John's North Star Inn - LaSalle, IL.

Finally paid a visit to John's North Star last night for some supper. Thought about Ripps, Smitty's, and Cherry Supper Club, but wanted to try somewhere new, and to see how their fried chicken stacked up the the above listed fried chicken heavyweights. I had become aware of John's in discsussions with LTH'r glennpan, who had heard their fried chicken is some of the best in the area. Thats high praise since Lasalle County is a fried chicken hotbed in northern Illinois, kind if interesting that the best fried chicken in Northern Illinois is either found west of I-39, or within a couple miles of it, fried chicken to the east(Chicago included) just doesn't come close imho.

Place was pretty empty, maybe 5 or 6 other tables occupied, a nice bar runs parallel to the eating area. A couple beers on tap, and a pretty good selection of domestic bottles. No Miller High Life so I went with Bud, and a PBR, also a shot of tequila.

Appetizer of buffalo wings were ok, they were breaded and coated in sauce, I prefer the wings no breading personally. These were meaty wings, and cooked to order. We ordered a pork tenderloin sandwich, and a family style 1/2 light fried chicken(family style = served with ravs, spaghetti, hash browns and salad for $10.99).

Salad, basic salad mix, but the housemade creamy garlic salad dressing was great, I was tempted to get a bottle to go.

Pork Tenderloin sandwich(served with fried and a salad for $7.99). Not the biggest or best pork tenderloin I have had, but a soild version. Made in house, pretty good.

The 1/2 fried chicken..... mercy.... some of the best I have had, right up there with what Rips & Smitty's do(maybe even better). Perfectly deep fried, lightly battered, crisp, and the moist meat underneath was excellent. Not sure if they are marinating the chicken before frying, but it is popping with flavor, and juice.

Hash browns... asked for extra crispy, and was not disappointed, not as good as Monaris 101, or Cherry Supper Club, but still very good.

total tab before tip $38, not bad.

Overall impression, disappointed I waited so long to get here. Their fried chicken is excellent. Any future fried chicken crawl will have to include John's.

Also on the menu but not ordered, deep fried gizzards, deep fried turtle on Friday nights, plenty of fish options, as well as beef and pork chop options. Id have a hard time not getting fried chicken though

I took some pics, and may download them when I have some free time.

John's North Star Inn
1840 Saint Vincents Ave.
LaSalle, IL.

815-224-2271

heres the pics:




wings:




killer fried chicken:




pork tenderloin sandwich:



hash browns:

jimswside wrote:heres the pics:

hash browns:

Wow! Even if the chicken had sucked, these look like they'd be worth the trip.

=R=

luckily Johns is only about 15-20 minutes away.

those hash browns were crispy and good, next time Ill ask if they can toss some onions in the mix.

my eating focus had been east of where I live this summer, Chicago in particular. A vist to John's North Star Inn for some of their fried chicken was long overdue.

Fried chicken was as good, maybe even better than I remembered, golden fried majic.

But I am skipping ahead, PBR bottles, Jim Beam shots, deep fried gizzards, and a salad with a great creamy garlic dressing came first.

Gizzards arnt' my thing, my gout is bad enough as it is, so i left it to the other folks at the table. Not surprisingly for anyone who knows the Shaymeister she ate as many deep fried gizzards as anyone. Im 40 and wont touch them, she is basically 4 and ate them like potato chips.

Fried chicken as alluded to earlier was brilliant, perfectly fried, light airy batter, just magnificent, Fried to order, the 20+ minutes wait is worth it. John's, Rip's Smitty's, its a tough call but I think John's has the edge, nothing east of here is even close to any of these places.

$10 for a 1/2 mixed, salad, and choice of potato.





gizzards:







chicken pics:

that chicken looked good----too bad they are closed at lunch time--at least today they were closed @12:30 when we stopped!

buzzd wrote:that chicken looked good----too bad they are closed at lunch time--at least today they were closed @12:30 when we stopped!

damn... I think Sundays are the only days they are open for lunch.

jimswside wrote:

buzzd wrote:that chicken looked good----too bad they are closed at lunch time--at least today they were closed @12:30 when we stopped!

damn... I think Sundays are the only days they are open for lunch.

Well at least I did see Rudys Liquor store--lots of great beers, bourbons and even Templeton Rye! So all was not lost<lol>

Rudys Liquor
285 Chartres Street
LaSalle, Illinois United States 61301