I, for one, love Redamak's. Sure, I've been eating there since I first sprouted teeth– I have warm fuzzy memories of the old wood-paneled tavern, no air conditioning, the parents slipping us rolls of quarters to blow on hours of Super Mario Bros. while they tipped back cheap rounds of draught.

There's likely a zit-faced teenager behind the line, doling out red plastic baskets of fried food service crap (95% of the menu). Hordes of vacationers in cargo shorts. You gotta hand it to them though, they keep the turnover tight and I think the low rent menu plays no small part in that. There's a reason why they're one of very few restaurants in New Buffalo that has any kind of lifespan. The marketing aside, the "bite into the legend", they're smart enough to pack it up for the winter months.

The place conjures warmer days– as soon as March 1 rolls around, my folks are sure to be in there, preferring a seat in the old section, though now drinking (dirt cheap) Bell's Two Hearted rather than Bud.

I've eaten 100s of these burgers. Are they the best? Naw. Its not apt to compare them to smashed/griddle burgers a la Schoop's though. Its a pub/tavern style, a thicker 1/3 lb. patty, which I guess you could complain that they always cooked well done. I've rarely encountered a burger there that is less than juicy (greasy) and beefy though. And minimalist toppings (lettuce and tomato available on request). Our own Rene G, pinpoints the style and characteristically dug up some interesting history about their cooking technique. There's other estimable vouching on that thread as well.

And there's something about the way that oozing slab of Velveeta pulls it all together though...

(and fwiw, the patty melt has never done it for me either, the toast has an overall drying effect)

Nancy's Organic Soy Yogurt. Tastes like bitter tears of betrayal mixed into Elmer's paste. There's no fruit on the bottom, only loneliness and despair.

Well, here I am. I never thought I'd post here nor did I want to for the obvious reason.
Like so many others here, I was a victim of hunger, desperation and a touch of "what the heck, it can't be that bad, can it"? Yes. Yes it can.
There I was in da Jewels frozen snack/appetizer section wanting something besides the usual poppers. I unwisely chose the "Signature Select" mind you, Crispy Crab Rangoons.
Just say no.
One bite and then one more just to be sure and straight to the trash.
I have no idea what was in them and I'm afraid to look at the list of ingredients. I'm just grateful to have avoided the ER.
Next time, I'm sticking with the poppers.

Very sad to report that absolute worst thing I've eaten lately was "avogolemono" from George's on Damen. Watery roux with a few grains of rice and some pre-ground black pepper. ZERO discernible lemon, chicken, egg. Really, really pitiful.

A ratatouille grits bowl from Baker Miller (inside Everybody's Coffee at Wilson and Sheridan). It was gummy and served a little colder than room temp. No flavor. No spice. Nothing. Prison food. Also, the soft egg had a hard yolk.

KevinM wrote:Prison food.

Do you speak from experience?

Danon Oikos Triple Zero. I'm not sure it is even legally yogurt (it shouldn't be). I saw the $.77 and forgot to read the label. Stevia (still has around 120 calories) and Chicory root standout there. Disgusting. All the calories of sugar plus terrible after taste of Stevia. Weird separating milk products with Greek yogurt like texture. My fault for being a cheap loser.

I tried that Oikos brand a while back also motivated by a sale price. Horrendous!! I have since went on a yogurt search, finally settling on Brown Cow whole milk, cream on top. I buy the vanilla for my wife and the plain for me. Both excellent. Side note: There is a yogurt called Pavels available in Northern California that is great. Can't seem to find it anywhere else.

JerryD wrote:I tried that Oikos brand a while back also motivated by a sale price. Horrendous!! I have since went on a yogurt search, finally settling on Brown Cow whole milk, cream on top. I buy the vanilla for my wife and the plain for me. Both excellent. Side note: There is a yogurt called Pavels available in Northern California that is great. Can't seem to find it anywhere else.

I realize this is the wrong thread for "good things", but you may like Four Seasons kefir which is sometimes available in Garden Fresh. Also Omur yogurt is great, but for an extra buck lately

ronnie_suburban wrote:+1 on the Redamak's contempt. Though it wasn't lately, the lousiness of their food sure made a lasting impression on me. I honestly thought the burgers tasted like they'd been boiled. That's how lifeless and flavorless they were. Years later, thinking maybe that first time was a fluke, I tried it again. The second experience was every bit as bad as the first.

=R=

make that +2

Absolutely stay away from Redamak's. Wife/ kids and I went to New Buffalo for first time 2 weeks ago. Tried Redamak's due to good word of mouth from family friends.

Burger was horrifically bad. Well done, but limp? At least my 3 year old was entertained by the fire truck ride

irisarbor wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:+1 on the Redamak's contempt. Though it wasn't lately, the lousiness of their food sure made a lasting impression on me. I honestly thought the burgers tasted like they'd been boiled. That's how lifeless and flavorless they were. Years later, thinking maybe that first time was a fluke, I tried it again. The second experience was every bit as bad as the first.

=R=

make that +2

Funny you mention this today. We drove by Sunday afternoon, amazed at the crowded parking lot, heading for Stop 50. Redamak's popularity is mystifying to me.

EvA wrote:

irisarbor wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:+1 on the Redamak's contempt. Though it wasn't lately, the lousiness of their food sure made a lasting impression on me. I honestly thought the burgers tasted like they'd been boiled. That's how lifeless and flavorless they were. Years later, thinking maybe that first time was a fluke, I tried it again. The second experience was every bit as bad as the first.

=R=

make that +2

Funny you mention this today. We drove by Sunday afternoon, amazed at the crowded parking lot, heading for Stop 50. Redamak's popularity is mystifying to me.

Another vote for "I don't get it". At one time they were sort of worth the wait, but a few years ago every single thing changed and they are just bad to the bone.

Don't all flock there at once so I won't get a table, but just south down the road I can highly recommend the Red Arrow Roadhouse. Seems to be locally owned and run, and I've never had a bad bite of food there. Different niche with a full menu but reasonable prices.

Czech Plaza. Monday,18 September 2017. A day that will go down in infamy.

Quick background:
Been meaning to try this place for about 10 years. Not high up on my list, I'm more of a spicy, Asian food seeker when I venture out, but after all of the hubbub about this joint, it's been on the radar for anytime I was iso mashed taters, pork roast, pierogies, etc. I am rarely seeking those things, but it's not like I don't LIKE that stuff. Anyway, a few weeks ago. Jr and I watched Zimmern eat a weinerschnitzel on one of his random shows, and Jr was enthralled. Stated he needed to try it. The Mrs was out of town, and when she travels for work, you can pretty much pencil Jr and I for a few restaurant dinners because of time restraints between me working, him going to school, and sports and homework. Remembering Jr's statement about trying weinerschnitzel, and looking at online menus, Czech Plaza, here we come. 6pm, prime dinner time, albeit Monday.

As soon as we walked in, the smell of grandparents's basement hit like a cta train (not a freight train, not a metra, but more like an el train, slowly ramblin down the track.) The smell of the place surprised me, but after the second waft, it amused me. This place is not FKN AROUND, old school. They are NOT poseurs here. This is real deal old school.

Server approached with water and menus after being seated. One big table of 12, and only a few other 4 tops were in the place. Room is sparsely decorated, I guess the smell was part of the decor, I mean, you definitely notice it.

Jr and I talked about what we'd try before we arrived. We had settled on a baseline of sharing Weinerschnitzel and pierogies, unless something else looked good. Jr spotted mozzarella sticks as a kid's meal, and for some reason, he was locked in. All good. I looked for the wenserschnitzel on the menu, and I didn't see it. It was listed on the menu online, however.

Server came back, asked if we were ready. I said I was looking for weinerschnitzel on the menu, but I didn't see it, probably because I missed it. There were a few options for breaded chicken cutlets, and breaded pork cutlets, just like the online menu, but no, "weinerschnitzel."

"vee can do - no pro-lem."

And then, my phone rang.
And then, the entire meal turned into an awkward pile of shit.

I never get phone calls. It was the Mrs, who just wanted to say that the flight was fine, and her day went fine, and to ask how jr's day was. I know the deal. She'll call after her day is done at the office, while she is at the hotel getting prepped for her 1000 dollar business dinner. (I've been to several meals that her co puts together, it's no joke.) Anyway, I put the phone on speaker, and hand it over to Jr, and say quietly, here, talk to mom as the server is standing at the table. I turn to the server, and apologize. Jr says, "my mom's in Arizona" to the server. She laughs and turns to me.

"sir, for you?"

"The weinerschnitzel, please"

"What else?"

"Can we get a sprite for the kid, and I'll be fine with water."

"No, I have to ask like five more question for you."

"ok, go ahead, and ask."

"No, you just tell me." (I immediately snicker because I conjure up the Seinfeld show when Kramer's phone # was too close to the Moviephone # "why don't you just TELL me what movie you'd like to see?")

"Oh, I'm sorry, you must mean the side dishes"

"Yes, what side dishes for you"

Me: Any of these? (pointing to the list of sides)
"Yes, and two, any that you'd like.
Me: "mashed potatoes and spatzle" (Jr's gonna try spatzle for the first time tonight, I guess)

"Ok, vee make weinerschnitzel for you, i check. Ees just breaded pork vit cheese." Mashed potato, and spatzle"

Me after she left, "wait, what?"

Server returns very quickly, and says, "no spatzle today, you like something else?"

Menus have been taken, she's just looking at me with a pencil and notepad.
"Is there a daily vegetable?"
"Yes, corn."
Ok, I'll take it thanks.

Big table is served, Jr gets his sprite. I'm thinking of the word, "cheese" in the back of my mind, but me and jr are laughing at the smell, and he's making 8 yr old boy having a sugar buzz from sprite jokes.

Server comes back with the liver dumpling soup and cucumber salad that comes with the meal.
Beef boullion broth is just fine. It is what it is.
Cucumber salad is sweet, but not as sweet as I was expecting. Refreshing. Good.
The dumpling in the soup is declared, "pretty gross" by my tablemate, but he says the soup is really good. I thought the dumpling was shockingly bad, but I'm nobody to trust when it comes to this type of food.

The mains come, and jr's cheese sticks were what they were - frozen and fried, but no complaints. Mediocre quality. A step up from Wisonsin gas station heat lamp cheese sticks.

I get a bowl of gray corn with juice from the can, and a side of brown gravy in a pasta bowl. I'm guessing 24oz of gravy, and I'm underestimating. Ok, whatevs. She starts to put the main in front of me and says, "No, sorry, this is mistake," and scurries to the kitchen. She came back and apologized and said, "two minutes, kitchen mistake, so sorry."

No biggie. I eat gray corn and cheese stick parts.

The plate comes back in the promised two minutes, and I have two cutlets covered with 6 distinct, perfectly square, white cheese substances, along with 2 scoops of mashed taters.

And the smell. That processed cheese smell. I can't say for sure, but I think I got breaded pork cutlets, topped with kraft white american cheese, and then salamandered to a...not browned sludge.

Jr openly laughed at my plate.
I did too.

"That smells funny, is that the cheese that smells like that? Why is there cheese on that?"

I made him try it.

"The meat stuff is pretty good, but that cheese is gross." (He is astute, that's for sure.)

"These mashed potatoes are too salty to eat." (Ever heard that from an 8 year old boy who loves french fries and Fuego flavored Takis?- Go eat a fuego Taki. I dare you. I just cringed thinking about the salt overload from those takis.)

So, I scraped all of the white goo off, and ate one of the cutlets, and they were, very good. I was able to get most of the cheese off just by peeling. Yeah, you know the texture. Barely melted. Hilarious. Also, no lemon wedges to be found with THIS weinerschnitzel.

Server comes back after seeing we're pretty much done.

"Containers?"
"Just one small one, please" (for my other cutlet. No need for anything else.)

She re-appears with a 32 oz styrofoam cup and lid for the gravy. ("ees for gravy")
The gravy, mind you, was that old school packet, half beef flavor, half jello. I don't mind that stuff sometimes, by the way. Just sayin what it is.

She places two big clamshells on the table for the rest of everything else. The gray corn, the mashed taters - my plate and jr's plate both had 1.99 scoops of the 2 scoops left on each of our plates. No need to take them home. Basically 1980-ish hospital grade mashed potato scoops with extra salt.

"You vant dessert?"

"what are the options?"

"You each get dessert included... Apple strudel, blueberry slice, peach slice, applesauce..."
She named a few other things, but from experience, I've learned that when an Eastern European offers you apple strudel, you fkn take it. So, apple strudel, and Blueberry slice. I was locked in. We love bluberries at the Seebee household.

Server: "whipped cream?"
Me: "Yes, please"
Server: "No, no whip cream for you."
Me: "excuse me?"
Server: "I bring dessert to go. You take it and leave."
Me: You want us to leave?
Server: Whipped cream not good for you
Me: No dessert. check, please. I put my credit card in her hand.
Server: Why no dessert?
Me: You've talked me out of dessert
Server, I bring you dessert, and you leave. Whip cream melt, no whip cream.
Me: I live one block away (I don't, but, I'm familiar with the science of whipped cream)
Server: So sorry. I bring dessert now.
Me: "Hey, isn't weinerschnitzel usually served with some lemon?"
Server: "No."

Ok, so, I'm hoping that most of this was pretty standard esl confusion, and not, a "get the black folk outta here" experience, but I gotta tell you, I'm on the fence with this. Most of my friends say I'm too forgiving when it comes to racism. Of course I can't do anything besides laugh (and never ever go back.) I left a 50% tip, hopefully it'll help her out with SOMETHING.

Jr when we got out of the car: "That place was awful."

So I opened the desserts when we got home. Horriffic. The blueberry slice tasted like blueberry perfume, and the apple strudel dough was an embarrassment. The apples inside it were weirdly textured, cooked, but crunchy and...not sure how to describe the texture other than OLD - which, just an opinion. I would actually use older apples, so, I'm not knocking it. The entire strudel just seemed old.

To paraphrase Gwiv,

Czech Plaza,
Count me...as someone who has been there!

(That place sucks balls.)

LOL but ok, a few points . . .

As you know, Wienerschnitzel isn't Czech. Sure it might be on the menu at Czech Plaza but it may not have been the best move trying it here. Breaded pork cutlet would have probably been the closest approximation -- and maybe you could have asked for some lemon wedges on the side?

I realize that yes, it is the very very beginning of apple season but ordering the apple strudel this time of year can be hit or miss. Still, though, the blueberries and corn could have been fresh if anyone gave a f*ck. It seems they opted for consistency over seasonality. That's disappointing but food aside, it sounds like a relatively unpleasant experience all the way around.

Either way, your account made me chuckle.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:As you know, Wienerschnitzel isn't Czech. Sure it might be on the menu at Czech Plaza but it may not have been the best move trying it here.

Yea, there's a picture on Yelp, labeled as "Wiener schnitzel" with the exact white american-looking cheese slices (about 5-6 slices covering 2 large pieces of schnitzel) you describe. This is apparently their standard take on it. Large bowls of gravy also pictured frequently.

Funny, descriptive story though.

Corned beef hash at George's in Oak Park.
Recognized it immediately as Hormel canned.
Barely warmed, watery, no crispy parts, just a dog's bowl.
I managed to lift the undercooked eggs off and eat the yolks with my toast so at least I got something in my stomach.

seebee wrote:Czech Plaza. Monday,18 September 2017. A day that will go down in infamy.

This was a great read. Had to go to Yelp to see some of those photos myself.

Seebee, thanks for your heavy lifting with that hilarious post.
As someone who takes his son out to eat sometimes when Mom's working, I thank you for the heads-up on "Czech? Pleez!" as I had thought about going there.

Seebee--

I'm tempted like Ronnie to say you didn't order Czech food - especially any vegetable. But then again, it was on the menu. But then again, Prague is so not Vienna, so maybe Czech Plaza's mockery of their millennium-long rival's national dish has deeper meaning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austria%E ... _relations. Or maybe she heard you making fun of her accent or something. In any case, it sounds bad. I love Czech food, but it doesn't sound like what you got.

JeffB wrote:Seebee--

... Or maybe she heard you making fun of her accent or something.

All other points are well taken. But She definitely never heard me making fun of her accent. Never happened.

ronnie_suburban wrote:LOL but ok, a few points . . .

As you know, Wienerschnitzel isn't Czech...

=R=

Ron, you've clearly underestimated my ignorance.
Now, I know tho. I sincerely thought it was a decent option in any Eastern European restaurant. Honestly, didn't think twice about it.

seebee wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:LOL but ok, a few points . . .

As you know, Wienerschnitzel isn't Czech...

=R=

Ron, you've clearly underestimated my ignorance.
Now, I know tho. I sincerely thought it was a decent option in any Eastern European restaurant. Honestly, didn't think twice about it.

Well, if you ever go back (haha), I'd suggest ordering the Svickova (sveech-koe-va), which is one of the most iconic Czech dishes. It's pickled beef in a gravy served with bread dumplings. In this case, it certainly wouldn't have scratched the itch but it would be a decent measuring stick for the restaurant.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:LOL but ok, a few points . . .

I realize that yes, it is the very very beginning of apple season but ordering the apple strudel this time of year can be hit or miss. Still, though, the blueberries and corn could have been fresh if anyone gave a f*ck.
=R=

Doesn't sound like seasonality has any bearing on the quality of the food served there, since most of it comes out of a can/box.

bnowell724 wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:LOL but ok, a few points . . .

I realize that yes, it is the very very beginning of apple season but ordering the apple strudel this time of year can be hit or miss. Still, though, the blueberries and corn could have been fresh if anyone gave a f*ck.
=R=

Doesn't sound like seasonality has any bearing on the quality of the food served there, since most of it comes out of a can/box.

Yep. As I mentioned above, they seem to have opted for consistency over seasonality.

=R=

seebee wrote:Czech Plaza... (That place sucks balls.)

That story kills. If I had been with you, I'd have gladly paid the check if only to own the rights to the story. Thanks for posting.

seebee wrote:

JeffB wrote:Seebee--

... Or maybe she heard you making fun of her accent or something.

All other points are well taken. But She definitely never heard me making fun of her accent. Never happened.

...I was just giving you a hard time for "vee can do - no pro-lem" and such. I keed, as they say. As a reader, I accept your artistic license and don't think that you were being malicious.

Dickey's BBQ Pit. Dallas airport. Yuck.

Rene G wrote:

jlawrence01 wrote:Or maybe it was the Filipino-style Del Monte Spaghetti Sauce - 1 kg for $1 at the local dollar store. That stuff was really bad - it was more like a BBQ sauce.

Adding insult to injury, you significantly overpaid!



Maybe we should simply be happy to have a chance to try it. Much of the world isn't so lucky.

I was communicating with a Catholic missionary from the Philippines earlier this week about that spaghetti sauce. In a recent mission tour to the US, they prepared a meal of Filipino spaghetti for a homeless shelter in the Bronx on a recent trip ... the residents would not eat the stuff.

I did note that in the Philippines, Spaghetti and meat sauce is generally served with calamansi, a citrus fruit unavailable in the US. That may cut the ciying sweetness.

Rotisserie chicken from Mariano's. The skin (and all adjacent meat) tasted of burnt plastic and they managed to make a chicken thigh dry. We ended up tossing most of it. I'd have sooner eaten Subway.