Street Fishmarket here and the one on Pete Miller's here.  Both those restaurants were very good, so I went to Merle's with great anticipation.

Merle's #1 Barbecue has been in business for nearly 20 years, first opening their doors in 1992 near the Northwestern University campus.  Merle's prides themselves on cooking their barbecue "low and slow", just as barbecue was meant to be.  Merle's menu features a number of appetizers, burgers, barbecue sandwiches, and wings that feature four different types of sauces - traditional Buffalo, barbecue, a combo of both or the "Light My Fire" ultra-hot wing sauce.   But their barbecue entrees are what people have been coming to Merle's for for years.   They feature Texas-style brisket, North Carolina pork, St. Louis-style ribs (either with barbecue sauce or dry rubbed), and barbecued chicken entrees.  Merle's features two different kinds of sauce - a vinegar-based Texas-style sauce that had a smoky taste with a bit of a bite of jalapenos, and a sweet and mildly spicy Chicago-style.

It was a short walk from my hotel to Merle's on a cool evening with the wind coming in off of Lake Michigan.  I sat at the bar as there was a wait to get into the sort of rustic looking dining area.  The night I was there, Merle's #1 Barbecue offers "all-you-can-eat" wings for $4.50 from 8 to 10 p.m.  They also feature an on-going special of Schlitz in 16 oz. cans for $2 bucks. A large number of Northwestern students were there enjoying the wings special.  That's all right, I was probably going to just sit at the bar anyway.  (Photo courtesy of Planet99.com)

I looked through the menu after I got a beer and I wanted to give the ribs and the brisket a try.  They had a ribs and meat combo for $18.95.  I got the dry-rubbed St. Louis-style ribs.  She asked if I wanted them to "fall off the bone".  No!  I saw on the menu that they had "fall off the bone" ribs and that more than likely means they parboiled them before they put them in the smoker or on the grill.  That's cheating in my book, and it kills the taste of the meat.   

Two sides came with the combo entree - I got their baked beans (a must for any barbecue place) and I thought about their cole slaw, but went with the mac-n-cheese instead.  I asked the bartender if I could get extra barbecue sauce on the side and she reached down below the bar and pulled out two Corona beer bottles - one with the Texas-style sauce and the other with the Chicago-style sauce with dispenser spouts on them and put them on the bar in front of me.  I looked at them and said, "Huh!  Now, this is rather ingenious!  What a great way to store barbecue sauce!"  

But I found out later on how they were able to use beer bottles with dispenser caps on the top.   

When the bartender brought my barbecue entree out to me, I was sort of taken back by the sizes of the sides and how small of a portion of brisket that I got.  While the sides were served in two pretty good sized bowls - neither of which I'd be able to finish - there was only three slices of brisket and about six ribs, primarily from the end of the row of ribs.

The brisket came with the spicy Texas-style sauce - well, it was supposed to be spicy.  I didn't think it was.  I took the beer bottle full of the Texas sauce and poured some more on the brisket.  It was thin and runny - no wonder they could serve it in a beer bottle.  The Chicago sauce - billed to be "sticky sweet" - was almost as runny and not too sweet.  Both were completely lifeless in taste.  I added both to the very mediocre baked beans and the sauces alone couldn't save the beans.  Sometimes you can do that with some barbecue sauces and baked beans.  Merle's sauces were bland and just not very good.  Their beans were some of the worst I've encountered in a barbecue restaurant.

The St. Louis-style ribs were charred and not much on the meaty side.  I don't know what kind of rub they had on them, but it didn't add much to the taste of the meat.  The meat was a little tough to gnaw off the bone.  The brisket was just OK, as well.  The meat was tender and had an average flavor that could have been helped out if the sauces were better. 

Last and probably least, the mac-n-cheese was just plain ol' mac-n-cheese.  It had no pizazz, no flavor, nothing.  It was about as neutral of a taste as you can get for mac-n-cheese.  I'm sure kids probably liked it, but they didn't even add anything to the cheese sauce other than the macaroni noodles.  Two bites of that and I'd had enough.  I sort of wish I would have gotten the cole slaw instead. 

All in all, I was overly disappointed in Merle's #1 Barbecue.  It's, by far, the weakest of the triumvirate of Clean Plate Club restaurants.  It was also one of the most disappointing barbecue experiences I've had in quite sometime.  The ribs were below average and you had to work hard just to get the little amount of meat they had on them.  The brisket was OK - the best part of the meal - but the sauces were runny, flavorless and not very good.  The baked beans were worse than the sauce and the mac-n-cheese was pedestrian, at best.  I'm sure Merle's has a number of loyal customers, or they wouldn't have been in business for nearly 20 years.  But I think I can find better barbecue in and around the North Shore area the next time I'm looking for barbecue when I'm there. 

(Update - It appears that others felt the same as I did about Merle's.  They closed the doors on the place just after the first of January of 2012.  It was said they lost their lease, but if what I read from others that were saying negative things about the place I'm sure it won't be missed.)

 

Wakaba - Deerfield, IL

On a recent trip to Chicago, I got into my hotel in Lincolnshire, IL one evening pretty late.  I was tired and just wanted to get something to eat.  I didn't want bar food and a steak would have been too much.  I remembered a sushi restaurant that I'd driven by a number of times that was just down the road a mile or so by the name of Wakaba.  I decided to throw my bags in my room and head down the road for some sushi. 

The name "Wakaba" is Japanese for "young leaves".  But I really don't know what that has to do with the Wakaba sushi restaurant located in the River Run Shopping Center on Milwaukee Ave. in Deerfield.  (see map)   The restaurant has been open since 1997 and is owned by Midong and Haeyoung Choi.  Even though the Choi's are natives of Seoul, Korea, they claim the restaurant is 100 percent Japanese.   By day, Midong Choi's main vocation is as an attorney.  At night, he trades in his coat and tie for a traditional sushi chef robe and headband.  His wife runs the kitchen full time at the restaurant. 

 

 
The interior of Wakaba is typical of most Japanese/sushi restaurants.  It's well-lit and filled with oriental-style furniture for the tables and chairs, as well as numerous oriental pieces of artwork on the wall.  A number of plants are throughout the place giving it sort of a Japanese garden vibe.  I'm guessing that must be the reason for the "Wakaba" name.  On one wall, they have a flat screen television playing a continuous loop of a tank full of tropical fish.  They must figure that it's a lot cheaper to maintain a flat screen and a DVD player than it is to futz with actually having a tropical fish aquarium. 

I sat at the sushi bar and they appeared to have a lot of good fresh fish to choose from in the glass cooler (above right).  I got a menu from the waitress and ordered an Asahi beer.  It had been a long day and I needed a cold beer. 

Wakaba offers much more than just your standard sushi on their menu.  They have a number of Japanese entrees that Haeyoung Choi makes up in the kitchen just off to the side of the sushi bar.  But I was interested in sushi that evening and that's what I got.

The first thing I noticed was that they had toro (fatty tuna).  I got a piece of that to go along with a spicy tuna roll, a couple pieces each of sweet shrimp, yellow tail, regular salmon and smoked salmon. 

Being that it was only me and two other gentlemen in the restaurant, the sushi chef (I'm guessing it was Midong Choi) took care of me pretty quickly.   He also threw in a couple of the deep-fried shrimp heads that I'll take if they're free and leave if they're not.

The spicy tuna rolls were not very good.  I can't say they were all that spicy and the tuna was like mush.  They had a seaweed wrapping around them and I only got five pieces (most places will give you six).

The toro was fine, but the yellow tail was very fishy in taste.  The smoked salmon wasn't all that smoky and the regular salmon, too, had a heavy fishiness to its taste.  The sweet shrimp were the best of the tastes that I had that evening and even they weren't much to write home about.

I finished quickly and just wanted to get back to the hotel as I had some e-mails to return and needed to go to bed rather early.  I finished up and the sushi chef said, "You eat so fast!  You want more?"

I begged off and told him that I was tired and needed to get back to the hotel.  The whole time I was thinking, "Geez, I may need to get back to the hotel in case I get sick!"  Thankfully, I didn't get sick from the sushi at Wakaba.

 

Wakaba wasn't very good that evening.  I don't think they've been able to stay in business for 14 years by having sushi that was as bad as what I had that night.  I'm hoping it was just an anomaly, but I'm not certain I'm willing to give Wakaba a second chance.  Not with a number of other sushi restaurants in the area.

Chasers Sports Bar and Grill - Niles, IL

Chasers Sports Bar and Grill in the Northwest Chicago suburb of Niles (see map) is one of those surprising places that I've found out about within the past few months.  Surprising in that the food is actually pretty good for a sports bar, including their pizza which is some of the best in a city that has world class pizza all over.  I was first turned on to Chasers by the guys from Abt Electronics last fall and I have now been there about five or six times over the past few months.

Chasers originally opened about 20 years ago and quickly became THE destintation to watch sports on TV soon thereafter.  Chasers has over two dozen flat panel televisions and two large projections televisions - one in the main dining room as you walk in and the other in the little dance club toward the back.  If there's a game on, they have it.  

Their menu is typical sports bar food - sandwiches, appetizers, burgers, and salads.  They also feature a number of sub sandwiches - or "authentic East Coast grinders" - and Greek specialties such as gyros, saganaki and spinach pie.  And, as I said, the food is surprisingly good.  Especially their chicken wings and pizza. 

I'm not a huge chicken wings fan, but I have to say that the wings at Chasers are some of the best I've ever had.  The wings are big and meaty, juicy and not overcooked.  They are offered plain, or with a mild or hot sauce.  They also feature barbecue sauce chicken wings and an over-the-top hot sauce they call "Ay Carumba!"  You can order the wings either in lots of 10 or 18, or for a couple bucks more per order you can get small chicken drumsticks instead of wings.  I've had both the mild and hot sauce chicken wings.  While I wouldn't call the hot sauce all that hot, it has more of a peppery taste to it.   

We stopped into Chasers after the Iowa/Northwestern football game last fall to get a little something to eat and to watch some football.  I got an order of chicken wings - mild - thinking that someone would help me eat them.  No one else did and I think I had about seven before I got to a point where I was full.  You don't get cheated on the chicken wings at Chasers.  They're a meal in themselves. 

But the biggest surprise at Chasers is the pizza.  It's a thin crust pizza, loaded with mozzarella and plentiful toppings.  They use the big chunks of Italian sausage on their pizza at Chasers, and the vegetable toppings are all fresh.  It's a very good pizza.

I first had their pizza last fall when I met up with a bunch of guys from Abt Electronics after an in-store event they were having.  One of the veterans from Abt, Brian, was telling me about Chasers and how good the pizza was.  I had a piece of just a basic pepperoni pizza when I got there and I was absolutely floored by the taste.  The tomato sauce was tangy and sweet.  The cheese was perfectly caramelized on top and the crust was thin, but not too thin where the slice would droop under the weight of the toppings and cheese.  I've been back two more times since then and had the pizza and I have to say that I'm overly impressed with Chasers pizza.  Sure, there are a number of sports bars that feature pizza, but I've not found a similar place that has as good of a pizza as Chasers.  Chasers pizza is better than some pizza joints I've visited in the Chicago area.  And that says a lot about their pizza!

The only caveat about the pizza at Chaser's is that they use canned chopped mushrooms instead of fresh chopped mushrooms.  They have sort of an earthy taste to them and can almost overwhelm the taste of the fennel sausage and pepperoni.  But it's definitely not a deal breaker by a long shot. 

I also want to point out that the service at Chasers is pretty damn good.  The young waitresses are on top of things, friendly and overly attentive to your needs.  And they're pretty quick at bringing a cold beer to the table after you order one. 

After nine p.m. on some weekends, the back room turns into a dance room and the age skews well under 30 in the place.  It can get pretty loud in the place - as well as pretty crowded.   Dance clubs that play urban music aren't quite my scene and I prefer to be out of there soon after the music starts.  I've never cared for places that play loud music when you're trying to carry on a conversation with friends without having to scream above the music level.  However, on nights when there are UFC fights being telecast, Chasers shuts down the dance floor and cranks up the big screens to show the fights. 

Chasers is also one of the few places in the NW suburbs that is open to 4 a.m. and their kitchen is open until 3 a.m.  Maybe a few years ago that may have been a good selling point for me, but I'm long past my urges for late night carousing.  Plus, as I've heard many times, not a lot of good happens after 2 a.m.  But Chasers has an ample staff of bouncers to help keep the peace from any alchohol-fueled incidents that may arise.

But, to me, sports and the pizza is the draw for Chasers.  The wings are excellent, the pizza is outstanding and if you can't find a game to watch at Chasers, well, then it just ain't on.  Throw in some excellent service and cold beer and you've got a good sports bar to hang at in Northwest Chicago.   

Cubby Bear North - Lincolnshire, IL

The Cubby Bear North is the far north suburb's sister location to the original Cubby Bear bar/restaurant/music venue located directly caddy-corner from Wrigley Field in Chicago.  The original Cubby Bear was named by Sports Illustrated as one of the Top 25 Sports Bars in America back in 2005.  It's a place I've visited many times before going across the street to a Chicago Cubs game and it's a pretty fun place to visit.  They also make one of the best bloody mary's I've ever had.  Like the original, the Cubby Bear North is a place I've been to many times in the past, but only recently went back to for a late dinner on a cold winter's evening. 

The original Cubby Bear at the corner of Addison and Clark (see map) started in 1953 when Greek immigrant Gus Loukas and his wife, Sophia, opened the Cubs Tap.  The Cubs Tap evolved into the Cubs Pub, then it became the Cubs Grill.  In 1978, Loukas' sons, George and Angelo, bought the place and turned it into the Cubby Bear Lounge.  Both the Loukas brothers have a background in football - Angelo Loukas is a former professional football player who played a couple years with the Buffalo Bills, while George Loukas is a former Southern Illinois football player who was one of the best running backs in school history.  George Loukas is a member of the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame. 

George Loukas and his wife, Patty, also have a somewhat famous daughter.  Christina Loukas represented the USA in diving at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, placing ninth in the 3 meter springboard competition, and is a former collegiate and national amateur women's diving champion.  The Loukas' son, Nick, helps with the day-to-day operations of the original Cubby Bear.

When Angelo and George Loukas took over the Cubby Bear Lounge, the Wrigleyville area was in a state of quick deterioration .  The Cubs weren't drawing well, the neighborhood was falling into decay and the area became a series of dilapidated buildings and seedy joints.  George Loukas helped spearhead a movement to clean up the area, and almost as a coincidence, the Cubs began to draw larger crowds to their games.  In the late 80's, Loukas began to book nationally known musical acts into the Cubby Bear.  The family also opened Vines on Wrigley next door and the Sports Corner at the southeast corner across from Wrigley Field.  They also own one of the rooftop buildings just beyond the outfield wall of Wrigley Field on Waveland Ave. 

Over 10 years ago, the Loukas family expanded to north suburban Lincolnshire and opened the Cubby Bear North fashioned as a roadhouse style restaurant/bar/music venue on Milwaukee Ave. (see map)  It was one of the first of what is now many restaurants in the immediate area across the road at the Lincolnshire Commons shopping and entertainment district.  

As I said, I've eaten at the Cubby Bear North many times over the years enjoying their Italian beef sandwiches, burgers, and ribs.  The menu at the Cubby Bear North also features steaks, seafood, pasta entrees and your normal bar appetizers.  Cubby Bear North also features a late night bar menu that features burgers, tacos, cheese pizzas and their famous (and yummy) Garlic French fries.   The beer menu at Cubby Bear North features a number of your normal domestic beers, along with a nice mix of eclectic beers from microbreweries around the Midwest including Three Floyds, Great Lakes, and Metropolitan.

 
The Cubby Bear North seems to be a little bigger than the Cubby Bear in the city.  At least it's more spread out and open compared to the original Cubby Bear.  There's a main bar area to the right as you walk in, a large dining/dance hall in the middle, and another bar area on the far south side of the establishment.   A large stage sits on the long far wall of the building and a couple large projection screens drop down for sports viewing when bands aren't playing.  Flat screen televisions proliferate the walls, nooks and crannies of the Cubby Bear North.

It was close to 8:30 p.m. when I arrived at the Cubby Bear North and took a seat at the main bar.  A few basketball games were going on and I was pretty content to watch some of those as well as to read my Chicago Tribune.  The bartender came by with a menu and asked what I wanted to drink.  I looked into the large glass cooler in front of me and saw that they had Old Style.  I immediately ordered one of those. 

I wasn't overly certain what to get that particular evening.  I didn't want barbecue because it was so late and I knew it would sit in my stomach like a rock all night.  A burger or sandwich didn't sound all that pleasing at that point in the evening.  The special that evening was 2 for 1 pizza - buy one pizza and get a second one of equal or lesser value for free - and there were a number of people in the Cubby Bear North enjoying a pizza.  But I definitely didn't want a pizza. 

I pared my choices down to Cubby Bear North's Chicken Vesuvio (and I knew it wouldn't be as good as what I've had at a couple Italian restaurants in the past), seared fish tacos (another thing that I was sort of skeptical about, given that the Cubby Bear North isn't really known as a seafood restaurant), or their rigatoni, served with chunks of sweet Italian sausage, topped with mozzarella and baked.  I thought that would be pretty good and I decided to try that. 

About 20 minutes after I ordered, a waitress brought the steaming bowl of baked rigatoni over to me.  I got some parmesan cheese and crushed red peppers to throw on top.  It looked pretty similar to the "Wigatoni" that I love so much at the Wig and Pen in the Iowa City/Coralville area.  The mozzarella was caramelized on top, the rigatoni noodles were thick and large and there seemed to be ample amounts of Italian sausage throughout the dish. 

A couple three guys came in before I ordered my baked rigatoni and ordered some food for themselves.  The guy seated next to me commented when the waitress brought my pasta to me that it didn't look bad at all.  After a few bites, he sort of leaned over and said, "How is it?  It looks good."

 

I said, "It looks better than it really is." 

Quite honestly, it wasn't as good as the Wig and Pen's "Wigatoni".  Most of the sausage was located on top and it wasn't all that plentiful.  The pasta was all right, but the marinara sauce wasn't all that zippy in taste.  Overall, it was very far from inedible, but it was more of a pretty bland taste experience.  But I guess I couldn't expect that much out of a place where most of the food is geared toward bar patronage.  It's definitely not fine dining at Cubby Bear North.

While the Cubby Bear North does a lot of things "OK" at their place, nothing they have on the menu is really what I would call outstanding.  But if you're there with a group of friends after work, or stopping in to catch a game, sip a few brews and eat some standard bar food, the Cubby Bear North is a good place to hang out.  The sandwiches and burgers are good.  The ribs are actually surprisingly above average and the garlic fries I've had in the past are pretty damn good on their own.  The Cubby Bear North is about as good a place for the rich suburban North Shore people to "slum" as any around.

Jolane's Cafe - Glenview, IL

I had some reservations about telling you about Jolane's Cafe in Glenview, IL mainly because it's owned by the Abt family, the same people who are my biggest account - Abt Electronics.  Jolane's is part of the Abt Design Center which is a small shopping area just to the south of the mammoth Abt store on Milwaukee Ave. (see map).  I was at Abt Electronics for a weekend event recently and a handful of us went over to Jolane's for lunch. 

I had the food from Jolane's Cafe on a couple occasions before, but had never actually eaten in the place.  When I did training for Focal and Cambridge Audio last summer, I had some food catered in for the event.  It was primarily appetizer food and such, and it was pretty good.  And at an event Abt Electronics had last fall, they had catered in some food from Jolane's to help feed the people working the event.  I had a sandwich that was pretty good.  

Jolane's is named after the mother of the owner of Abt Electronics, Bob Abt.  Jolane - a.k.a. Jewel - emigrated to America from Austria at the age of six.  A very self-sufficient and independent woman, she was one of the first women to own a car in Chicago in the 1920's.  She traveled alone to Cuba during the height of the Depression in the early 30's.  In 1934, she met and married Dave Abt and two years later they opened their first electronics store in the Logan Square area in Chicago. 

Jewel's "can-do" attitude is what helped put Abt Electronics on the map.  After retiring from working at the store well into her 70's, she continued her independent streak by taking an Alaskan cruise at the age of 84 and going to Japan by herself at the age of 90.  Jewel Abt died in 2002 just short of her 97th birthday leaving a legacy that the Abt family carries on in her name with Jolane's Cafe.

Designed to be a restaurant that is similar to a European Cafe, Jolane's opened in the fall of 2008 offering gourmet coffees and teas, pastries and baked goods, a nice selection of wines and specialty drinks, and full lunch menu and dinner menu to choose from.  The main dining room is cozy and inviting, and Jolane's features a sun room/bar atrium that is open, light and airy.  John Collante is the executive chef at Jolane's and Jay Jones is the manager.  I've worked with Jay on a couple of occasions as I had some food catered in for the Abt crew during trainings.  He's a good guy and very thorough in his approach.

Five of us went over to Jolane's for lunch - a couple friends of mine who work for Mitsubishi and Martin Logan, and a couple sales guys from Abt.  We decided to eat in the sunny and warm atrium area.   Actually, when Jolane's was originally built, an outdoor patio stood where the atrium is today.  I understand a little over a year ago the Abt's decided to enclose the outdoor seating area with sort of a "greenhouse" feel to the place.  I asked one of the sales guys from Abt if it got hot out in the atrium in the summertime and he said, "Oh, yeah.  So much that the air conditioning has a hard time of keeping up."

I was told by the guys that Jolane's makes a mean bloody mary and we all decided to get one for lunch.  They're served in 16 oz. glasses with a bunch of munchie additions including a boiled peeled shrimp, a bleu cheese stuffed olive and a slice of salami.  Yep, salami in a bloody mary.   It wasn't bad, but a little weak in taste for me. 

I wasn't overly certain what I wanted to have.  I'd had breakfast earlier in the day fully anticipating that I wouldn't have time for lunch, so I wasn't overly hungry.  One of Jolane's featured items at lunch that day was their Philly cheese steak sandwich with a chipotle dressing.  A couple of the guys ordered that.  My friend from Mitsubishi got the black angus cheese burger and my friend from Martin Logan got the roasted chicken sandwich topped with bleu cheese. 

I hemmed and hawed for a moment between the chipotle lime chicken wrap - chunks of grilled chicken breast with bacon bits, avocado, lettuce and a chipotle lime dressing wrapped in a tortilla shell - and the Harvest tuna sandwich - a tuna salad sandwich mixed with chunks of tomato and cucumber, then served on a multi-grain bread.  Not too exciting, but that's what I ended up going with.  A side of Jolane's homemade potato chips came with the sandwich.

When the food finally showed up (it took over 25 minutes for the food to get to our table), the Harvest tuna salad sandwich was a big one.  It nearly filled the plate and left little room for the potato chips.  And that was fine with me - I can give or take potato chips, and, quite honestly, Jolane's homemade potato chips weren't anything special.  The tuna sandwich was OK, as well.  Nothing special, nothing that jumped out on the taste buds, it was just a nice sandwich.

What I should have gotten was the black angus burger.  My friend told me, "Oh, man!  Yeah, it's good."  It was thick and juicy, served on a pretzel roll and he got cheddar cheese on top of it.  The cheese was oozing down the sides of the burger.  (Update - I did get the burger on my next visit about a week ago.  It was actually very good.)

The nice thing about eating at Jolane's with guys from Abt Electronics is that we got a 15% discount for eating there.  And that was appreciated because the bill can get to get a little on the high side for lunch.  I paid for lunch for one of the Abt guys and with a tip it came to about $31 bucks.  And that was with the discount.

The next day, the Abt's catered food in from Jolane's for their employees and for the manufacturers reps that were working the event.  I went upstairs to their employee dining area with a longtime friend who is now working for Audioquest cables and they had a number of things to choose from - one of which was the chipotle lime chicken wrap.  I immediately selected that. 

And I'm glad I did.  The taste sensations in the wrap were much more forward than what I had the day before with the tuna sandwich.  It was actually pretty good.  And it was large - I couldn't finish the whole thing, but I did make sure to pick out the tender grilled chicken breast chunks before I put it down.

As we were sitting there enjoying our lunch, Mike Abt (pictured left) came by and asked if he could sit with us.  Mike Abt is Bob Abt's son and the "number one" son when it comes to running the company with his dad.  I've gotten to know Mike over the past couple of months and he's a very nice guy.  I asked him how Jolane's was doing for the family and he said, "Well, we had a lot of problems finding the right manager for the first few months.  We went through, I don't know, three or four before we found the right guy." 

He continued, "Food-wise, it's good.  Service-wise, it's getting much better.  Money-wise...  Well..."  He admitted that the overhead at Jolane's was an on-going battle.  "It's not quite the money drain it was initially, but it's getting better." 

I told him that any new restaurant was going to experience some money problems until it got a foothold and he said, "And we knew that, too.  We just didn't expect it to continue for as long as it did.  That's one of the reasons we worked through so many managers.  I think we've got the right guy in place now." 

While I did like the chicken chipotle lime wrap, the tuna sandwich I had at Jolane's was average, at best.  But, then again, there's really not a lot that you can do to a regular tuna sandwich unless you're able to doctor up the tuna salad with ground horseradish or cajun seasonings, like I do at home.  I can't say that Jolane's was outstanding, but it's a nice place to go for lunch while you're over shopping at Abt Electronics or at one of the nearby design stores.  That's why I initially said that I had some reservations about talking about Jolane's because I wasn't going to suck up and say it was outstanding.  But it's good enough that I'm sure that I'll be back there many times over the coming years as we continue to grow our business with Abt. 

Pete Miller's - Wheeling, IL

For years, food enthusiasts have traveled to a stretch of Milwaukee Ave. through Wheeling, IL where some of the best restaurants in the Chicagoland area have stood for years and years.  One of those restaurants is Pete Miller's, a seafood/steak house and jazz bar that I've wanted to visit for quite sometime.  Recently, I had the chance to go there with a client for dinner. 

Pete Miller's is one of the corner stones of the Clean Plate Club restaurant group which also runs the Davis Street Fishmarket and Merle's No. 1 Barbecue in Evanston.  (To see my visit to Davis Street Fishmarket, click here.)  The original Pete Miller's opened in 1994 in Evanston, and they opened the Wheeling location in October of 2002 in what was the old Crawdaddy Bayou Cajun restaurant.  From day one, Pete Miller's offered an eclectic combination of prime steaks, fresh seafood and some of the best jazz that the Chicago area has to offer.  The Evanston location is more of an adult destination complete with a number of billiard tables, so when Larry Huber and his partners opened the Pete Miller's in Wheeling they gave it more of a 1940's supper club feel to the place and made it more family friendly. 

And, by the way, there actually was a Pete Miller, although he wasn't involved with Pete Miller's in any way.  Harold "Pete" Miller was a frequent customer of the Davis Street Fishmarket after it opened in 1986.  Miller was a longtime salesman on the road (that sounds familiar) who dined in numerous places over the years, who had a love for good Scotch, liked to play a rousing game of pool and was a connoisseur of great jazz.  Miller's personality and charm touched the people around him and especially Larry Huber.  After Miller died in 1994, Huber and his partners opened the original Pete Miller's in Evanston as a tribute to Miller offering great food, a fair drink, great jazz and an upscale pool tavern feel to the place. 

And great jazz is exactly what you can find at both Pete Miller's locations nearly every day of the week.  Some of the greatest jazz entertainers from Chicago and across the U.S. have played at Pete Miller's over the years including Patricia Barber, Jimmy Smith, Bobby Broom and Melvin Rhyne.  The night we were at the Pete Miller's in Wheeling, the Michael Ross Trio was playing in the lounge. 

We arrived at Pete Miller's in Wheeling (see map) around 7:15 one evening and parked with the complementary valet that they offer at the restaurant.  It wasn't all that packed and we were able to get a seat right away in the larger of the two main dining areas in the restaurant.  Our dinner menus were on the table along with a wine menu.  My client wasn't much of a drinker, he said, but he said, "Have at it!" when I asked him if it were OK that I have a beer. 

After a little bit of a wait, our waitress, Liz, finally got to our table.  She said, "Gentlemen!  I am so sorry.  I had three different food orders come up at once, so I was running around getting those tables taken care of."  She asked if we wanted anything to drink and I noticed that they had the Burning River Pale Ale from the Great Lakes Brewery out of Cleveland - one of my all-time favorite beers.  I took one of those while my guest had a diet soda. 

My client had been to Pete Miller's just before Christmas and he raved about the prime rib-eye medallions, one of chef Cesar Gutierrez's signature dishes.   Two 6 oz. rib-eye medallions are topped with your choice of stilton bleu cheese, encrusted horseradish, or parmesan cheese.  He called them "outstanding".  

I knew I wanted steak and the first thing that popped out at me on the menu was the filet au poivre - a 10 oz. beef tenderloin filet topped with fresh peppercorns and a cognac/mushroom reduction sauce.  I'm a sucker for a great au poivre steak and I was certain that I would like that.   But I was also interested in the prime rib - something that I haven't had in quite sometime.  They also had a filet trio on the menu - three individual beef tenderloin filets that you could be blackened, topped with parmesan cheese or horseradish.  In fact, every steak on the menu could be ordered to your liking with four different types of sauces, encrusted in either bleu cheese, parmesan cheese or horseradish, or blackened or topped with peppercorns. 

The seafood part of the menu was also a little tempting with a pan-seared Chilean sea bass, crab-stuffed jumbo shrimp served on a bed of linguine, and a soy-ginger marinated sushi-grade yellowfin tuna encrusted in sesame seeds.  But I kept going back to the steak part of the menu - especially the filet au poivre.  By the time Liz got back with our drinks, I was ready to order. 

My guest got the prime rib-eye medallions, encrusted in horseradish.  He got a side of Pete Miller's garlic mashed potatoes, but he asked our waitress to have the kitchen leave off the fresh parsley.  I found through the course of the evening that my guest was a rather particular eater.  Not that there was anything wrong with that - he definitely knows what he likes and dislikes in food.  He's a good ol' "meat and potatoes" kind of guy.

I figured that I'd be back to Pete Miller's at some point in the future, so I ended up getting the filet au poivre on this occasion.  I ordered it rare and hemmed and hawed about getting the garlic mashed potatoes, as well, or getting something else.  The entrees come with your choice of potato, vegetable of the day, steamed broccoli or thin onion rings.  They also have signature sides that you can share at the table including their famous lobster mashed potatoes - lobster chunks with the mashed potatoes.  That sounded too rich for me that evening, though.

I also got a wedge salad with my meal, thinking that I really hadn't had anything to eat since early in the morning.  I needed something in my stomach before the main entree showed up.

While the wedge salad was good - a large iceberg wedge topped with their homemade creamy blue cheese, real bacon bits and chopped tomatoes - it wasn't the best I've had.  Still, it was a nice start to the meal.  It was so large that I couldn't finish it before our steaks showed up to the table. 

Rare at Pete Miller's - and most restaurants - is described as "cool, red center".  My filet au poivre was exactly that - one of the most spot-on rare steaks I've had in a restaurant.  The cognac/mushroom reduction sauce was just excellent on top with the peppercorns swimming in the sauce.  It was an excellent steak.  And my thin onion rings were very good, too, although I wish I would have tried the garlic mashed potatoes.  Next time.

My guest's rib-eye medallions were cooked medium for him, just to his liking.  The horseradish crust around the steak medallions was puffy with a little caramelization on the crust.  He wasn't able to finish his last medallion nor his garlic mashed potatoes.  "The horseradish crust is really rich," he told me.  I'm sure it was. 

During our meal, the general manager at Pete Miller's, Mike, came around to see how everything was with our meal.  We had absolutely no complaints.  He asked, "Liz taking good care of you this evening?"  She was doing a superb job in handling us that night, we said.  She was efficient, friendly and had a great sense of humor. 

 
With some nice jazz going on in the lounge and subdued lighting in the dining room gave Pete Miller's a nice warm feeling to the place.  It certainly was like being transported back to an old time elegant supper club in the countryside.  The food was just outstanding at Pete Miller's.  While it wasn't cheap, the quality was top notch.  Liz was a very attentive server and did a great job in making sure everything was right.   And having the GM come around to check on our meal was a nice touch, as well.  Pete Miller's was everything I expected it to be.  I can see why it's one of the favorite steak houses for thousands of Chicago area residents.  I can't wait to go back!

Charcoal Oven - Skokie, IL

The Charcoal Oven on Golf Road in Skokie, IL (see map) is one of those places that I've passed a number of times, wondered what it would be like, but have never stopped in.  It looks like an old time supper club like you'd find out in the middle of nowhere in the rural Midwest.  I happened to be staying just down the street from the restaurant a couple months ago and decided to give the place a try for dinner one evening. 

I walked into the restaurant as two men were walking out.  It was early - around 6:45 p.m. - and I was the only one in the place, save for a lone man sitting at the bar talking to the bartender.  It turned out the bartender was the owner - Rich Franco - whose wife, Maria, is the daughter of the previous owner, Phill Georgouses. 

Maria Franco came out and asked if I wanted to sit at the bar or in the dining room.  Considering there wasn't anyone in the dining room - and it was getting into the meat of the dinner hour - I thought two things.  1) It would be kind of cool sitting in the dining room all by myself.  And 2) Why am I the only one in here?  I began to regret my decision. 

I sat in an old style three-sided booth with a white linen tablecloth over the table.  Maria handed me a menu and I immediately asked her if this place was an old style supper club that, at one time, was out in the country.  She said, "Oh, most definitely!"

She told me the story of how the original business was built in 1928 - called The Oasis.  It was basically a gin joint out in the country toward the end of Prohibition.  When Prohibition ended in 1933, The Oasis flourished as a hot spot for good food and flowing drinks.  It later became known as The Little Club and was a favorite hangout for Northwestern University students fleeing Evanston to drink when it was a dry town up to the mid-60's.  The Little Club was just outside the Evanston city limits.   

Phill Georgouses began to work as a busboy and waiter at The Little Club before World War II.  Phil was called to duty during the war, but he came back in 1946 to work at the place.  He ended up buying the Oasis in 1948.  In the mid-60's, Phill put in a kitchen to serve Greek-styled meals and steaks and changed the name to The Charcoal Oven.  Rich and Maria took over the business when Phill retired a few years ago.  Many of the Greek-styled recipes that the Georgouses family had are still on the menu and I understand that Phill still checks in from time to time.

The dining room had that old time supper club feel to it.  Subdued lighting, tasteful decor, Frank Sinatra playing in the background.  It was like walking back into the 50's or 60's.  Maria said that the city of Skokie literally grew up around the restaurant.  "This was the place to go for an elegant meal," she said.  "But now, there's just so many choices in the area.  But we weren't going to change one bit."   

In addition to their Greek chicken, steaks and chops, The Charcoal Oven has a variety of homemade soups and salads topped with their own in-house dressing.  Sonia Carlson has been making the soups and salad dressings at The Charcoal Oven for over 30 years.  I sort of like that kind of consistency.   

While the menu isn't very deep, it did have a handful of great sounding meals to choose from.  Maria said they were famous for their Greek chicken - a marinated chicken breast that is lightly breaded and baked in the oven with lemon, garlic and oregano.  She said their butt steak was also a favorite.  And they were somewhat famous for their baby back ribs with their own homemade sauce. 

They did have a special on a sirloin steak that evening - a 16 oz. cut with a couple sides for $21.95.  I signed up for that - rare.  The sides were The Charcoal Oven's homemade potato chips and sauteed green beans with onions.  I also got a cup of the homemade lentil vegetable soup and a salad with their homemade Danish bleu cheese dressing.  Maria said she'd get it right out.

Sure enough, Maria first brought out the cup of soup and a fresh baked bread roll brushed with butter.  Both the soup and the bread were very yummy.  I'm not big on lentil soup, but this was very good.  

After I finished the soup, she brought out the Danish bleu cheese salad.  It was OK, rather bland in taste compared to other bleu cheese dressings I've had.  But the lettuce was fresh and tasty.  

 

The salad was done for about five minutes and Maria brought out the 16 oz. sirloin, but it certainly looked larger than 16 oz.  I cut into it and it was a perfect rare for me.  The homemade potato chips were interesting, but good.  And the sauteed green beans with the onion slices were absolutely fabulous.

I began to work into the steak and I found that a good portion of the steak was full of gristle.  What meat I could cut out of the steak was tender and flavorful, but the large amount of gristle was a downer to the meal.  I know it's the luck of the draw when it comes to meat like sirloin whether or not you'll have a lot of gristle.  My number came up this time.

Maria came out and saw that I had a lot of gristle in the steak.  She immediately volunteered to get another piece of meat for me.  I said, "Oh, God, no.  Don't worry.  I wouldn't have been able to finish this whole steak had it not had ANY gristle in it.  This is fine."

She said, "Are you sure?"

I said, "Yep, just the luck of the draw."  

She was so nice and throughout the meal I continued to be the only person in the place.  Not that it was bad - it was above average, overall.  Maria did tell me that the place usually is much more busy on the weekend (it was a Wednesday night when I was in there) and it was a beautiful night out.  People were probably hanging at home, doing yard work and cooking out that evening.

About three weeks ago, a friend of mine who works at Music Direct in Chicago had posted on Facebook that he had gone to The Charcoal Oven with his wife.  I talked to him after that and told him that I, too, had recently visited the place.  He said, "We lived not far from that place from 1968 thru 1977.  We'd always pass it on the way to my aunt's house, but we never stopped in.  I was always intrigued with the place and so my wife and I decided to go there for dinner."  

He told me he had the Greek chicken and he said, "It was WONDERFUL!  I was torn between getting the special that night, which was a ribeye steak, and the Greek chicken.  She told me to get the Greek chicken.  I'm glad I did."  

With my recent addition of Abt Electronics as one of my dealers, I'll be spending a lot of time in the Glenview/Skokie area of Chicago, probably staying just down the street from The Charcoal Oven on occasion.  I'll need to get back there to try the Greek chicken and I'll probably also try one of their steaks again, as well.  I love old supper clubs like The Charcoal Oven and I'll definitely go back. 

Michael Salerno's Pizzeria - Glenview, IL

 

It's my strong opinion that Salerno's Pizza in Chicago is probably the best pizza I've ever had in my life.  I don't know what they do to their pizza, but the taste sensations I experience with their pies are unlike any I've ever encountered.  From the first time I visited Salerno's (click here to read that entry) to the handful of times I've enjoyed their pizza, it is consistently the best pizza I've ever had.  Period. 

I took Cindy to Salerno's after an afternoon at Wrigley Field last year and she, too, was just floored with the taste of their pizza.  It's like they sprinkle heroin in the sauce as the taste is just addictive with every slice.  We continually talk about how great the pizza is there to our friends.

Later this fall, Iowa is playing Northwestern in football in Evanston.  We got tickets with our friends Scott and Marcia Schroeder and Cindy had the great idea - "Let's see if we can stay in downtown Chicago and eat at Salerno's!"  Well, that was a great idea until I tried to find hotel rooms that were reasonably priced in the downtown area for that weekend.  I think the cheapest room of a respectable hotel was still over $200 a night.  We ended up getting a room out in the north suburbs at a considerably cheaper price, but were still planning on driving into the city to have a Salerno's.

Earlier this summer, I put on Abt Electronics in Glenview, IL - one of the largest electronics/appliance/home life-style stores in the nation - for Focal loudspeakers and Cambridge Audio.  They do big business and since July I've made many trips to the north side suburbs to administer their account.  It was during one of my trips that I came across a Salerno's restaurant in Glenview - Michael Salerno's Pizzeria - located in the Glen Town Center (see map).  Since it wasn't all that far from the hotel we would be staying at later this fall, I thought I'd give this Salerno's location a try.  I thought, "If it's as good as the Salerno's in downtown Chicago, we won't have to drive all the way into the city." 

Now, I had tried the original Salerno's on Grove in Berwyn and came away from that location as entirely unimpressed (see that entry here).  It was nowhere close to the pizza at the Salerno's on Grand.  I went to Michael Salerno's Pizzeria with a little bit of trepidation knowing that it was a newer location and that the pizza ovens they used would be pretty new.  The old gas fired pizza ovens usually make the best pizzas.  But the pizza at the original Salerno's was grossly over-cooked and it was not a very good pizza.  I'm glad I went to the Salerno's on Grand in downtown Chicago first or I would have never tried it after eating at the one in Berwyn. 

The encouraging thing was that Michael Salerno is the son of Joe Salerno - the owner of the Salerno's on Grand in Chicago.   Along with his sister, Julie, and their uncle, Peter Lia, the Salerno's in Glenview opened in August of 2008.  I was really hoping the apple didn't fall so far from the tree when it came to the pizza.

It was late one evening when I finally got into Michael Salerno's Pizzeria.  This Salerno's location was remarkably different than the other two I'd visited.  There wasn't any of the 60's charm the one in Berwyn and the one in Chicago exhibited.  It was a modern facility, much smaller on the inside than the other two Salerno's, and it featured two things that the others didn't - pizza by the slice and outdoor seating.  It was sort of a warm and humid night with a threat of heavy rain, so I decided to eat inside.

This is where I got a little confused.  It didn't appear that there was any wait staff service at this Salerno's.  I went to the front counter and looked over the menu.  I ordered a small sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza and a couple bottles of Miller Lite - no Anheuser-Busch products were available.  That wasn't that big of a deal, but I made a mental note that they had no Bud Light and they didn't appear to have a wait staff.  I paid for the pizza and found a seat in the smallish dining area of Salerno's. 

After awhile, a couple other people came in and sat at a table near me.  Out of the back came a middle-aged lady who appeared to be waiting on tables.  It was just sort of strange that she wasn't around when I first got in, nor was there any signage telling those to sit on their own or wait to be seated.  It just appeared to me at first glance that this was a "serve yourself" restaurant.  It was just a very weird experience to me. 

After about 20 minutes (and a two-minute power outage from a storm that was coming through), the lady brought my pizza to my table.  First of all, they gave me a large pizza and not a small.  And it was way over-cooked.  I could tell from the burnt carmelization of the cheese on top that it was should have been taken out 5 minutes earlier.  Secondly, the crust, while thin, was also was over-cooked.  It was hard and crunchy, difficult to bite into.  While the toppings were plentiful and flavorul, the rest of the pizza was not very good.  It just didn't have the taste "pizazz" that the Salerno's on Grand has. 

I did make a dent into the pizza, but I could only eat about half of it - actually pulling the cheese and toppings off the top of my last piece because the crust was so hard and brittle.  The waitress came around and asked if I wanted it to be boxed up and I told her in a polite fashion, no, that I was traveling and didn't have a place to store the remaining slices. 

I was very disappointed in Michael Salerno's Pizzeria in Glenview.  I had so hoped that it would be just as good as the one in downtown Chicago, saving us some time and effort to drive all the way into the city to get a great pizza.  But the Salerno's on Grand is worth the drive.  Michael Salerno's Pizzeria in Glenview is not. 

Davis Street Fishmarket - Evanston, IL

Earlier this summer, my colleague, John, flew to Chicago to help with a presentation for a dealer of ours in Evanston.  The presentation was the next morning, so the night before we stayed in downtown Evanston and walked to a place I've wanted to try for quite sometime - Davis Street Fishmarket at the corner of Davis and Hinman (see map).  I'd always heard the food was good and that night we were going to find out.

The Davis Street Fishmarket is part of the Clean Plate Club restaurant group owned by Mathew David, Larry Huber and Eardley Firth.  Other restaurants under the Clean Plate Club shingle include the highly-acclaimed Pete Miller's Steakhouse in Evanston and in far north suburban Wheeling, and Merle's #1 Barbecue in Evanston.  Linda Diguardi is the G.M. of the Davis Street Fishmarket while Firth handles the Executive Chef chores for the restaurant. 

The Davis Street Fishmarket was the first of the Clean Plate Club restaurants opening  in 1985.  Merle's #1 Barbecue opened in 1992 while Pete Miller's in Evanston opened two years later.  Pete Miller's is known in the Chicagoland area as not only having some of the best steaks around, but the restaurant is also known as having some of the top contemporary jazz performers grace its stage on a nightly basis.  I've wanted to try both Pete Miller's and Merle's #1 Barbecue and if this dealer in Evanston works out, I'm hoping to have that chance at some point in the future.  

It was a 10 minute walk from our hotel to Davis Street Fishmarket on a beautiful summer evening.  John hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast and since his stomach was still on Eastern time he wanted to get an early dinner.  We were seated in a booth in the dining room just around 6:30 local time and the place was far from packed.  Both of us ordered up an Anchor Steam beer and took a look at the menu to see what they had to offer. 

Davis Street Fishmarket has a lot of their fish flown in daily from the East, West and Gulf coasts.  Chef Eardley Firth comes up with a number of nightly specials based upon what types of fish he gets in that particular day.  But the restaurant also has a consistent menu that features shellfish, Cajun specialties, seafood pasta dishes, steaks and, of course, seafood entrees. 

The first thing that caught our eye was the Prince Edward Island Malpeque oysters on the half shell.  We immediately signed up for a dozen of those.  The only problem is that the waiter misunderstood us and brought out a half-dozen.  We said, "Oh, no.  We said we wanted a dozen."  He apologized and said he'd get another half-dozen and adjust our bill to reflect the dozen price versus the half-dozen price.  The oysters were big and meaty, adding a little fresh ground horseradish and some Tabasco they were outstanding. 

With such an extensive menu, I was torn between a number of items.  They had a couple of specials that evening that sounded pretty good, but I was also looking at the blackened fish tacos, the Louisiana seafood chili (basically, Davis Street Fishmarket's answer to jambalaya), and the sesame seared ahi tuna served with wasabi mashed potatoes.  Like I've said many times on this blog, I'm a sucker for good fish tacos.  I had to try their blackened fish tacos.  They came topped with red cabbage and a spicy remoulade sauce, along with a side of red beans and rice along with pico de gallo. 

John, too, was torn between a number of items.  He said, "I'm sure the fish is great here, but I'm sort of looking at getting a big ol' Midwestern piece of beef!"  But he ended up going 180 degrees away from his thinking and ended up getting the Maryland crab cakes served with a side of honey mustard sauce and a corn relish.  Garlic mashed potatoes came with his meal. 

Since it wasn't all that busy, our entrees showed up rather quickly.  My blackened fish tacos were served open-faced with the remoulade sauce drizzled on top of the fish and the red cabbage.  The red beans and rice was served in a cup on the side.  The fish was fresh and the blackened spices with the remoulade sauce gave the tacos a nice kick.  I even scooped a little bit of the red beans and rice onto a couple of the tacos to give them a little more of a diversified taste.

John said that his crab cakes were very good.  They were very large and - according to John - very rich.  He had trouble finishing both of them, but he was able to get through them.  He said, "I still find it somewhat surprising of all the good of seafood I've had in the Midwest over the years.  These taste just as good as some of the crab cakes I get on the Eastern seaboard."

 We were both overly impressed with our experience at Davis Street Fishmarket.  The food was excellent and the service was adequate.  Our waiter was neither pushy nor was he invisible.  The decor was contemporary, yet subdued.  It was a very relaxing meal.  I'll have to put Davis Street Fishmarket on the top of my list of Evanston restaurants that I've tried so far.  I'm hoping to try more over the next couple three years.

Dixie Kitchen and Bait Shop - Evanston, IL

As business continues to gain some steam, I was in Evanston, IL recently for a meeting with a prospective new dealer.  Since the meeting was first thing in the morning, I stayed the night before in downtown Evanston at the Hilton Garden Inn.  There's a number of restaurants within walking distance of the hotel and I decided to go try a Cajun/Southern food restaurant not far from the hotel, the Dixie Kitchen and Bait Shop.

Dixie Kitchen has been a well-known restaurant in the Chicagoland area for over 15 years.  The first location opened in the Hyde Park area in Chicago in 1994.  It quickly gained notoriety for it's authentic Cajun and Southern specialties such as po' boy sandwiches, fried green tomatoes, crayfish etouffe, and shrimp Creole.  In 1995, Dixie Kitchen was named by Chicago Magazine as one of the 15 best new restaurants in the Chicagoland area.  Over the years, it expanded to locations in Evanston and in suburban Lansing. 

The Dixie Kitchen location in Hyde Park gained a bit of notoriety a few years ago when it was featured on a local Chicago television show called "Check Please".  In the first installment of a program aired in 2001, a young Illinois State Senator from the Hyde Park area, Barack Obama, talked about the virtues of Dixie Kitchen's Johnny Cakes and their peach cobbler.  Here's the 7 minute video where the panel, including Barack Obama, talks about their experiences at the Hyde Park Dixie Kitchen.
 

The owner of Dixie Kitchen, Carol Andresen, also owns the Calypso Cafe, a Caribbean-style restaurant in Hyde Park near where the Dixie Kitchen once was.  Yes, the Dixie Kitchen in Hyde Park closed up last summer as the University of Chicago bought the Harper Court business district with an eye on redeveloping the area with more upscale shops and restaurants.  The lease was up on Dixie Kitchen's location and they closed their doors in June of 2009.  However, the Calypso Cafe remains open until their lease runs out in 2012.  Some of the menu items from Dixie Kitchen have migrated over to the Calypso Cafe.  Andresen doesn't know the fate of the Calypso Cafe when its lease runs out.   

However, the Evanston Dixie Kitchen is still going strong.  It was a cold and snowy Monday evening when I made the five minute walk to the Dixie Kitchen location on Church Street (see map).  There was a light crowd in the somewhat smallish dining room and I was able to find a seat right away.  One of the waiters showed me to a small table against the wall and I was given a menu.  A few minutes later, another waiter came over with a basket of Johnny Cakes and asked me if I wanted something to drink.  I noticed that they had Abita Restoration Pale Ale on the drink list and I ordered up one of those.

Now, I'm not certain I've ever had Johnny Cakes - which are basically corn meal pancakes.  I'm not big on corn meal, but the two that were in the basket were piping hot.  There was a side container of sweet butter just daring me to try one of the Johnny Cakes.  I finally succumbed to temptation and pulled one out and put a little butter on the top.  From the first bite, I was hooked.  Shit!  This is not going to help the diet!  The first one was long gone before my beer showed up to the table.  It was light and fluffy and had sort of a sweet corn taste to it.  I knew that if I kept eating the Johnny Cakes there would be no way I'd be able to have a full entree.

Looking through the menu, there were a lot of interesting entrees to choose from.  They had pasta dishes such as something called Pasta Bienville - a blackened catfish fillet served over a bed of fettuccine alfredo and topped with a creamy shrimp and crab sauce.  The cool thing about it is that you could also get half-portions of their pasta dishes.  I almost pulled the trigger on that.

You could also get fish and seafood entrees, ribs and a handful of chicken dishes done various ways such as country fried chicken steak, grilled chicken breast, barbecued half-chicken and good ol' Southern fried chicken.  And as I said earlier, Dixie Kitchen featured a number of sandwiches including Po' boys, pulled pork, chicken sandwiches and burgers.     

My waiter came out and asked if I wanted to start off with one of Dixie Kitchen's many appetizers, including their famous Fried Green Tomatoes.  I said, "Man, the Johnny Cakes are enough of an appetizer for me." 

He sort of laughed and said, "Yeah, I know what you mean.  I could just sit and eat the Johnny Cakes all night long." 

I ended up ordering a cup of their Gumbo as a starter, and since I was in sort of a Cajun mood that evening, I ordered up a bowl of their Jambalaya.  A lot of people think Gumbo and Jambalaya are interchangeable, but I had a feeling the two were very different at Dixie Kitchen.

He brought out the Gumbo.  It had a dark brown roux base and had a generous amount of chopped green onions on the top.  I found it to be thick and flavorful with a lot of chunks of chicken, andouille sausage, veggies and even a big chunk of shrimp toward the bottom.  It was very rich, but I didn't find it very spicy.  I ended up kicking it up a notch with some splashes of Louisiana Hot Sauce.  I slightly prefer the taste of Tabasco to Louisiana Hot Sauce, but I noticed that Tabasco was nowhere in sight in any of the tables.  I couldn't say it was the best Gumbo I'd ever had, but it was still good.  A bowl of that would have been enough for me for my meal.

I finished up my Gumbo and the waiter came out to check on my beer level.  He said, "So how was the Gumbo?"

I said, "Rich and flavorful.  I especially liked that you guys don't scrimp on the ingredients." 

He said, "That's one thing we never do here - scrimp on anything." 

As I waited for my Jambalaya to show up, I took a look around at the place a little more closely.  The walls were adorned with a number of old time Southern signs, antique kitchen items and a few lighted signs.  It had kind of a kitschy feel to the place, but it was designed to look sort of like a 30's style Louisiana Bayou country store that would also serve Cajun food to their patrons.  That was the feel and look Carol Andresen was going for when she first opened Dixie Kitchen over 15 years ago.  She found a number of these old places as she was traveling the backroads of Louisiana in the early 90's and she wanted to replicate the experience in Chicago.  Actually, some of the signs and antiques were sort of interesting.  I especially liked the Nehi cola sign shown at the bottom left of this picture.  There were similar signs like this all over the walls of the place.

 

My waiter came out with another Abita Restoration Pale Ale along with my Jambalaya served with a corn muffin that was sort of hard.  It had a little more of a red color to the base than the Gumbo.  And it featured something I'd never encountered before with Jambalaya - they had the rice moved off to the side of the bowl instead of incorporating it with the Jambalaya.  I thought, "How interesting.  If you don't want to eat white rice because of the starch, it's not part of the mix."  Note to self - don't put rice in the Jambalaya the next time you make it.  Put it off to the side, or put it in a separate bowl and let those who want to add it to the Jambalaya do so. 

I knew right off the bat that I'd need to jazz up the Jambalaya, so I put a copious amount of Louisiana Hot Sauce on top and then mixed it in.  The taste was very good - it had the right amount of kick to the Jambalaya and the hot sauce helped the finish linger a bit longer.  There were also large chunks of chicken, shrimp and andouille in it, as well.  I ate all the Jambalaya, left a good portion of the rice and decided the corn muffin was too hard to try.  Besides, I'm not big on corn muffins.  Once again, it was probably not the best Jambalaya I've ever had, but it was the best Jambalaya I've had in a long time.

I was pleasantly surprised with Dixie Kitchen and Bait Shop.  I didn't know until after I ate there that it was one of Barack Obama's favorite restaurants before he became President.  The place had good food, an interesting interior and the service was very good.   I'm always on the look out for good Cajun restaurants in the Midwest and they're sort of tough to find.  But Dixie Kitchen is on my list for when I get a hankering for Cajun when I'm in the Chicago area.  And I can't wait to get back there for more of their Johnny Cakes.

Oh, and by the way, I did sign up the account the next morning...  

Johnnie's Beef - Elmwood Park, IL

Chicago is the home of some of the best Italian beef sandwiches anywhere.  Italian beef sandwiches are a passion with many residents of the area and when you ask a person from Chicagoland which one they like the most, more often than not they'll mention Johnnie's Beef.  Johnnie's Beef has two locations, the original one in Elmwood Park (see map); and the one up in Arlington Heights (see map).  While in Chicago recently, I stopped into the Elmwood Park location for an Italian beef sandwich and a hot dog. 

Actually, I first went to the Johnnie's Beef in Arlington Heights last summer.  While I thought it was good, I was told by an acquaintance in the Chicago area that the one in Elmwood Park was better - much better - than the one in Arlington Heights.  But he also told me, "It's best to know what you want before you go in.  The guys at the counter can get kind of surly."  He described a time when he was there and a lady dawdled for about 15 seconds over what to have and the guy at the register just skipped her.  "She didn't order and she left," he told me. 

The original Johnnie's Beef opened on North Ave. in 1961.  (The one in Arlington Heights opened in 2003.)  In a city where Italian beef can be a passion with many people, it quickly became one of the favorites.  But they're also famous for their lemon-flavored Italian ice.  I hear more people may crave their Italian ice more than the Italian beef sandwiches.  It's basically shaved ice with a lemon flavoring.  I understand it can be habit forming.   

There was a line of people standing out the door when I got to Johnnie's around 1:30 on a cold afternoon recently.  If there's a line and the door is shut do not make the mistake of keeping the door open like one lady did who was standing in front of me.  I heard a gruff, "Inside or out, lady!  Close the door!" come from inside Johnnie's.

At Johnnie's, they are rather snooty and provincial when it comes to their Italian beef sandwiches.  God knows you do not order cheese on your Italian beef at Johnnie's.  And my friend is right - know what you want and keep the line moving.  The guy taking the orders at the cash register can be a little brusque.  I didn't find that to be the case at the Arlington Heights location, however. 

I noticed a lot of people ordering the combo - Italian beef with an Italian sausage.  I've tried the combo at Portillo's in the past and found the sausage really detracts from the taste of the beef.  I ordered an Italian beef, both kinds of peppers, dipped; and a hot dog, everything.  I got a bottle of water to go along with it.  They pretty much make up the sandwiches right in front of you.  And it doesn't take long.  They pull the beef out of the tanks full of tender thin slices and beef gravy (au jus, for the novice Italian beef aficionados).  I'm guessing those tanks have been in use since Johnnie's opened up nearly 50 years ago.  And I'm sure they have something to do with the succulent taste of their sandwiches. 

Johnnie's is small and there's no place to sit inside.  (The Arlington Heights location has a dining area inside and out.)  In the summertime, there are some metal picnic tables outside, but they're usually full of people enjoying the Lemon Ice that Johnnie's is famous for.  I had to take my Italian beef back to the car.  Thankfully, I had a blanket in the backseat that Cindy had pulled out of the trunk before we took off to go somewhere just so she would be warm.  I draped that across my lap and used a "smeg towel" as a bib that I keep in my car for multiple uses. 

(As an aside - I learned to keep a towel in the car from an old rep friend of mine from Georgia years ago.  He called it a "chicken" towel.  "You get yourself a hand towel from a Holiday Inn," he explained to me one time, "and you use it to clean your hands and face when you're eating Kentucky Fried Chicken in the car.  Then the next time you're at a Holiday Inn, you just trade towels."  While I don't eat fried chicken in the car, I've found a towel is handy to clean up any "smegma" spills in a car, hence my term "smeg towel".)

While I honestly don't remember the sandwich at Johnnie's in Arlington Heights as being outstanding, I have to say the one at the original Johnnie's was pretty damn good.  I liked the bread as it was alternately crispy and chewy, and it certainly didn't fall apart from being dipped in the beef gravy.  The beef was tender and had a nice garlic after-taste to it.  The giardiniera was spicy, but far from overpowering.  It was a very good Italian beef sandwich.

The hot dog was above average, but I don't put it on the same par as the one at Portillo's.  Because most of the hot dogs in Chicago are from Vienna Beef, there's not much difference between places and their hot dogs.  But it was good, too messy for a car, but good.

Is Johnnie's Beef the best place to get an Italian beef in Chicago?  I'm not certain, but it is very good.  I still like the consistency of Portillo's - not to mention the convenience of having tons of locations all over the Chicagoland area.  But Johnnie's is better than Mr. Beef, Buona Beef or Al's (I think Mr. Beef is severely overrated).  I can see why people keep coming back to Johnnie's.  But make sure you know what you want before you get to the cash register. 

Schoop's - Monee, IL

Once again, I apologize to whoever it was who told me to try a Schoop's hamburgers and write about my experience.  I rely upon suggestions and when I can't remember who it was who told me so I can publicly thank them, well, I feel like a heel.  Actually, I was surprised I'd never heard of Schoop's before.  When I did some research into Schoop's, I found out a lot about the Indiana-based burger chain that began in 1948. 

Allen Schoop had a vision that he would sell hamburgers made with only the freshest of beef when he opened his small burger shop in Hammond, IN.  He had only burgers, fries, chili, soup and pie on his menu when he started out.  In 1959, Schoop opened a second location in nearby Munster, IN, a 36-seat establishment that was always full.  Ten years after he opened the Munster location, he doubled the size of the restaurant.  People would still stand in line to get one of Schoop's burgers. 

Mark Schoop took over for his father in the 70's, and in 1982 he welcomed Rick and Randy Newell on board to help with an expansion of Schoop's throughout Northwest Indiana and the southern suburbs of Chicago.  Today, there are 15 Schoop's locations in Indiana - mainly in the NW corner of the state - and 5 locations in south suburban Chicago.

I had to drive between Chicago and Champaign recently and found that there was a Schoop's not far from Interstate 57 in Monee, IL at the Monee-Manhattan Road exit (see map).  I timed my trip so I would get to Schoop's in the middle of the afternoon. 

The Schoop's in Monee is more like a 50's style diner.  In fact, there were a lot of pictures and posters on the wall of celebrities from the 50's and 60's.  I sat in a booth and a 60-something year old waitress came over carrying a menu.  She asked, "Do you need to see a menu, hon, or do you know what you want?"  I took the menu from her since I'd never been to a Schoop's before. 

In addition to burgers, Schoop's also offers a number of sandwiches, salads, shakes and malts.  Their signature burger is called the "Mickey" (right) - a burger patty topped with two slices of American cheese.  And they basically had two different double cheeseburgers.  The "Special" cheeseburger has two patties with one slice of cheese, while the "Double" cheeseburger had two patties with TWO slices of cheese.  It was 50 cents more than the "Special" cheeseburger. 

Since I hadn't had a thing to eat all day and wasn't planning on having dinner that evening, I got the Double cheeseburger.  The waitress asked, "Do you want everything on that, hon?"  I said that sounds fine.  "Pickle, mayo, lettuce, tomato," she asked.  I told her to hold the mayo.   I found out later that everything is ketchup, mustard, pickle relish, and onion.   I should have told her to hold the pickle relish.  Relish is good on a Chicago-style hot dog, but I don't know about putting it on burgers.  

Similar to Smashburger, Schoop's takes a 1/3 pound ball of fresh - never frozen - ground beef and the cook literally smashes it into the grill.  The juices that come out initially help put a crust on the outside edge of the burger - a true 30's style burger.  Like I've said in the past, smashing a burger just goes against every rule I've ever learned for making a burger, but it seems to work when they do it on a flat griddle-style grill. 

It wasn't busy in Schoop's at that point of the day, so I was able to get my double cheeseburger pretty quick.  About 10 to 12 minutes after I ordered it, the waitress brought it out to me.  It was big.  Man, it was big!  I thought, "Well, you ordered it.  Now, eat it."

From the first bite, I found out what the fans of Schoop's have known for over 60 years.  This is a damn fine burger.  The edges were crispy, the burger was still juicy, the bun was light and tasty.  Even with all the toppings, I could still get the taste of the fresh burger meat in every bite.  Heck, I didn't even mind the pickle relish, either!  I liked the diner feel to the place, the waitress was great.  There was nothing to not like about Schoop's.

All in all, the Schoop's burger was very good.  Very, very good.  I was pleasantly surprised and somewhat taken aback by how good it was.  I'm still surprised that I'd never heard of Schoop's before.  Add to the fact that I've probably driven right past a Schoop's in my travels on the south side of Chicago or over in NW Indiana over the past few years. Once again, thanks to whoever sent me the message turning me on to Schoop's.  This visit to Schoop's will definitely not be my last one. 

Westwood Tavern - Schaumburg, IL

One of my favorite places to go have a beer and something to eat when I would be out in the Schaumburg area in the Western suburbs of Chicago was the Prairie Rock Brewing Company, even though it had a been a few years since I'd last been there.  Two years ago, Prairie Rock Rock Brewing Co. went out of business and it was replaced by a upscale steak house/restaurant based out of Evanston called Pete Miller's.  I never went into Pete Miller's and, obviously, not a lot of other people did either as they eventually closed that location earlier this year.  However, this summer a new place went into the old Prairie Rock/Pete Miller's location - Westwood Tavern.  I took a couple guys who work for a dealer I call on in nearby Hoffman Estates there for some drinks and snacks recently.

Westwood Tavern, located on N. Meacham St. near Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg (see map), is what I would call an upscale sports bar.  It's actually takes up about half the space of what the old Prairie Rock Brewing Company had.  (A place called Wildberry Cafe - a restaurant that bills itself as a gourmet breakfast cafe - is located in the other part of the building.)  The interior is very classy, there's a large, three-sided bar as you walk in and there are a flat panel televisions throughout the main floor.  Upstairs is a large dining area that features big tables with linen table cloths.  It's definitely not your typical sports bar. 

But the most unique feature of Westwood Tavern are six booths on the main floor that have four beer taps that come up through the middle of the table.  People who sit at the booths have their choice of four different beers they can pour (as long as one of the four is either Miller Lite or Bud Light) and can choose from four other upscale beers from their beer list.  Westwood Tavern employs a computerized system for the six booths that measure the pours of the given beers that are sent to the taps at the table.  I'm still not quite sure how all that happens or how the changeover occurs if someone wants different beers from the previous patrons.  All I know is that I've never seen anything like it in my travels.  

Westwood Tavern was packed when we got into the restaurant.  The booths with the taps one of the guys was telling me about were all full.  In fact, it was going to be a 30 minute wait just to get a table.  We found a couple seats at the bar and my guests sat there while I stood until a seat opened up next to one of the guys.  

We were having drinks and the waitress asked if we wanted to take a look at the menu for some appetizers.  The top of the menu featured a number of sushi items including California and Spicy Tuna Rolls.  While there wasn't an extensive list of either sushi or even appetizers, for that matter, all of it sounded pretty good.

The entree list was pretty shallow with just four items - pot roast, ribs, a ribeye steak and a miso-glazed salmon.  One thing that caught my eye on the menu were mahi-mahi grilled fish tacos.  I'm a sucker for grilled fish tacos.  But the guys were talking about the flat bread pizza Westwood Tavern has.  In fact, as they were talking about it, one was brought out to a lady sitting next to one of my guests.  It did look good - it was very thin and rolled out in a somewhat oval/rectangle.  The one the lady had was the pepperoni flat bread pizza.  It was brought out on a flat wood board, topped with ample amounts of pepperoni and sprinkled with fresh herbs.  It looked pretty good.

The guys were more interested in drinking than eating food, so we ended up ordering a couple flat bread pizzas - one just pepperoni, the other with sausage and pepperoni.  Oh, well.  Fish tacos can wait until my next visit.   

When the flat bread pizzas were brought out, they were somewhat lukewarm like they'd been sitting for a while before they brought them out.  And while the dough was very moist and chewy, unlike most thin crust pizzas that are usually a little more crispy, especially around the edges, it had a somewhat disagreeable taste of wood to the dough.  It was like the dough had sucked up the wood flavor from the flat board it was served on.  I don't mind the taste of cedar in a salmon filet that's been cooked on top of a plank, but for some reason this was like they had gone down to Menards, got some boards off the shelf and that what's they served the pizza upon. 

Other than that, the toppings were fresh and tasty.  I had a few pieces and called it quits.  I just couldn't get past the woody taste of the dough.  It highly detracted from the overall taste of the pizza. 

Still, Westwood Tavern would be a place I'd go back to if I was in the area and wanted to catch a sporting event.  I saw their burger brought out to a guy near us and it looked interesting.  I still want to try the fish tacos at some point.  And it's a rather unique place with the beer spigots in the booths.  I'll go back, but I won't have the flat bread pizza. 

Smiling Buddha - Schaumburg, IL

A shout out to my buddy, Tony Jobe, who casually mentioned on his Facebook page one day earlier this summer that he really missed Smiling Buddha in Schaumburg, IL for Chinese food.  I quizzed him on it and he told me that he didn't live too far away from the place at one point and that he used to go there quite a bit.  "It's about as authentic of a Chinese restaurant you can find," he told me.  During a trip to Chicago a few weeks ago, I made it a point to find Smiling Buddha and give it a try. 

Originally opened in 1977, Smiling Buddha is a little tough to find (see map), nestled off of Golf Ave. and back off of Valley Lake Drive in a small shopping complex.  It looks like it could have been an old fast food restaurant or an old pancake house that they transformed into a Mandarin/Szechuan restaurant.  It's definitely nothing fancy on the inside as far as their decor is concerned, but it was comfortable enough to make the dining experience pleasurable. 

There weren't many people in the restaurant when I went there one evening.  There are two dining rooms at Smiling Buddha, one on the right as you come in, the other on the left.  I was seated in the room on the left that particular evening.  Unfortunately, there was a local guy sitting near my table pontificating about this and that with some of the people who evidentially worked there.  He was sort of loud and somewhat obnoxious in his observations about local schools, police departments and other topics that he felt were compelling to talk about.   I tried my best to shut him out as I alternately read the menu and a Chicago Tribune.

Tony was right about Smiling Buddha having authentic Chinese food.  Their selection of Mandarin and Szechuan dishes was rather impressive.  It was far from the same old "Beef and Broccoli" that you get at most homogenized Chinese restaurants.  There was something on the menu called General Tso's Chicken that is both sweet and spicy.  That was intriguing, as was their Moo Shu Pork, shredded beef with scrambled egg in a sesame seed oil and topped with mushrooms and a ginger sauce.  Mmmmm....

When my waitress came to my table - a very pleasant young Asian girl - I was torn between three or four items.  I ended up getting the Szechuan beef with mixed vegetables.  I also ordered up a couple of egg rolls and a Tsing Tao beer.  She took the order and in moments my beer was on the table in front of me. 

It wasn't long after that two very large egg rolls came to the table.  They were - by far - the largest egg rolls I've ever had in my life.  It was almost a meal in itself.  Unfortunately, the egg rolls were also way over-cooked.  The cabbage was mushy, the beef was dry and the shell was too crunchy.  It was a big disappointment.  I only finished one, not only because it wasn't very good, but because I wouldn't have been hungry for my Szechuan beef when it came out. 

My waitress brought out the Szechuan beef, a large plate of spicy beef with assorted veggies topped with a wonderful brown sauce that featured hot peppers and peppercorns.  From the first bite, I could tell this was no ordinary Chinese restaurant.  The peppercorn sauce left sort of a smokey flavor in my mouth.  I couldn't really tell if I liked it or not, it was just different.  It was a sort of pleasant shock to the taste buds.  The beef was tender and tasty, the veggies were far from over-cooked and the hot peppers also had a spicy and smokey taste to them.  All in all, it was very good.  Very authentic, that's for sure.  It was nothing like I'd had before in Chinese food. 

A couple days later, I sort of remembered the smokey taste sensation I'd had at Smiling Buddha.  It lingered in my mind for a few days after.  I'd never had a taste like that where it was pleasantly different.  Sure, it was kind of a burnt taste, but not a displeasing burnt taste.  It was something I suddenly craved. 

Smiling Buddha was everything Tony told it would be.  It is definitely on my list of places to go back to when I'm in the Chicagoland area and I have a hankering for very good - and very authentic - Chinese food.

Brothers Barbecue - Palatine, IL

I'm always on the hunt for good barbecue when I'm on the road.  Sometimes it's tough to find a diamond in the rough.  But when you do find one that gives you such a pleasant experience, it's almost a euphoric feeling.  I got lucky on my initial visit to Brothers Barbecue, aka, Brothers Ribs, in the northwestern Chicago suburb of Palatine. 

Brothers barbecue is tucked back in a strip mall called Regency Plaza in Palatine (see map).  Years ago, I was averse to any restaurant in a strip mall.  But I've since learned that it doesn't matter where the location is as long as the food is good.  Brothers isn't all that big - it seats about 30 to 35 people.  And there is no wait staff service.  You order at the counter and one of the cooks will bring the food out to you when it's ready. 

Brothers Barbecue has been open since 1990.  Jimmy Findlay and his three brothers learned the art of barbecue from their father.  They learned how to make barbecue sauce from their grandmother.  They slow cook their meats in a convection smoker.  In addition to ribs, brisket, pulled pork and other barbecue delights, Brothers Barbecue is also known for their rib tips - the tough and usually burnt end pieces of rib racks.  Some people love rib tips.  I don't care for them, myself. 

I got into Brothers Barbecue around 8 p.m. one evening.  I was the only one in the place.  That's not a good sign, I thought.   It turns out that most of their business is either take out or delivery (Thursday thru Sunday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.).  Probably one of the reasons they don't have many people in the dining area is because they don't serve alcohol.  Another rib place that doesn't serve beer!  What's this world coming to?

I soon found out that Brothers Barbecue is a "bring-your-own-beer" establishment.  The guy at the counter said, "There's a Dominick's just over there that sells beer.  You can go and get some beer and bring it in, if you want.  One of the guys is over there now getting some beer for us when we close up at 9 p.m."  I decided against beer for my initial visit to Brothers, opting for just water. 

All around Brothers Barbecue dining room were signs touting their awards for best ribs and best sauce at various barbecue cook-off events held around the country.  The signs all looked the same and it made me a little leery of their achievements.  I suppose anyone can go to a printer and have them make signs that say anything.  The food and their sauce would have to be their proof to me. 

The menu is full of barbecue delights.  You can get a dinner plate with barbecue and your choice of one side (beans, fries, cole slaw, etc.), or you can just get a dinner with the meat only.  That made it easy for me as I wanted to try both their brisket and a half-slab of ribs.  I ordered up a brisket dinner with baked beans, then a half-slab of baby back ribs - meat only. 

While I waited for my meal to show up, a couple people came in to pick up carry-out orders.  Then another couple showed up to eat in the dining room.  The phone was ringing, so they were keeping busy. 

The guy who took my order brought out the tray.  It had a generous amount of beef brisket on the plate, along with a healthy slab of ribs.  Actually, the beef brisket was sort of disappointing in that it wasn't the sliced brisket that I like, but rather a sort of pulled beef like you'd get if you cooked the brisket in a crock pot.  They were moist, almost too moist.  But the brisket did taste good. 

The ribs were cooked perfectly.  They had a great smoky taste that wasn't overpowering or distracting to the taste of the baby back rib meat.  They were meaty and juicy - definitely not over-cooked. 

But the star of the meal was their Brothers Barbecue Sauce (formerly called Grandma's Barbecue Sauce).  It was a tomato-based sauce that was more tangy than sweet.  It had a nice little peppery taste to it that gave it a nice after-kick after you swallowed the meat.  I was sort of upset with myself that I didn't bring in a six-pack of beer to enjoy with the ribs. 

As I continued with the meal, the more I got into it.  The baked beans were very good, even more so when I added some of their barbecue sauce.  And they also had great grilled Texas toast that I used to sop up some of the extra barbecue sauce.  I'm telling you - the barbecue sauce was awesome! 

When I finished my last bite, I was truly sorry the dinner was over.  It had been a long time since I'd had great barbecue like what I had at Brothers Barbecue.  The sauce was worthy of the praise it had supposedly received at various barbecue cook offs.  It was so good that I bought a bottle to take home.  But I screwed up - I only bought one bottle.  It didn't last me very long after I brought it home.  One bottle cost $3.49, two bottles are $5.99.  Cindy didn't really care for the taste of it, but I certainly did.  That's fine, as there will be more for me!

Getting more barbecue sauce from Brothers Barbecue will be my impetus to go back in very soon to have more ribs.  Although I was disappointed in the brisket, it was still very good.  But the ribs with their sauce were outstanding.  I was very pleasantly surprised with my visit to Brothers Barbecue and I need to get back there as soon as I can.

The Greek Islands - Lombard, IL

On a recent visit to Chicago, I was in the mood for a good gyro.  Since I was staying out in the western suburbs, I wanted to find some place in the area for good Greek food.  One place I found was a place called the Greek Islands in suburban Lombard just north of Yorktown Center shopping mall.  (see map). 

Over 20 years ago, during my first trip ever to the Consumer Electronics Show when they held it in Chicago in the summertime, I was taken to the original Greek Islands restaurant in Greek Town near downtown Chicago.  This was my first meal with my new boss, Mike Cannady, and my new colleague, Kevin Leja.  I don't remember much about the evening because of all the Ouzo we were drinking.  But it was my first exposure to Greek food and I remember having a good time.  Too good of a time.  I also remember crawling up the stairs to our hotel rooms later that evening.   The best thing is that all three of us are still good friends to this day and we still have a good laugh when we reminisce about that evening.  

The Greek Islands in downtown Chicago (see map) is sort of an institution in the area.  It first opened in 1971 when Gus Couchell, Filandros Sguros, Apostolos Bournas and Michael Scafidi pooled their resources into the Greek Islands restaurant.  Today, Gus Couchell continues to be the managing partner.  The Greek Islands is famous bringing in many of their ingredients directly from Greece with Gus Couchell personally selecting some of the items to be shipped back to the U.S.  

The Greek Islands opened their Lombard location in 1984.  It is significantly more upscale in appearance than the original Greek Islands restaurant downtown.  The original Greek Islands looks a little more funky, sort of like an old fish shack or something along that line.  The Greek Islands in Lombard is very nice with a more ornate appearance.  

The place was nearly full when I went in about 7:30 one evening to get something to eat.  The very Greek host, sat me at a table in the loud dining room and handed me a menu.  A young man brought a basket of fresh bread and very fresh olive oil. 

While they had a lot to offer, quite honestly, about the only Greek food I really know is gyros.  Some of the seafood dishes looked tempting.  I almost ordered one of the chicken dishes on the menu.  But really, about the only thing I've ever had that was Greek has been gyros.  I don't even remember what I got for dinner for my first meal at the original Greek Islands.  I'm tellin' ya - Ouzo is powerful shit!  I think I saw Jesus that night.  

I looked through the menu and really the only thing that I really wanted was gyro meat - a combination of lamb and beef on a spit with the meat shaved off into thin slices.  And the cucumber sauce!  Gotta have the cucumber sauce.

By this time, I realized that I was not being noticed by any of the busy waiters in the restaurant.  It was like I didn't exist.  Five minutes goes by - no one stops to acknowledge me.  I sat and read my Chicago Tribune, waiting patiently for a waiter to even bring me a glass of water.  The bread was making me thirsty.  About 5 more minutes went by.  Nothing.  I decided not to try and stop someone just to see how long it would be.  I know quite well the hazards of dining alone in a busy restaurant.  I have gotten up and left before if no one waits on me.  It hasn't happened for quite sometime.  

This night it almost happened.  

Finally, a waiter came up and asked if I'd been helped.  I said, "I've been here almost 15 minutes and the only person I've talked to is the host who sat me.  I know you guys are busy, but this is ridiculous."

He half-heartedly apologized for my inconvenience and asked what he could bring me.  I told him I'd take the gyros platter and a Bud Light.  He clicked his pen, thanked me and off he went.  

I waited another five minutes before my lukewarm Bud Light showed up at the table.  I took a drink and the next thing I know, here's my gyros platter being laid in front of me.  It was a generous portion of gyro meat with sliced tomatoes and onions with a couple pieces of pita bread.  Oh, and of course, the sauce.   I really didn't need the pita bread, given that I ate some of the very good fresh baked bread earlier.  So I just started eating the meat as is.

Only the meat was over-cooked.  Way over-cooked.  As in almost inedible over-cooked.  It was dry and lifeless.  It was like someone had cut it off the spit, popped it in the oven at 450 degrees for 20 minutes, then pulled it out to serve it.  I sort of wondered if they just had the strips of gyro meat lying around in a pan under a hot light in the kitchen because it would have taken some time to slice off all that meat - a lot longer than what it took for the waiter to take my order, then come back with the food in well less than 10 minutes.   The only saving grace was that the tomatoes, onions and the sauce were fresh and added some flavor to the meat. 

Given that the service was bad, and now the gyro meat was severely over-done, I just chalked it up to one of those things you face on the road.  It was definitely not a good value, that's for sure.  They charged me $11.25 for the gyros plate.  We have a place in the Quad Cities called Uncle Pete's over in Moline that charges $6.25 for a gyro that has more meat than what I got on my plate at the Greek Islands, and it tastes infinitely better than what I had this particular evening.  (I need to do an entry on Uncle Pete's.  Their gyros really are tough to beat.)

Some places only get one shot with me.  Some of it is because I may not be traveling through there again, or I'm looking to try other places in the area.  But some are because of poor service, poor food and a poor experience.  I had all three at the Greek Islands in Lombard.  Although the place was packed with people, and they've been in business for 25 years at this location, my one and only time at this Greek Islands will regrettably be my last.  I'm sure they'll survive without me.

Hackney's on Harms - Glenview, IL

Earlier this year, I wrote about The Country House which has three locations in the southwest and west side suburbs of Chicago.  I referenced Hackney's in the entry, saying that the burger at The Country House was very similar to Hackney's.  When I made a search on my blog to link up Hackney's in the entry, I found that I had never written about the place before then.   And I'm truly amazed because Hackney's has one of the best burgers in the Chicagoland area and is a place that I have visited many times over the years.

Though I'm going to write about the original Hackney's today - Hackney's on Harms- there are five other Hackney's locations around the greater Chicagoland area.  I have eaten at them all with the exception of the Hackney's on Printer Row in downtown Chicago.

Hackney's has a rich history that started nearly 70 years ago in north suburban Glenview.  Actually, the story begins back in the mid-20's when the young widow Elizabeth Masterson married a gentleman by the name of Frank Engles.  Along with her two young sons, the Engles' moved to an acreage in Glenview near the corner of Lake Ave. and Waukegan Road.  They had a two story house where the upstairs served as the living quarters for the family, while the downstairs was a bar/restaurant during Prohibition.

In the early 30's, Frank Engles' aunt Helen - also known as "Bebe", and her husband, Jack Hackney, moved to an acreage on Harms Road not far from Frank's place in Glenview.  After Prohibition ended, Uncle Jack and Aunt Bebe Hackney refurbished a small garage and put in little bar and restaurant that served beer and Aunt Bebe's scrumptious burgers.

In 1939, Aunt Bebe Hackney passed away - three years after Jack Hackney had also passed.  Aunt Bebe's sister - who was Frank Engles' mother - inherited the property and ended up selling the place to Engles' step-son, Jim Masterson, and his new wife, Marcella, also known as "Kitz".

Jim and Kitz carried on the Hackney's tradition of a special burger - the Hackney Burger - that was conjured up by Aunt Bebe. It consists of a little over a half-pound of lean, hand cut, freshly ground beef, grilled and topped with cheddar cheese, then served on dark rye bread rather than a traditional hamburger bun.  The taste sensation is just excellent and this picture on the right just makes my mouth water as I look at it.

Over the years, Jim and Kitz' seven children became involved in the family business.  But decided that all of them couldn't work under one roof and make it work for everyone involved, the Masterson's bought a number of other restaurants around the Chicago area.  Actually, the second Hackney's location is now where the original restaurant/bar that Frank and Elizabeth Engles owned on Lake Ave. in Glenview.  That was followed by Hackney's locations in Wheeling, Chicago on Printer's Row, Lake Zurich, and in far south suburban Palos Hills.  Each location is managed by a son or daughter of Jim Masterson, who passed away in 1987.

It was a cool day when I pulled into the Hackney on Harms location in Glenview (see map).  Being that I wanted to write about my experience at Hackney's, I wanted to go to the original location for lunch.   I walked into the half-filled restaurant not long after 1 p.m. and took a seat at the nice bar they have in the restaurant.   I was greeted by the always personable and outgoing bartender at Hackney's on Harms and was given a menu.  I pretty much knew what I was going to get - I usually get the same thing every time I go into a Hackney's - but I wanted to peruse the menu to familiarize myself with what else they have to offer.

Hackney's signature food item is, of course, their Hackney Burger.  But they also have a Bleucheese Burger that is filled with bleu cheese crumbles mix in with the meat, and their famous Inside Out Burger that is stuffed with cheddar cheese and bacon, then topped with both cheddar and bacon.  The Food Network has visited Hackney's a couple three times and has highlighted Hackney's mouth-watering burgers in their segments.

While Hackney's is famous for their burgers, they also offer a wide variety of food to choose from on their menu.  They also offer steaks, seafood and chicken entrees, as well as a weekly daily special such as corned beef and cabbage, meatloaf and bratwurst with red cabbage and German potato salad.  In addition to burgers, Hackney's also has a reuben, French dip, grilled chicken sandwich and both a hot beef brisket sandwich, and either hot or cold corned beef sandwich.  All of them are very tempting to knock me out of my usual routine, but I always end up ordering the same thing.

And the same thing is the half-pound plus Hackney Burger placed on their daily-baked, homemade dark rye bread, topped with cheddar cheese and served with lettuce and tomato on request.  The burger automatically comes with Hackney's homemade cole slaw and then you have your choice of either Hackney's french fries, boiled potato, potato chips, fruit, cottage cheese or a double helping of cole slaw.  Their cole slaw is *OK*, but it's nothing that I do jumping jacks over.   I ordered some cottage cheese with my burger and I also got a cup of Hackney's wonderful vegetable beef soup.

Now, one thing I have never tried at Hackney's - and being on a diet has continued to scare me off - is their onion rings.  I understand Hackney's onion rings are some of the best around.  They were  They're served in a square loaf and you literally have to cut them apart with a knife and fork.  Hackney's onion rings have garnered almost as many rave reviews as their Hackney burgers, with some reviews calling them some of the best in the United States.     

The very friendly and affable bartender brought out my cup of soup and I eagerly wolfed it down.  Hackney's homemade soups are made fresh daily at each location and they are just wonderful, especially on a cool day.

It wasn't much longer when my burger and cottage cheese showed up.  The Hackney Burger is so big that I have to cut it in half.  I usually dip it in some ketchup rather than putting any directly onto the burger.  That allows me to get a couple bites of the full taste of the burger and the cheese together.  And Hackney's beef for their burgers is also ground butcher fresh each day.  They are absolutely delicious.

The one negative about Hackney's can be the prices.  A Hackney Burger runs $8.95, probably a couple bucks higher than comparable sized burgers at other places.  But because their burgers are so good, it's tough to bitch about the price.

I know that the Hackney's on Lake Ave. in Glenview serves a wonderful breakfast on Sunday morning.  We went there one time after spending Saturday night in the northern Chicago suburbs.  Cindy had this wild hunch that Hackney's on Lake had breakfast, she called them up and they said they did, indeed, have breakfast.  So we went there and it was very good.  I've found that the menu and daily special at each Hackney's location differ from place to place.   It's best to go to the Hackney's web site (click on the highlighted Hackney's at the top of this entry) and then click on "menus", then click on whichever of the six Hackney's you'll be visiting to check the full menu in advance.  But one thing they all have in common - the great Hackney Burger.

There - I've finally written about Hackney's.  I highly recommend the Hackney Burger, but I'm sure the rest of their food is as equally good.  But I really still want to try their onion ring loaf sometime.  It's going to have to be with someone else because I'm afraid they'd be so good that I'd want to eat the whole damn thing.

Boston Blackies - Deerfield, IL

I've had friends in the Chicago area tell me one of the best burgers in town comes from Boston Blackies which has 8 locations throughout the Chicagoland region.  When I was in Chicago before my recent hip surgeries I sought out the Boston Blackies up in Deerfield (see map) for a late burger one evening.

Boston Blackies is named after the fictional character Boston Blackie, who was part of a somewhat famous series of radio programs, movies and television shows in the 30's, 40's and 50's.  Actually, Boston Blackie dates back to the 19-teens when he first appeared in novels written by Jack Doyle.  In the novels, Boston Blackie was a jewel thief.  When he made the transition to film and radio, he was a detective. 

The Boston Blackies restaurants are owned by the same family that owns the Carson's restaurants in the Chicago region, probably the most famous of all Chicagoland barbecue houses.  I've been to Carson's before (click on the Carson's link above to see my post) and while I thought it was OK, I didn't think it was anything special.  I was hoping I wouldn't be disappointed in Boston Blackies as sometimes I hear about places and expect great food, but am utterly disappointed by the end of the meal because of the hype. 

It was a little after 9 p.m. when I finished with my last account of the day and decided to grab something to eat before I went back to the hotel.  I walked into the Boston Blackies location on Lake Cook Road and asked if I could sit at the bar.  The restaurant's dining area was spacious, but because it was late in the evening, there wasn't a lot of people in the place.  I was given a menu by the hostess and I ordered up a beer from the bartender.

I found during my research on Boston Blackies that each location doesn't have the same menu.  For example, the Boston Blackies at the corner of Monroe and Canal in the Chicago Financial District as well as the location up in Skokie features breakfast.  While there were 14 different burgers featured on the menu at the Deerfield location, the River East location in downtown Chicago only featured six burgers on their menu.  But all Boston Blackies featured both carry-out and kid's menus making the restaurants both work and family friendly. 

As I said, the Deerfield location featured 14 different types of burgers on the menu.  Some of them were sort of interesting - the Greek Boy which was topped with feta cheese and a raw onion; the Cowboy with fresh guacamole and pico de gallo with pepper jack cheese, and the Fire Alarm with chili, cheddar and hot giardiniera on top.  I ended up going with a safe bet for my first Boston Blackies, however - the Swiss Connection.  It consisted of a 1/2 pound burger topped with Swiss cheese and mushrooms.  All Boston Blackies burgers are cooked to order and I got mine medium.  And you get a choice of either having a sesame seed bun, a Kaiser roll, or either rye or dark rye bread.  A fresh beefsteak tomato, lettuce and your choice of either cooked or raw onions comes with the burger, along with a side of Carson's cole slaw. 

If you're not in the mood for burgers, Boston Blackies also offers a number of different variations of chicken breast sandwiches, salads, steaks, pork chops and a slew of appetizers.  Some of the locations also offer Carson's ribs on the menu.  You can also find barbecue beef or pork sandwiches featuring Carson's barbecue sauce at nearly all of the Boston Blackies locations. 

About 15 minutes after I ordered my burger, it came out to me, served open face with a toasted sesame seed bun.  From the first bite I could tell I wouldn't be disappointed.  It was cooked a perfect medium, juicy and warm in the middle.  The Swiss cheese and mushrooms helped complement rather than detract from the taste.  I was happy the hype I'd heard about Boston Blackies was more correct than overblown. 

With a couple beers and a tip, my bill came to a little over $20 bucks.  Not exactly a cheap burger joint, but Boston Blackies is a nice place to eat.  Even if it's just for a burger.

OK, I found another good burger place in Chicago.  I'm hoping the other Boston Blackies locations are as good and consistent with their burgers as the one in Deerfield.  I guess I'll find out sooner or later as I look for a good burger in my travels around Chicago.

(Update - The owners of Boston Blackie's were arrested in March of 2010 for their part in a check kiting sceme that scammed two Chicago area banks for nearly $2 million dollars.  Since then, the Boston Blackie's locations were shut down soon thereafter.)

Walker Brothers Original Pancake House - Highland Park, IL

                                

When I first started on the road as in independent rep in the mid-80's, one of the sales managers I worked with was Walt Rising, who was - at that time - working for NAD Electronics.  Walt became one of those great mentors of mine at a time when I certainly needed some mentoring.  Although Walt's tenure at NAD didn't last much longer after I began to work with him, we've still stayed friends over the years.  He now lives in the northern suburbs of Chicago and I met up with him for old time's sake over breakfast at Walker Brothers Original Pancake House in Highland Park, IL (see map).

In the 1940's after World War II, brothers Everett, Victor and Dick opened the first of what came to be four Walker Brothers Snack Shops in Evanston.  In 1960, Everett and Victor Walker bought a franchise from the owners of The Original Pancake House in Portland, OR.  They soon opened the first Original Pancake House restaurant on Green Bay Road in Wilmette (see map).  They quickly garnered a reputation for having great breakfasts at a good price.  Today, there are four other locations in addition to the Wilmette and Highland Park locations, all of them located in the north and far northwest suburbs of Chicago.  There are 15 Original Pancake House franchise locations in the Chicagoland area.  But the six Walker Brothers locations are still owned by the Walker family, of which Victor's son, Ray, is the CEO for the restaurants.   

Each Walker Brothers location is unique unto itself as far as the interiors are concerned.  But one thing that is constant throughout the six locations is the collection of stained glass each restaurant has.  The interior is also filled with a lot of brass railing, antiques and comfortable seating throughout.  It's a very comfy and cozy place to eat.

It was around 9 a.m. when I met up with Walt at the Highland Park location.  We were seated at a large booth and given our menus.  Walt and I hadn't seen each other for quite sometime and we spent nearly the next 45 minutes catching up on things.  I think our waitress came back to our table five or six times before I finally said, "Look, we've got to order something before she kicks us out."

The signature dish at all Original Pancake House locations is the Apple Pancakes, and that's what Walt ordered.  I'm not big on apples and they just don't sound appealing to me to even try.  But according to Walt, the Walker Brothers Apple Pancakes are even better than the ones you find at most other Original Pancake House restaurants.  Walt said, "I don't know what they do to them to make 'em better here, but I swear the Apple Pancakes are much better at Walker Brothers than at any other Original Pancake House I've eaten at." 

Although the French Toast looked tremendous on the plate of a lady who was seated across the way from our booth, I stuck to my basic diet breakfast of eggs over easy and bacon.  I have had the blueberry pancakes at Walker Brothers in the past and they are fabulous.  Some of the best I've ever had.  Oh, and so filling!  

We continued to talk as we waited for our food and Walt reverted to his sales manager ways of 20 plus years ago.  He may not be in the audio/video business any longer, but he keeps his finger on the pulse of what's going.  He was free with information and tips to help make my job easier.   He's just one of the nicest guys I've ever run across in my line of work.

Our breakfasts finally made it to our table a little after 10 a.m.  We continued to talk as I made quick work of my two eggs and four pieces of bacon.  Walt's Apple Pancakes were just huge.  There was no way he was going to be able to finish them.  He said, "I'd have 'em box them up for me, but they never taste as good at home as they do here."

He told me that the Walker Brothers locations also have frozen Apple Pancakes that they make up and freeze for people to take home.  "I've never done that," Walt said.  "But I guess they're pretty popular for people to buy 'em to take 'em home."  

It was great to sit down, eat and talk with Walt.  It was like we left off our last conversation just 2 days before and not the 2 years it took for us to meet up again.  And doing at Walker Brothers just added to the enjoyment.  I was more than happy to pick up the tab for breakfast and will do it again when Walt and I get together later this summer.

 Walker Brothers Original Pancake House has been lauded by both national and local publications as having the best breakfast in the Chicagoland area.  They certainly have a lot to choose from on their menu and while I can't enjoy the more sinful things they have to offer at this time, take it from me - the food at Walker Brothers is great.

Dapper's West - Addison, IL

Before my first surgery, Cindy and I drove into Chicago for what was supposed to be a day, but it ended up being a day and a night.  Our ultimate goal was to go to Trader Joe's to stock up on items that I get for us when I'm in Chicago on a regular basis.  Since it was going to be about three months before I was going to be able to be anywhere close to a Trader Joe's, we really needed to go. 

The only problem is that our visit to Vito and Nick's took so long and by the time we were done with their great pizza it was past 9 p.m.  And Trader Joe's closes at 9 p.m.  Cindy was upset as that was the one thing she wanted to do while she was in Chicago (it didn't matter that we'd gone to IKEA, a couple malls, walked around downtown and went to a world class old-style pizza place on the south side of Chicago).  We needed to go to Trader Joe's even if it meant spending an unscheduled night in Chicago and then getting up in the morning to go to Trader Joe's on our way out of town. 

We ended up getting a hotel room at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Addison for the evening.  That's right - no overnight bag, no change of clothes, no toiletries, nothing.  The next morning, we got up, cleaned up the best we could and headed out the door around 8:30.  Cindy said, "Maybe we should get something to eat for breakfast."

I was actually fine, especially being on a diet and everything.  But Cindy is one of these creatures where she has to have three square meals a day.  And breakfast is the most important meal with the bigger and more elaborate the breakfast, the better.  I didn't even hesitate as I took a right on Lake Street and took her to Dapper's for breakfast (see map).

Dapper's is one of the many restaurants along the Lake Street corridor between Elmhurst and Addison in the western suburbs of Chicago.  It's a large, family style restaurant that serves good food and has a laid back feel to the place.  I've eaten at Dapper's many times when I've stayed in either Elmhurst or Addison, especially when I need a fix for some good ol' comfort food. 

The Dapper's in Addison is officially known as Dapper's West and is the third of three Dapper's restaurants in the Chicago area.  The original Dapper's - known as Dapper's East - is in the Irving Park/Avondale area in Chicago, just down Addison Ave. from Wrigley Field (see map).  There's also a Dapper's North in suburban Norridge near O'Hare Airport (see map).  Dapper's has a loyal following of customers who keep coming back for the good service and good food. 

Like a lot of family-style restaurants in the Chicago area (and in other areas, I also found), a Greek family is behind the business.  The Manaves family own and operate the Dapper's restaurants and they feature a number of Greek foods on the menu, as well.   

Dapper's building is very nice and very modern.  They feature big booths, large sturdy tables and comfortable seating.  Right from the start as you walk in, you're greeted by not only a hostess, but a huge dessert cooler full of pies, muffins and other delectable goodies that you can look at before you have your meal. 

And the menu selections are plentiful and varied.  I've often thought that if you can't find anything on the menu at Dapper's, you're not hungry.  I've found some family restaurants that have large menus where the food is *OK* because they're spreading themselves too thin.  I've never found that to be the case in my previous trips to Dapper's because every meal I've ever eaten there has been above average.

One of the more peculiar aspects of Dapper's is that they have a number of flat panel televisions around the place.  I've been in there when they were showing Cubs games or Bulls games on TV.  I've never been in a family style restaurant where they have TV's going.  It drives Cindy nuts when we have a TV going in our "lodge" at home when we're eating dinner out there.  It didn't even occur to me that she'd have a problem with Dapper's having televisions on throughout the place when we were having our breakfast.  "This is a family restaurant," she said. "People should be talking to one another over their meals, not watching television." 

I said, "What about guys like me who eat alone in places like this?  Maybe televisions help those people pass the time."

She said, "Yeah, but you always read a newspaper when you're eating alone." 

"Well, maybe I'd like to watch television instead," I replied.

Once we were seated and Cindy got over the fact that there were televisions on in a family restaurant, we took a long look at the huge breakfast menu to figure out what we wanted.  Cindy was having trouble figuring out what she wanted, so she wanted me to go first.  I was going to be very simple - three eggs over easy and three pieces of bacon.  The waitress said, "Why don't you get the breakfast special with hash browns and toast?" 

Actually, it would have been cheaper to do so, but I wasn't going to eat the hash browns and the toast and if there's one major pet peeve I have in this world is throwing out food.  God, it just rankles me to the core to have to throw out food.  Ask Cindy.  Actually, in hindsight, I should have gotten the breakfast special and told them to hold the hash browns and toast.  Live and learn when you're on a diet.

Cindy - who was not on a diet - got the Belgian waffles topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.  Although it was all I could do to change my order, but I fought through the temptation. 

When our very efficient waitress brought our food, the discrepancy was enormous.  Cindy had this huge waffle topped with a pound of strawberries and covered in whipped cream.  I had a plate with three eggs and three pieces of bacon.  When the waitress set it down in front of Cindy she said, "Oh, my!"

I said, "I'm telling you - they don't skimp on portions here.  Except if you order three eggs and three pieces of bacon."

My meal was over in, oh, maybe a minute.  Cindy had just begun to dig into her waffle.  It was all she could do to eat half of it.  We could have easily shared a Belgian waffle, but I'm allergic to strawberries (love the taste, hate the hives). 

The waitress asked Cindy if she wanted to box up the Belgian waffle.  Unfortunately, we were over three hours from home and had no room in the cooler (especially after we went to Trader Joe's) for the leftovers.  Besides, can you really heat up a Belgian waffle again? 

The prices are reasonable at Dapper's.  The service is always professional and swift.  And the food is always outstanding.  Dapper's is one of the reasons I love to stay in the Elmhurst/Addison area when I'm in Chicago for extended stays.  I always have a meal there at least once during my stays and I know I'll continue to do so.

La Hacienda de los Fernandez - Addison, IL

La Hacienda de los Fernandez (The Estate of Fernandez) is a four-location chain of Mexican restaurants in the far west suburbs of Chicago.  The restaurants are part of the Fernandez Food chain of eateries which include 4 La Magdelena restaurants and Besa Mi Taco in far northwest suburban Itasca.  Also part of the Fernandez Food family is La Mag Catering, the company's catering arm for parties, corporate events and large gatherings. 

Jose Fernandez opened his first La Magelena restaurant in Addison in 1976.  From the start, Fernandez wanted only the freshest ingredients for his made-on-site authentic Northern Mexican food.  Jose (Joe) was 28 years old when he opened his first restaurant and he later followed with three more "La Mag" restaurants.  He opened the first La Hacienda de los Fernandez in Addison in 2002.  It shared a lot of the same home-cooked philosophies and goodness that people found at the La Magdelena restaurants. 

La Hacienda is a pretty large place located on the Lake St. corridor in Addison (see map).  I was staying at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Addison one night earlier this year and I was tired and hungry from a long day of making calls in the Chicago area.  Instead of trying to find something new in the area, I decided to go to La Hacienda, a place I'd been to a couple times before.

While I couldn't call my previous trips to La Hacienda memorable, I can say the food was good, there was an extensive menu to choose from, but the service was "iffy", at best.  I got into La Hacienda around 8:30 one evening and they gave me a booth in the dining room.  The place, for as late in the evening as it was, was about 3/4's full.  I was given a dinner menu and I ordered a cold Sol beer to go with my complementary chips and salsa.

I will have to say that I do like La Hacienda's salsa.  It's chunky, tangy and the right amount of spiciness where it doesn't burn your face off, but offers a nice little zip to the taste.  Their salsa doesn't last long when I get my hands on some. 

La Hacienda's menu isn't like a lot of other Mexican restaurants I've been to in the Midwest.  There are only 4 combination dinners to choose from (some restaurants will have up to and over 40 different combinations on their menu), and there is no "ala carte" ordering on the menu if you want to have a taco, enchilada or burrito on the side.  I would have to say that La Hacienda is more upscale compared to a lot of other Mexican restaurants I've been to.  And the decor supports that with comfortable booths and large wooden tables, subdued lighting and tasteful Mexican decorations and artwork on the walls. 

In addition to the usual Mexican fare of burritos, tacos, enchiladas and fajitas, La Hacienda also offered main course of rotisserie chicken, steaks, fish and vegetarian dinners.  Actually a lot of things sounded great and interesting as I perused the menu.

One thing on the menu that caught my eye was the Guisado de Res - a Mexican beef stew with skirt steak and vegetables cooked in a heavy broth.  They also had Guisado de Peurco, the same stew only with pork. 

While I kept looking at the enchiladas and tacos, I found something on the menu that I don't quite see any longer - chile rellenos stuffed with your choice of beef or chicken and topped with cheese and sauce.  Finding a chile relleno stuffed with anything other than cheese these days is rare, to say the least.  But I was really torn between that and an order of pork tacos.  If done right, there's nothing better than a great pork taco.

When my waiter came back to the table to take the order, I got the chile rellenos stuffed with beef.  And I asked him, "Is it possible to get a pork taco on the side?" 

He quickly asked, "Corn or flour tortilla?"

I hesitated for a moment and said, "Corn."

He said, "Crispy or soft."

"Soft!"

Sometimes it just doesn't hurt to ask...

And within 10 minutes my chile rellenos surrounded by chopped lettuce and tomatoes, rice and refried beans arrived at the table along with a small plate with my pork taco topped with a little lettuce and chopped tomatoes.   I have to say the chile rellenos were very good - flavorful, full of seasoned ground beef and not a lot of cheese on top that sometimes detracts from the taste of the pepper and stuffing. 

And the pork taco was good - not the best I've ever had - but good.  I'm glad I got the one on the side because I probably won't go out of my way to order one again on my next visit to La Hacienda. 

After taking my order, my waiter sort of forgot about me.  Someone else brought out the food and I was really ready for another beer (like I said, it was a long day).  My food was long gone off my plate before my waiter showed up with my check.  He asked, "Will there be anything else?"

I said, "Well, I could have used a beer about 15 minutes ago."

He asked, "Would you like one now?"

I said, "Nope, not now." 

La Hacienda is a little expensive compared to other Mexican restaurants - it cost me a little over $22 bucks with a couple beers and a tip.  But like I said - La Hacienda is more of an upscale Mexican restaurant than many others I've visited over the years.  

Every time I go past a La Hacienda location, whether it be at lunch time or dinner, the parking lot is always packed.  While it can run to the expensive side of Mexican food, the service was not too stellar, but the food was good.  If you can plan ahead to make sure you have everything you need when the waiter takes your order, you should be fine and dandy. 

While I probably won't seek out a La Hacienda de los Fernandez, as long as it's close to the hotel and quick - like the one in Addison is - I'll go back. 

Meatheads Burgers and Fries - Naperville, IL

A Road Tips reader from the Chicago area, Tim Schmidt, sent me an e-mail right around Christmas.  Tim has turned me on to a number of burger places in the Chicagoland area over the past couple of years and he informed me of a new place that had opened in late November in Naperville by the name of Meatheads Burgers and Fries.  He said, "It's a little bit of a drive for me, but I heard it was good so I wanted to check it out.  I was not disappointed."

I'd initially heard about Meatheads Burgers and Fries before from friends down in the Bloomington/Normal, IL area.  Meatheads began in Bloomington in late 2007 and is situated in a strip mall off of Veteran's Parkway (see map).  The managing partner, Tom Jednorowicz, was instrumental in the development and growth of the Potbelly sandwich shop chain.  A local Bloomington entrepreneur, Kurt Petterle - who owns a number of Qdoba Mexican food outlets in Iowa and Illinois - hooked up with Tom Jed, as he's known to his friends, to open a burger joint that makes fresh, made-to-order burgers and crisp hand-cut fries.  And brought in to help secure property for the new venture was Doug Reichl, president of the Tartan Realty Group in Chicago.

The success of Meatheads Burgers in Bloomington fueled plans to expand the business into other cities, most notably Champaign, Springfield and the Chicago suburbs.  So far, I believe the only two locations are in Bloomington and in Naperville on the far west side of Chicago. 

Located on 75th St. near Route 59 in southwest Naperville (see map), Meatheads Burgers was off my regular route on my way home during my last trip before my first hip replacement.  But I wanted to give it a try just to see if the burgers were as good as advertised.  In the midst of strip malls that seem to be going up on a weekly basis along 75th St., I was able to find Meatheads on the corner of one such mall.  I was able to get parking right up front and I walked in.  The place was packed for lunch. 

Immediately, the place reminded me of a Five Guys Burgers place - it had the big menu board on the wall behind the counter, the kitchen was open and they were making a big deal of using a manual potato cutter for the fresh cut french fries.  The seating area wasn't as large as the Five Guys Burgers I was at recently in the Kansas City area, but it had some booth and bench seating, as well as a window ledge with high back chairs.  (Photo at right from the Bloomngton Meatheads location.)

And very much like Five Guys Burgers, Meatheads has a number of toppings you can add to your burger.  And just like Five Guys Burgers, Meatheads has the thin french fries that you can order regular or Cajun style.  Hmm...  Both offer hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches.  I'm starting to see a monumental rip-off of the Five Guys Burgers concept.

About the only thing different is that Meatheads features five or six eclectic burgers on their menu.  Burgers, such as, the Philly - a burger topped with American cheese, roasted red peppers, grilled onions, sauteed mushrooms and Mayo; or the Californian - Monterrey Jack cheese, avocado, sauteed mushrooms, lettuce, tomato and Wasabi cucumber sauce.  A couple of the featured burgers - like the Cajun Surprise (bacon, Cajun seasoned fried egg, Monterrey Jack cheese, jalapenos, lettuce, tomato topped with a blue cheese dressing) sounded kind of good.

Actually, the toppings offered were rather tempting.  But I thought I needed to just try the basic Meatheads burger - two patties on a toasted bun topped with ketchup, yellow mustard, Mayo, lettuce, tomato and your choice of raw or fried onions.  So I ordered up The Meathead, sans the Mayo, and had them put a slice of Swiss cheese on the top.  I decided to try their regular fries, although I knew that I wouldn't eat all of them.  And I ordered a bottle of water.  I hadn't had a soda pop in well over two months. 

You could tell a number of people had never been to Meatheads before as many in front of me were all standing and looking at the menu board not knowing what to get.  Finally, the person at the cash register said, "If anyone is ready to order, I'll take your order." 

I stepped up past two or three couples or groups and made my order.  I paid at the register and they gave me a number to take with me so they could bring my order out to me when it was done. 

I waited a little less than 10 minutes before my food came out.  The burger, wrapped in  paper, was oozing cheese and condiments and smelled wonderful.  The fries were thin and crisp and I detected a little amount of seasoning on them.  Nothing overpowering, but pleasant to the taste.  (Picture at left courtesy LTH Forum.)

From my first bite of my Meatheads burger to the last, I was impressed. OK, so it was a solid rip-off of Five Guys Burgers.  But I was able to get around that with each bite.  The meat and toppings were fresh and flavorful.  It was a very good burger, to say the least.

While I was eating lunch, a manager came over and asked, "How's everything tasting?"

I said, "It's good, thanks."

He said, "You've been in here before, haven't you?"

I replied, "No, this is my first visit.  I live out in the Quad Cities."

He said, "The Quad Cities?!  That's quite a way to come for lunch, isn't it?"  He was obviously joking.

I said, "No, I've been in the area on business for the past few days and wanted to stop in and give you guys a try."

He asked, "So, what do you think?"

I said, "I think you guys need to put one in the Quad Cities before someone puts a Five Guys Burgers there."

He said that expansion plans were underway, but he didn't know the exact time table or where they would be popping up next.

He then said, "So, I take it that you've eaten at a Five Guys Burgers before.  How do we compare?"

I was honest with him.  "This is a good burger," pointing to my half-eaten Meathead burger.  "It's very similar to Five Guys.  In fact, the whole place and menu is very much like Five Guys.  I don't want to accuse you guys of ripping off the Five Guys concept, but you've done a very good job of emulating their system."

I was impressed with Meatheads Burgers.  Yes, it's a blatant rip-off of the Five Guys Burgers concept, but it will do well until Five Guys garners a foothold in Illinois.  As I told the manager in Naperville, I will be back.  And I want to try a Meathead burger topped with a fried egg, jalapeno, roasted peppers, sauteed mushrooms.  And bacon.  Can't forget the bacon.  I may not be able to taste the burger meat, but I'm guessing the overall taste sensations will be wonderful.

The Country House - Clarendon Hills, IL

I'm sorry, but I have to apologize to whoever it was who told me that I needed to try The Country House in southwest suburban Clarendon Hills, IL (see map).  The person sent me an e-mail a couple three months ago about how good the burgers are at The Country House.  Not long ago, I tried them out for myself.

The Country House in Clarendon Hills has some interesting history behind the place.  The original building was built in 1922 by Emil Kobel as a combination road house tavern and grocery store.  Kobel continued to run The Country House until 1957, when he sold out and retired to Florida.  In 1974, local residents and frequent visitors to The Country House, David and Patrick Regnery, bought the restaurant.  A year later, the place underwent a major and much-needed renovation.  Along with the renovation, Regnery came up with a new menu which featured the soon to be famous Country Burger. 

In 1985, The Country House expanded to a second location in a small shopping mall in suburban Lisle (see map).  While it was difficult to re-create The Country House experience in a strip mall, the Regnery's decorated the restaurant with a rustic theme, similar to the original place in Clarendon Hills.  In 1996, the Regnery's opened a third location - this one definitely with a country feel to it - in Geneva along the Illinois Prairie Path in the Fox River Valley (see map).  While the building in Geneva is similar to the original Country House in Clarendon Hills, it's larger and features an outside deck area that overlooks a small pond.  

The Country House also is somewhat infamous for being haunted.  The restaurant is visited annually by hundreds who believe in the paranormal as a series of manifestations have occurred in the restaurant over the years.   I certainly didn't know about that before I went there, that's for sure.  

It was just after noon when I walked into the original Country House in Clarendon Hills.  The parking lot was packed with cars and there was a little wait for a table in the rustic dining area.  I kind of stood around in the bar, hoping to get an open chair at the bar.  There was a lady sitting with a man at the bar who had her coat draped over an open chair next to her.  Finally, I had to ask, "Are you saving this chair for someone?"

She looked at me sort of funny, then looked at her coat on the chair and sort of jumped in surprise.  She said, "Oh, my goodness!  No, I'm not saving this seat for anyone.  Let me move my coat!"  So that worked out pretty well.  Sometimes it doesn't hurt to ask.    

Even though I pretty much knew what I wanted, I took a menu from the bartender and ordered up a Bell's Amber Ale that they had on tap.  While most of the items on the menu consisted of sandwiches and burgers, The Country House also featured steaks, seafood, chicken and salads.  But they're famous for their Country Burger - a 1/2 pound chopped sirloin served on light or dark rye bread.  I finally ordered up a Country Burger - medium - with Swiss cheese, and I got an order of steak fries on the side.    

It took about 20 minutes during a very busy lunch hour for my burger to show up.  Immediately, the burger reminded me of the dark rye cheeseburger they serve at the Hackney'srestaurants around the Chicagoland area.  (As an aside - Geez!  I can't believe I've NEVER written about Hackney's on Road Tips!)  And just like the Hackney Burger, the Country Burger was very good.  It was flavorful, moist and juicy.  The Swiss cheese was a perfect complement to the burger meat. 

While I was having my burger, the people next to me left and one of their seats was taken by a guy who immediately ordered up the Country House's chili.  It looked - and smelled - great.  I couldn't help but ask the guy if it was as good as it looked.  He said, "This is the best chili in Chicago.  I can't wait until winter time when they start making it again."  I told him I'd have to try some the next time I came in to Country House. 

And just like Hackney's, the Country House is pretty proud of their burger.  They charge $9.45 for the burger and steak fries.  A little steep, but they don't seem to have a shortage of people rolling in to have their burgers.  I suppose having their burgers recently voted the Best in Chicago by readers of the Chicago Tribune doesn't hurt either.  And their burgers were very good.  A neat place with good food and some history thrown in- that's the Country House in Clarendon Hills. 

Burt's Place on The Travel Channel

Thanks to my buddy, Steve Weiner, who initially turned me onto Burt's Place in suburban Chicago, for forwarding this clip from Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" program on The Travel Channel.  Steve said, "I think Burt's is the best pizza in Chicago and it's great to see him get 15 more minutes of fame in this clip."  You can read about our visit to Burt's in the fall of 2007 here.

While I'm not a big fan of Bourdain and don't watch No Reservations all that much, it was great to see the 71-year-old Burt Katz talk about his pizza and the clip shows him making pizza in his small back room kitchen.  The clip also features his wife, Sharon, who - no doubt - will be going to heaven for putting up with Burt all these years.  

John's Pizzeria - Addison, IL

Along the Lake St. corridor that connects Addison, IL with Elmhurst, IL are a number of restaurants that I've passed time and time again.  I've stopped into a few to give them a shot and one that I just tried recently was John's Pizzeria (see map).

John's Pizzeria has been serving thin crust and Chicago style pizzas, as well as Italian specialties since 1966.  And the decor looks like it hasn't been updated since then.  There's faux wood paneling on the walls as well large booths with Naugahyde and fabric covering on the seats.  It's definitely a family place with a large buffet in the main dining room that is open for both lunch and dinner through the week. 

I had to spend a Friday night in Chicago recently and I was staying at the Springhill Suites in Elmhurst.  I didn't really want to go too far for dinner that evening as I had to be up early the next morning.  I was driving down Lake St. and sort of noticed the sign for John's Pizzeria.  I thought, "Why not?  It's another one of those places I've driven by a number of times.  May as well see what it's all about."

Now, I've found that a lot of "hole in the wall" pizza places aren't too bad.  In fact, many of them are very good.  If a restaurant has been in business for over 40 years in the Chicago area, they must be doing something right.  I was sort of hoping John's would be one of those.

Right next to John's is the Hide Out Lounge.  I figured that it was connected to John's - both physically and business-wise.  Well, it is - and it isn't.  I walked into the place and it was filled with a number of people, mainly blue collar workers enjoying a few beers on a Friday night.  I asked the bartender if I could get food in the bar and she said, "Nope.  You gotta go into the dining room if you want to get food."

So, I turned around and looked at a door that looked like it connected the bar and the restaurant.  Only it was blocked off.  I had to go out of the Hide Out and over to the front door of John's Pizzeria to get into the dining room.  I thought it was sort of weird. 

As I was waiting to get seated, I noticed a couple three articles on the wall the featured John's Pizzeria.  One of the articles talked about John's famous Italian Beef pizza.  It's a thin crust pizza topped with mozzarella, thinly-sliced Italian beef, sweet peppers and Giardinaira, and instead of tomato sauce, they ladle the Italian beef "gravy" - the juice the beef is cooked in.  Although it sounded intriguing, it didn't sound like anything I wanted to try that evening. 

I was seated at one of the big booths along the wall and given a menu and I immediately ordered a cold beer.  From the looks of the place - which was about 3/4's full - most of the people were going for the buffet or pizza.  It was $9.95 per person for the buffet and $6.95 for kids.  There were a lot of families in John's that evening.  Actually, that's a pretty good deal for a buffet.  Then again, I didn't see what was on the buffet. 

The young waitress brought me my beer and took my order.  I ended up ordering my standard sausage, pepperoni and mushroom thin crust pizza.  I wanted a small, but they start at "medium", or 12" for the size.  The waitress was pleasant enough, but you could tell she was pretty harried with all the tables she had to cover that evening.  In fact, she sort of forgot about checking on me to see if I wanted another beer (it was a long week and I was drinking fast).  

After about 20 minutes, my piping hot pizza came out to my table.  The waitress picked up the empty bottle of beer and said, "Would you like another one?"

Absolutely, darlin'!

When she brought the beer back, she asked, "Is there anything else that I can get you?"

I said, "Yes, in 10 minutes, check back with me because it's been a long week and I'm drinking beer really fast.  And I love beer with pizza."

She smiled and said, "Will do..."

Now, the thin crust pizza at John's Pizzeria was - well - average.  Maybe a titch above average.  The crust was light and the toppings were fresh.  The sausage was good with the big chunks of sausage that I like.  But they seemed to skimp on the amount of toppings.  I don't know if it was the sauce or what, but it just didn't have that "reach out and grab you" taste that I've found at other similar pizza joints around Chicago.  It was good, don't get me wrong.  But I've had pizzas on Chicago's south side that make me want to crawl back to.  

The waitress was a little more attentive to me after our little talk and she was right on top of things while I was eating my pizza.  I was able to finish five of the eight slices of the pizza and I had her box up the rest.  I had it for an early breakfast in my room at the hotel the next morning.  

With a healthy tip for the waitress, the bill came to a shade under $31 bucks.  John's Pizzeria was OK, but it was a little too bright, and a little too loud and chaotic in there with all the families having dinner.  I think I would have enjoyed it more had I been able to eat in the Hide Out Lounge, which, by the way, was nothing special in there, either.  All in all, John's Pizzeria was good, compared to most pizza places outside of Chicago; but only average compared to others in the Chicagoland region.

Baby Back Blues - Plainfield, IL

Before Tweeter closed their doors in the Chicago area this past fall, I was talking with a couple three salespeople at their Lincoln Park location one day about good barbecue in the Chicagoland region.  A couple of the guys were telling me about a place in far southwestern suburban Plainfield by the name of Baby Back Blues.  I made it a point to give it a shot one day.

In 1998, Ken Faught and Jim Howley opened Baby Back Blues in a small strip mall in suburban Plainfield just off of Interstate 55 on Highway 30 (see map).  Their concept was to serve some of the best Southern-style ribs this side of the Mason-Dixon Line.  While Chicago ribs are usually cooked with the sauce on them, Faught decided that he wanted to do his ribs "Memphis-style" with a dry rub put on the meat before slow cooking them in a smoker over hardwood charcoal.  Baby Back Blues then has a mild and a "hot" sauce that customers can put on the meat when they get served.

Here's a video courtesy of RibFest USA on Baby Back Blues featuring Ken Faught talking about how they do their ribs:

It was around 2 p.m. when I went into Baby Back Blues to get some lunch.  There were a couple people just finishing their lunch when I came in, so it was well past the noontime rush.  There was some good ol' time blues music coming from the speakers and a couple guys were behind the counter waiting to take my order.  The menu at Baby Back Blues is fairly simple - they only have baby back ribs, pulled pork, beef brisket and pulled chicken.  Along with that they have the regular barbecue joint fare of baked pinto beans, cole slaw, hand-cut fries and - as I was told - some supposedly outrageously great homemade macaroni and cheese.  

It didn't take me long to figure out that I wanted to try the pulled pork and the brisket.  But they were only available on sandwiches.  Well, I figured I could order them on sandwich buns and then just eat the meat.  That way I wouldn't get too stuffed. 

When I stepped up to order, the guy asked me, "Have you been here before?"  

I said, "No, I heard about this place from some other people.  I'm from the Quad Cities."

 He said, "Quad Cities!  That's quite a haul for barbecue!"

I said, "Well, I'm just in here on business and I went a few miles out of my way to try you guys out."   

I ended up ordering a small pulled pork sandwich and a small brisket sandwich.  I got a side of baked pinto beans and even though I'm not a big mac and cheese fan, I decided to give that a try, as well.  

The other guy behind the counter said, "Hey, since you've never been in before, would you like a sampling of our pulled chicken and our ribs?"

Well, I certainly couldn't say no.  I hadn't had breakfast in anticipation of having barbecue for lunch, so I was fairly hungry at that point in time.  

While Baby Back Blues isn't all that big - it seats, maybe 40 people - it's still a nice little place for being in business for 10 years.  The smokey and mouthwatering smell of barbecue permeated the place, but it wasn't overwhelming to say the least.   The only drawback to the place was that it didn't serve alcohol.  That's a two-point demerit in my book.  However, I was told that you could bring your own beer into the place, if you liked.  The one point was put back on the scoresheet.   If you're a regular reader of Road Tips, you know that I think a barbecue joint without beer is a travesty. 

The guy brought a couple plates of food to the counter for me.  I got a bottle of the mild and a bottle of the hot sauce from the counter.  Later, I found out that you were supposed to fill some plastic cups with the sauce and take them to the table.  OK, rookie mistake. 

I will say the ribs were very good.  Nice, tender, still juicy and a very good flavor with the rub.  I also liked the pulled pork, but was completely in love with the brisket.  I'm not a big fan of barbecued chicken, but like the pulled pork, it was moist, tender and flavorful.  The beans were nothing special, even after I spiced them up with the hot sauce - which wasn't very hot, in my book.  But the mac and cheese side was awesome!  It was cheesy with a great buttery aftertaste.  Whoever told me the mac and cheese was great wasn't kidding.  

Considering the hype the guys from Tweeter were giving Baby Back Blues, I was sort of expecting to be let down with the whole experience.  But it was everything they said it would be and I was very pleasantly surprised with the food.  When I was leaving, one of the guys said, "So, what did you think?  Give me your honest answer."

I said, "It's simple.  I'll be back in someday..."

Ed n' Joe's Restaurant and Pizzeria - Tinley Park, IL

I'm always a little leery of the results of people polls that tout restaurants.  I've found that many of the winners are of a direct result of ballot box stuffing by the businesses that win.  When I found a place called Ed n' Joe's Restaurant and Pizzeria being named the best pizza place in the Chicagoland area by Citysearch readers in 2007, I thought it may be one of those restaurants where the ballot box was stuffed in their favor.   Recently, I just happened to be on the south side of Chicago one evening and I decided to check out Ed n' Joe's.

(As an aside, the 2008 Citysearch winners for best pizza in Chicago have been named and this year Home Run Pizza was voted as the best by readers.  While Home Run Pizza is good, it's no where close to some of the great pizzas I've found on the south and west side of Chicago over the past couple of years.  Home Run Pizza is on par with Godfather's Pizza here in Iowa and other parts of the Midwest.  Godfather's is good pizza, too.  Not great, but good.)

Ed n' Joe's has been in existence since 1961 in suburban Tinley Park.  The current owner, Michael Clark, is the son of one of the original owners of Ed n' Joe's.  He got his start in the restaurant when he was 13 years old, washing dishes, busing tables, doing whatever needed to be done to make a go of the place.  Over the years, Ed n' Joe's became a full service restaurant serving sandwiches, salads and entrees including fish, meat and pasta dishes. 

I pulled into the parking lot behind Ed n' Joe's (see map) around 7:30 and went in the back side door.  That took me directly into the bar area.  I thought about sitting at the bar, but there was a guy and two women sitting there who were extraordinarily loud.  I stood at the hostess stand near the entrance of the dining room and waited for a table.  The hostess seated me at a booth near a table of four couples who also were very loud.  One of the guys had a piercing laugh that literally scared me a couple times because it was so loud. 

Oh well, so much for a relaxing evening having dinner.  I got a menu from the hostess and ordered up a beer while I looked to see what I wanted.  Well, I knew what I wanted - Citysearch voters said they had the best pizza in the suburbs, so I needed to try one.

The waitress came back and I ordered my standard thin crust, sausage, pepperoni, and mushroom pizza.  She asked if I wanted any bread sticks or "scmods".  I said, "What's a scmod?"  She explained they were an appetizer of bread dipped in Italian beef broth, then baked in an oven with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.  I said, "Man, that sounds sinful and great, but I want to try the pizza tonight." 

It wasn't long where the loud couples were leaving, and then another large family left the dining area, so it quieted down considerably.  I sat reading my Chicago Tribune and enjoying a cold beer, relaxing after a long day of appointments. 

About 20 minutes after I ordered, my pizza showed up.  The pizza pictured on the left was not my pizza, but it has a very close resemblance to the pizza I was served.  The crust was thin, flaky and flavorful.  The toppings were excellent - the sausage chunks were huge and very tasty, the pepperoni was great and the mushrooms fresh.  The sauce was sweet and tangy - very, very good.  The pizza as a whole was very, very good.  I was pleasantly surprised.

(Man, I have go to stop writing these blog entries on an empty stomach!  The above picture of an Ed n' Joe's pizza makes me want to crawl to Tinley Park right now to get one.)

This time the readers of Citysearch didn't steer me wrong.  I was very impressed with Ed n' Joe's Pizza.  The restaurant was very nice, the service was good, the pizza was great.  I look at this as another very good south side pizza restaurant - one of many I'm beginning to find in the Chicagoland area.  While it may not be the best I've had, it was still damn good. 

Sweet Baby Ray's - Elk Grove, IL

Since 1985, Dave Raymond has been making his distinctive barbecue sauce that was gleaned from a long time family recipe.  In the mid-90's, along with Raymond's brother and a close friend, they began to market the sauce, called Sweet Baby Ray's, a name that Raymond's older brother gave him during pickup basketball games when they were younger. 

Over the years, Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce showed up on grocery shelves across the Midwest.  It has now grown to be the second best selling barbecue sauce in the nation.  To be quite frank with you, Sweet Baby Ray's sauce is pretty middle of the road, if you ask me. 

However, a few years ago, Raymond sold the sauce business.  He continued to do catering, and participated in the annual "Taste of Chicago" food festival in Grant Park.  In 2005, Raymond opened his first barbecue place - Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue - in suburban Wood Dale, IL (see map).  A couple years later, Raymond opened a second location in suburban Elk Grove (see map).

Raymond employed chef Paul Papadopoulas to oversee the menu at his restaurants.  Papadopoulas worked as an intern at NoLa,
Emeril Lagasee's famous New Orleans restaurant.  Papadopoulas eventually made his way to Chicago and worked as a chef at the Heaven on Seven restaurants.  When he hired an intern who turned out to be Raymond's nephew, he found out that Raymond was looking to open a barbecue restaurant.   Papadopoulas contacted Raymond and became the executive chef for Sweet Baby Ray's.  Papadopoulas brought along a number of Cajun recipes with him to go with the barbecue menu. 

It was a weekday evening when I was in the western suburbs of Chicago recently.  I was looking for someplace new to give a try and I remembered seeing a Sweet Baby Ray's when I was driving near the hotel.  Even though I'm not a big fan of their sauce, I wanted to give their barbecue a try.  I ended up at the Wood Dale location and went inside for some food.

Sweet Baby Ray's Wood Dale location is pretty small, it only seats 36 people.  (As an aside, I understand they've purchased property next to the Wood Dale location and are looking to expand the restaurant.)  You order from the menu at the front counter and they'll bring it to your seat. 

In addition to their barbecue platters, Sweet Baby Ray's sells a number of specialty sandwiches, including a burger, pulled pork sandwich, a shrimp po' boy, and a Cuban sandwich.  And some of their side dishes were pretty interesting.  In addition to the normal sides you find at most barbecue places, they also had red beans and rice, green chile macaroni and cheese, and a Cajun-style creamed corn dish. 

I ordered the combo plate of brisket and pulled pork with a side of their baked beans and cole slaw (although the green chile mac and cheese sounded interesting).   A piece of corn bread also came with the meal.  I'm not big on corn bread, but it came with it so I took it.  I got a cold beer while I waited at my table for the food.

About ten minutes passed before they brought out my dinner on a plate served on top of a tin tray.  I wouldn't say the portions Sweet Baby Ray's served were huge, but ample enough for that evening.  The beef brisket was tender and flavorful.  And I liked the pulled pork, as well.  The beans were OK, at best.  I added a little bit of the Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce to the beans to try to give 'em a little bit of zip, but it didn't help.  And the cole slaw was also OK, but nothing special.

Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue was good.  Not the best I've ever had, but it was acceptable for the Chicago area.  I don't know if they have any other flavors of Sweet Baby Ray's sauce.  Something a little more spicy would have given the food a little more flavor.  But on it's own, the beef and pork were good.  My recommendation is to give it a try, but not to go out of your way to do so. 

Lou Malnati's - Naperville, IL

Lou Malnati's is a Chicago area institution.  While they weren't the first to do deep dish pizza, they are arguably the best among all the high profile local chains.  While places like Burt's and Pequod's may have a better deep dish pizza, Lou's is consistently the best among the high profile places in the city.  And there is a family lineage between the first and the best.  Here's the story:

Everybody in Chicago knows that Ike Sewell opened the first deep dish pizza restaurant in Chicago - Pizzeria Uno - in 1943.  Sewell came up with the concept of the deep dish pizza, but his chef, Rudy Malnati, is the one who came up with the first true design of the deep dish pizza.  To this day, Pizzeria Uno disputes that claim, but a 1955 article in a local Chicago area newspaper backs up the Malnati's claim that Rudy was the originator of the deep dish pizza. 

Here's a picture of a Pizzeria Uno pizza, the original deep dish pizza.

Rudy's son, Lou, helped his father at the original Pizzeria Uno in the 40's. and managed Sewell's second restaurant, Pizzeria Due, in the 50's and 60's.  In 1971, Lou Malnati left Sewell's pizza places and with his wife, Jean, they opened up the first Lou Malnati's in the Lincolnwood area on the north side of Chicago.  The place was an immediate hit with the local residents and the Malnati's opened up a second restaurant in Elk Grove Village.  While that location proved to be less of a hit with the locals, it eventually began to turn a profit and opened the door to more expansion across the Chicagoland area.

Unfortunately, Lou Malnati (left) contracted cancer and died in 1978.  His son, Marc, was just out of college and he joined the company to run the day-to-day operations.  A few years later, younger brother Rick joined the operation and worked with the company for 15 years before becoming a successful Chicago-area high school basketball coach.   There are now 28 locations in the Chicago area with three restaurants in Chicago and seven restaurants in the suburbs, and 18 take-out only places throughout the region.    

With all that said, I visited the Lou Malnati's location in downtown Naperville (right) recently one evening  (see map).  Being stuck in the Chicago area on a Friday night, I thought I treat myself to a Lou's pizza.  There's just something about a Lou's pizza that I like over the other deep dish or stuffed pizzas I've had the other local chains.  I don't know if it's their tangy sauce made out of specially chosen California plum tomatoes or the tremendously fresh mozzarella cheese.  I don't know if it's the crust (of which they make a butter crust available upon request) or the secret sausage blend the Malnati's make.   All I know is that for a local chain, the pizzas are damn good.  

And a lot of other people agree with me as Lou Malnati's is consistently chosen as the best pizza by fans voting in polls in local publications and on local internet guides.  I've yet to go from one Malnati's location to another and have any deviation from the signature taste of a Malnati's pizza.  

I ordered up my standard sausage, pepperoni, and mushroom with the butter crust from my waitress who tried to give me a menu, but I knew what I wanted.  And after a long week and an especially long day, I needed multiple beers.  

I've eaten at the Naperville location once before, but I will sometimes stop there on the way out of town to pick up a "Lou's To Go" to bring back home for Cindy and I.  I usually order a large when I get it to go, but when I eat in at a Lou's I always get the small.  My hotel room that evening did have a refrigerator and a microwave, so what I didn't eat that evening would go toward breakfast the next day.  

Like with all deep dish pizzas, it takes a good 30 minutes to bake the pizza.  And that's fine - I had my Chicago Tribune to read and the waitress kept bringing me beer.  Not exactly the highest of excitement in the Chicago region on a Friday night, but it was exactly what I need at that point in time.  

And when my pizza was served to me, as always, the waitress uses a pizza trowel to put the first piece on the plate.  I let it cool down for a bit as it was piping hot out of the oven.  But from the first bite, I was in heaven.  It was a typical, consistent Lou's pizza.  It was a major spot hitter that evening.   I usually don't care for deep dish crust, but Lou's butter crust (which costs about a buck more per small pizza) is fabulous.  Butter and pizza - man, there's two ingredients for artery blockage.  

Lou Malnati's was recently in the news as being part of an effort by a retired Illinois air force man to send 3000 pizzas to the servicemen in Iraq.  Initially, he was going to send 300 pizzas, but the groundswell of support by people attending the annual Taste of Chicago raised enough money to send ten fold the orginal amount of pizza.  Even after going through military red tape and working with international shipper DHL, 3000 frozen "Lou's To Go" pizzas were delivered to seven bases in Iraq on July 5.  That's pretty cool.

While Burt's and Pequod's may have better deep-dish pizza, mainly because they are so eclectic in their pizza and surroundings, Lou Malnati's displays the consistency that is needed to succeed as a local chain in the Chicago area.  It doesn't matter where you are, a Lou's pizza is the same at any of the locations.  If you've never tried a true Chicago deep dish pizza, I suggest you start at Lou's and go from there.