A reader named Pam emailed me today to ask about Espresso Depot (25960 S. Governors Highway) in Monee. Pam has been a regular at the coffee shop until yesterday, when it was unexpectedly closed. “Did this cute, sweet, handy-on-the-way-to-the-Metra-station place close for good?” she wrote. “Boo hoo!”
If you know anything about Espresso Depot, please leave a comment or call me at (815) 937-3374.
Here are several reader recommendations I’ve received lately:
A reader named Lori recommends Mayberry Junction Restaurant in Manteno: “They have the best of everything and the amount of food is just overwhelming. Prices are very reasonable. They are very busy at meal time so if you bring a group, call for reservations. They have daily specials. I have never had a bad meal there and the staff is very friendly. Their daily specialty is broasted chicken. Yum, yum.”
Mayberry Junction (390 N. Locust St.) is open from 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. Call (815) 468-3811 for more information.
***
A reader named Jackie recommends La Villetta Restaurant (801 W. Broadway) in Bradley: “We went to La Villetta on Sunday and had one of their new dishes and it was wonderful. … I had the scallops and shrimp with tomatoes and mushrooms.”
***
A reader named Doug recommends The Princess Cafe (502 Dixie Highway) in Beecher: “The Princess Cafe has the best lobster tail. I swear it was the first time I couldn’t finish lobster. It was huge and cooked just right.”
***
A reader named Cheryl recommends French Toast (161 E. Bethel) in Bourbonnais: “I cannot say enough good things about French Toast. The menu is great and the people are friendly. … That is a place I can go by myself and eat at the counter and feel like I had breakfast with friends. The Arepas Benedict and the Chocolate Espresso French Toast are my favorites.”
I can’t say enough good things about French Toast, either, but I’ll try: The chef, Justin, is a genius; the owner, Heather, is always there to make sure you have an excellent experience; and the food is awesome. My favorites dishes are the Verde Chilequiles and the Reuben.
***
A reader named Lisa recommends One Sixty Four North (164 N. Schuyler Ave.) in Kankakee: “I had the hamburger with blue cheese on top of it today. It was some of the best beef I’ve ever tasted, not to mention they cooked it like I like it. (It was) absolutely the most delicious hamburger I’ve had in a very, very long time.”
***
Best Bites readers are always invited to contact me by phone (815-937-3374), email (drenckens@daily-journal.com) or on Facebook with recommendations on good places to eat.
A reader named Kathy sent me a recommendation for Anthony’s Pizzeria (63 N. Main St.) in Manteno. She wrote: “If you haven’t been to Anthony’s in Manteno since they remodeled, you will be pleasantly surprised. Their new look is warm and inviting. Their food is just as good as ever, especially the garlic beef. … They also do catering. (They have) daily specials, a luncheon buffet and just awesome food!”
Anthony’s opens at 11 a.m. daily. It closes at 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, at 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and at 9 p.m. on Sunday. The phone is (815) 468-3484.
Talk to anyone who’s been to Turtle’s Tap (152 E. Main St.) in Dwight, and it seems that they have nothing but good things to say about the bar and restaurant.
“Turtle’s is the best!” a reader named Rose told me. “My hubby and I go there often since we live in Limestone and it’s faster to get to Dwight than to … the mall!”
“Great food,” a reader named Lori wrote via email. “The best thing we like, besides the atmosphere of all the famous turtles, is the salad, which has pepperoni in it.”
After hearing such good things, I was excited to have dinner there, and I wasn’t disappointed. The salad that Lori referred to, which is a house specialty, was indeed wonderful. It comes with a sweet and creamy Italian dressing that’s so popular the restaurant sells it by the pint. Also, my super-crispy and juicy beer-battered fried chicken was excellent.
It was hard to save room for dessert, but I had been forewarned about the skillet cookie. It’s a large chocolate chip cookie cooked in a cast-iron skillet, then topped with vanilla ice cream, caramel, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and pecans. (Yes, it’s every bit as good as it sounds.) The skillet arrives hot at your table, and as you can likely imagine, the warm cookie paired with the cold ice cream and sweet toppings makes for a heavenly end to any meal. The original size was more than enough for two people, and it’s also available in individual and children’s portions.
Besides the food, Turtle’s is also famous for its murals. Covering one full wall of the restaurant is a scene of deceased celebrities sitting at a bar — what Turtle’s Tap might look like in Heaven, I’m told. Recent additions to the scene are Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, who were added within a week of their passing. Owner Kevin Kropel decides which celebrities earn a spot on the wall, and he’s also chosen to have two not-so-famous figures commemorated there: his father, and a long-time Turtle employee who also was a close friend.
Opposite the mural of famous people is a mural of a giant turtle. Both are the work of local artist Steve Connor, and they contain a few surprises if you look closely. I don’t want to give away the secrets, but the drawings of Michael Jackson, Dale Earnhardt and the giant turtle are among the sketches with unusual detail.
The restaurant is named after Kropel, who is the youngest of four children. Early in life his siblings dubbed him “Turtle” for his poky pace, and the name stuck. Kropel opened the restaurant in Dwight in 1985 and later opened a location in Morris.
Turtle’s is open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday. Lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Dinner is served from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday and 4:30 to 9 p.m. on Saturday.
Turtle’s is on the east side of Main Street. When you first enter you’ll be in the bar area, but take a few steps to your left and you’ll be in a bright, spacious dining room with ample seating. For more information, call (815) 584-3663.
A reader named Rob emailed me this week to recommend Traxx Sports Bar & Grill (102 Dixie Highway) in Grant Park. “My wife and I … went there tonight and tried their thin crust pizza. I must admit it is one of the best from around the area and we’ll make the trip from Bourbonnais to go back and try their other menu items. They offer four crusts — thin, deep-dish, stuffed and double crust. They also have a very nice menu (with) daily specials (and) a wide selection of sandwiches; salads; pastas; chicken, shrimp & rib dinners; and pizza. May I also say their service was very good.”
If you plan to go for pizza, dine-in customers can enjoy half-priced pizzas after 4 p.m. on certain days. On Tuesday evenings, thin crust pizzas are half price. The double crust pizzas are half price on Wednesdays, and deep-dish and stuffed pizzas are half price on Sundays.
The kitchen at Traxx opens at 11 a.m. daily. It closes at 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and at 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The bar is open later. Delivery is available in Grant Park and nearby areas after 4 p.m.
For more information, you can visit their Web site, follow them on Facebook or call them at (815) 465-2000.
Having written this column for more than three years now, it’s an exciting moment when a reader tells me about a local restaurant that I haven’t heard of before. That’s what happened a few weeks ago when a reader named Jim emailed me about the Clarke City Grill on Lake Shannon, which is on the far western edge of Kankakee County.
The Clarke City Grille sits at the north end of the 190-acre lake, a former strip mine that’s now used for fishing, boating, skiing and swimming. From 1881 to 1910 the area around the mine was a town known as Clarke City, but it disappeared when the mine closed. Today an entire recreational community has been built around the lake, with manufactured homes lining the 12-mile shoreline.
Owners John & Anita Arthur opened the restaurant in June after moving back to the area from Florida. Breakfast and lunch is served every day except Mondays, when they’re closed.
Jim says Clarke City Grille is a “really great new restaurant” with a “huge breakfast menu” and the “best cheeseburgers I have ever had!” The lunch menu features several burgers, sandwiches and salads. I can recommend the Grilled Chicken Philly, which I enjoyed and am told is popular. The breakfast menu features all the usual items, including omelettes, biscuits and gravy, and breakfast sandwiches. I also noticed that they have breakfast burritos and make their French Toast with thick slices of Texas Toast. Both the breakfast and lunch menus offer kid selections. Everything is available for carry-out.
The restaurant has a few outdoor tables that overlook the beach, as well as a few booths and tables inside. Of course, the beach was snow-covered when I was there last week, but a lifeguard tower and raft helped me imagine what it might look like in the summer months, and Jim confirms that “it is like eating at a beach resort” when the weather is nice, “with little kids swimming and building sand castles.”
To get to Lake Shannon from the Kankakee area, take Illinois Route 17 past Essex Road to 19000 W. Road. Go north for 3 miles to 3000 N. Road and turn right. After passing the “Welcome to Lake Shannon” sign, keep looking to your right for a one-level yellow building that sits between the road and the beach. That’s the restaurant.
Clarke City Grille is open from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from 6 a.m. to noon on Sunday. The phone is (815) 641-0840.
A special piece of mail arrived on my desk a few weeks ago. It contained the menu to the Herscher Restaurant and Pub, along with a handwritten note from a Herscher reader name Joyce. “This is a great addition to Herscher. Best place in the area!” she wrote. “I won’t steer you wrong, from one Minneapolis girl to another!”
Joyce knew I was a Minneapolis girl because several years ago she called me after I wrote something in the paper about being a Twin Cities native. It turned out that we shared a fondness for Totino’s, a long-time north Minneapolis restaurant known for it’s pizza and pasta. (In the 70s the owners sold their name to Pillsbury, which turned it into a national frozen pizza brand. Unfortunately, the Pillsbury version bears no resemblance whatsoever to the real thing, which is fabulous. However, Jim & Rose Totino were very generous with their financial success and donated a considerable sum to Archbishop Grace High School in Fridley, Minn., which then changed its name to Totino-Grace High School in their honor. I tell you this random detail because I happen to be a T-G alum.)
So I did trust Joyce’s advice implicitly and made a trip to the Herscher Restaurant, which is at 171 S. Main St. in downtown Herscher. They have a typical Greek-style menu, with lots of options in every category, from breakfast to dessert. I can recommend the Chicken Olympic salad, which I had for lunch. If you go for dinner, entrees include ribs, steaks, chops, chicken, veal, fish and shrimp, pasta dishes, beef liver and meatloaf. If you save room for dessert, they have sundaes, banana splits and triple-rich shakes. Daily specials include Italian night every Monday, steak on Tuesday, ribs on Wednesday and Thursday, fish on Friday and prime rib on Saturday. They also offer fried chicken to go.
Herscher Restaurant and Pub opens at 5 a.m. daily. The kitchen closes at 10 p.m., but the bar stays open and will serve appetizers until 2 a.m. The phone is (815) 426-2200.
A reader named Anita recommends Russ & Rosie’s (141 S. Chestnut) in Chebanse :
“The new owners at Russ & Rosie’s have TERRIFIC food! Jeff, the new owner, is buying the steaks from a local butcher and they are never frozen. He is coming up with some really good weekend specials, (too). I had the Whiskey Chicken Breast last Friday night and it totally melted in my mouth!”
New owners Jeff and Diane Buckles took over the restaurant and bar on Oct. 3, 2010. Prime rib, T-bone and porterhouse steaks are now on the menu every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Other specials include taco night every Monday and all-you-can-eat fried chicken on Tuesdays.
The kitchen at Russ & Rosie’s is open from 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. The bar is open later. Call (815) 697-9710 for more information.
Here are two recommendations I’ve received recently for Peotone Bierstube:
From a reader named Lisa: “Peotone Bierstube has tender and delicious sauerbraten, and the portabella appetizer with crab was a hearty portion and one of the best I’ve ever had.”
From a reader named Chris: “I tried the all-you-can-eat walleye special they have on Friday. The fish was so tender and they just kept bringing it out.” Chris also enjoyed the Hofbräu Oktoberfest beer and said the warm apple struedel he had for dessert was “delectable”. The authentic German music was another highlight, he said. “Overall, the Peotone Bierstube is a must-visit for anyone looking for a special
dining experience.”
If you like New York-style delis, you might enjoy Bergstein’s NY Delicatessen (200 Dixie Highway) in Chicago Heights.
It’s a 30-minute drive from Bourbonnais and worth the trip if you have hankering for items such as pastrami, lox, potato pancakes or matzoh ball soup.
As you might expect, the menu features numerous sandwiches. Corned beef, pastrami, turkey and roast beef are available on their own or in various combinations such as “The Southsider” (turkey and roast beef with lettuce and tomato on rye). The turkey and roast beef are roasted at Bergsteins, but my husband and I both liked the pastrami the best.
Less traditional sandwich fillings on the menu include whitefish salad or chopped liver. The menu also features several salads, soups and sides, such as knish and kishka. Breakfast platters and hot egg sandwiches are available any time.
Bergstein’s is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. They’re located in a strip mall at the southwest corner of Vollmer Road and Dixie Highway.
For more information, check out their Web site (www.bergsteinsdeli.com) or call them at (708) 754-6400.
(Thanks to a reader named Mickey for that tip. She recommends the chopped liver sandwich.)
