Right next to the Trader Joe’s, in Glenview, is a tiny little Thai restaurant. We’ve peeked at it as we walked from the parking lot into TJ’s but neither of us has ever suggested we try it.

The last couple of times we’ve gone to TJ’s, I’ve noticed there were actual people inside. Eating. All of the other times I’ve glanced in, there was nobody there - possibly because we usually go to TJ’s early in the morning? Heh.

So yesterday, as we went into TJ’s, I said “Someday we’re going to try that place.” And on the way out of TJ’s, TW ran in and got a menu.

Tonight, we ordered takeout from Your Choice.

First, I don’t think I’d call this “cheap” as some of the reviewers on Yelp did. But maybe it is cheap for Chicagoland standards? I don’t know, we haven’t eaten any Thai since we’ve been here. It’s not cheap for Gainesville standards - just average priced.

Next, it was fast. When I ordered, she said “15 minutes” - sure enough, it was ready when we arrived twenty minutes after I ordered it.

All of the food was good. The pineapple fried rice, spicy veggie fried rice, the Phad Thai, the thai iced tea and most important - the Beef Salad.

I’ve been looking for a Thai Beef Salad since I left the Philippines. Actually, I’ve been looking for a Thai Beef Salad like the one I used to eat at The Thai House in Angeles City, Philippines. Until tonight, I’ve never found one that even comes close. This one was THAT salad, or would have been if it had been a wee bit spicier. That’s ok, next time I order, I’ll tell her hot - not medium hot.

After Chess Records, we headed down Michigan Ave toward our next destinations and we realized we were all hungry. It was freezing (there were threats of snow that weekend) so we parked in a garage and I dragged TW and Michelle towards the Water Tower Place mall. I knew there was food in there and I knew it would be warm.

We rode up and down the escalator and finally landed in Mity Nice and except for the lack of wifi and ATT service for our iPhones, it was mighty nice.

The cheese popovers they bring to the table were so good that we devoured them and TW begged for more. We ordered the ginger chicken potstickers as an appetizer, not realizing the cheese popovers would keep coming… They were good. Michelle ordered the sliders and they came covered in onion rings. (you can see them in the header photo if you click the link.) I ordered the mac & cheese and OMG it was amazing. TW ordered the grilled cheese and I thought it was pretty darn good, TW was a little blah about it.

Great restaurant, I just wish my iPhone worked while I was in there - it was worth tweeting about.

Tiffany’s is one of those restaurants that we’ve passed a million times and only briefly considered stopping to try. On the way home from the airport on Thursday, Michelle was starving so we stopped.

When we walked in it smelled like old fashioned food - turkey dinners, roast beef, you know the smell I’m talking about. (We have begun calling that smell the Seven Brothers smell because that’s what Seven Brothers smells like.) It was also very, very empty. Just a couple of tables seated with older groups of people. We weren’t sure we were going to have a good food experience.

The menu was extensive - and sure enough, the turkey dinner was on the menu. We ordered - all of us chose some sort of croissant sandwich meal and we ordered a ham dinner to go, to bring home for TW’s mom.

The food came quickly and it was good. Not great, but solid. Well worth stopping for and significantly better than the Seven Brothers.

When TW said she wanted to go to the Valley Lodge in Glenview for her birthday dinner, I was a little confused.

It’s just down the street from us and it looks like a bar/steakhouse combo. It’s often crowded, from the looks of the parking lot, and it just didn’t seem like her thing.

Apparently it was her thing primarily because it is celebrating it’s 40th birthday this year, too.

So, TW and the kids and I went to the Valley Lodge shortly before 7pm on the 29th. When we arrived we discovered it is not wheelchair accessible (good thing TW’s mom decided not to go with us) and that it was jam packed with people. And also loud. The children would also say that it was full of old people, which is relatively true.

The server said 20 minute wait, so we stood on the stairs and waited. And waited. And waited. And even when a table for five opened, still we waited because maybe that one was reserved? Or something. We waited for more than a half hour, closer to 40 minutes. By the time we were seated, we were starving and also a little grouchy.

The bread they brought to the table was fabulous, which went a long way toward making us not grouchy. (The dark bread in particular I highly recommend.)

We ordered two flaming cheeses and those also went a long way toward making us not grouchy.

The real food arrived just as we had finished the flaming cheeses and I believe we all agreed that the food was pretty darn good. Everything from Liz’s mac & cheese to my sloppy joe to RJ’s gyro sub. Excellent.

It was a pricey meal but we were stuffed and happy by the time we left. All in all, excellent birthday choice - except for that whole 40 minute wait thing.

We’ve been looking at the Sugar Bowl, in Des Plaines for ages. Wishing it was open, wishing we had been able to visit it back in its hey day. And then, it happened. We saw signs appear in the window indicating it was going to re-open. And it did.

We went to the Sugar Bowl today, for a brunch.

I ordered a California Omelet that was HUGE. It came with home fries and pancakes. Home fries were fine, not bad - not good, just fine. The rest of the meal was excellent. (And the waitress kept refilling our coffee, which I appreciated.

TW’s mom ordered the mixed berry french toast. Huge serving and she said it was good. It looked good.

TW ordered the Reuben Club and again, talk about serving size. Monster. I nicked a fry and it wasn’t bad, wasn’t bad at all. With a little more salt and pepper it might have been excellent. TW says the Reuben club was fabulous. And it looked good. I am tempted to order a Reuben on my next trip (not the club because I don’t do bacon.)

Loved the Sugar Bowl. Enjoyed every second of our visit. We’ll go back, definitely.

I don’t seem to blog very often about places we don’t like, possibly because there are very few places we don’t like. The Dixie Kitchen is a place we did not like. Some of us liked it less than others. None of us have even the first clue why President Obama enjoys eating here. (Did he get a kickback?)

It’s not bad food, but it isn’t great food. I’ve never seen Fried Green Tomatoes the way they made these. The Plantains were excellent but is that really southern cooking? Not anywhere north of Florida, really.

I enjoyed my taco scramble a good bit, very spicy. I think I am the only one who didn’t walk out of there with mean things to say about my meal. But, that’s because what I ordered isn’t in any way shape or form traditional.

TW’s fried green tomatoes and her mom’s oyster po’ boy were disappointments because they expected “real” fried green tomatoes and oyster po’ boys. They didn’t get what they were expecting.

The L & L Snack Shop has been on my short list of breakfast spots to try. All of the restaurants on this particular list have to be near the assisted living facility we go to every weekend in Des Plaines. The L & L is the last on this little list I’ve been accumulating and I found it by shaking the Urban Spoon iPhone app.

Greasy spoon food. Our favorite. A restaurant people seem to LOVE - or hate. This spot was right up our alley. Boy was it.

When we got there, closer to lunch than breakfast, all of the booths were full and about half of the counter stools. TW’s mom was with us so a counter stool was out, though if it had just been me and TW we’d have grabbed those stools and been happyyyyy.

So, we stood outside and waited for a free booth. One emptied but it was a tiny booth for two, jammed right up against the counter stools with no way to get a wheel chair in, so we waited some more. Finally a party of three left the booth right inside the door - a two seater with extra room for a chair.

We knew what we wanted since TW and her mom had read the menu while we waited. I knew what I wanted from watching everyone order and eat.

While we waited for our food (and discussed the waitress in detail - fascinating woman, errr. Heh) I pursed the reviews and was reminded of the chef’s love of ham. “You’re going to get ham whether you ordered it or NOT.” Damn, none of us ordered ham and I was thinking we totally should have.

It didn’t matter, the reviews were right. We all got ham - even TW’s mom who ordered eggs, wheatcakes and sausage got a chunk of ham. Even TW who ordered an amazing looking egg n cheese sandwich with hashbrowns and a side of corned beef hash got a chunk of ham. And yes, I who ordered no meat at all with my french toast got a hunk of ham.

The ham… fabulous.

In fact all of the food was fabulous. The corned beef hash… freaking amazingly good.

I have been trying to get TW to agree to dinner at Booby’s for WEEKS. For some reason she had it in her head that it was a hot dog place and that’s why she kept turning up her nose at the suggestion. It doesn’t matter that I rambled off all sorts of things I’d seen on their menu, none of which were hot dogs. It didn’t matter that it had a great name or that everything I read indicated this would be a place TW would love. She just kept making that face… the one that means we should find some place else for dinner.

Finally, she grudgingly said yes to Booby’s. On a Wednesday night, which is not a convenient time for me to go out for dinner due to a standing date. But whatever, I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity - who knows when she’d be game to try it again.

So we headed out. For some reason I thought it was much further from our house than it actually is. I also thought there was less parking than there actually is. Win. Win!

It wasn’t crowded at 6pm on a Wednesday. But, the folks eating there were interesting. Older folks. Men in suits grabbing their Boobys’ to go. A couple of families.

TW and I ordered Big Boobs and we ordered a Cheeseburger (that doesn’t seem to have a special Booby’s name) for TW’s mom. We ordered a side of onion rings, a side of cole slaw, a side of fried mushrooms and a couple of rice puddings.

It wasn’t fast but it wasn’t slow either. I ate my onion rings on the drive home and they weren’t great but they weren’t bad either.

The Big Boobs on the other hand - amazing. Best. Burgers. If not ever, than definitely the best burgers we have had in ages. They have slaw and onions on them. BBQ sauce that is not exactly BBQ sauce but something else. And, the dill pickle… I need to order a side of dill pickles next time. Awesome pickle. Oh yea, did I mention the slaw was fabulous and I was so glad I ordered an extra side.

As for the rice pudding - I thought I heard TW’s mom say she didn’t like it. Turns out I mis-heard. She loved it. She was comparing it to some fabulous rice pudding from some place else. I know squat about rice pudding (except that it’s disgusting) but TW and her mom liked it and that’s saying something since they are picky about their rice pudding.

I love Booby’s.

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.

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.)