Category: Illinois

ArizonaDog FriendlyHot DogsIllinoisRating: Very GoodSandwichUnited States

Portillo’s Hot Dogs – Tempe, Arizona

Gil Garduno3:24 AM

Portillo’s story is the story of the American dream, a rags to riches saga that began with a single hot dog stand opening in 1963. That single investment has blossomed into a multi-million per year chain with six different concepts and more than 40 restaurants in the Chicago area alone. The Portillo’s Restaurant Group has become, in fact, the largest privately-owned restaurant company in the Midwest. Among Chicagoland expatriates with whom I’ve worked (and one whom I married) Portillos is consistently named as one of the things they miss most about living in the Windy City. Expatriates like my Kim…

BurgersIllinoisRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Billy Goat Tavern – Chicago, Illinois

Gil Garduno9:31 AM

The genesis of the idiomatic expression “got your goat” which means “to greatly annoy someone” is in dispute with sources attributing it to both the United States and England.  The American version has it that horse trainers would put a goat in a racing horse’s stall to keep it calm.  When bettors wanted a horse to race badly, they took it away (ergo “got someone’s goat”) and the horse would become agitated and run badly.  No evidence exists to support this legend.  According to the English version, keeping a goat in the barn has a calming effect on cows, thereby…

Diners Drive-Ins and DivesIllinoisRating: Very GoodSandwichUnited States

Al’s #1 Beef – Chicago, Illinois

Gil Garduno7:48 AM

Assume the position!  It’s been called the “Chicago Lean,” the “Italian Stance” and simply “The Stance.”   It’s  the time-tested, traditional art and science of eating Italian beef sandwiches, a Chicago specialty.  Trust me, it’s not the same as eating an ordinary sandwich.  If you don’t follow the process, you’re bound to spill shards of beef, bits of giardiniera and drippings of spice-laden beef gravy onto your clothing.  Italian beef sandwiches are as messy as they are delicious.  Some Italian beef sandwich shops don’t even offer seating.  Instead, they provide high, thin counters with or without stools where you’ll park…

Closed in 2017Gone But Not ForgottenIllinoisRating: N/R (Not Rated)SteakUnited States

David Burke’s Primehouse – Chicago, Illinois (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno11:48 PM

By day, my friend James Sorenham was an architect of his business group’s data warehouse and business intelligence strategies.  By night and on weekends, James was a gentleman farmer tending to a small herd at his Broke Again ranch outside Portland, Oregon.  James took immense pride in raising prized beef cattle and kept his colleagues apprised of their progress through his weekly status reports.  Alas, his writing skills weren’t in the same zip code as his data management skills so when he reported that he had “personally inseminated sixteen cows,” he got teased mercilessly about his deviant bestial activities. The…

Fine DiningIllinoisMichelin: Bib GourmandRating: ExceptionalRestaurants Which Have Earned Michelin HonorsUnited States

The Purple Pig – Chicago, Illinois

Gil Garduno4:52 PM

Poet Carl Sandburg bestowed the nickname “hog butcher for the world” upon the great city of Chicago at a time when the city was the epicenter for meatpacking in the United States. Companies such as Oscar Mayer, Swift and Armour operated large plants in the city, employing hundreds of residents. Unfortunately, Chicago’s streets became frequently overcrowded with pigs and cattle being herded through the streets to the plants. Ultimately the largest companies banded together in 1865 to build the Union Stock Yards next to the railroad tracks. Henceforth animals were ferried to the plants by train instead of through city…

IllinoisMexicanRating: OutstandingUnited States

Frontera Grill – Chicago, Illinois

Gil Garduno1:20 PM

Not everyone has the relentless drive and impassioned fortitude to parlay their most ardent desires and zealous fervor into a wildly successful thematic venture, but then not everyone is Rick Bayless, America’s Mexican chef and restaurateur nonpareil. His single-minded passion for the Mexican culinary experience is reflected in multimedia ventures such as his successful PBS television series “Cooking Mexican” and “Mexico – One Plate At A Time” as well as his genre-redefining, award-winning books. One of those books, Authentic Mexican was heralded by the New York Times as “the greatest contribution to the Mexican table imaginable” while another, Mexican Kitchen…

BarbecueIllinoisRating: ExcellentUnited States

Gale Street Inn – Mundelein, Illinois

Gil Garduno1:31 PM

It took 47 years and one visit to the Gale Street Inn to understand why sailing vessels are ascribed the feminine gender. According to a placard on a wall at the Gale Street Inn, a nautical themed restaurant in the Northwest Chicago suburb of Mundelein, a ship is called a she because “there’s always a great deal of bustle around her…because there’s usually a gang of men around…because she has waist and stays…because she takes a lot of paint to keep her looking good…because it’s not the initial expense that breaks you, it’s the upkeep…because she is all decked out…because…

IllinoisRating: OutstandingSandwichUnited States

JOHNNIE’S BEEF – Arlington Heights, Illinois

Gil Garduno7:53 PM

If you think Chicagoland politics are a contentious topic, try debating which restaurant serves up the best Italian Beef Sandwich in the “City of Big Shoulders.” Opinions don’t necessarily vary that widely as there are just a handful of restaurants which have truly distinguished themselves in the preparation of this Chicago staple. It’s in the intensity of the debate with which you might be surprised. Each of the anointed restaurants has its vocal supporters and each has its detractors and some in either party won’t hesitate to explain (with fisticuffs if necessary) why their choice is the best and yours…

Closed in 2012DonutsGone But Not ForgottenIllinoisSpecialtyUnited States

Apple Haus – Long Grove, Illinois (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno3:07 AM

In grade school back in the 1960s, such characters as Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed filled my mind with wonder and awe as I learned to determine fact from fiction (a process I still employ when listening to  nauseating political commercials which pollute the airwaves).  My mind was a veritable tabula rasa (blank slate) upon which my teachers (and my incessant poring over the Encyclopedia) imprinted knowledge of legend, lore, myth and fact.  Learning was a much more innocent process, not yet clouded with the cynicism wrought by historical revisionism based mostly on political ideology. Johnny Appleseed, it turns out,…

ContinentalIllinoisRating: N/R (Not Rated)

Bacchus Nibbles – Lake Zurich, Illinois

Gil Garduno2:39 AM

In Roman mythology, Bacchus was known as the god of wine and ecstasy. A youthful and handsome god with flowing tresses usually depicted wearing wine leaves or ivy on his head, he represented both the intoxicating and the beneficial influences of wine. Bacchanalian festivals, typified by riotous drunken merrymaking and sometimes orgiastic festivity are still celebrated in institutions of higher learning throughout America (who can forget the hilarious movie Animal House and the antics of the Delta House fraternity?). At Bacchus Nibbles Restaurant & Wine Shop, in Lake Zurich, a northwest Chicago suburb, wine can be appreciated in a “wine…

AmericanClosed in 2017Gone But Not ForgottenIllinoisUnited States

Hackney’s – Lake Zurich, Illinois (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno2:20 PM

The second city doesn’t take a back seat to anyone when it comes to burgers and if you have to hire a hackney (carriage or automobile) to get to Hackney’s, by all means do so. Hackney’s, a family tavern with a history dating back to the 1920s has a half dozen franchises throughout the Chicago area and features burgers worth going out for on a Windy City day. The eponymous Hackney burger on dark rye and Hackney’s bleu cheese burger stand out! In fact, the Food Network’s “Best Of” show named the Hackney burger as one of America’s best burgers.…