Restaurants you wish were in the City! (Chicago, Springfield: suburbs, rated)

[ajolotl]

Originally Posted by Mister Mappy

Another greasy spoon: Lorraine's at Chicago & Damen.

Mister Mappy -- last I saw you post you were scrumming with Promis1 a few months back. I thought he'd scared you off. Maybe I just haven't been paying attention.

[Mister Mappy]

Nah, he didn't scare me off. I usually posted from work, but they cracked down on that back in March. I'm on vacation this week.

[adamtrip]

Has anyone ever had Bojangle's? It's like KFC only way better, and they have the sweetest sweet tea!
Also, I second Zaxby's. It's pretty good.

[NearWestSider]

The suburban restaurant I miss the most is Palmer Place.

While there is no shortage of establishments with similar menus and lengthy beer lists in the city, Palmer's combination of beer garden and neighborhood vibe put it in a class by itself.

Of course, Chicago real estate being what it is, a similar establishment near downtown would have long since changed its name to "Il Posto di Palmieri" and its menu to $20 plates of noodles, $35 chicken marsalas (with truffles, so you don't feel like you are getting totally shafted), and $50 bottles of imported hooch wine.

[NavyGal00]

Originally Posted by adamtrip

Has anyone ever had Bojangle's? It's like KFC only way better, and they have the sweetest sweet tea!
Also, I second Zaxby's. It's pretty good.

BoJangle's is my number one guilty pleasure...the biscuits may weigh 20lbs from all the grease, but it is always my first stop when I am down in North Carolina...

[Drover]

Originally Posted by kamjah

oh, i'm not saying portillo's is bad. it's definitely tasty. but there are ton's of rundown shack-like spots in the city have much better of both. susie's for example. portillo's is a bit too mainstream chain to be the best.

in my experience, the older and more run down a restaurant looks. the better the food will be. because to me this says, this place has been sitting in this exact location forever making the locals happy doing what they do best..... making food that turns brown paper bags translucent.

Except for their fries, Susie's is pretty average-tasting food. Their selling point, aside from their downright curmudgeonly service like they're doing you a favor by being there (think Ed Debevic's except they're not joking), is the sheer variety of menu items and some pretty creative ingredient combinations. I dig their pita-burger, for instance.

I've honestly never had a bad Italian beef. Either I like them too much, or not enough, to bother trying to discern the subtle differences from one to the next. Portillo's, Buona, Mr. Beef, Al's, whatever. I'll eat 'em all, any of them just as gladly as the others.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Aenej4

does anyone know where to get fried pickles in the city? I will be in Chicago the first week of July and would like to find a place that has these!

Hooters has them (Wells and Erie), or for a higher-class experience, BluPrint's dinner menu has them, too (Merchandise Mart - Franklin and Kinzie) bluprint | restaurant & lounge - north lobby, merchandise mart chicago, il 60654

[emathias]

Originally Posted by edsg25

...
1. I never understood why Bob Chin's never made it in the city. I know there were differences between it and the Wheeling original (I believe Bob's son owned the spinoff on the river downtown), but the place is such a suburban classic, it should have been a Chgo success, too.

The one on the river had poorly prepared food and terrible, hauty service. I'm not that hard to please and very loyal when I like a place, but I went once, realized they were nothing like the original (in a bad way), and never went again. Obviously I wasn't alone in my experience. My biggest beef (no pun intended) was that I ordered a steak along with some seafood and when the "rare" steak came out medium-well, they tried to talk me into not sending it back, despite the fact they charged the same as other steak places downtown at the time for a smaller portion and I very well know how the heck a rare steak should look. Every place has a off night now and then, but that sort of "service" downtown (where the competition is fierce) with more than just a couple people and you'll never make it in the restaurant business.

Originally Posted by edsg25

2. Another strong-rooted suburban restaurant, Max & Benny's in Northbrook, didn't make it in Streeterville. M&B does a hell of a business on the North Shore, but perhaps that strongly Jewish feel doesn't translate well to the heart of downtown. I guess places like 11th Street are more suited to it.

Streeterville isn't really a Jewish enclave, and I don't think the demographics there support a Jewish deli on the novelty angle either.

Originally Posted by edsg25

3. Portillo's: they saturate the western and northwest suburbs and have a strong presence in the north. One River North location means Chicago is way under served by this best of the fast food places.

That place is almost always packed and I love the food, although from an urban planning standpoint that whole area leaves a lot to be desired. But they have my favorite fast-food fries, always golden, crispy outside and hot and fluffy inside.

Originally Posted by edsg25

4. not a restaurant, but we'll throw this one in because of the relationship: Sunset Foods. The Highland Park super market is the best there is in a high end yet complete super market. It is large and complete. And it really does exceed what TI has to offer. Sunset covers the northern end of the North Shore and inland to Libertyville rather well. Lots of former North Shore residents have moved DT and would love to see Sunset located there. One last....and even more unrelated...point. The southern end of the NS (Evnstn, Wilm, Sk) could easily support a Sunset, too. Another missed opportunity.

Fox & Obel, Potash Bros. and Bockwinkles serve the Near North in Chicago. But I agree that as a rule Chicago doesn't really have the kinds of nice local grocery stores you see in some of the other urban centers of the U.S. Even the local sites of the superchains don't do a very good job of building urban, which I think hurts them in the long run.

Portland, Oregon has some great examples of nice, urban groceries by Safeway (owner of Dominicks), so I know they have the know-how, I just wish they'd exercise it here.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by emathias

The one on the river had poorly prepared food and terrible, hauty service. I'm not that hard to please and very loyal when I like a place, but I went once, realized they were nothing like the original (in a bad way), and never went again. Obviously I wasn't alone in my experience. My biggest beef (no pun intended) was that I ordered a steak along with some seafood and when the "rare" steak came out medium-well, they tried to talk me into not sending it back, despite the fact they charged the same as other steak places downtown at the time for a smaller portion and I very well know how the heck a rare steak should look. Every place has a off night now and then, but that sort of "service" downtown (where the competition is fierce) with more than just a couple people and you'll never make it in the restaurant business.



Streeterville isn't really a Jewish enclave, and I don't think the demographics there support a Jewish deli on the novelty angle either.



That place is almost always packed and I love the food, although from an urban planning standpoint that whole area leaves a lot to be desired. But they have my favorite fast-food fries, always golden, crispy outside and hot and fluffy inside.



Fox & Obel, Potash Bros. and Bockwinkles serve the Near North in Chicago. But I agree that as a rule Chicago doesn't really have the kinds of nice local grocery stores you see in some of the other urban centers of the U.S. Even the local sites of the superchains don't do a very good job of building urban, which I think hurts them in the long run.

Portland, Oregon has some great examples of nice, urban groceries by Safeway (owner of Dominicks), so I know they have the know-how, I just wish they'd exercise it here.

no question that Chin's was run like a joke in the city, a far, far cry for the top notch operation in wheeling

[southsidehitman]

Originally Posted by Drover

Except for their fries, Susie's is pretty average-tasting food. Their selling point, aside from their downright curmudgeonly service like they're doing you a favor by being there (think Ed Debevic's except they're not joking), is the sheer variety of menu items and some pretty creative ingredient combinations. I dig their pita-burger, for instance.

I've honestly never had a bad Italian beef. Either I like them too much, or not enough, to bother trying to discern the subtle differences from one to the next. Portillo's, Buona, Mr. Beef, Al's, whatever. I'll eat 'em all, any of them just as gladly as the others.

they got some good fresh cut fries and shakes and their foot long philly is freakin awesome that place is exspensive though i went their with my girl friend and is was like 20 somthing bucks