White Palace Grill

It's been quite a while since I've been to GNR Winner White Palace Grill. Since it's on the list of places that are up for renewal of their GNR Award and since I haven't seen any posts about it recently (in fact, White Palace Grill doesn't seem its own thread thread), I decided that it was high time to pay a visit. Today, in the company of G Wiv, I went for lunch.

White Palace Grill is one of those places that is somewhat off my radar. When I am in that area, Manny's is only a block or two away and is clearly my first choice. On Sunday if I'm visiting Maxwell Street, it's tacos, etc. that I am after. I no longer drink, so those late night excursions for a greasy plate of food are a thing of the past. I'm sorry I often forget about good 'ole White Palace Grill, which has been serving up decent chow 24/7 since 1939, because it's a really good place.

At 11:30 today, White Palace Grill was a bustling hive of activity. Almost all of the tables were filled and waitresses and busboys were scurrying around at warp speed. Still, our waitress couldn't have been nicer and more accommodating*. I ordered a diner standard, a tuna melt deluxe. My tuna melt came with a bowl of house assembled chicken noodle soup** and fries, which I ordered well done. The melt itself was well executed, though not earth shattering (after all, it was just a tuna melt for chrissake) and the fries, while nicely browned, were somewhat mushy rather than crispy. The food, including salads and breakfast, that I saw being delivered to other tables looked very good as well. I've also written about their Chicken Fried Steakin the past.

While the food is certainly good quality diner fare, White Palace Grill is about more than just the food. It's about commitment to serving the neighborhood and being there for their customers in the face of rampant development all around them. I told the story in the original GNR nomination thread about how the owner had turned down multi-million dollar offers to sell the property to developers because the restaurant was his dream and all he wanted to do was run it. Now, 2 - 3 years later, the massive development of the neighborhood has sprung up literally all around him. White Palace Grill is now a postage sized shrine to the mom & pop establishment amid the big-box stores and chains that have completely engulfed the rest of the block where the restaurant resides. He has managed to hold on and continues to serve the hungry despite all odds. This place deserves our support in much the same way we have supported places like Tacos de Pacifico and Cafe Selamara.


* I hope GWiv posts about his lunch order and includes the pictures he took.
** The soup was made from a base or canned stock, but had generous amounts of chicken and radiatore pasta added.

White Palace Grill
1159 S. Canal
Chicago, IL
312-939-7167

FWIW,
this shot was done at the White Palace Grill.
I was an assistant on the shoot as well.

White Palace is my favorite stop when I have to be at work downtown at ohdarkhundred to finish a report or a proposal. It's more difficult now that there is less parking, but I'm usually there at 4:30am on a weekday. It is perfectly reasonable diner food, and when I want a grilled ham and cheese with a side of hash browns, I'm not looking for Frontera Grill.

I am afraid for them, however. It's only a matter of time before somebody persuades the city to acquire the property via emminent domain, and turns it into a CVS or something equally pointless.

stevez wrote:White Palace Grill is now a postage sized shrine to the mom & pop establishment amid the big-box stores and chains that have completely engulfed the rest of the block where the restaurant resides.

Steve's tuna melt was fine, if anything too healthy a version, open face and not in the least oily from the grill, my dream melt, be it tuna or burger patty, is sandwich style, ever so slightly oily from the grill and dark brown crisp. As an aside, I recently had the pleasure of meeting an LTHForum lurker, also an ex Wisconsinite, who whole heartedly agrees with my take on patty melts, in fact, she went me one better in that her father always put jalapeno in his closed face tuna patty melts.

WPG Tuna Melt


I hit lunch time paydirt with the best version of Chicken and Waffles this side of Roscoe's in LA. Before getting to the GastroPorn pics I should note chicken and waffle is not a regular menu item at WPG, they have fried chicken, they have waffle not a combination of the two. Fried chicken comes with soup, potatoes, veg, rolls etc. so I asked our very nice waitress Laura if she would sub a waffle for the sides. After a short consult with the day manager, who gave her carte blanche to do as she pleased, I was the soon to be the happy recipient of chicken and waffle for the price of a fried chicken dinner.*

Fried chicken was quite good on it's own, greaseless, juicy, nice balance of spice.


But when paired with the waffle.


Topped with a wee bit of Cholula hot sauce and syrup, heaven on a plate.
]

Be sure to check out the Chicago greats mural.


If not apparent from my post, I recommend White Palace Grill's GNR be renewed.

Enjoy,
Gary

*It is quite possible, even probable, a different shift, WPG is open 24/7, will charge a completely different price for Chicken and Waffle

G Wiv wrote:Steve's tuna melt was fine, if anything too healthy a version, open face and not in the least oily from the grill, my dream melt, be it tuna or burger patty, is sandwich style, ever so slightly oily from the grill and dark brown crisp. As an aside, I recently had the pleasure of meeting an LTHForum lurker, also an ex Wisconsinite, who whole heartedly agrees with my take on patty melts, in fact, she went me one better in that her father always put jalapeno in his closed face tuna patty melts.

That closed sandwich style of tuna melt may be fine for the rubes in Wisconsin, but here in the big city I want to see two succulent mounds of cheese covered tuna staring back at me from my plate , though the idea of adding jalapeños is certainly something I can get behind. Now, when it comes to a patty melt, I completely agree that "sandwich style" is the only way to go and is, indeed, the only way I've ever seen it served in all 50 states.

To me, a place like White Palace Grill calls for black and white photography:



You know why it's called White Palace, by the way? For the same reason White Castle was called White Castle and Carl Laemmle's first nickelodeon at Clark and Division was called The White Front and why McDonald's used to have gleaming white tile walls and Steak and Shake still does. In an era when things and people were generally grimy, when coal was the fuel everyone used and horses still worked in the streets (okay, maybe not by the time McDonald's came along), businesses named themselves "White" something or other and used hospital-style antiseptic white tile as a form of pride, and a personal challenge to live up to. You'll notice that a lot of them have backslid over the years-- dirt-hiding brown tile is the standard in many restaurants today-- but White Palace Grill still has the hustle-to-keep-it-sparkling mentality it had when it opened in 1939 with that name. Other parts of the city, you go into a 24-hour diner, you're afraid to touch things, you might get glued to your seat. It's good to be reminded what the standard used to be, still is.



A lot of people head for booths but me, I went straight to the counter (of course, since they had a two-person minimum at lunch for a booth, I had to anyway). It's a 24-hour floor show of pure Chicago, starring sharp-elbowed waitresses, speedy cooks, stealthy busboys, cops, city workers, hungover college students and a smiling, joking manager for your host. One minute they're laughing, the next a riot is about to break out over who took the wheat toast. I took the above picture at a quiet moment-- usually there were too many waitresses in the way to see the cooks.



How's the food? Well, it's a lot like the restaurant china in a place like this-- sturdy bordering on indestructible. It's not about finesse, if you want that go to the Depot Diner. It's about reliability, long before there were chains on every corner Greek diners like this one offered the promise of reliability, a menu you didn't have to look at to know your choices included Belgium waffles (never Belgian, Belgium) and Francheezies and Athenian-style chicken, where the tuna melt is always open faced with a slice of tomato under the cheese. Great cuisine, not exactly. Great neighborhood restaurant, absolutely. Someone get it landmark preservation status, quick.

Evil Ronnie and I have gone to WPG quite alot. It's near our house and we used to go there before the symphony on Thursday nights -an eclectic evening, no? Anyway, they have great breakfasts with wonderful grits and thick slices of ham off the bone. The mix of people is terrific and I would like to go at 3 or 4 in the morning to catch that crowd. My only regret is that I haven't tried a greasy cheesburger, that's next.

Gary, the waffle and chicken combo was orgasmic looking (can I say that on a family site?)

As the lurker mentioned above, I would like voice my strong support for the closed-face tuna melt. I agree with Gary that an ideal melt should be presented closed-face like a grilled cheese or patty melt. My preference (and the way my dad always made them) is rye bread and swiss cheese with jalapeno and a thin slice of onion. Perhaps only the cool kids from Wisconsin do it like this, but I can't imagine it any other way.

As an aside, it was great to meet stevez and G Wiv yesterday at Cross Rhodes. We had just closed on a house and my husband got a kick out of the fact that I couldn't decide if I was more excited about the biggest purchase of my life or meeting people from lthforum! We've lived in Chicago for almost 3 years, and our restaurant exploration culled from lthforum tips has enabled us to really get to know the city and venture to neighborhoods we never would have explored otherwise. Now I just need to actually post more...

ek wrote:As the lurker mentioned above, I would like voice my strong support for the closed-face tuna melt.

It was very nice to meet you and your husband at Cross Rhodes the other day. Since you're relatively new to the Chicago area, I'll forgive your obvious misunderstanding of how a tuna melt should be served, although your dad's ingredient combo sounds like something I'm going to try sooner rather than later. Please do post more, and join us for an event sometime.

P.S. A restaurant near my house, Sauganash Grill, serves tuna melts "sandwich style", though I don't approve.

Howdy, new poster here. Just wanted to affirm everyone's support for the White Palace. It does deserve the support of everyone for remaining true blue in the face of gentrification. I've eaten here a dozen or so times in the past couple of years and have always enjoyed it. I don't think the food is anything special, but then I'm not usually there for haute cuisine. It's more about the feel of the place and the cast of characters.

With all this talk about WPG, how about a little love for Eppel's just down the street?

It's also an unfranchised diner that's held onto its neighborhood ambience (altho I believe it's recently undergone a change of ownership, giving it a bit of a Latin flavor).

Now, I've never been there for lunch (and it's only open from 7 am - 4 pm), but I find their breakfasts, on a quality/value basis, to be on par with WPG. Granted it doesn't have the same Hopper/Nighthawk flair, but it still gives ample evidence of its Greek-owned-diner roots, has a crew of great waitresses, a clientele close in character to the old Maxwell Street, and, at least IMO (and based on a back-to-back comparison of a few months ago), the biscuits are better!

Eppel's Restaurant
554 W. Roosevelt Rd.
312-922-2206

I was wondering about that as I went to White Palace the other day. I'm not sure it's ever been mentioned before, so good for you for doing so, JBW. And welcome to you, Scotts.

Mike G wrote:I was wondering about that as I went to White Palace the other day. I'm not sure it's ever been mentioned before, so good for you for doing so, JBW. And welcome to you, Scotts.

To me, Eppel's has always been the poor stepchild to Manny's. It started out in life as a sitdown Jewish deli/coffeeshop, but with Manny's just around the corner it never seemed to get any respect. I don't think I've eaten there since the late '50s. I always wondered how they managed to stay in business. Has anyone eaten there lately? What's it like?

I went to White Palace Grill the other night with three of my friends. I ordered some breakfast combo that was centered around a Waffle. IMO I found the food "just ok." My scrambled eggs with cheese were flavorless, the sausage links were probably microwaved and the waffle was alright, but not special (the syrup was very good though). Also, the food ate very fast. For $6.95 you could get better food and more of it (Nookies Too!). All in all it was alright, but I wouldn't go out of my way to eat there again.

On another note, after seeing the attractive pictures of the fried chicken I considered ordering it. But, after talking to an employee there I came to find out that they fry the chicken, but then microwave it to finish cooking it. To my understanding that's not very healthy.

pugsley wrote:To my understanding that's not very healthy.

What makes it less healthy than regular fried chicken?

gleam wrote:

pugsley wrote:To my understanding that's not very healthy.

What makes it less healthy than regular fried chicken?

I'm not sure about this, but I think microwaving can't cook the chicken as thoroughly as other methods.

pugsley wrote:But, after talking to an employee there I came to find out that they fry the chicken, but then microwave it to finish cooking it. To my understanding that's not very healthy.

Pugsley,

I think the employee gave you incorrect info, at least it was not true for the fried chicken I ate. My chicken was nicely crisp, which it would not have been if it spent time in a microwave.

Enjoy,
Gary

The ONLY good thing about WPG is...

that it's open 24 hours!

Seriously, I understand the old school charm and the sympathy for the old fashion diner era amongst the rapidly boring rampage of large chains in that area, however the Food here just isnt anything special! I go to places for the food, not the people watching or old fashion vibe...

The food here is mostly premade, frozen and then micorwaved up besides the usual breakfast fare that you can find anywhere in the loop right before the morning rush. This place sucks basicallly, and at this point I wouldnt shed a tear to see it bought out and see a big fat starbucks replacing it! I thought this forum was supposed to shed light on good "eating", which imo this place does no measure up to.

FoodSnob77 wrote:that it's open 24 hours!

Seriously, I understand the old school charm and the sympathy for the old fashion diner era amongst the rapidly boring rampage of large chains in that area, however the Food here just isnt anything special! I go to places for the food, not the people watching or old fashion vibe...

The food here is mostly premade, frozen and then micorwaved up besides the usual breakfast fare that you can find anywhere in the loop right before the morning rush. This place sucks basicallly, and at this point I wouldnt shed a tear to see it bought out and see a big fat starbucks replacing it! I thought this forum was supposed to shed light on good "eating", which imo this place does no measure up to.

There's a Starbucks just a hundred yards away.

Haha, yeah you're right I forgot about that, anyhow the point being that I'm not going to support a diner for anything other than if it can cook up quality,TASTY food, not because of what it "represents". If I want to contribute to something worthwhile there are tons of charities that need my hard earned dollar.

I don't get the excitement about this place either - if someone's making reference to food quality. Such places are easily found in the city.

However, given the proliferation of franchise operations, "easily found" places might not be to easy to find in a few years. So, I do what I can in my own small way to support the independently-owned restaurants, like I support small grocery stores - hoping that others will do the same, and that we might be lucky enough to find these places so easily in the future. Is a "so so" order of fried chicken at White Palace worse than what Popeye or KFC serves up? Or the eggs worse than what people are eating at McDonalds? No, and No.

If you're up near the corner of Touhy & California stop in Louie's and lend a hand there, too - it's another of these places (only better, IMHO!).

I don't think anyone has claimed White Palace has exceptional food. To me part of the point of the great Greco-American diner breakfast is that it's so hard to screw up. In a world before franchises, it was the surest way to walk into a strange place in a new city and get exactly what you expected-- a solid B breakfast no matter what. And I'm quite sure that your eggs, hash browns and toast do not come out of a microwaveable pouch when you do.

I go to places for the food, not the people watching or old fashion vibe...

Who said I have to choose? Classically reliable breakfast and a great slice-of-life floor show. Sounds good, I'll have it too.

Mike G wrote:Classically reliable breakfast and a great slice-of-life floor show.

My first visit to the WPG (late '80 early '90)
featured Bishop Don Magic Juan in the house...

He had a bit less 'bling then pictured above but there was no doubt that
he was "Chicago's #1 pimp"
That was quite a site to sheltered white-boy from the 'burbs.

Mike G wrote:Classically reliable breakfast and a great slice-of-life floor show. Sounds good, I'll have it too.

Breakfast is my main reason to stop at places like this. Sometimes for a burger and soup.

It's fun and good!

Panther in the Den wrote:

Mike G wrote:Classically reliable breakfast and a great slice-of-life floor show. Sounds good, I'll have it too.

Breakfast is my main reason to stop at places like this. Sometimes for a burger and soup.

It's fun and good!

Same here - all I ever eat at White Palace are ham, bacon, grits, and hash browns. But it fills a niche at 4am on a Tuesday when neither Manny's or the parking lot I use are open yet, and I need some food and a place to write.

In the South, that is why I patronize Waffle House. Breakfast food, lots of interesting characters, a decent meal at 4am, or a snack while waiting to pick up coworkers from the Nashville airport.

Even though I grew up a couple blocks from the White Palace and as a result can't help having affection for it I found myself agreeing with its harshest critics in this thread...until I was back in the neighborhood in desperate need of eggs on a belgian waffle with a milkshake at 1 AM. Oh White Palace Grill, for the ice cream scoop of butter alone I take it all back!!

I stopped by this place for brunch a couple weeks ago. I was really unimpressed. It seems like a friendly place but not somewhere you'd want to linger because it's so frantic. Coming from Jersey, diners much better than this are more than commonplace, so I really can't get too excited about it.

I had a burger and hashbrowns. The soup that it came with was pretty unappealing, the burger dry and hard. Not exactly a strong showing. It is pretty cheap though.

Stopped by here on Friday night since it was close to Target. I got the Texas Skillet, which was pleasantly spicey though slightly oily. My hubby got a burger. He started with a soup that tasted distinctly like Campells. We were both satisfied.

Like many people have said, I don't think the food here is as impressive as most places on the GNR list. I love the place for its classic Chicago diner feel. I love it that it is holding its own among new development. I don't know that I would say it is a culinary standout, though.

Fun to go to though!

This is actually one of the only places in Chicago where I've been able to find biscuits & gravy. I just wish they had brought more food!

I love the waitstaff - one Friday night, sometime after midnight, I was once drunkenly trying to sneak some vodka into my soft drink, but of course the waitress saw. Points for attentiveness, right? She just smiled and said, "Make sure security doesn't see you."
Just so this doesn't seem like a really sad story, my friends and I are 21.

This place will always be near & dear to my heart.