There have apparently been cases of E-Coli found outside of Michigan. I was fowarded the following e-mail from the Michigan Department of Community Health
This afternoon, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has informed
the Michigan Department of Community Health that other states have E.coli
cases with the same genetic link as the 24 in Michigan. Those states include
Illinois (2), Ohio (2) and Oregon (1).
The south endzone of Memorial Stadium filled with fans as the Fightin' Illini take on the Panthers of Eastern Illinois
I finished up my weekend in Champaign at the newly renovated Memorial Stadium on the campus of the University of Illinois. Like many other Big Ten schools, U of I decided they needed luxury suites and to do so, they chopped their upper deck seating on the west side by quite a bit. The benefit for me is one of the best press boxes I’ve ever worked out of and a relocation of the camera platforms from a basket hanging off the upper deck that I had to climb over the rail to get to to platforms at the back of the concourse which is much safer and comfortable.
From the outside, the home of the Fightin’ Illini doesn’t look much different. The architects were able to keep the integrity of the building. Something that couldn’t be done a few hours north at Soldier Field in Chicago. Inside, the west side is a totally different building. When you first walk in to the stadium, you come to a huge open concourse area. Plenty of room for the thousands of fans who show up on a Saturday afternoon to walk around comfortably. The walls are lined with concession stands and souvenir kiosks. If your seats are in the lower bowl, you can easily get to those seats from where you enter. When the stadium was redesigned, they made it possible to walk from one side to the other which was something you couldn’t do just a few years ago. Read the rest of this entry »
Blues BBQ on Oregon St. in Urbana, IL near the University of Illinois
I made a mistake. I had planned on going to grab a couple slices of pizza after I got off work from a pizza joint that gets rave reviews. Instead, I chose to go get BBQ. That in itself is not a bad choice. The restaurant I chose was the bad choice.
I noticed Blues BBQ last night when I went to Manolo’s (review HERE) to get pizza. I almost went there then because it *looked* like a neat place. When I left Memorial Stadium tonight about 8:00, I headed back to the area to get some Q.
Blues BBQ is located in a little shopping district on the campus of the University of Illinois. From the outside Blues looks like an upscale BBQ place. It’s not the roadhouse you think of when you usually think of BBQ. This should have been a huge warning sign. When you walk in, again, you’re met with an upscale, eclectic feel. There are a handful of tables in the dining room. Most of them share seats with long, red benches. There’s a bar that runs along the windows which is about the only thing in here that you would find in a typical BBQ place. Read the rest of this entry »
Farren's Pub and Eatery on Randolph St. in Champaign
Farren’s Pub and Eatery was a suggestion I got from a poster over at Chowhound. I wanted to find some of the harder to find places in Champaign/Urbana and I definitely did with this place. I spent all morning at Memorial Stadium getting ready for tomorrow’s U of I/Eastern Illinois game. By the time our lunch break rolled around, I was starving. I left the stadium and headed back towards downtown. Farren’s sits on Randolph Street which is a one-way a few blocks west of Neil which is the main business district. My GPS was telling me I was there, but I wasn’t seeing it. As I was driving by, the sign jumped out at me at the last second. I had to go up to the next street and turn around. The only parking around Farren’s is street parking and since it was 3:00, I didn’t have any trouble finding a spot in front.
The main entrance sits quite a ways off of the road. I wasn’t quite sure which door to go in. The only sign is the one out front at the road. There are no markings on the door or windows that frame the door. I pulled on it and it opened so I figured that was it.
There’s not a whole lot to the pub but what is there is gorgeaous. You walk down a ramp that reminds you of a wheelchair ramp to get into the space. There are just a few tables and the bar in the dining room. There was only one other table being used when I got there. I grabbed one close to the bar/kitchen to make it easy on the waiter/bartender. Read the rest of this entry »
Manolo's Pizza & Empanada's near the campus of the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana
Traveling has really wore me out….and made me hungry. I’m sitting in my hotel room at the Hilton Garden Inn in Champaign and even though I’ve had two meals, I’m hungry. I get on my laptop and do a search for pizza joints that sell pizza by the slice. That’s what I really love about college towns. You can usually find a pizza place open late. My hotel is pretty close to campus, so I figured there would be one close and of course, there was more than one.
I chose the one that wasn’t quite as close to Memorial Stadium…I think. I went to the area I wasn’t familiar with tonight so I could stop by the other one after I get done with work tomorrow evening which I believe is closer. I’m probably wrong, but oh well. The one I chose is called Manolos Pizza & Empanadas and it sits right next to popular the night spot The Cannopy Club.
There’s not much to Manolos. Just a glass case with already made pizza, a cash register and a bar along the back wall should you want to stay an eat. There’s no seating, but their website says you can dine in at the Canopy Club. I would assume that means you’ve already got tickets to a show and they just serve pizza in there. Read the rest of this entry »
The Subway store located inside BP Fast 'N Fresh in Ashkum, IL on the way to Champaign
You haven’t lived in a small town until you’ve lived in a place that gets excited a Subway is moving in to the gas station. How small is this town? It’s the only national chain other than Dairy Queen that has ever set up shop. Yes, that’s the town I grew up in. This review is actually a holdover from a couple of weeks ago when J and I were home for the Ashkum Homecoming. I didn’t snap a picture and really just forgot about it until I stopped at my parents house on my way to Champaign tonight.
Like I already mentioned, this particular Subway is located inside the only gas station in town about half a miles from Interstate 57 in Ashkum, IL which is about halfway between Chicago and Champaign. Before Subway moved in a year ago, the only food option this town had was pizza from the local grocery store or pizza from the operation that occupied this space. The townspeople were ecstatic when it was finally annouced Subway would set up shop. My mom actually eats there at leaset three times a week.
J and I got up after a long night of drinking and catching up with some of my old friends. The only options for lunch at the park where the homecoming was being held were greasy foods like hamburgers, pizzas, and brats. She wanted something a little healthier and I didn’t want grease so we walked down to the BP for lunch. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m heading back to Illinois AGAIN this weekend, but this time, it’s for work. I’ll be in Champaign for the University of Illinois football game against Eastern Illinois. The Big Ten Tour will start up again as I will find at least one if not two or three places for a meal in Champaign-Urbana and I’ll let you know what the new Memorial Stadium looks like since MSU won’t be making the trip to Champaign or even playing U of I this year.
On Sunday, I scored free tickets to the Indy Car race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL. I’ve been to Chicagoland once before the year it opened, but I’ll probaby post about my experience for the open-wheel racers.
The whole weekend should lead to a handful of reviews of places I stop along the way. Posting will be light for a while…just wanted to let you know why.
Bull's Pit Smoked BBQ in Kankakee, IL
Kankakee is the closest big town comapred to the tiny town of 750 people where I grew up. People who live in that small town, work in the Kankakee/Bradley/Bourbonnais tri-city area and they do a majority of their shopping, entertaining and dining out there as well. For the longest time, I had the same complaint about Kankakee that I did about Lansing. There was no good barbecue joint. That finally changed at the beginning of 2008.
A girl I went to high school with and her husband opened up the first BBQ joint in the area that I’m aware of. They turned an old building near downtown Kankakee into a great Memphis style smokehouse. I made my first trip to Bull’s just after it opened with my brother. At that time, I had a few complaints, but loved the BBQ. My girlfriend and I were heading from her parents in Chicago to mine south of Kankakee for a weekend of drinking and catching up with old friends. Along the way, I wanted to stop and try Bull’s again to see if the little things I didn’t like had improved.
Like I said, Bull’s is located just off of downtown Kankakee. Downtown has been run down for years and there’s not much there other than a bank, a liquor store, and a movie theater. There’s a couple business along the main road, but nothing that you would make a destination. Bull’s changes that. The business is located in a pretty non-descript building on Station St. There is a parking lot, but we found spot on the street in front of the store. There’s just a sign out front that lets you know you’re in the right place…that is until you get out and smell the smoke. Once inside, you have to make a left to get to the order counter. The layout is a little wierd with two rooms downstairs. One is the kitchen/order area. The other is the dining room. There are only a few tables, but there is a bar that runs the whole length of the room with pub stools. It really gives the feel of a Southern BBQ lunch spot. The staircase to go to the upstairs dining room is right as you enter the door. It’s a massive feature and takes up and good portion of the building. Read the rest of this entry »
Portillo's Hot Dogs on 95th St. in Oak Lawn near Chicago
I said this a month ago when I reviewed the Portillo’s in Crestwood, IL (review HERE). I LOVE PORTILLO’S! The thing I miss the most about Illinois and Chicago cuisine is the Italian Beef sandwich so anytime I get a chance to get one, I make sure I do.
J and I were at her parents before continuing our trip south to my parents for the annual Homecoming celebration. We got in late and had plans to go to a 24 hour restaurant for breakfast, but we were too tired and just went to bed. When we woke up, both of us were starving. After playing Mario Kart Wii with her mom for a while, we got up and went looking for lunch. J asked what I wanted and I said I didn’t care. She knows me all too well and suggested Portillo’s. I thought we were going to the one on Cicero we always go to, but she said there was one closer to her parents place near Christ Hospital. Read the rest of this entry »
I know. I’m getting bad. We’ve been going to a lot of fast food chains for lunch recently. It’s not that there aren’t places we want to go, it’s just that we’ve been lazy. We’ll be laying on the couch watching The Price Is Right and one of us will say “I’m hungry.” Since my girlfriend needs to get ready for work, we really can’t drive somewhere and have a sit down meal, so we debate for twenty minutes on which greasy fast food we want. Today, we were almost decided on Wendy’s when I said “Hey, what about Steak ‘N Shake?”
Steak ‘N Shake is one of the few places that make me think of home in Eastern/Central Illinois. Growing up, the 24-hour options were either Denny’s or Steak ‘N Shake. I didn’t really like Denny’s. While living in Central Illinois, I grew more found of the place because of it’s history. The original Steak ‘N Shake was in a gas station in Normal, IL (the home of Illinois State University), so there were Steak ‘N Shake’s all over the place. Read the rest of this entry »
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