Long Grove Strawberry Festival

-Feastin' at locals favorite festivals

Festival season is in full swing. I didn't get a chance to go to many last year. I just wasn't in a rush. But I did attend both the Strawberry and Apple Fest in the historic suburb of Long Grove last season. Strawberry Fest is coming up (June 21st-23rd) so I thought we would get this up a week early so families and couples could make plans.

Long Grove, IL

About 30 minutes from Chicago in Lake County sits the affluent suburb of Long Grove. Its one of the cutest little suburbs in the state. In the 1950's they passed an ordinance that opposed major developments so it's charm remains today. There's a covered bridge, ponds and some beautiful old buildings and homes to be seen as well as a quint little shopping district downtown. That's where they hold their annual Strawberry and Apple festivals (Sept.).

All things Strawberry

I couldn't figure out why these weren't melting on a hot summer day

Last year we attended Strawberry Fest and it was hot as hell out. The weather should be better this year if what we've had so far remains. While you might think attending a festival in a small suburb would be much less stress than the city that's not quite the case. They come from all over for this and every last parking spot available is taken during peak times but people come and go so getting  a spot isn't too hard. I enjoy it because of the charm of the area. You feel light years away from the city when visiting. Its a great place to spend the day walking around while enjoying the weather.

Strolling around

Of course the other fun things about festivals are the food and drink. I love festival food and I aint afraid to admit it. There's some good options here as far as food goes. Then there's also the Village Tavern where you can step inside away from the heat and drink some refreshments while cooling down. They get into the theme too and have strawberry brews and cocktail concoctions. The beer garden is next door and all the food stands and bands line the streets of downtown. Enjoy the tour.

Cooling down at the Village Tavern

There's some good festival food to be had here

Good Eats

Long Grove Strawberry Festival

Five More Burgers (Part 3)

-Got beef?
The Burgers of Chi

We didnt get a chance to celebrate National Hamburger Month last May due to a different theme. So this means is it's time for another "5 More..." We understand if you're sick of burgers and lists for them but its what we've ate from the get go here. I like them and one of the reasons is you can be almost anywhere and find a place thats been doing them the right way for a long time. If S'C'&C isnt a great resource for burgers from around this region I'll be damned. I'll just continue to eat more and wont stop because people are sick of it. So without further ado I give you five more burgers served in Chicago I give my blessing too.
______________________________________

Flub a Dub Chub's

Popular Hot Dog Stand on Broadway in Lakeview

Just like another popular spot in the area, Flub a Dub Chub's is a hot dog stand that puts out a really good burger. Located in a space formerly occupied by a cleaners this is a newly aged classic Chicago style fast food stand. From good friendly people who run it down to the classic food you find in these establishments. The Roe Burger will make you happier than the folks that live up around this way. It's a big happy hamburger. A 1/3 pound of fresh beef is char grilled and topped with melted cheddar along with thick cut bacon and sliced avocado. Normally I dont really like pretzel buns but this one holds all that goodness together.

The Roe Burger

______________________________________

Big Jones

Up in Andersonville there's a handful of spots that dont get the praise and press of trendier River North establishments but people are still finding their way there because theres no one single authority on food anymore. Big Jones is a really good place for a date or if you dont have one, a great spot to drown your sorrows in some whiskey and spend some time with this baby below. Their pimiento cheese burger from the dinner portion of the menu is one of my favorites in the city. You dont find many places doing a take on this southern specialty. Made with house chow chow and pimento cheese, both southern staples, it comes with two juicy patties and grilled onions too. Add a side of their fried sides and I'm good to go.

Pimiento Cheeseburger

______________________________________

Tavish

Cute little Corner Bar in Lincoln Park

Tavish in Lincoln Park has been around for a while now. There was a time when I used to frequent the building it sits in for the purchase of fireworks, baseball cards, cap guns, candy cigarettes and other fun stuff. The Tavish burgers here were named one of the cities best by the Tribune over a decade ago and they're still really good. Mini burgers come cooked to desired doneness with a pickle on top and their house cut chips. Nothing fancy but something that definitely kicks the itch for a cheeseburger when it hits.

 Tavish Burgers

______________________________________

Cortland's Garage

Locals favorite in Bucktown

There's tons of best burger lists out there. A place you're likely to see on many Chicago ones is Cortland's Garage. I know I read about it from one of them out there. For whatever reason it took me a couple years to try one. I shouldn't have waited. Their signature offering with avocado, bacon and onion strings with fresh cut fries is one of the best bar burgers in the city and worthy of being included in whatever list it was I read.

Cortland Street Burger

______________________________________

The Anthem

A little example of social media marketing at work here. I was watching the 1st round set of games of the NCAA basketball Tourney this past March when someone re-tweeted a tweet from The Anthem in Ukrainian Village. It mentioned that they had all the games on their TV's and their Juicy Lucy was 1/2 off on Thursdays. So I went over to watch a half of games and have one. 

Juicy Lucy at the Anthem

The Juicy Lucy FYI is a specialty burger from the Twin Cities. It's stuffed with cheese which oozes out when eating one. Anthem is an updated retro sports bar so there's plenty of TV's and beer options available if that what you're looking for. I was able to take a seat amongst the Broseph's for a beer and order a burger. Not bad. I think it was $10 regularly priced so having paid just $5 for it with the fries this was a good deal. I thought it was a pretty good representation of this style. As far as bar specials go, this was a good one.

The Insides

______________________________________

Flub a Dub Chubs

3021 N Broadway 
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 857-6500

Big Jones

5347 N Clark St 
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 275-5725

Tavish

1335 W Wrightwood Ave 
Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 529-8888

Cortland's Garage

1645 W Cortland St 
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 862-7877

The Anthem

1725 W Division St
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 697-4804

The Green City Market

Eating like a local:
Regional food specialties
-Midwest Grown Produce, Handcrafted Cheese & More

Lincoln Park Chicago

When you ask any longtime resident which neighborhood in a city of them is best you're gonna get a biased answer. I'll always love Lincoln Park. It's where I grew up. Before you come up with some snark ass comment this was during the 80's and 90's. I was eating doubles at Demon Dogs, shopping for M-80's at Kozy's (Tavish today) and breaking into the Fleers Baseball Card Factory helping myself to uncut sheets before the boutiques arrived and the rent went sky high. I'm cool with its transformation, if its good for the city its good for me. As far as good eats in the area go its getting way better than Fast Food chains, drunken Mexican eats and bar food goes. On Sat. mornings its where the cities food fiends flock. The Green City Market is just another reason the neighborhood is on fire.

The Green City Market

I'm not going to get too in depth about the Market except to say it's the cities best and really a nice place to have. We're talking some of the best grown fruits and vegetables from around the Midwest along with amazing canned goods and other finds like Wisconsin baked cheese and organic pork steaks from Iowa. There's also some good eating to be done while you shop, always better to do that before! There's tons of info out there on the GCM but a couple current things I check are the twitter feed of @kennethaz who's giving tips on whats good there most Saturdays before others have risen. Also the Local Beet. They do good work covering the GCM and also the rest of the areas farmers markets. Let's take a walk around.

 Lets grab a refreshing smoothie before we shop around

You'll know whats in season, where everything is coming from and learn a few things while here

Michigan Berries

Wisconsin Mushrooms and Cheese

There's a Few Eating Options at the Market

Becker Lane (IA) Organic Pork Porchetta Sandwich Stand

Porchetta Sandwich

The Insides

 Don't forget your Greens!

Green City Market
2732 N Clark St #302 
Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 880-1266
Website
*Open Wed and Sat. 7a-1p

Eggroll Crunch

-Grubbing in Chicago (land)
Where the local 'burbans eat

I've had today's place on the radar since my buddy, who works at O'Hare, mentioned it to me. He gave their deep fried snickers plenty of praise but hadn't said anything about the "Shanghai Style Dumplings" listed on the menu. So when I saw they served Xiao Long Bao aka soup dumplings it shot up on my list.

Fun little mom and pop spot in Bensenville

It's becoming rarer to find or be tipped about a place I haven't heard of that gets me excited to go try it. Anyone else out there doing any food exploring anymore? Eggroll Crunch says they're inspired by traditional Chinese dim sum dining. The menu is small and so is much of whats on offer. 

Dim Sum Eats

The namesake Eggrolls are different than most places and they offer a few different fillings for them. These are crunchier than most I've had, tastier too. I particularly liked the egg and Chinese sausage stuffed ones. Pictured with them in the collage is something similar to Jin deui. Red bean paste balls coated with sesame seeds and fried. The crab rangoon might not be authentic but they were awesome. Potstickers and green onion pancakes were pretty good too. The Soup Dumplings come four to an order and will set you back $3.25 per.


"Shanghai Style Pork Dumplings"

Let me first off state that I've never ate Xiao Long Bao outside of Chicago. So I'm no expert by any means. I'm guessing some people looked at the picture above and wondered why they "weren't served in the usual steam basket?" That I dont know. But I do know I enjoyed them and that they held up well as far as no holes and soup exploding into your mouth goes. I enjoyed the crab and pork ones enough to order 5 rounds for me and my buddies who were with me.


Tasty!

If you happen to be anywhere near I think it's worth seeking Eggroll Crunch out. Its all in the family with the daughter who's idea it was to open the place up-front and in the kitchen. Her mother and sister handle the recipes while a brother does the legal work. She was very welcoming and everything except maybe the fried rice was worth ordering again. Including those deep fried Snickers bars my guy loves. I'll be back.


Mini Snickers bars wrapped in won-ton and deep fried

Eggroll Crunch
11 W Main St
Bensenville, IL 60106
(630) 608-4318
Website 

Lee's Carry Outs

-Grubbing in Chicago (land)
Where the local 'burbans eat

As the years go on at S'C'&C the barely uncovered gems that drove the start of this site start becoming harder to find. The internet has made virtually every last place "discovered" so to say and who cares if you're the first person to check in on Yelp at a brand new place, there's nowhere out there that anyone themselves discovered. Just places people can bring more attention upon. I'm here today to raise awareness to those not familiar with Lee's. A wonderful carry out shop frying up gold.

Longtime Locals Favorite in Calumet City

How is there only one review of a place that we were told had been there 40+ years but the yelper says 50? I'd driven past Lee's knowing it had potential but was never lucky enough to be driving by when they were open. This time around I was calling the routes and lucky enough to have fried chicken aficionado Grub Seeker driving so I also had eating power. It was like stepping back into time when stepping in. I love these spots.

A peak inside

We were one of a few sets of customers who were waiting and there was no doubt the others had been going for a while. One group was three generations of ladies and another was a longtime regular who got worried when the proprietor who's name escapes me had asked if we thought his place would be popular in the city? "Maybe around Chinatown?" Where some Chinese businessmen told him to go and make dough. The convo started when he told me how it'd been years since the last time someone took a picture of his place. The last person was a Scout from the mini-chain Lee's Chicken who was prospecting the area. Because Lee's Carry-Out had been there long before there was nothing the Chain could do. As to his question about the chicken being able to sell good in the city? Without a doubt.

Three Piece Fried Chicken Box

Since Cal City is a suburb we cant call this the best fried chicken in Chicago but can say its the best in the 'land. That's what I said when I ate a leg that was lightly breaded but had some serious crunch with juices popping out when I bit in. Standing there as the owner took orders then went in back to coat, toss and fry the chicken and fish you just knew what was coming. Order a box and your gifted with some cole slaw that packs a black pepper punch, a warm roll and fresh cut golden perfectly fried crinkle cut fries. The man has a gift because the lake perch was on point as well.

Fresh Fried Lake Perch

The breading a little thicker, also crispier but the fish flesh was fresh and the 1/2 pound we ate was absolutely great. It was an awesome "find" but also a sad one as a cold display case that used to store fresh perch and other goods sat unused as the times have turned not just in this town but pretty much any driven by an industry no longer around. If Lee's ever needs to up their earnings the city would for sure be welcoming. That said I hope it would be with a 2nd location because the original is a gem.

Old School

Lee's Chicken Carry Out
610 Burnham Ave 
Calumet City, IL 60409
(708) 891-3200