Mid-Michigan Dining

• 1190 W. Station St.
• Kankakee, IL 60901
• (815) 933-5315
• No Known Website
• No Online Menu

Blue's Cafe on Station Street in Kankakee, IL

If you watch ABC’s World News with Charles Gibson, Blue’s Cafe is a place you may actually heard of.  A few weeks ago (September 18 to be exact) Barbara Pinto showed up in Kankakee to do a Wall Street vs. Main St. story.  Blue’s Cafe was one of the places she visited to get the “regular Joe” insight into the financial crisis.

Blue’s Cafe is a spot that many people in the area automatically suggest when I ask for a local restaurant.  According to my brother, the food is ok, but the pie is to die for.  As I was waiting with my family for my niece to be born, my aunt mentioned she was hungry and hadn’t eaten all day.  Since I’m always hungry, I offered to go to “lupper” (the meal between lunch and supper) with her.  Since everybody always suggests it, I said “How about Blue’s?”

Blue’s Cafe is located on Station Street not far from the hospital.  It’s a very plain building with an old sign out front adorned with an old Pepsi logo and the words “Blue’s Cafe.”  Since we got there at such a wierd time, the dining room was fairly empty.  There are two dining rooms that probably used to be the smoking and non-smoking section before Illinois got smart and banned smoking in public places.  There’s also a lunch counter near the kitchen in the first dining room.

Blue's Cafe near St. Mary's Hospital in Kankakee, Il

My aunt and I grabbed a table in the second dining room and a waitress brought us water and a couple menus.  Since I had a big lunch, I wasn’t super hungry, but knew I needed to eat something not knowing when I would get another meal.  I ordered the grilled chicken breast sandwich and a Pepsi.  I thought the sandwich seemed awfully cheap.  Once I got my chicken, I realized why.  No fries.  No sides.  Just a sandwich.  That’s ok.  I didn’t need fries anyway.  The grilled chicken was actually pretty good.  It was caramelized in several places.  It wasnt’ huge, but filled the need.

My aunt ordered a chicken salad sandwich and a cup of chili.  The chili was brought out right away and she dove in with the oyster crackers served on the side.  It wasn’t a huge cup, but she’s really cold blooded and that chili warmed her up quick.  Her sandwich was served on wheat bread so you get the idea of the size.  She didn’t say anything about it either way and I didn’t ask any questions.

Even though Blue’s is known for pie, we both passed and headed back to the hospital to wait some more.  Blue’s was good diner food in a good atmosphere.  Everyone who was in there seemed to know each other.  Our bill was about $12 for the two sandwiches, chili and two pops.  Definitely not horrible.  Blue’s is a place I would go back for breakfast, but lunch was nothing outstanding.  Good solid staples, but not gonna knock your socks off.