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.)

A few weeks ago I used the iPhone app for Urban Spoon to find some new breakfast restaurants that would be near or along the way to the assisted living facility JR is in, in Des Plaines. The first one we visited from that spin of the app was Katie’s Kitchen. The second one we visited was listed as Mrs V’s Waffle House but when we arrived the sign on the building said Mrs V’s Restaurant. That made me a little nervous about what we were going to experience.

That and the hand written menu signs on the front with “FISH FRY” prominently displayed. I know it’s the season for fish fries but… I was worried. The only thing that kept me from really worrying was the very full parking lot. With all of the restaurants in the area to choose from, if this hole in the wall had a full parking lot… I thought we’d be ok.

And we were.

It’s a bigger restaurant than we first expected. We didn’t have to wait at all, not for one minute. And we weren’t crammed in too close to the next table (which often happens in full pancake houses particularly when one in your party has a wheelchair.)

The menu was HUGE. The waitress was incredibly nice and told us to take our time, she’d be there til 2pm and would stay later if that’s what it took. Hah, it was only 10am, lol.

We finally decided – TW’s mom took the Irish Man Skillet (or something like that), TW ordered a California omelet (with avocado) and I ordered the bleu cheese and artichoke omelet. We had barely placed our order when it appeared in front of us. I’m not kidding. When the waitress came to the table with the food I said “that can’t be ours, it was too quick!” But it was… sort of….

Turns out TW’s mother’s skillet was not the one she ordered and she offered to keep it but the waitress took it back and again, before she had taken 3 bites of her side order of pancakes (which are very good – a touch of vanilla is in them) the replacement skillet was in front of her.

The food was good. The prices average for the area. The service OUTSTANDING. If you have kids, this is the restaurant to take them to. The food arrives before the kids have a chance to get restless (I know this for a fact because while we didn’t take any children, the table next to us had three young boys and they had their food, 6-8 good sized pancakes each, before they had a chance to get bored with crayons and start harassing each other or their father.)

We will go back to Mrs V’s – the lunch menu looked just as extensive as the breakfast menu and I think I need to make the rounds and find the best restaurant grilled cheese in Chicagoland. Hmm, they also have a Mrs V’s Restaurant in Round Lake. I’m making a note of that, just in case.

I was trying to manage time effectively, reduce the amount of driving and possibly get home early from our weekly shopping trip and visit to the nursing home so I spent some time searching for breakfast restaurants in the Des Plaines area – or on a relatively direct route between Glenview and the Meijer in Arlington Heights. I found three that sounded good and picked Katie’s Kitchen because it seemed the one closest to a direct route and was the one closest to home. We were already running late, due to that whole daylight savings time thing – and it was pouring rain. Seemed like the smartest choice. Plus, the reviews I’d read were all really positive.

Katie’s Kitchen is a new restaurant, tucked away in a small strip mall and feels very much like the Breakfast Nook and Lunch Cafe in Glenview. When we arrived, the small waiting area was packed but we didn’t have to wait much more than five minutes – just long enough to review the menu and make our choices…

The menu was pretty extensive. There were a lot of things that sounded really interesting… some of the oatmeals, the portobello (except for that stuffed with shrimp part) and some of the crepes.

When we were seated, we were given a printed list of the “St Patrick’s Day” specials and some of those were pretty tempting… so tempted that TW’s mother changed her mind and ended up with some sort of Irish Creme french toast. TW stuck with her original order of an oatmeal with peaches and I ordered the garden nest.

The coffee wasn’t great, but it wasn’t horrible. The waitstaff never did come and ask if we wanted a refill until we had already finished our meals, that’s always disappointing to me. It just shouldn’t be that hard to wander through and warm up coffee cups.

The food, however, was excellent. Really. I should have taken a photo of the garden nest – a veggie/cheese omelet with hash browns wrapped around it. Fabulous presentation, just the right amount of everything (sometimes a veggie omelet has too much spinach or not enough cheese – this one was perfect.)

Here are the photos of TW’s order and her mother’s. We’ll be back there again sometime, no doubt about it. (I do believe someone will want to try the crepes that come with fried ice cream….)

The first breakfast restaurant we went to after moving here was Eggcetera Cafe in The Glen. It was a little loud and the waitstaff whisks your plates away as soon as you finish and they question you indepth if you do not eat everything on your plate. I appreciate the former but not so much the latter.

We went back again yesterday and had the same experience.

Also, the food was good but not great.

The potato pancakes were probably the worst I’ve had.
The caramel pecan apple pancakes TW ordered were good but the apples were cold which wasn’t a good mix.
TW’s mom complained that the granola was too granola (which apparently has something to do with crunchiness, I dunno – I didn’t understand that.)

The coffee is excellent. The service really is good. The food should be just a wee bit better, particularly since there are so many breakfast restaurant choices in the area.

Finding Tony’s Submarine shortly after we moved here was a big deal. It’s not like it’s hidden or anything but it’s a whole in the wall looking place that always seems to have a lot of trucks in the parking lot and looks like a place that other people would never stop at. Just our kind of place.

Sure enough, our kind of place. Old tables. Softserv ice cream. A ton of different kinds of subs. And inexpensive. Really inexpensive.

Just down the street from Deerfield High and from the looks of the reviews on Yelp, UrbanSpoon etc… if you grew up in the area, you love Tony’s. I love it too – and the kids thought it was terrific, as well.

We went to the Blind Faith Cafe in Evanston during our house hunting trip, April 2007, and I really can’t believe we haven’t gone back.

It was really, really good.

I think the only two things keeping us from going back are a) there are a ton of restaurants to try b) the parking down there can be a little frustrating. Until it warms up, I don’t think we’re heading back there any time soon. I don’t want to have to walk three blocks in the wind and snow, it’s too damn cold.

Their website says “Innovative Vegetarian Cuisines” and makes the place look a little more foofoo than it is. It’s a pretty loud, low key kind of place with really excellent vegetarian food – the kind of place that has too many damn things on the menu to choose from. (Vegetarians are used to having just one or maybe two items not a whole bloody menu, ya know?)

UrbanSpoon calls Blind Faith Cafe “cheap” but it isn’t cheap, even by Chicago area standards. It’s not super expensive but definitely not cheap. Yummy though.

We have been to a lot of breakfast restaurants since we moved here but the one we go back to over and over and over again is Egg Harbour Cafe in The Glen.

There are only two problems with Egg Harbour Cafe – 1) it can be really crowded (and thus loud) 2) I love the eggceptional skillet combo so much that I don’t order anything else.

I think about ordering something else. Their seasonal items are always interesting. Their specials always sound great. But in the end… it has everything I love, why order something else?

The spinach mushroom skillet is the perfect size with just enough cheese and just enough potatoes. The one slice of banana bread french toast covered in sliced bananas is so perfect that I wouldn’t think of putting syrup on it. And the little fruit cup, I always eat the grapes and pineapple and pass the orange slice to someone else and sometimes eat the melon, sometimes not. Regardless, it’s the perfect breakfast item for me. LOVE it.

TW usually orders something different everytime we go. Prince J likes the cinnamon roll french toast. RJ has ordered several different things, including eggs benedict without eggs. Speaking of which, Liz loves Egg Harbour Cafe because it has a whole section of ‘benedicts’, I think she’s ordered a different one every time.

I like it when other people order the specials and the seasonal stuff, so I can have a bite. (Remember that, if we ever go together – you’ll give me a bite, right?)

We’ve driven passed the Filipiniana Restaurant in Niles many times. We’ve even mentioned it as we passed by but we didn’t make enough of a note in our heads about it to actually think to try it when we discuss lunch or dinner plans. Today, it popped into my head probably because I needed to go to Valu-City which is very close to it.

So, we left Evanston and headed down Golf Rd. When we hit Greenwood, I started looking for the strip mall where the restaurant was. I felt like I’d driven passed it but no – I hadn’t, it’s farther down than I remembered.

As I pulled into a parking place, I looked at the window and saw several Philippine lanterns in the window and I smiled. I wish I had kept my Philippine lantern, even if the lights were burnt out and I couldn’t repair it myself. Someday, I’m going to get a new one…

The restaurant is nothing special to look at. Just a strip mall restaurant. At 3:30pm, there were several tables full – full of Filipino customers. Good sign. All of the employees I could see were also Filipino. Another good sign.

I looked at the menu… real live honest to goodness Filipino food. Most restaurants I’ve been to that claim to have Filipino food – don’t. This one did.

The kids were a bit unsure of what they might want. Prince J immediately mentioned the Pancit – I reassured him that this was a good choice as I was trying to choose between Chicken Pancit or Chicken Adobo. I recommended the Chinese noodles, not the rice noodles and he agreed… when he ordered, the waitress misunderstood and ended up bringing the rice noodles out. That’s ok, they were excellent. (He and RJ shared a plate and halfway through, the waitress came over to make sure they didn’t need her to bring more out. Nice, since she’s the one who suggested they share because it would be a lot of food.)

I did order the Chicken Adobo and Chicken & Veggie Lumpia. TW went for the Lumpia, as well.

She brought out six Lumpia, plenty for all four of us to have some. We all shared the Chicken Adobo which was also excellent, though I’d like it just a bit spicier.

RJ had a mango tapioca smoothie of some sort and TW ordered the lime juice, aka Kalamansi (which I had not even thought of in 20 years!)

I have to go back this weekend, and take my “Filipino children” with me.