Chicagoland Meet 'n Greet - The Main Event

On a cold and gray Chicago morn...23 Roadfooders gathered hoping to stay warm...and with the honorable, Buddy Roadhouse at the helm, we did.

Meeting at 11:00am, our first port of call was the Lawrence's Fisheries, a Chicago institution since 1950. Open 24/7, this fried seafood haven is situated in the grungy factory area between Chinatown and Pilsen - our towns mexican neighborhood.


The sign still sports congratulations to a hometown hero...


No question on the 24/7 with the lit Open sign...


Inside, crowds were light on a late Sunday morning...but Roadfooders were converging. Irisabor and her two sons were in the lot as we arrived and the Wisconsin plates on the vehicle in the lot meant one thing...parts of the Wisconsin contigency had arrived. Not sure if this scale is really in use, but it was pretty cool.


Sixteen frying baskets means this place sees some serious business at times...


Choices, choices, choices...


In addition to fried everything, there was a full range of sauces, sides and salads.


Roadfooders queing up for ordering...


Lots of sauce choices...


We began with two small soups, Jambalaya with Sausage on the left and Chicken Gumbo on the right. Both were smoking hot, thick and flavorful. Perfect for the strong Chicago winds that morning.


The Jambalaya was loaded with shrimp and a few pieces of sausage.


Next up, an assortment of fried seafood beginning with a half pound of scallops.


Clam strips...


A pound of Shrimp...


Whats left of a half pound of Popcorn Shrimp. All the seafood had a cornmeal batter with a hint of cajun seasoning mixed in.


Pre-packaged house labeled sauces included a mild cocktail sauce on the left and a slightly hotter, thin sauce on the right.


A less than perfect shot of a fried oyster which meant the pass around was in full swing!


The group in full swing...meeting, greeting, eating and sharing!


It was time to depart and we bid farewell to the Captain asking for his help in riding out the weather.
Lawrence's Fisheries
2120 South Canal Street
Chicago, IL 60616
Tel: 312-225-2113

www.lawrencesfisheries.com

Next, we're off to Chinatown!

Great start so far CTD! Those soups look especially good. Even though I recognize a few faces, it would be great if you could identify some of the Roadfooders in the pics when you get the chance.

Next up...Chinatown...and a record three stops! This triple play caused some gastronomic uneasiness, but we all continued on. Chinatown presents two difficulties - parking and choice, as there are choices every 50 feet in every direction. Our tour guide had laid things out pretty good so once parking was secured, we headed to two different Chinese bakeries about a quarter block apart. With the group accidentally splitting in two, this worked well as both bakeries were small and with half of our group inside along with a few regulars, space was at a premium.


Our first stop, the Chiu Quon Bakery.


Inside were rows and rows of pasteries and buns filled with mnay different types of fillings.












The JRPfeff contigency display the goods...


A coconut item of some kind...


A Curried beef roll...my favorite!


BBQ Pork Roll...


And through the window on the way out...
Chiu Quon Bakery
2242 South Wentworth Avenue
Chicago, IL 60616


We met the other half a few feet down the block outside of our next stop and their first one. We exchanged notes, sampled the crumbs and jumped into Chinatown stop number 2!


The Feida Bakery....


Similar choices...










Bean paste roll...before sampling...


After sampling...


Ham and Green Onion Roll...


Inside, but out of focus....


Apple strudel....



Feida Bakery
2228 South Wentworth Avenue
Chicago, IL 60616
Tel: 312-808-1113

More Chinatown coming up...

Did you like the way Chinese pastries taste?

Pastries, fried fish & Chinese? All I got was the Golden Arches and a Triple Steak Burrito.

Who is that man with the camera?



There he is again.



And again.



MFL & X1 had Chinese soup. I could say that's not my cup of tea. But I'd be lying.



Another Chinese delicacy.



Here's CTD scoping out dessert, before dinner.



That's all she wrote for tonight.

It looks like the toughest decision you had that morning is what pastrie(s) to choose!!

Yeah, I could tell it was COLD ; almost everyone's got jackets on in the group pic!
For our Daytona Beach "Bluemaxx" meat up, I got to wear my string bikini! *





*not quite

I want to thank everyone for being so accomodating when I signed up for this trip and had never been on a meet & greet before... I had to bail out at the last minute because my 1ST grandchild came 2 months early Sat night.... He weighs 2 lbs.... and we never thought he would be so anxious to join us this quick.. Hope you all had a great time.... it looks like you did and thank you for sharing, awesome looking eats!!!!!!

"It's not my cup of tea"

hahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa!!! choke

AAAAHHHHHHHHH

Another great report...thanks...keep it coming...am enjoying this!

I wish I could've been there but it just wasn't in the cards this time...and these photos aren't making me feel any better about it!

Then again, I think my day would've started and ended at Lawrence's Fisheries. With a menu board like that I don't see a reason to go anywhere else!

Brad

How were the chicken feet ?

Can't wait to see how the photos from Carnitas Don Pedro came out.

CTD did such a great job (and so quickly ) with the Chinatown pix that I don't have alot to add there, just a few.

Here is the Dim Sum Menu from Little Three Happiness where we ate ?lunch


Here are some of the delicious dumplings, and great shrimp toast we enjoyed,
as well as a platter of salt and pepper shrimp.


and as the food just kept coming, they were joined by a really interesting beef satay dumpling, on top.

After Chinatown, we moved on to Pilsen where half the group went to one taqueria,
and half of us braved the insane lines at Don Pedro Carnitas...
I mean all these people had to waiting this long for something good!


The crazy thing is there were two cow heads up on the wall and all they sell is pork!

At least we had some tunes to listen to...
as we got closer, we could see the reason for the lines as they.....

Rolled in the meat!

Oh the porky mountain of goodness...

and etheral crisy deliciousness.


All you did was tell the artist of the knife what you wanted, white meat, brown meat, ribs, ears, etc,
and it was yours, for a mere $5.80/lb...and so delicious!
They also sold packs of tortillas, and included tubs of salsa, chopped onions ans cilantro...
We had a chilly delicious picnic on Buddy's trunk!


And then on to little VietNam, and Ba Le,

Their sign...

Their hot food case....
Lots of sandwiches to go here, I think we were saving ourselves for Glenns...
Buddy broke out some very red very garlicky cured pork nuggets that I just wasn't "man enough" to try...
Although those who did said they had a hidden hot pepper in one end. Very tricky...
Next post on to Glenns.

Oh I love those beef dumplings...look delicious!!!!

Originally posted by irisarbor




So that's what Da Coach is doing these days!!

Brad

I always get kind of choice-struck in the asian bakery. So much stuff I'm not used to blows my mind. That pork . . holy pig.

Where to start? I think Lawrence's fishery was well covered so I'll leave that. How about more Chinatown pictures?

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Little Three Happiness pictures to come!

Oops! Sorry about the size.
I joined Photobucket late last night and I guess I better brush up on sizing correctly. CTD? I could use some pointers. Still, those pictures got my mouth watering 24 hours later!

Fantastic report! I never knew asians did creme puffs!

We BBQ maniacs have to ask:

Did you go to Smoque?

Test

[img]http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr66/MilwMike/IMG_0356.jpg?t=1226360122[/img]

I know everyone had a great time! Chicken feet....don't know about them. I know what they walk in.

If you would please--
At the the end of the report, please do a in-sequence recap of the places you visited , their addresses and web sites as available.
I'm coming to ChiTown to visit old friends and would like to duplicate your adventure!!

quote:

Originally posted by MetroplexJim
We BBQ maniacs have to ask:

Did you go to Smoque?

No Smoque this time around. The point of this trip was to explore some of Chicago's ethnic neighborhoods via the little known joints most frequented by the locals.

Lawrence's Fisheries was the one notable exception to the theme. It was originally meant only as a starting point, an easily found landmark with a big, free parking lot. Once we all arrived however, the magnetic draw of freshly fried seafood was too much to resist.

Between the 19 or 20 of us we quickly consumed several pounds of shrimp; both whole and popcorn, scallops, oysters, and clam strips, along with gumbo and jambalaya, and who knows what else.

The early distraction, while quite tasty, may have cost us our visit to Humboldt Park, the one neighborhood we had to drop due to time constraints. Oh well, no Jibarito for you! Of course that gives us one more reason to do it again.

Great photos from all! Thanks to all who participated; hope you had a great time!

Buddy

quote:

Originally posted by Foodbme
If you would please--
At the the end of the report, please do a in-sequence recap of the places you visited , their addresses and web sites as available.
I'm coming to ChiTown to visit old friends and would like to duplicate your adventure!!

No problem Foodbme. Of course, if you go to the thread that started this whole thing,

http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=31152&whichpage=4

you'll find the rough schedule there. We did a pretty good job of sticking to that itinerary, with the only exception being the missed spots in Humboldt Park. If you have no time issues, I highly recommend checking out either one or both of the restaurants listed.

Buddy

P.S. The other exception may be Sun Wah BBQ in Little Vietnam. The city of Chicago suspended their operating license one day after a big celebratory dinner held by the LTHForum membership awarding Sun Wah a Great Neighborhood Restaurant Award. They've been in there diligently cleaning up, working hard at getting reinstated. By the time your trip rolls around they might have reopened.

B.

Chinatown continued...

After two stops at Chinese Bakeries, it was on to a more traditional stop and a place to sit down and slow the pace a bit. We had come out of the box smoking - 20 hungry folks hell bent on trying everything and had knocked off three stops in less than 90 minutes. Now was a chance to pause, reflect inward, warm up with some tea, be one with your Chicken Feet....and then continue eating.


On the walk around the corner, a shot of the gate.


A pretty cool looking building...


A passing window indicating attempts being made at all food groups...


Fresh fruit smoothies...


More fruit...


And finally, after what seemed like a eternity, we finished the 100 yard treck and arrived at our 4th destination...


Our table went the Dim Sum way and added an order of egg rolls and the Salt 'n Pepper Shrimp, a local favorite. You can see them added in to the list. "Little" Three Happiness is a small place to begin with, and our group pretty much filled it up! We were back to back and ebow to elbow. Even more fun!

A lot of the pictures were shared above, here's a reacap...


Each table has a sauce selection of its own, and a few more came out with the dishes.


Shrimp toast...




steamed pork buns...




Pork dumplings that typically are called Shumai in other locations...


Shrimp dumplings...


And tonight's STAR of the Show, "Little" Three Hapiness's very own Salt 'n Pepper Shrimp! Killer!


Beef dumplings on the top...


And further proof the Chicken Feet were consumed...



The Wisconsin contingency occupied the window table...must have known someone...


Two more tables in the center and left, rear...


And JRPfeff, most likely smiling before he finished off the chicken's feet!

It was about this time my cellphone rang...and to our delight, it was The Traveling Man motoring in from St. Louis. I went outside and there he was, driving around the area looking for parking. A few directions and he was in the group within 5 minutes. Just in time for....


...the check! $43.00 for all that food...not bad. Plus, we ate about half, and then sent the plates table to table as did the other tables. Whew, glad we had a little rest.

"Little" Three Happiness
209 West Cermack
Chicago, IL 60616
Te: 312-842-1964

From Fried Seafood - to a Chinese Triple Play - and now, on to Pilsen, our town's Mexican neighborhood.

Chili paste with Garlic sounds good to me. However, I have never seen a jar like that with the spoon stuck out the top.

quote:

Originally posted by susanll

Chili paste with Garlic sounds good to me. However, I have never seen a jar like that with the spoon stuck out the top.

We all checked that out after Irisabor spotted it...keeps the spoon from falling all over the place. It really keeps things neat and clean!

Pilsen began as the second Chicago settlement area for immigrating Czechs. As migration patterns and jobs took them west to Cicero and Berwyn especially to the giagantic Western Electric plant, Pilsen was settled by the more newly arrived Mexican population. Of course, this took years and one of the more interesting architectural notes is the street replacement many years ago raised the streets for improved drainage. This created first floors of homes that are now a full or half floor below street level. When walking in the neighborhood, this really is apparent and interesting to note.

Our first Pilsen destination was the Carnitas Don Pedro.




Where parking infractions got you thrown in the pile of meat shown above...


This Neon - Signman, you out there? - sort of set the tone as this is an all meat place all the time.


The window shot with cleaver in hand...they were slicing and a dicing!


I couldn't beleive how much Tripe was getting hacked up...

But the warm glow of the neon also served as a beacon...

...for our very own host, Buddy Roadhouse on the left and the Gooey Butter Cake man himself, all the way from Melbourne via Indy and St. louis - Roadfood's very own, The Travelin Man!
Disclaimer - no actual Roadfooder's are portrayed by the neon lit animals above. Any resemblance to those living or dead, or either of the gentlemen below is purely coincidental.

Now, from the descriptions and pictures above, you may have realized this place was one happening little cantina. There were well over 100 people inside, 75% of which were in a line that went out to the alley. Not having eaten in 12 minutes...a small splinter faction ventured down the block about 6 store fronts to...


Taqueria Iguala.


Not for the weak of heart...steel bars and Menudo!


The menu was simple...there's the lone customer...one employee...no piles of meat...no cleaver...


The Carne Asada Taco...simple with chopped onion and cilantro as its only garnish.


and a Chorizio Torta to round things out...


My brother had an order of the chips and beans...

After a 45 minute warm-up and some grub...it was back down the block just as Buddy and the remaining Roadfooders emerged with a To Go Shopping Sack! It was into the parking lot despite 35 degree temps and 20 mph winds. Everything was delicately placed on Buddy's trunk and the feasting began...




Not much conversation now..


Meat - note the beautiful table cloth!






MilwFoodlovers in the black leather coat surveys the situation for his next conquest...

Carnitas Don Pedro
1113 West 18th Street
Chicago, IL 60608
Tel: 312-829-4757

Taqueria Iguala
1131 West 18th Street
Chicago, IL 60608
Tel: 312-226-0566

The cold really started to hit home as did the fat that we had hit 6 spots and were on a tight schedule. Humboldt Park for Cuban and Peurto Rican were eliminated and we were off for a 20 minute ride north to Little Vietnam.

Six down, three to go!

Little Vietnam - I had not been to this area before but had read alot about Ba le Bakery. With the weather and number of stops, I was really hoping this stop would stay on the itinerary. My reward...




Lots of new food items...I was really lost at first.






The green bundles were sausages - and before we left, an employee stocked about 100 of them. Must be a good seller. The little packages of red things...were finger food type of dish that I'm hoping some one will explain better. There was pork, pork skin, fresh raw garlic and 1 - 2 other ingredients. It had a nice little kick.


Close-up.


Roadfooders and locals que on up...


After asking the counter girl, she indicated #1 and #9 were the most popular and next to each other on the picture board.


here's the pair, with the #1 on the right - Ba Le Original - sliced patty pork roll, ham, headcheese, pate, mayo, carrot, radish, jalepeno, onion and cilantro. What a great mix all built on a crispy roll that was to die for. The #9 was BBQ with many of the accompanments of the #1. Not quite as good as the Original or Special, but glad I tried it.


#1 - partially sacrificed for the cause...


Lots of help in the kitchen making the to go dishes.


Washed down by a Canteloup Smoothie...very good!


And paired up with an even better flavor...an avacado smoothie on the right!

This was a fun spot...really different for me and one I'll go back to try a few more items.
Ba Le Bakery
5018 North Broadway
Chicago, IL 60640
Tel: 773-561-4424

www.balechicago.com

We never got everyone together...but here's 13 of the 20 or so at this stop.



Well, we had gotten through the first 7 stops and had the double header of Glenn's Diner and Margies Candies and Ice Cream to go.

Here are a few of my shots from Pilsen.



While Buddy and Irisabor were waiting in that 45 minute line for that meat at Carnitas Don Pedro the rest of us slipped a few doors down to Taqueria Iguala. Between the tacos, tortas, and warm places to sit, I think this was the better choice. I shared Carne Asada, Chorizo and Al Pastor tacos with my family. I forgot to get a picture, but this is some of what others had to eat.





Coming out of the warm taqueria here was Buddy serving his score.



This is one of the tacos that was put together on the trunk of the Toyota.



It was worth having Buddy wait.

We also got some chicharones!

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Before we left Pilsen, Gyp found a street vendor serving elote, sliced corn off the cob mixed with mayonnaise, lime, Mexican "parmesan" cheese and topped with chili powder

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I do want to post one picture of LTH's BBQ pork stuffed pancake; it was that good!

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Ba Le's 3 menu boards for Bahn Mi

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My camera battery gave out at Glen's but not before I got a picture of my 4.5 oz. shrimp cocktail shrimp!

[img]http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr66/MilwMike/IMG_0412.jpg?t=1226372957[/img]

or their take on escargout, "shrimp cargo".

[img]http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr66/MilwMike/IMG_0409.jpg?t=1226373082[/img]

gustpas, CTD, irisarbor and CSD survey the crowd.

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Batteries and brain both dead, we shuffled across the street to Margie's. Every one in our group moaned they couldn't eat one more bite. Then Traveling Man appeared with a box of St. Louis treats, gooey cake. One brave soul tried a sliver and started moaning, "OMG, is this good"! Someone else said, "Well I'll try some too". They started shivering and doing what I imagine was the St. Vitus dance.
Soon everyone tried slivers and before Johnny Olson said "Come on down", 11 slices of the most incredible dessert I've ever tasted disappeared ( (and without a picture!)

Thank you, thank you, Traveling Man.

MFL - I was looking around for the elote. i've never had it and ws hoping to try some. Did you like it? I traded TTM a dozen kolaches for a dozen Gooey Butter Cakes. Just had the White Chocolate Rasberry...those are pretty good!

CTD, I hate to say it but I'd trade 24 Racine Kringle's for 12 gooey cakes; maybe because it was new to me.
The elote was great but it's better when corn is at its peak. The elote fella was just outside Don Pedro's.
I'm looking forward to more pictures from inside Glen's.
My wife overate today feasting on various Bahn Mi's.
What a great day.
Great food, great company.
Thanks to all who worked so hard making this day the success it was.

OMG, Chicago, what a great city! and what an epic trip report!

Great report...enjoyed...thanks!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by ChiTownDiner

We never got everyone together...but here's 13 of the 20 or so at this stop.

For those keeping score at home we are, left to right:MilwFoodlovers, Mr. Maki, Gyp, abe froeman, Mrs. Roadhouse, BuddyRoadhouse, irisarbor offspring #1, irisarbor, ChiTownDiner, irisarbor offspring #2, JRPfeff offspring, ChuckL50, and JRPfeff.

MFL. what sort of batter was used for the BBQ pork pancakes? Ive never seen anything like it. My guess is a mung bean paste of some sort. Surely not like any chinese pancake Ive seen on a MooShoo before.
britt

quote:

Originally posted by ChiTownDiner
MFL - I was looking around for the elote. i've never had it and ws hoping to try some. Did you like it?

Typically, the street vendors use the frozen corn on the cobs that you get at the supermarket. They overboil them leaving the corn soggy and nearly tasteless. It's still worth trying sometime, but you can make a fresher, tastier version at home with this simple recipe:

6 ears of Corn, stripped
2 TBSP. Butter
1 small Lime cut in half
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
4-6 oz. grated Cotija Cheese
2 tsps. Chili Powder
salt, sugar, black pepper to taste

Sautee the corn kernels in the butter. Add sugar, salt, and black pepper to taste. Remove from heat and spray lime juice from half the lime over the corn. Taste. Add more lime juice to taste. Mix in the mayo. Spread mixture into a medium sized baking pan and cover with the shredded cotija cheese. Dust with the chili powder. At this point you can either serve as is, or you can bake the dish at 350 degrees until the cheese on top melts.

Enjoy,

Buddy

P.S. In fact Gregg, next time we get together I'll make you a batch. How's that for motivation to do another meet 'n greet.

B.

quote:

Originally posted by brittneal
MFL. what sort of batter was used for the BBQ pork pancakes? Ive never seen anything like it. My guess is a mung bean paste of some sort. Surely not like any chinese pancake Ive seen on a MooShoo before.
britt

I think they use the word "pancake" very loosely in this dish. The texture was more gelatinous than anything else. Nothing at all like a mushu pancake.

Buddy

quote:

Originally posted by BuddyRoadhouse

quote:

Originally posted by ChiTownDiner

We never got everyone together...but here's 13 of the 20 or so at this stop.

For those keeping score at home we are, left to right:MilwFoodlovers, Mr. Maki, Gyp, abe froeman, Mrs. Roadhouse, BuddyRoadhouse, irisarbor offspring #1, irisarbor, ChiTownDiner, irisarbor offspring #2, JRPfeff offspring, ChuckL50, and JRPfeff.

Great Pic!!!!!!!

I'll only join you all in ChiTown this summer if Buddy takes me to a scarey part of town and subjects me to a bunch of jibberish speaking locals while feasting on the back of his sedan.

Hey--It's what i know .

My goal is to get to Burts on a Sat. this spring. Plus other places.
Be afraid. VERY afraid.

Jerry
jjjrfoodie

Jerry,

Eating off the back of my car in a bad neighborhood is a typical day for me. It's how I pick my friends; if you can't work with my modus operandi, you can't roll with the Man From Roadhouse.

After our dinner at Alabama Fish Bar, you my friend have passed the test with flying colors!

Come to Chicago and I will take good care of you!

Buddy

quote:

Originally posted by tracy20

I want to thank everyone for being so accomodating when I signed up for this trip and had never been on a meet & greet before... I had to bail out at the last minute because my 1ST grandchild came 2 months early Sat night.... He weighs 2 lbs.... and we never thought he would be so anxious to join us this quick.. Hope you all had a great time.... it looks like you did and thank you for sharing, awesome looking eats!!!!!!

Congratulations on your birth of your Grandson!!!!

A tiny baby. How is the little guy doing?

Buddy's right about the pancakes. I would say they were fresh rice noodles, sometimes called chow fun noodles. They were 100% delicious. The sauce was not simply soy sauce and I wish I knew what went into that. LTH was the grand slam for me in a day of home runs every at bat. Here's the other side of the noodle menu.
[img]http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr66/MilwMike/IMG_0380.jpg?t=1226404354[/img]

One more "big" picture of LTH salt and pepper shrimp

So many great photos from every one!
I'll add a few of my Glenn's photos since there aren't too many of those yet...
When you walk in there are two things you notice:
The chalkboards with whimsically named specials: (Simon N Garfinkel Tilapia Anyone?)




and the wall of cereal...(free seconds and thirds)

Here a photo of RF'er doing what they do best, socializing and taking pictures!

Some of what we had to eat...

NE Clam Chowder was more like Bacon Chowder, not that there's anything wrong with that....

which I followed with a crab cake appetizer.

Son #2 Had French Toast and Bacon (there is no shortage of bacon at Glenn's)

The Travelin Man had a pretzel coated walleye that he shared a taste of- this was great!


At the end of the day one very happy and very full irisarbor and twin (!) sons
(who still managed to eat an ice cream cone each at Margies, plus many slivers of gooey butter cake!)



Meantime Mrs. Roadhouse and Buddy just smiled at what he hath wrought!

quote:

Originally posted by BuddyRoadhouse

quote:

Originally posted by ChiTownDiner
MFL - I was looking around for the elote. i've never had it and ws hoping to try some. Did you like it?

Typically, the street vendors use the frozen corn on the cobs that you get at the supermarket. They overboil them leaving the corn soggy and nearly tasteless. It's still worth trying sometime, but you can make a fresher, tastier version at home with this simple recipe:

6 ears of Corn, stripped
2 TBSP. Butter
1 small Lime cut in half
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
4-6 oz. grated Cotija Cheese
2 tsps. Chili Powder
salt, sugar, black pepper to taste

Sautee the corn kernels in the butter. Add sugar, salt, and black pepper to taste. Remove from heat and spray lime juice from half the lime over the corn. Taste. Add more lime juice to taste. Mix in the mayo. Spread mixture into a medium sized baking pan and cover with the shredded cotija cheese. Dust with the chili powder. At this point you can either serve as is, or you can bake the dish at 350 degrees until the cheese on top melts.

Enjoy,

Buddy

P.S. In fact Gregg, next time we get together I'll make you a batch. How's that for motivation to do another meet 'n greet.

B.

I like your way of thinking...perhaps a TV Roadfood trip...featuring places that have been on TV - i.e., Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives, Check Please, etc.

We'd have Burt's, Paradise Pup, Wiener and Still Champion, Glenn's Diner and a host of others.

This is really cool getting a variety of perspectives on the same place--and I'm going to have to try elote at home.

Had a good time.
Thanks, everyone.

SO this is what Legends are made of......
Phenomenal!!!

So let me get this right. Travelin Man was with you and yet, every restaurant you tried was open? I wonder what went wrong right!

Great looking photos everyone. The only thing I like better than all the food photos are the photos of other people taking photos! Congrats to all of of you for a great event and especially to BuddyRoadhouse for a first class job of organizing everything!

Hats off to Buddy for putting this together. I had wanted to join one of the Chicago events, I sure didn't think it would be this soon. In just over 2 weeks Buddy planned this, got almost 2 dozen people together and successfully filled our mouths and stomachs. An absolutely amazing day. Next time I'll take Monday off so I can stay for dinner.

I like the TV Roadfood idea. I think a tour of Chicago's best Italian specialties would be another good one.

Jim

Glenn's Diner - The Final Frontier - As we pulled up in front of Glenn's Diner, we noticed Margies' Candies (and ice cream) right across the street. Since we were 15 minutes early, we decided to scope out what might be the last stop of the evening. Within minutes, we were stuffing ourselves with English Toffee, Rasberry Creams, Chocolate covered orange peels, Turtles, you name it. Now the plan was to finish at Margies after Glenn's, so I skipped the camera for round 1 at Margies. Big mistake as we had to leave Glenn's rather quickly to make a school play at 7pm.

We did run in to someone else thinking the same...


JRPfeff and family...


So across the street we went to the famous Glenn's Diner. How famous?


Glenn's will be on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on November 24th.


Menus on the wall and at your place setting...two breakfast menus, one served all day and a specials list until 3pm on weekends.


Lots of really fresh seafood...


The cereal box back bar...

http://windowsxp-privacy.net/?id=12434619123
Funky artwork everywhere...


And Roadfooders in all quadrants...




My brothers shrimp fed 6! At 1 for about $10, 2 for $16 and 3 for $21, it was fist sized.


A perfect pair...of crab cakes with 0% filler.


MilwFoodlovers got the last of the shrimp-cargo, but was most generous and gave me a wink and a nod to try one. Each shrimp was nestled in butter and garlic, covered in cheese and served with a great warm loaf of bread for perfect dunking. Many thanks!


Tiger shrimp poor boy...


Steak sandwich...with a great potato pancake!


Fried perch poor boy...


A great smoked mac 'n cheese...

At this point, we were watching the clock and wearing out. It had been a really fun day meeting new folks, renewing Roadfood friendships and trying some really interesting foods at 9 different stops! All in all, a great day. Thanks everyone for participating and sharing all the wonderful foods. I close with lasting memories...


Our host...Mr. Buddy Roadhouse...relaxing in the afterglow of a day well organized...thanks Buddy! Cigarette?


The crew of 24, some recorded, some under contract and unable to be photographed and our adopted food beneficiary...


And last, but never least, The Traveling Man emerging from the darkness of Chicago's streets with two boxes of St. Louis Gooey Butter Cakes! What a finish!
Glenn's Diner
1820 West Montrose Avenue
Chicago, IL 60613
Tel: 773-506-1720

www.glennsdiner.com

Margies' Candies
1813 West Montrose Avenue
Chicago, IL 60613

quote:

Originally posted by JRPfeff
I think a tour of Chicago's best Italian specialties would be another good one.

I will need more than 2 weeks notice for this one.

quote:

Eating off the back of my car in a bad neighborhood is a typical day for me. It's how I pick my friends; if you can't work with my modus operandi, you can't roll with the Man From Roadhouse.

You won't be sorry! Buddy knows how to do it up.

Great pics, guys. Glad you had a great time.

So, let me get this straight....you guys actually take the pictures off your cameras and write up the trip reports, huh? How does that work?

Actually, since we all departed, my life has been quite the whirlwind. I managed to spend a brief period at/going to both Chicago airports, helping the friend with whom I stayed plan a last-minute trip home, a side trip to visit another friend when I got into Orlando last night, and then a trip up to Tallahassee this morning (from which I just returned home - note the time) to watch our school's men's basketball team get CRUSHED in an exhibition game at FSU last night. On top of that, my boss expects me to be at work in about 5 hours. Hmmmm....wonder how that's going to work out?

I will do my very, very best to download the pics off my camera, upload the pics to the Internets and post something here soon. If nothing else, I think I got clear shots of the specials at Glenn's, which seemed to pose a challenge in that dimly lit room. I also have some good pictures from Margie's.

The other sad news that I have to report is that my leftover walleye will die a horrible death in my friend's fridge while she is out of town, as I forgot to grab it and the handful of chocolate covered almonds from Margie's out of said fridge upon departure Monday morning.

Fortunately, there is an outlet of Nuts on Clark in my terminal at Midway, and I was able to rectify the chocolate situation (at 50% off pricing!). Unfortunately, they were out of walleye.

quote:

Originally posted by The Travelin Man

So, let me get this straight....you guys actually take the pictures off your cameras and write up the trip reports, huh? How does that work?

Actually, since we all departed, my life has been quite the whirlwind. I managed to spend a brief period at/going to both Chicago airports, helping the friend with whom I stayed plan a last-minute trip home, a side trip to visit another friend when I got into Orlando last night, and then a trip up to Tallahassee this morning (from which I just returned home - note the time) to watch our school's men's basketball team get CRUSHED in an exhibition game at FSU last night. On top of that, my boss expects me to be at work in about 5 hours. Hmmmm....wonder how that's going to work out?

I will do my very, very best to download the pics off my camera, upload the pics to the Internets and post something here soon. If nothing else, I think I got clear shots of the specials at Glenn's, which seemed to pose a challenge in that dimly lit room. I also have some good pictures from Margie's.

The other sad news that I have to report is that my leftover walleye will die a horrible death in my friend's fridge while she is out of town, as I forgot to grab it and the handful of chocolate covered almonds from Margie's out of said fridge upon departure Monday morning.

Fortunately, there is an outlet of Nuts on Clark in my terminal at Midway, and I was able to rectify the chocolate situation (at 50% off pricing!). Unfortunately, they were out of walleye.

I've never known Nuts on Clark to be out of Walleye.

You Chicagoland people are the best. From the fist mention of a get together to the final Burp, this was a 1st class lesson on "Meat n' Greets". It was a hoot watching this all come together. Great trip and report.

TTM - Coincidentally, I awoke at 2:21:55, precisely as you hit your "Submit Reply", in a cold sweat thinking I had run out of Gooey Butter Cakes. Fortunately, there were two still under the pillow! Back to sweet dreams!

I'm jealous...you guys look like you had a great time....the perfect duo....good company and good food!!!

What a great report of food that I would not really expect to see covered in a Chicago tour. Are you sure that you guys weren't in California during a cold wave? The food was enticing and it looks like a fun time was had by all. It is great that you went beyond pizza and hot dogs.


==The crew of 24, some recorded, some under contract and unable to be photographed and our adopted food beneficiary...===

Who's the guy in the red jacket?

mark

mark