Archive for the '‘Burbs, Cities, Towns, Villages' Category
Last Friday, it was our very last breakfast with Lizzy wandering time. Next year she’ll go off to middle school so we won’t have that hour to kill with her after dropping off the other two kids.
In celebration, we asked her where she would like to go for breakfast – out of all of the places we’d visited, what would she prefer…? She chose Kaufman’s.
So, off we went. We ordered a ton of food.
The bagels, excellent as always. The chocolate chip cookie Liz reports was amazing. The bialy’s very good. The pizza bread, fabulous. I impulse purchased a seven layer bar that defies words. Seriously. The onion rye bread was hot out of the oven and smelled amazing. I didn’t have any while it was hot but had a couple of slices with some of Kaufman’s amazing chicken salad – fantastic.
Black bean burgers and salmon patties were also purchased and I’m pretty sure reports will be good, once they come in.
Kaufman’s rocks.
Last month, TW read about Spiro’s Deli and mentioned that it was just down the road from us and supposed to be really good. She mentioned all of this right about dinner time, on a night when she did not feel like cooking. That’s what they call a hint. So, I took the hint and we headed out to run some errands and then tracked down Spiro’s Deli – in a little strip we pass every day, sometimes ten times a day, and have never really noticed. It’s right next to the Dunkin Donuts and that sign draws the eye, so we’d never noticed the tiny little run down looking Spiro’s right next door.
We stopped. It was a dumpy little place, that looks like it has been there for years. And, they do not take cards. We had no cash. So, darn, no Spiro’s for us. (We ended up at fRed Hots that night.)
One day last week, we were in pretty much the same fix. TW did not feel like cooking and I certainly didn’t. So, we made sure we had cash and then headed to Spiro’s.
A woman went in right before us who knows the gentleman who appears to be the owner. She chatted him up, when she noticed us behind her she moved aside and told us to order from the best deli in the world. Huh. That was an awful lot of enthusiasm from a little hole in the wall that didn’t really look like it was going to be anything special.
We perused the menu. We ordered… TW ordered something called an Athena. I ordered a Lady Di. We ordered an Italian for TW’s mom and we grabbed a couple of tubs of pasta salad. All to go.
While we waited, the woman ahead of us continued to chat up the owner as he cooked. A young young young couple came in and ordered Bombers. And we all waited together. It wasn’t quick. It was just this one guy (presumed to be the owner) and a young guy.
Most of the food was finished at the same time. The woman left first, then the young couple with their Bombers, and then our turn.
We drove home with food that looked less than spectacular. Not bad, just nothing to write home about.
We unwrapped our food, headed to our various eating spots (in front of our computers or in our beds) and proceeded to eat some of the best deli food we’ve ever had. I have no idea what made this exceptional food. Really no idea at all. But it was.
Last year we were really excited about the new fancy sciency ice cream shop in Wicker Park called iCream. (They use liquid nitrogen to freeze the ingredients in some magic way I never understood, to make ice cream.)
The reviews were mixed, mostly due to the crowds and the fact that their big machine was often broken. The reviews did not really deter us and we finally found a good weekend to head to Wicker Park… only to find the store was closed until spring while they worked on their machinery malfunction issues.
A couple of weeks ago, I started seeing reviews again and it looked like their machine problems had been solved. Yay! And what great timing, since my cousin (owner of Hamburger Calculus) was in town and we were looking for some place to meet. What better place for weirdo food people who don’t really know each other to meet up?
The machines do work. I am not sure how they work, that whole science is magic thing, ya know. But, they work with every day Kitchen-aid mixers and they work very very well.
I ordered a coffee flavored ice cream with bananas and caramel – and I ordered it pink. The taste – EXCELLENT. It’s oddly disconcerting to eat pink coffee flavored ice cream. A young man sitting on a stool behind me had peach ice cream that was… green. It had chocolate bits in it too so to look at it you’d have thought it was mint chocolate chip. Imagine that crazy disjointed experience – it should be mint chocolate chip and yet it is… peach? Fabulous!
TW and RJ ordered the pudding (Chocolate and vanilla) and they both enjoyed it quite a bit. Prince J also ordered coffee and wanted his red but it turned out more pink than red. My cousin ordered chocolate (which can’t be colored properly so it just looked chocolate) with nutella and hazelnut and reeses pieces and I don’t know what else. It was surprisingly good (yes he let me taste it!) considering I don’t much like hazelnut and really dislike nutella. J, my cousin’s g/f, ordered a pomegranate (but not pom/pear) with mangos and blackberries and may graham crackers. She didn’t get any color with hers so it was a weird off white tannish color. Fascinating!
We finally went to Bennison’s! Finally.
We haven’t spent all that much time in Evanston. We tend to go in that direction only to pick up or drop off the kids. Our roaming around, exploring food options and such, tends to take place on our side of the Eden’s Expressway.
But, we’ve exhausted new quick take out breakfast options in Skokie so I broadened the net and decided it was time to visit the famous Bennison’s.
The little kids have been there and Liz wasn’t all that thrilled when I told her that’s where we were going but in the end, she was happy with her chocolate chip cookie.
TW and I were happier though – we had egg & cheese sandwich thingies (I took the bacon off mine but kept the ham) and those were very good. The red velvet donut was tasty, really tasty. More places should make those.
We brought home a custard cup for TW’s mom and she liked it very much.
The loaf of rye raisin bread was not my favorite but RJ and TW’s mom really liked it.
We bought some sort of apple bread. Yummy. Very yummy. A hit with everyone, I believe.
Added bonus, you can follow Bennison’s Bakery on Twitter. I love that.
Cora Lee Candies is a block away from our house. We’ve been here almost a year and we’ve never gone inside.
A few weeks ago, Liz and I walked over to check it out but they’re closed on Sundays. Darn. This week, we remembered before they closed and before it was Sunday again.
Liz is really happy with their selection of novelty candy. She bought stuff like super sour gum and pop rocks. (I bought some lemon zotz for myself and some wax fangs for RJ.)
I was really thrilled to see hard candy by the pound. We’ve had so much trouble finding plain old sour balls (to take to JR at the nursing home) they have them at Cora Lee’s… along with sugar-free butterscotch candy for TW’s mom.
Liz bought a marzipan elephant gumball and I impulse purchased some Violets (both the candy and the gum) along with a tiny chocolate heart with a pink flower on top (again for JR.)
I can’t believe we spent $15 and didn’t buy any of their English Toffee or Grumpies (aka Turtles.) Next time, I’m buying those plus a chocolate mold of some sort.
Farmers market season is slow to return in the northwest suburbs but the Wilmette French Market is here. Since none of the other farmers markets we usually visit have resumed for the season and it’s a really nice day, we thought we’d give this one a try.
It’s a tiny little market but parking is plentiful, easy, and free. (Though not enough handicap spaces – actually, I didn’t see any handicap spaces.)
The prices seemed a wee bit higher than the markets we visited last year – is that normal or is it the increased price of everything this year?
Bleeding Heart
I don’t usually find many pieces of jewelry, at markets, that I consider buying but in this little market, I saw several pieces that I liked for various members of the family. Again, they were a wee bit higher in price than I’d like but… I think I’ll be back and I think I’ll buy.
I’ve been looking at the Full Moon Family Restaurant in The City of North Chicago Lake Bluff every week since we moved here.
Its parking lot is almost always full. It is often filled with bikers or truckers. It is so close to the Great Lakes Naval Base that I knew it would also be filled with military members, families and retirees.
Interesting people watching.
Diner-like.
But would the food be good?
We found out last weekend. Mixed reviews.
I ordered the sausage gravy and biscuits and thoroughly enjoyed my food.
TW ordered an egg & cheese sandwich and enjoyed it, particularly the Texas Toast style bread. She “complained” that there was too much egg because it was made with two eggs rather than the one she’s used to “Waffle House-style”.
TW’s mother ordered the strawberry pancakes with whipped cream. She did not enjoy them. For some reason she had it in her head that they would come with fresh strawberries. This made no sense based on the photo on the menu and the fact that we were in this particular type of restaurant. The pancakes were loaded with canned strawberry filling stuff and a ton of whipped cream. And, she says they were “dry”.
The price was right. The service was good (though it took me way too long to get my check) and I’d be happy to go back again. (We probably won’t take TW’s mom though.)
I heard all about the Tribune’s new “local” sites and supplements via Twitter. I’ve been follwing @triblocaljess and have enjoyed her tweets. But, I didn’t really pay much attention to either the site or the paper supplement. I get my news in a lot of ways and this seemed like just one more thing – one more thing I probably wouldn’t use.
But last week the paper supplement arrived just as we were headed across town to pick up the kids after school. TW read every word, most of it out loud, and she really loves the idea of a mini paper for various suburbs.
I have to admit, I’m more enthusiastic about it too.
How else would I have known that flamingos in the front yard mean something different up here in the north shore suburbs than they mean in Florida? Check out the flamingo story that was in the paper.
How does the program work? Every Friday starting around 6 p.m. from Memorial Day to Labor Day, weather permitting, a neighborhood gathering will be held in a resident’s driveway. The host provides only the driveway. Honest! No effort needed. Everyone brings their own refreshment, lawn chair, kids, snacks, etc. Gatherings last 30 minutes or a couple of hours, depending on the group assembled, and how cranky the kids are.
Here’s where the flamingos come in: whoever volunteers to host the upcoming Flamingo Friday obtains a plastic lawn flamingo from the previous host and displays it on their lawn the Monday or Tuesday before the Friday event, thus signaling to the neighborhood where to gather for the next Flamingo Friday. Attend once, twice or all summer long. Just look for the pink flamingo and enjoy yourself!
Cool idea, right? Well it is but… errr… I have flamingos in my front yard all of the time. The house across the street (oddly enough) also has flamingos in their front yard. This does not mean I’m hosting the Friday Flamingo party.
I live in Glenview… not Northbrook. I hope folks don’t get confused…
Our most recent breakfast discovery is Kaufman’s Bagel & Deli, on Dempster in Skokie.
I’ve read a lot about Kaufman’s and I know we’ve passed it a million times without it sinking in that this is the Kaufman’s. So last Friday morning, before we headed out for the school run, I looked it up to see exactly where it was. Good thing because I know I’d have passed it a million times without ever really seeing it.
It’s right close to the Skokie train station and smack dab in the middle of a pretty busy series of intersections. It’s also a non-descript, white painted building set just enough off the road that you don’t see the sign until you’ve driven past it.
Don’t drive past it. You should definitely stop.
We started in the bakery section where TW got a dozen bagels and a loaf of Challah to take home. Liz ordered a HUGE (she wants me to explain to you that this thing is so huge, she’s still eating it two days later) chocolate m&m cookie. TW and I both ordered a chocolate donut to go.
Then we wandered into the deli section.
Liz grabbed a bottle of milk to wash down her cookie, we got a pint of cream cheese for the bagels and we ordered a 1/2 lb of chicken salad. Liz wandered around looking at the meat case, wondering what in the heck people need tongue for.
The Challah was excellent, the best we’ve had since we’ve been here. The bagels were also excellent – the everything and the pumpernickel in particular have drawn rave reviews. The chocolate donuts were more like chocolate iced Challah, which is really interesting. Besides being huge, Liz reports the cookie is yummy.
Next time we go, I’m ordering the egg salad. And maybe we’ll get some tongue so Liz can give it a try.
The New York Bagel and Bialy Company in Skokie is one of those places we drive by when it’s not “bialy time”. On the way home from eating elsewhere. Late afternoon when we’re thinking dinner, not bialy. When we don’t really have time to stop. Or, sometimes the parking lot has just been jam packed full and I don’t want to deal with not having a parking place.
Yesterday, between dropping of the Prince and Liz, I decided we’d give it a try. Plenty of parking, yay! Liz said “what’s a bialy?” which scared me because her mother is nuts for bialys (and it’s darn difficult to find them in Florida.)
I zeroed in very quickly on the cheese stuffed bialy. TW ordered an onion bialy. Liz, ever cautious, ordered the traditional chocolate muffin.
Yum, yum, and also yum.
Actually, Liz said the muffin was much the same as the one at Breadsmith but this one was better because it was bigger. (I also think it may have been a wee bit cheaper.)
And now that I’ve typed this, I feel a craving for a cheese stuffed bialy coming on.