Mid-Michigan Dining

The pulled pork and mac 'n cheese from Chuck's Southern Comforts Cafe as served at Chuck's Cajun Fest

A few weeks ago, I was in the Chicago area for a soccer game at Toyota Park.  While I was looking for places to eat, I came across Chuck’s Southern Comfort Cafe (review HERE).  I sent the website to my girlfriend since her parents live right down the road and when she saw the website, she thought I was sending it to her because of the ad for Chuck’s Cajun Fest which was on the front page.  We just happened to be heading to Chicago that weekend for a wedding and a stop in Chicago usually means a stop at her parents house as well.

We slept in Saturday morning since the fest didn’t start until noon.  It was nothing too fancy.  The event took place in the parking lot of St. Albert’s Church in Burbank, IL.  There weren’t a whole lot of people there when we got there but they just opened up for the day. 

The fest was a good mix of Mexican, Cajun, and BBQ.  On our first trip, both J and I got the pulled pork which is what I got a few weeks ago at the restaurant.  This sandwich was much smaller, but tasted the same.  They’ve won a couple awards for best BBQ sauce in the Chicago area and I would probably agree.  We also got a side of mac ‘n cheese to split which again, was just like what they served in the restaurant and was delicious.

My girlfriends parents also went with us.  They ended up getting the rib tips which they thought were too fatty and the jerk chicken wings which were pretty spicy.  On our second trip to the food tent, I got a muffaleta.  If you’ve never heard of a muffaleta, it’s a New Orleans original.  The bread was pretty disappointing and the sandwich wasn’t stacked very high.  There was just one slice each of salami, prosciutto, and ham.  Even the olive salad was pretty skimpy.  There was A LOT of mayo though.  Not being a mayo fan, it made the sandwich hard to eat.  I toughed it out, but it wasn’t the best muffaleta I’ve ever had. 

Both J and her mom got a peach cobbler and they both had good things to say about it.  One of J’s friends and her son also joined us for lunch.  I’m pretty sure she got the fish taco, which did sound or look good to me, but that’s just me.  She got a mac ‘n cheese for her two year old, but he was more interested in the band and eventually the bags games they had set up.

Chuck’s Cajun Fest was a pretty good time and if we were more interested in music, it sounded like they had a really good crowd Friday night for some beer and tunes.  We only spent about an hour or so there and it was a good chance for J to catch up with her parents and friends.  I ended up playing bags with the two-year-old…and he beat me.