Will County Recommendations?

Looking for restaurant and menu item suggestions for dining in the Will County area. Thanks!

You may want to be a little more specific on area. Plainfield, Wilmington and Beecher are pretty far apart but still in Will County.

Narrowing it down for the group... Plainfield, Joliet, Crest Hill, Lockport, Mokena, Frankfort, New Lenox area...

cheeseplease wrote:Narrowing it down for the group... Plainfield, Joliet, Crest Hill, Lockport, Mokena, Frankfort, New Lenox area...

If you do a search, you may find restaurants for some, if not all, of those communities. We would also be very interested in what you like or don't like in your area and why.

Regards,

Bierstube in Frankfort

I have been meaning to write this up for a while so thanks for the spark. I moved to unincorporated Will County (South of New Lenox) a few years ago after spending most of my adult life in the city. I have noticed that many of the old South Side favorites I knew growing up have followed their clientele out here. I will write up the ones I know about starting with Pizza.

Vito and Nicks – Like many family businesses there have been splits and divisions, but I grew up going to V&N on Pulaski in the city and that is the standard for me. The V&N outpost in Mokena is in a strip mall on Route 30 just W of Wolf Road. It has none of the charm of the original, they take plastic, they serve beer that is not Old Style, and they don’t have the Italian grandmother basement décor of the original. I believe they are from the V&N2 branch of the family. The pizza, however, is pretty close to Pulaski. If you like Vito and Nicks in Chicago, this comes pretty close and is a much shorter drive from me. According to the website V&N2 also has stores in Joliet and Plainfield.

http://www.vitoandnicksii.com/default.asp



Fox's – With branches in Beverly, Oak Lawn and Orland Park, Fox's Pizza has been following their customer base for years. They must be doing something right because they are still around. They also have the very thin crust fennel based sausage pizza thing down to a tee, but their sauce is sweeter and more heavily applied than V&N. This also diminishes the crispness of the crust. The latest Fox's branch is…wait for it….in a strip mall just West of Wolf Road in Mokena. The room is pretty large and they have a menu of sandwiches and dinners beyond Pizza. Their pastas are dismal, the pizza is pretty good if you like a sweeter very thin crust style. I haven’t tried any of the other dinners.

http://foxsonwolf.reachlocal.net/locations.php

Chesdan’s - Chesdan’s was started on Archer Avenue in Brighton Park in 1946 and was considered a peer of Vito and Nick’s when I was growing up on the South Side although it has been 30 years since I was there and I cant say much about the experience. They have moved out to Will county, and are located in Homer Glen.

http://www.chesdanspizza.com/index.html

My favorite pizza in the area is Little Joe’s at the corner of Cedar and Francis Roads in New Lenox. Little Joes is also a South Side transplant, I know they started in the city on 63rd street and currently have a store in Tinley Park. They recently celebrated their 50th anniversary. Little Joe’s serves excellent cracker thin crust pizza. I prefer Little Joes to the (Mokena) Vito and Nicks. They have a large dining area and a pretty extensive menu. They also do a pretty good job at breakfast and often have a cheesy Elvis impersonator on Sunday's.

http://www.littlejoesfamouspizza.com

Also in New Lenox, in a strip mall on Laraway, is Pizza Mia, this is Carry out and Delivery only and they serve a very respectable thin crust as well. They are one of the few that will deliver to my remote homestead.

http://www.pizzamiaonline.com/about.php

Fat Johnnies is widely known as the home of the mother in law. Frankfort IL is known as the home of Fat Johnnies Daughter. A hot dog stand on 191st East of LaGrange in one of the numerous Strip Malls in the area. I have had a couple of Hot Dogs here and wasn’t impressed. I will go back and record exactly why next time.

VITO & NICK'S II® -MOKENA IL
11220 W.LINCOLN HIGHWAY.(RT 30)
MOKENA, ILLINOIS 60448
(815)806-8520

Fox’s
11247 W. 187TH STREET
MOKENA, IL 60448
(708)390-0287
(708)478-2389 FAX

Chesdans
15764 S Bell Road
Homer Glen, IL 60491
708-301-8300
Monday - Thursday
11am - 10pm
Friday - Saturday
11am - 11pm
Sunday
Noon - 9pm

Little Joes
1300 North Cedar Road
New Lenox, IL 60451
Phone: 815.463.1099
Monday - Thursday 6:00am - 9:30pm
Friday & Saturday 6:00am - 10:30pm
Sunday 6:00am - 9:00pm

Pizza Mia
830 W. Laraway Road
New Lenox, IL
(815) 463-8300
M 11am-9pm
T- Th 11am-10pm
F 11am-11pm Saturday 3-11pm
Sun 3-10pm

Fat Jonnies Daughter
9432 W 191st St
Mokena, IL 60448
708-326-4100

Thanks for the suggestions on pizza! We've ordered from Little Joe's quite a bit (in fact, they're on our menu for tomorrow!). I also like Beggars (another that I believe came from Chicago). They're a bit pricey but big on toppings!

Looking forward to hearing your other recommendations!

Amanecer Tapatio in Joliet is a GNR. Truth is a more upscale and pleasant enough, also in Joliet. Also in Joliet, Dan's Homemade candies makes good caramels and great caramel apples in the Fall.

Meriscka's in Crest Hill is an old, cheap steak house, preserved in amber from 1950. Go once, enjoy the relish tray, the cheap cocktails, cheap steaks and garlic butterine. Then you can decide if you need to go back.

I cannot claim to be an expert on Plainfield, as I rarely eat there though I go there all the time. It has a nice downtown with a smattering of restaurants along the main street. I had a respectable cajun meal at one of them (name escapes me), surprisingly good, really. There is an Italian place I have always wanted to try. Heading north on Route 59, there are too many places to list, including another Vito & Nick's II and more chains than you can shake a stick at, running into Napervile. Given your geography, it seems that is not the direction you want to go anyway, so I will not make any route 59 recs.

For real fancy, Tallgrass in Lockport has been the best around for years. Courtwrights in Willow Springs, heading up the river is not bad, and there are a few places in downtown Lemont that can be okay, though I have not been for a while.

Or to look at it differently - here are some areas I like to wander and explore:

Heading north on Archer.
Downtown Plainfield and downtown Lemont.
Driving north on LaGrange (or whatever it is called) from Frankfort.

And depending on where you are in Will County, it might not be too hard to get to these GNRs: Chuck's in Burbank, or Steve's Shish Kebab in Palos Heights.

Actually Beggars should also be on that list; I believe that they were originally in Blue Island on Western.

We found a cute little Thai place in Shorewood - Smile of Siam, at 805 West Jefferson.

We were in Joliet last week for a Leon Redbone / Leo Kottke concert, and needed somewhere to meet a relative.

Smile of Siam was where we chose to go; and the food was good enough to merit that it may be one of the few restaurants in Shorewood that is NOT steak and chops driven.

We have a very good Panang Curry, a good Pad Oyster Sauce (loaded with fresh broccoli) and a passable, but somewhat bland, Pad Ginger. All the ingredients tasted fresh, and the chef clearly knew his way around Thai cuisine.

Is this a destination restaurant? NO. But if I were in Joliet again, and I didn't want steak or bar fare, I'd certainly make the 10 minute drive for good Thai food.

in cresthill there is mirishka's great steak poorboy on heavy on the garlic bread, & great onion rings.
just west of rt 53 on rt7

rfleisch1 wrote:We were in Joliet last week for a Leon Redbone / Leo Kottke concert, and needed somewhere to meet a relative.

We also attended that concert and after extended negotiations settled on the Plainfield Vito and Nick's, though I was lobbying for Merichka's or maybe White Fence Farm. Pizza was good, though definitely not as good as on Pulaski and also seemed a step down from the pizza at the Lemont bowling alley location.

Found Leon Redbone subpar, subverbal and self indulgent that night, and I have seen him before though it was some years. Kottke was quite good. Really liked the theater, surprisingly this was my first visit there.