Portillo’s Hot Dogs – Crestwood, IL

20 07 2008
  • 13130 Cicero Ave.
  • Crestwood, IL 60445
  • (708 ) 385-6400
  • Website
  • Menu
Portillos Hot Dogs in Crestwood. Real Chicago-Style Food!

Portillo's Hot Dogs in Crestwood, IL. Real Chicago-Style Food!

I seem to be spending about every weekend back in Chicago and this past weekend was not exception.  This time, however, I was in town for a concert and not work.  We got tickets to see Sugarland (for the third time!) at the Cedar Point Sportsmen Club in Peru, IL.  Peru is a little over an hour from Chicago, so we decided to stop at my girlfriend’s parents before and after the show.  On our way to meet my parents, whom we were going to the show with, we started talking about food.  We had a pretty packed day trying to fit everything we wanted to do in and we neglected lunch up until that point.  Since she’s more familiar with the area, she started running down places on the way to the meeting point.  After a few suggestions, I finally said, “What about Portillo’s?” 

Let me start by saying.  I LOVE Portillo’s.  This is Chicago style food at it’s best.  When I was in college, I interned downtown at Fox Sports Net Chicago.  The downtown Portillo’s is located a few blocks away and I used to walk there all the time.  Since I started dating my girlfriend, I take any opportunity I can to stop at this location on Cicero. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chicago, Illinois, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

Chuck’s Southern Comforts Cafe – Burbank, IL

13 07 2008
  • 5557 W. 79th St.
  • Burbank, IL 60459
  • (708 ) 229-8700
  • Website
  • Menu
Chucks Southern Comforts Cafe on 79th and Central in Burbank, IL

Chuck's Southern Comforts Cafe on 79th and Central in Burbank, IL

I ended up back in Chicago again this weekend for work.  I picked up another job working at Toyota Park in Bridgeview.  Initially, I was supposed to get a hotel room by Midway which is a stone’s throw from Bridgeview, so I got on-line to start looking to see if there were any 24-hour restaurants nearby.  My search brought to a dining out in Chicago message board.  It didn’t really answer the question I was looking for, but this thread introduced me to Chuck’s Southern Comfrots.

I was worried about construction in Indiana so I left much ealier than I needed to.  I ended up geting to Bridgeview about three hours before my 1:30 CST call time.  I drove around the area for a while hitting up malls, Best Buy’s and Circuit City’s looking for Mario Kart.  Finally, I got hungry and remembered there was a BBQ joint on 79th and Central and I was pretty close to there. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : BBQ, Big Ten Tour, Chicago, Illinois, Restaurant, Reviews

Frankie’s Beef, Pasta & Catering – Oak Lawn, IL

23 06 2008
  • Frankie\'s Beef5721 W. 95th St.
  • Oak Lawn, IL 60435
  • (708 ) 423-4444
  • Website
  • Menu

I love Italian Beef and there’s really only one place in the world to get it.  Italian Beef is a Chicago specialty.  Other places will try it, but the only places that get it right have roots in the Windy City.  My girlfriend and I did some grocery shopping for a cook-out we were going to later that night and needed to find something quick for lunch.  Her family eats at Frankie’s quite often and she knew it would be something that would be right up my alley. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chicago, Chicken, Italian, Oak Lawn, Restaurant, Reviews

White Palace Grill – Chicago

23 06 2008
  • White Palace Grill1159 S. Canal St.
  • Chicago, IL 60607
  • (312) 939-7167
  • Website (not working)
  • Menu

Guy Fieri let me down.  That’s painful to say out loud.  My girlfriend and I first heard of the White Palace Grill in downtown Chicago on an episode of Diner’s Drive-In’s and Dives about 24 hour diners.  I was working in Chicago this past weekend and since my girlfriend’s parents live in a Chicago suburb, she decided to come with me and take a long weekend.  We left Lansing around midnight on a Thursday night and got to Chicago a little after two a.m.  We took a detour into the city instead of just heading to her parents.  We’ve been to a handful of places featured on Triple D including two others in Chicago and figured if Guy went there, it must be good.  We were wrong.  Really, really wrong.

White Palace Grill is located just south of the Loop on Roosevelt and Canal Streets.  According to a friend of my girlfriend’s, venturing into this neighborhood at this time of night five years ago would have been scary.  It wasn’t quite a walk in the park now, but it wasn’t really bad.  We parked about a half a block from the diner and walked back.  There’s a huge mall with a lot of high end stores right next door.  The scary thing was all the people just loitering in the street and around the restaurant.  We made our way to the front door and someone behind the counter acknowledged us and told us to sit where we want.  There are two dining rooms.  When you first walk in, there’s the traditional diner setting with a counter and a row of booths along the wall.  Keep going back and there’s more of a dining room with tables and booths.  We sat in the front dining room in a booth along the wall.  The menus were already on the table, so we grabbed a couple and started looking over them.  A bus boy came by with water and wiped the table down.  After that, it was quite a while before a waitress noticed us.  This was just the start of possibly the worst service we’ve ever gotten at a diner. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : 24-Hour Diner, Chicago, Restaurant, Reviews

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