The sign at Fuddruckers claims to serve the ‘Worlds greatest hamburgers’, I am not certain how true that is, but I do quite like eating here even though it is a chain resturant. Their slogan is after all a registered trademark, I wonder if those trademark approval people get a pile of hamburgers to sample for…
Penzey’s Spice at Oak Park
Penzey’s spice shop is at Oak Park towards the end of the Green Line near Harlem. It is a big store filled with rows and rows, of spice bottles and shelf after shelf containing spices grouped by type. I liked the layout as it is clean and easy to navigate around. Each spice or…
Etno Grill – The day I met the “Spicy Balkan”
I very rarely have the time to go back to many of the places that I have written about on the El Stop Project, which is a little bit sad in some ways as there are some really great places that I could easily eat at every day. The Etno Grill is one of those places….
Provenance Food and Wine – stocking local artisan foods and more
Provenance food and wine store is a little shop just on the outskirts of the main pedestrian section of Lincoln Square, it is easy to find but also easy to miss as it just has a tiny sign hanging up above the door. If you come out of the Western El station it is right…
The Spice House in Old Town – ‘Assault your senses with the spice aroma’s”
I have only been to The Spice House in Old Town a handful of times, but there is just something about the place that takes you on an imaginary journey to a spice warehouse on the old Spice Routes between the old and new worlds. I think it is the aroma of freshly ground spices…
Saint Roger Abbey – French Gourmet Patisserie run by nuns
If you are trapped in the Westfield Hawthorn Mall at Vernon Hills and need some salvation from the depressing nature and offerings of the Food Court, you could do no worse that taking a trip along the mall to the French Gourmet Patisserie run by the nuns of the Saint Roger Abbey. All of the cakes, sandwiches and…
Frog n Snail, Some great food in Lakeview
I had been meaning to visit Frog N Snail for quite a while now, I could not pass up the opportunity to taste the food of Dale Levitski, runner up on Top Chef three and also responsible for the food at Sprout. I had passed by a few times and it had looked a bit quiet, but once…
Big Jones, Big, Bold Flavours Southern Style
Last year we went to New Orleans and had some pretty decent Louisiana Southern Cooking, including some of that gumbo. I had heard from some local NOLA alumni that the place to get Southern Food in Chicago was at Big Jones in Andersonville. So I booked it for lunch to see what their gumbo was…
‘The Purple Pig’ on the Magnificent Mile
The much vaunted Purple Pig is located on the Magnificent Mile just down from the Tribune Tower. It taglines itself as “Cheese, Swine, and Wine” which sounds like an invitation to me. I had heard that it is packed to the rafters, and since it does not take reservations we made the effort to get there…
Kuma’s Corner – Massive Burgers, Rock Music, and Beer = Perfect place to take your Mum for lunch
I had heard a lot of talk about Kuma’s Corner and it’s infamous burgers. “Big burgers”, “Hard Rock music”, “Long waits, but worth the effort” seemed to be the general theme of those conversations. So with my Mum in town and knowing that she likes a good US Style hamburger I figured it was a…
The Chicago El Stop Food Hunt Project 