Ralph and Lori Tour the Midwest

Oh, and if you're driving through MKE on July 17, your Kopp's Flavors are: 
 

Strawberry

A natural strawberry flavored custard with sliced strawberries

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Tastes like chocolate chip cookie dough! Made with Hershey's chocolate chips and cookie dough chunks
 

I have the code for Safehouse!!!!!!!!
 

Two Roadhouses for Ilija's.
 
So, who's coming down to Chicago on the 16th?
 
Buddy

BuddyRoadhouse


Two Roadhouses for Ilija's.

So, who's coming down to Chicago on the 16th?

Buddy

 
I *may* be able to, but probably won't know until that day. It all depends on work, the weather, traffic, and probably the location of the dining venue (places in the northern part of the metro are more likely prospects for me).

Unfortunately I won't be able to take part in the Meltonian Mayhem either day.  The 16th is a Monday and I'm a good 2+ hours away from Chicagoland, and I'll be golfing and grilling up north on the 24th.

The lovely and effervescent Ralph & Lori are just outside Cincinnati this evening before making their way up to Chicago on Monday.  Ralph has expressed a strong interest in some Chicago-style pan pizza.  As Burt's is closed on both Monday and Tuesday, we are relegated to "second best".  My original thought went to Lou Malnati's, but then I remembered my favorite kind of pizza, other than Burt's, is a stuffed pie from either Nancy's or Suparossa.  A quick internet check revealed both places are open on Mondays.  Other considerations finalized the decision to Nancy's in Niles.
 
For those not familiar, a Stuffed Pizza is baked like an actual pie; thin crust on the bottom, ingredients, including cheese in the middle, and another thin crust on top with a layer of tomato sauce on top of that.  The advantage at Nancy's is that they make both the stuffed pie and a traditional Chicago-style pan pizza.  We can order a couple different pies and compare.
 
The other advantage with Nancy's is their location.  Located on Golf Road in Niles, Illinois, within a mile or so of I-94, it's an easy on/off for anyone from Milwaukee who wants to join us.
 
Time has not yet been carved in stone.  We'll adjust based on Ralph & Lori's arrival time, but the current estimate is around 7:00-7:30pm.  So who wants to welcome the Pittsburghers to the Midwest?  This could be a cheap date on a Monday night, so leave your responses at the beep.
 
Beep.
Buddy
 
Nancy's Pizza
8706 W Golf Road
Niles, IL 60714
 (847) 824-8183

Is that Ralph time or Lori time?
I'm in, possibly for two!  See you then!

I probably won't be able to go, unless I can get out of the office a bit early. I should know by 3 pm or so.

YEAH! 
We're in for 4

Great! We're looking forward to seeing y'all.

We are just outside of Indianapolis now, assuming I've done my time zone calculations right, we should arrive at Nancy's right around 7.

See you there!

- Lori, posting as Ralph :-)

I'm still at work and won't get away for another hour or so. Unfortunately, that means I won't be able to make my way to Chicago this evening. I hope to meet Ralph and Lori someday, but today won't work after all!

The guest list reads like this:
 
Ralph & Lori - 2
BuddyRoadhouse- 2
ChiTownDiner - 2 (?)
irisarbor - 4
abe_froeman & Mr. Maki - 2
 
Reservation for 12 at 7:00-7:30pm. Anyone else care to join us?  Milwaukee folks?  It's north of the city...no heavy traffic...whaddaya say?
 
Nancy's address is seen above.  Everyone know where they're going?

Traffic has come to a standstill on I65 North of Lafayette. GPS now puts us there at 7:12, but until we actually get through this, we don't know our new ETA, sorry. We'll post again when we know, or call.

Ugh. It's currently a parking lot. :-/

Welcome to Chicago, Ralph.  And yes, "suburban" Chicago extends as far as Lafayette.  I know people who make the daily commute from there.  Crazy, right?
 
Buddy

Is sitting on I65 for an hour normal? We still don't know what's wrong, but we're thinking this isn't rush hour...

PS: ChiTownDiner, this one isn't my fault! ;-)

Oh you poor things! Actually sitting on I-65 is not normal
Sitting on I-80/94 is the usual routine LOL
(you have yet to encounter that stretch of happiness)
😓

We're waiting...

Okay, a two hour sit on the road was not part of our dream vacation. We're on our way, thanks to some help from Buddy, and will be there soon!

Yay!  They made it.  We had Pizza.  A bunch of people took pictures of the food.  I'll leave it to them to post pix.  I think everyone had a fine time.  We had three pies:
1. Spinach, Mushroom, Garlic, and Sliced Tomato
2. Sausage, Mushroom, Onion, and Green Peppers
3. Sausage and Onion
 
Everything was delicious and the third pie was timed perfectly to arrive at our table mere seconds before Ralph & Lori walked in the door.  They were as relieved to see the food as we were to see them.
 
Thanks to all who turned out tonight.  Next week at Ilija's should be just as much fun.
 
Buddy

This is what delayed us:
http://www.wlfi.com/dpp/n...through-cable-barriers

We felt enormously touched and honored that everybody waited for us. Thank you very much. You guys are awesome.

I just wanted to chime in and say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who came out tonight and waited so long for us. Y'all made our day! :-)
 
Oh -- the pizza was good too!

So what time did Ralph and Lori actually arrive?  Did you all go out for breakfast afterward?

Shortly after 9:00 pm...and they had a hot pizza waiting for us! 

got a goetta?

Ralph and Lori - Great seeing you guys, glad we could hook up on this leg of your trip!  Look forward to seeing you in CT!  CTD

We did get goetta at Camp Washington Chili.

Another couple of requests:

Is there a museum of modern farming that we might visit so that we city mice might lean things like the purposes of the farm machinery we see?

Is there a cheese tour we should seek out in Wisconsin? Our ideal would be a tour where we could meet a passionate master cheese maker with cheeses that aren't available to us in Pittsburgh.

A good master cheese maker, at least one worth his curd, should also be able to show you how to slice or cut the cheese!  Very important...

Ralph,  probably the best option would be to go to the John Deere Pavilion in Moline, IL.  They have interactive displays and provide information on all the farm machinery you'll be seeing.  If you go to www.deere.com and search for the pavilion you'll find all the pertinent information.  Moline is one of the Quad Cities and there is some good roadfood to be had as well, places like Largomarcino's (old fashioned ice cream parlor) and Harris Pizza (Quad Cities style pizza - a unique style) are two that come to mind.

Ralph, if you're in the Des Moines area you might be interested in Living History Farms.  And for cheese you might find these links useful:
 
http://www.wisconline.com/attractions/cheese.html
http://www.travelwisconsin.com/great_cheese_trail.aspx
 
Just about every cheese factory has a tour but some are more organized/restricted than others.  You might get special treatment if you walk into a factory, say you're from Pittsburgh, and ask which cows give milk and which cows give cheese.  Any cheesemaker worth his rennet will want to set you straight!

If you like Blue Cheese, it's worth going to Newton IA to check out the Maytag Blue Cheese Company.
 http://www.maytagdairyfarms.com/aspx/welcome.aspx