The Choo Choo

 -Got beef?
The Burgers of Chi

Todays post is a long time coming as my first and only visit to the Choo Choo Diner in Des Plaines came in January of 2020 (before most had even heard of Covid). By the time we all knew what Covid was it had already closed due to the owners passing. More than two years later it’s open again with new owners / longtime customers. The restaurant dates back to 1951 when a local entrepreneur came up with the idea of opening a train themed spot, the big draw being having your burger basket delivered by a model train. The idea was part of a plan to beat out another newly opened hamburger joint nearby called McDonald’s. Ray Kroc even visited the Choo Choo to assure them that both places could exist together as McDonalds was not a sitdown spot at the time. You know how the rest of that story goes with more than 40,000 locations today but the Choo Choo has outlasted them all. 

Locals Favorite in Des Plaines 

I visited the Choo Choo bc they were said to make a good burger. That said I can see the appeal in bringing your kid here as the model trains that bring you your food are fun and unique. They make a smashed burger but they’re not small. If you’ve ever been to a Schoop’s those burgers are a similar size. While this wasn’t on the same level as Schoop’s it was good enough to remind me of one of Chicagoland’s best burgers so that’s worth something. Fries were frozen but do come with your basket which will set you back about $12. Not cheap but what is these days? However it is filling. 

Cheeseburger at The Choo Choo 

The Choo Choo 

600 Lee St
Des Plaines, IL 60016
(224) 284-4904
Website

Wonton Gourmet

 -Grubbing in Chicago(land)
Cantonese Cuisine in Des Plaines 

After coming back from Hong Kong I found myself wanting some wonton soup. Something, anything, remotely close to the bowls I had at the famous Mak's Noodle Shop. I cued up the google machine and got to looking. I wasn't expecting to find much but I ended up coming across a totally new to me spot. I was surprised I was just learning of Wonton Gourmet as it's a suburban favorite judging by the many reviews. Not to say all of them are glowing but there were plenty and they went back years.

 Locals Favorite in Des Plaines

Wonton Gourmet is a classic suburban Chinese dining destination. It's spacious with a big lot and attracts many large families and business lunchers. They specialize in Cantonese cuisine and have enlarged photographs of Hong Kong on the walls. The menu is a what's what of the most traditional commonly seen Cantonese dishes. But with wonton in the name that was what I was there for. The menu has an entire section dedicated to wonton soup with or without noodles and or BBQ pork, or duck, and the likes. They also offer their housemade wonton as a side in few different ways. I got the wonton soup which did the trick. By which I mean I've never really met a wonton I didn't like and these were no exception. But the broth and noodles were both just ok and nothing like that at Mak's.

Wonton Soup at Wonton Gourmet

Another dish I've been chasing since my trip to Hong Kong is the pork chop over rice with an egg from a spot called For Kee. It's to this day maybe the best breakfast I've ever had. Wonton Gourmet serves a bone in pork chop over rice with a fried egg and fried onions on top. This wasn't similar to the version served at For Kee but it did remind me of a Chinese style Maxwell street pork chop.

 Pork Chop over Rice

The most popular menu item judging from the google and yelp pics might be the Gan Chow beef chow fun. It's made of fried wide noodles with a heaping amount of beef, Chinese broccoli, and gravy sitting on top of it. The noodles underneath don't stay too crisp too long but the ones on the outside do. You get a nice combination of textures with each forkful. The meat is extra tender and the gravy has a nice beefiness to it. The Chinese broccoli stems remain crunchy throughout. Even though I've had this dish once I imagine it enters my rotation as I was satisfied with what I got. It was darn good.

 Gan Chow Beef Chow Fun at Wonton Gourmet

Wonton Gourmet 
1405 Elmhurst Rd

Des Plaines, IL 60018 

(847) 427-1183

Website

Chicago Ramen

-Grubbing in Chicago(land)
Ramen Royalty out by O'Hare

So this post was originally planned for February but before I could hit post every person involved in food media in the city had done the same. So I figured I'd save it for when the talk dies down. Just to remind people of one of the years best openings. Honestly I haven't been since covid came calling but I've heard of others experiences being positive. Ramen isnt the best as far as foods taken to go but they package it properly. Chicagoland is in the midst of what I call Ramen Boom 2. I like to keep my eye on recently opened restaurants in the Chicagoland area and it feels like every other opening right now is a ramen shop. Plus more are coming. That said most of them are crap. When ramen got big so did figuring out ways to make it faster and easier. It's possible quite a few of these new spots get the same broth from the same factory. In fact in a few cases these places are owned by the same corporation. This results in similar menus and recipes served under different names. That said it's pretty easy to pick out the places worth checking out. So far there's two very much worth mentioning. I already featured Menya Goku which is located on the city's Northside. Today we visit the other one. 

 Newly Opened in Des Plaines 

The easiest way to tell if a ramen shop is serious about their craft is by looking at the menu. The more crap the less likely it is to be special. Or the more likely it is to be run by a corporation. At this point any spot doing something other than Tonkotsu should be given a visit too. If for anything bc they're not following the flow which is how ramen is supposed to go. Japan is a super traditional country especially with food but ramen is the one dish where chefs are welcome to be original and stand out in some sort of nontraditional way. Though the name of Chicago Ramen is pretty generic the guy behind it is very well known on the ramen circuit. Kenta Ikehata became known running the popular Tsujita in Tokyo before opening their Los Angeles location. Now he’s here in Des Plaines hoping to break into the Midwest market. This should be easy if my first few visits are any indication.

Tsukemen at Chicago Ramen

Tsujita is known for their tsukemen aka dipping ramen. But if I’m being honest I didn’t love it in LA. That said Chicago Ramen also lists Tsukemen first though the crowds seem to be favoring the miso ramens (red and white) early on. Not sure what happened in LA bc this was much better. Guessing it’s kind of it’s own thing since this isn’t a Tsujita. Sun Noodles are served cool. Spray them with a lime and dip the noodles into the hot and thick pork stock that’s cooked for more than 40 hours in-house. The chasu (house sliced pork) was perfectly tender and when it and all the noodles are gone you get a few scoops of hot light broth in your dipping stock which turns it into a delicious bowl of soup. It was a really nice experience getting to sit around the kitchen and watch Chef Kenta Ikehata work his magic. Word is he's trying to make Chicago Ramen a brand so go now while he's there.

White Mabo Tofu

If you're thinking of doing takeout at Chicago Ramen the White Mabo Tofu is a dish that would travel fairly well. It's also unlike any other dish I've tried. It's more Chinese than Japanese but pretty much all Asian food derives from China one way or the other. Here's Mike Sula at the Reader on it. "White mapo tofu ramen was born at Tsujita in LA, and it's the White Walker of ramen varieties. A riff on the lava-colored Sichuan mapo tofu, it features a relatively light chicken broth, a thinner-bore Sun noodle, and a pile of soft, silky tofu nestled within. It looks as midwestern as hotdish, but for the blanket of black pepper on top and the Thai chilis lurking in its depths. You can customize the spice level, and if you're battling a viral invader I recommend you push yourself to the limit." Like Chicken & Dumplings. 

Red Miso Ramen at Chicago Ramen 

Chicago Ramen offers a red and a white miso ramen. The pastes of which make the broth almost a creamy consistency. I tried the red last winter and I cant remember if I ordered it extra hot or it's just served spicy but it was a nose burner. There was alot going on. Too much maybe for me. But I love how the broth for these bowls visit a wok which gets it all sorts of smoky. As mentioned it's been a few months since my last visit but the miso options were the most popular early on. But if you read all of the glowing reviews it's the Tsukemen that most people praise. The chicken gets some love too. 

Miso Ramen at Chicago Ramen 

Chicago Ramen 
578 E Oakton St

Des Plaines, IL 60018

(224) 938-9982 

Cevicheria Coco Loco

-Eating like a Mayan King in the Windy City

I'd been waiting all winter for the weather to warm up and with it to try Coco Loco Cevicheria in Des Plaines. It's a small little shop in a small little four store strip mall on Oakton. It's not new but it hasn't been around that long either. There's a good little jibarito spot a few doors down that I visited in 2018 called Jibarito Time. Coco Loco wasn't there then so it's no older than a year or two. It's owners are from Durango in Mexico which is more known for it's meat. But you wont find much meat on the menu here though they do offer a carne asada taco I'll probably try next time. I say that because all the seafood dishes we tried on my initial visit just last week were wonderful. A trend in these parts.

 Locals Favorite in Des Plaines 

The menu here is small but effective. Like I said it's mostly dominated by mariscos of which a large chunk of the dishes on offer are either ceviche or seafood cocktail in some form or fashion. We visited on a Sunday afternoon and it was empty upon arrival but filling up shortly after. They open at 2p and we had arrived right around then. We weren't comfortable eating inside so instead I asked the friendly young lady working the front of the house to have them prepare it for there but we'd be eating it outside on the trunk of my friends car. We ordered with the help of the aforementioned young lady.

Fiesta de Mariscos al Trunko

Obviously we were there to try the ceviche but the Baja style fish and shrimp tacos were also a nice menu surprise and with that came personally rec'd by the front of the house. They also had homemade shrimp empanadas with cheese in orders of two so that worked out well. For our ceviche we got the fish and shrimp mix. All in all we tried a large order of ceviche, two shrimp empanadas, and one each of the fried shrimp and fried fish tacos. The young lady was right regarding the tacos which were both fantastic. I may have preferred the fish which is rare outside Baja but they fried it up crispy. There's not many spots doing better Baja style tacos in town. I'll tell you that much. The empanadas were good too but I kind of ruined all others when Irecently tried this well known street vendor in Sayulita's version. The fish and shrimp ceviche was nice and fresh and came with a ton of both tostadas and saltine crackers for eating it with. Beware of that green salsa on the side. It brings the pain for about 20 seconds or so. Overall this was a fantastic lunch that hit the spot on a pretty hot day. Chicago's got a ton of mariscos places but many of them share the same menu which is often too big in terms of figuring out what's good aside from the langostinos. So it's great to see a place like Coco Loco where they specialize in a few popular mariscos dishes and that's it. I'm already a big fan.

Shrimp Empanadas with Cheese

Fish and Shrimp Ceviche at Cevicheria Coco Loco

Baja Fish Tacos at Cevicheria Coco Loco 

Cevicheria Coco Loco
931 E Oakton St
Des Plaines, IL 60018
(224) 612-6012

Jibarito Time

-Grubbing in Chicago (land)
Jibaritos in Des Plaines

While driving down Oakton I spied a new to me spot specializing in jibaritos. You know how I am about places that pick something and focus on doing that something right. So I pulled into the little strip mall where Jibarito Time rests. I was aware of another place in the area called Santiago's that gets lots of love over on LTHforum but I was unaware this was the new incarnation of Santiago's.

Newly Opened in Des Plaines

Santiago's is/was a family owned Puerto Rican spot that people really took a liking too. They talked of delicious homemade Puerto Rican recipes and big plates of food. For whatever reason the family behind Santiago's went for a bit of a mix-up and decided to change the name of their place to Jibarito Time while focusing on the popular plantain sandwich that was born in Chicago. The menu sports a couple handfuls worth of jibarito options. Some like the Cuban sandwich jibarito were tempting but there's really no reason to mess with a classic so I got a steak with cheese. This was one of the best jibaritos I've had first and foremost due to the plantains themselves. They were perfectly crispy and extra thin with little to no grease clinging on. While there wasn't a ton of steak in between I found it to be the perfect balance to the "bread" while the rest of the components (lettuce, tomato, mayo, cheese) did their magic. I dont eat jibaritos often but I love them when I do and this was a good one.

Steak Jibarito at Jibarito Time

Jibarito Time
935 E Oakton St
Des Plaines, IL 60018
(224) 938-9115
Website

Rand Red Hots

-In Chicago: Every Dog Has it's Day

Lets start 2014 off with a trip on the Chicago Hot Dog Stand Tour. We'll head up to Des Plaines where Rand Red Hots opened up at last year. Upon its opening they had people quickly comparing them to a nearby favorite Gene & Jude's. I believe I read somewhere that the owner here used to work at G&J back in his HS days.

New Locals Favorite in Des Plaines

When you're pulling up on Rand it's a pretty cool sight. They restored an old drive up building and put some stand out colors on it while giving it a complete makeover inside. There's car shows in the summer. It's got the feel of a Chicago style fast food shack down pat. You walk up to the counter and place your order as steam separates you and the guy behind it. The menu is pretty standard. We're talking Vienna Beef Natural Casing Hot Dogs, Fresh Cut Fries, Polish Sausage, Bunch Tamales and Milk Shakes. Real one, not those from Wieners Circle.

As we enter

Rand serves old school aka depression style (though some hate that description) hot dogs. This means the aforementioned natural casing wiener gets topped with mustard, onion, relish and sport peppers and they come served on a regular old steamed hot dog bun with fresh cut fries included. First the good. This is my preferred style of hot dog and this is a perfect example of it. The fries were perfect, something a place like Gene & Jude's sometimes fails to do. But my problem with them was they don't stack the fries on the hot dog as they wrap it up. They come on the side and it just didn't feel right. I think part of it is that when the fries get smashed into dog it molds all those toppings and it together. This results in a few fries with some of the toppings attached to them, I like those ones the best. I also leave a few fries as topping on the hot dog. I've always done this since my days back to Demon Dogs.Other than that, no complaints from me.

A Rand Red Hot

Rand Red Hots
1441 Rand Rd
Des Plaines, IL 60016
(847) 699-0606
Website

Don's Dock

-The Shrimp Shacks of Chi

Its the Lenten season and so the fish and seafood consumption is going to go up during this time. I don't practice the whole eating rules of religion or any of that stuff for that matter and I'm not going to get into anything religious over here. You know like Chris Rock said and I totally agree with "I have a hard time believing my diet is going to come into question in the afterlife" except that I will say that at least its an excuse to eat me some seafood. Don's Dock is a spot I've only been to once and that was late last summer and I enjoyed my visit there and will get back next time I'm in the area. The family run fishing shacks of Chicago's past are becoming less and less these days but a few with a strong history remain and Don's Dock is one of them. Owned and operated by the Johnson family who started commercial fishing the Great Lakes during the 1930's, they opened up their first market in 1939 and have been at the present location in Des Plaines since 1971 and have been running Don's Dock since 1951.


A familiar face along Northwest Highway


Since 1951 for a reason

Its a family run joint that has over 100 years of experience from their veteran employees and they take care of all the fresh seafood needs in the area. Sometimes fish is delivered to Don's three times a day and you can take fresh fish home and prepare it your way or you can also pick up such specialty's like fried shrimp and other golden seafood goodies to dine in or carry out. As well as smoked fish, cocktail shrimp and homemade salads to accompany them. They will always have specials going on as well for all the different seasons. On my first visit me and a buddy kept it real simple and we went with a pound of fried shrimp and some fried Lake Perch which was in season and from the Great Lakes region.


Fried Shrimp from Don's Dock


Great Lakes Yellow Perch

I enjoyed both quite alot and slightly preferred the perch with the breading they use. The fried shrimp were fried hard and had a very crunchy texture because of this. I prefer a light coating on my shrimp but this was one of the better heavy coats I've e had. The sauce was more of a cocktail based than hot sauce but worked well with the shrimps. If I only lived a little closer to Don's I would use them on a regular basis. They had a glass display case with all sorts of fresh fish by the pound to take home along with smoked shrimp, whitefish and other specialties of the Great Lakes region. Its nice to see the multiple generation family run joints take it to the big boys.


Don's fried their shrimp hard

Don's Dock
1220 E. Northwest Hwy.
Des Plaines, IL 60016
(847) 827-1817
Website