Ideas For Hot Take Out Trays

Hi, wondering if anyone might have interesting ideas.
The setup:
Junior's first b-day. 25 ish ppl. Half of them will be under 13 yrs old (cousins, children of friends.)
This will be a mid week affair at the house, no big whoop. Food, presents, cake, standard m.o. for a 1st b-day. Two hours tops.

I will probably work for a full day, so picking up food is the quest here.

I will not be eating crap.

Pizza is a simple fallback, but for right now, I'm thinking of getting trays of tips, links, and possibly wings from Uncle John's, and making a batch of "non sugary glop" potato salad and slaw at home. Simple, appealing to all tastes, travels well, and easily reheated if needed. I'd smoke it all myself, but fearing weather, This is plan A.

Any other suggestions for interesting stuff that the kids (and I) won't scoff at?

Maybe a little more info on an area range and what your time frame is? (Polish? I bet pierogis would hold up well in this circumstance, as well as most of the sauce-based dishes; plenty of foods that will work for any palate)

Thank you for the suggestion, Mhays.

Range = At 2:30pm on a Tuesday, I'll have 3.5 hours to pick up food and return to 290 and Austin.
I'm three weeks out from party date.

Polish sauce based dishes such as...? and from...?

What about pollo chon and the fixins from Papa's Cache Sabroso? It's a 10 minute or so drive on surface streets up Western from the 290. It's chicken, so it can be served at any temperature (food safety notwithstanding). And it's relatively cheap (although pricing has gone up recently from dirt cheap -> relatively cheap).

With the range, I think that puts you in shootin' distance of Smak-Tak; who lists that they cater, so they should be able to package something up for you.

I'd get a big selection of pierogis, making sure you have potato and cheese and some fruit; those should be good to just about anybody. There's stuff on the menu that should survive a short drive, such as the stuffed cabbage rolls, the hunter-style stew, and you could add in some sausages for good measure; I'd stay away from fried stuff like the cutlets as they'll probably suffer in transit. You never know what the special will be; there's a lot of stuff on this thread that would do well for you, but that isn't on the regular menu.

The catering menu lists a bunch of stuff that I haven't seen on the regular menu that looks really good, but have never tried.

Not to say there's anything wrong with Uncle John's or Papa's - but if your family likes starchy comfort food, it might fit the bill...

Mhays wrote: the hunter-style stew,

As I think you're looking for food that appeals to a wide audience, be forewarned that hunter-style stew (aka Bigos) is often quite spicy (at least versions had in Krakow are) and contains a wide variety of meat.

Anyway, if you're looking at pierogies, GNR-Podhalanka is a lot closer to the 290/Austin than Smak-Tak. Although I give the edge to Smak-Tak's pierogies, Podhalanka's heartier versions are very good as well.

Podhalanka
1549 W Division St
(between Ashland Ave & Bosworth Ave)
Chicago, IL 60622

You could get a large mixed BBQ platter from Sun Wah. The various BBQ meats could be reheated or served room temp.

We are hosting a party in honor of my cousins' soon-to-be-delivered baby (not a shower because everyone hates showers). I will probably make a few things (a salad or two, some hors d'oeuvres) but I'd like to pick up the bulk of the food. My cousin has requested lumpia (he liked the one's I got from 3 R's for another party). Anyone have good ideas for tasty, re-heatable dishes from available in a 10 minute radius from Lincoln Square?

Lumpia-
the small rolled Filipino Eggrolls can be had @

RC Oriental Outlet Store
3935 W. Touhy
Lincolnwood,IL
847.674.2120

$40.00 buys ya Aluminum Tray of 100 pieces (plus sauce)
They also make Pancit-to-Go as well (the great stir fried Noodle dish)

thaiobsessed wrote:We are hosting a party in honor of my cousins' soon-to-be-delivered baby (not a shower because everyone hates showers). I will probably make a few things (a salad or two, some hors d'oeuvres) but I'd like to pick up the bulk of the food. My cousin has requested lumpia (he liked the one's I got from 3 R's for another party). Anyone have good ideas for tasty, re-heatable dishes from available in a 10 minute radius from Lincoln Square?

Perhaps fried rice from Sun Wah. Pita, hummos, baba ghanoush and salads from your choice of places on Kedzie. Maybe some meats/sausages from Gene's. Also, some friends of mine throw a Christmas/Hanukkah party every year, and the last two years they've had it catered by Uru-Swati and Dawali, and I thought the food arrived in pretty good shape.

BR wrote:

thaiobsessed wrote:We are hosting a party in honor of my cousins' soon-to-be-delivered baby (not a shower because everyone hates showers). I will probably make a few things (a salad or two, some hors d'oeuvres) but I'd like to pick up the bulk of the food. My cousin has requested lumpia (he liked the one's I got from 3 R's for another party). Anyone have good ideas for tasty, re-heatable dishes from available in a 10 minute radius from Lincoln Square?

Perhaps fried rice from Sun Wah. Pita, hummos, baba ghanoush and salads from your choice of places on Kedzie. Maybe some meats/sausages from Gene's. Also, some friends of mine throw a Christmas/Hanukkah party every year, and the last two years they've had it catered by Uru-Swati and Dawali, and I thought the food arrived in pretty good shape.

On the Middle Eastern front, you can get trays of yellow rice, chicken shawarma and beef kebab - always popular.