Every once in a while it pays to have a spouse who’s smarter than you.
Last week I was doing more “research”, looking for additional tasty stops for the Des Plaines tour. I had five solid picks, but I felt like we needed to have one more place, and it needed to be someplace that would clearly stand in contrast to the other joints we were visiting. I was thinking either Asian or Middle Eastern.
A few problems:
1. There aren’t any Middle Eastern places in Des Plaines.
2. The Chinese places in town are fairly ordinary and not worth including on the tour.
3. There
is a very good Vietnamese restaurant, but the portions are rather precious; not the kind of size that would suit a large group of foodies passing plates around and sharing.
I was resigned to skipping Asian cuisine and holding at five stops. Then Mrs. Roadhouse asked the question,. “Are you going to include an Asian market on the tour?”
“Well, yes there are at least three huge Asian markets we can choose from.”
“And they all have food courts don’t they?”
And just like that; Problem Solved. There’s
Mitsuwa, a Japanese market with a Nipponese focused food court. There’s
Assi with a mostly Korean-centric food court. And there’s
Super H Mart with more of a pan-Asian food court. Depending on time and appetites, we can visit one or all three.
With that frustration eliminated, the food itinerary (loosely) looks like this:
1.
Paradise Pup for incredible Cheeseburgers and custom Shakes
2.
Rinconcito Hispano for Pupusas and a wide range of other Salvadoran delights
3.
Rand Red Hots for Gene & Jude’s style Chicago Hot Dogs and Maxwell Street Polish with top-shelf fresh cut Fries.
4.
Los Tamales Oaxaquenos for banana leaf wrapped Tamales and a menu full of other regional Mexican cuisine not normally seen at other Taquerias.
5.
Mitsuwa,
Assi, or
Super H Mart (TBD) for international shopping and noshing (Pan fried Dumpling Fans, get ready to be in Heaven!)
6.
Mehanata, our grand finale dinner of Bulgarian specialties.
Because everything is in relatively close proximity, except for starting the day at Paradise Pup and wrapping up at Mehanata, we can juggle and adjust where we go and when based on the whims of the group.
Interspersed in the eating stops will be shopping options at
New York Bagel & Bialy and
Shop N Save (an Eastern European grocery with an extensive deli and a mind boggling selection of very reasonably priced items from all over Europe).
I’m also working on a couple of other stops that are totally unrelated to food eating and/or shopping. There will be some cost involved in one of those stops, so I’ll create a separate post to raise that issue.
I hope that answers the “itinerary” questions for now, and piques your curiosity and interest.
Buddy