Restaurants you wish were in the City!

[PatM01231]

There's a restaurant down near Atlanta called The Vortex. I would love it if they had one of those up here.

[kamjah]

anyone else think Al's Italian Beef is overrated and overpriced?

[surlycue]

Originally Posted by kamjah

anyone else think Al's Italian Beef is overrated and overpriced?

I feel that way about Mr Beef. Well, maybe not overpriced but certainly overrated.

[dumpstermcnuggets]

Originally Posted by Jesse69

Can someone post where the nearest Red Robin and Jack In the Boxes are? - I never knew they existed here in the Chicago suburbs!

Man, I gotta do some mini suburban road trips for food!

Joe's Crab Shack has nice Crawfish Ettoufee, my favorite dish there!

There are NO Jack in the Boxes in the Chicago area at all. I've been told by my parents that many years ago(and probably before their infamous E-Coli outbreak made the national news), they did have locations in the Chicago area, including some within the city.

Nowadays, the closest JitB to Chicago(and IIRC) is south of Springfield, IL if you're going on I-55, since they still have a major presence on both sides of the Saint Louis area. Damn, now I'm remembering(thanks to this thread) that I've kept wanting to check Del Taco out, but their only Chicagoland location is in Oak Lawn. Maybe one day, I'll be in the right mood and have enough energy to do that drive from the north side, LOL....

[dumpstermcnuggets]

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.

Ah, Susie's is another city place I get rare cravings for. They have some items I like that are surprisingly good, such as the western burger. And of course, don't need to explain much about their hand-cut fries and big menu of shakes, including Green River shakes.

I wouldn't recommend using their drive-thru lane, if you aren't familiar with their menu and it was your first time going there. Their menu is hardly displayed at all on their drive-thru lane, except IIRC, their list of shakes.

[surlycue]

Originally Posted by dumpstermcnuggets

There are NO Jack in the Boxes in the Chicago area at all. I've been told by my parents that many years ago(and probably before their infamous E-Coli outbreak made the national news), they did have locations in the Chicago area, including some within the city.

Nowadays, the closest JitB to Chicago(and IIRC) is south of Springfield, IL if you're going on I-55, since they still have a major presence on both sides of the Saint Louis area.

I thought they re-built the mass murder one in Palatine at a location down the street.

ETA: Nevermind, that was a Brown's Chicken.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by dumpstermcnuggets

There are NO Jack in the Boxes in the Chicago area at all. I've been told by my parents that many years ago(and probably before their infamous E-Coli outbreak made the national news), they did have locations in the Chicago area, including some within the city...

Correct. Yes, there were locations in the city. I was a little kid when they started leaving Chicago. This was long before the 1993 outbreak however.

[Alicia Bradley]

Originally Posted by jdiddy

I can't say it bothers me that I've got to go to the suburbs for my fix of mediocre to poor chain restaurants.

[linicx]

Originally Posted by Drover

They have a few scattered out in the 'burbs if you're that interested in giving 'em a spin. IMO their burgers are nothing special, but the slushes and various shake-type items seem to be their main selling point.


Well, for those of us who live well up into the Northwest side, Skokie isn't that far to go.


Here you go: Red Robin and Jack In The Box.

The link JITB took me to California. I looked in the IL maps, the closest I could find is in Litchfield, south of Springfield on I-55. IL State Police District is there. I believe it is 45-60 minutes south of Springfield. The other are isn Southern Illinois and near East St. Louis. Before I made the trip I would use Yellow Pages, White Pages, Maps, and more - Switchboard.com and see if you can get a phone number. I would hate to drive 200 miles and find it out of business.