whiskeybent wrote:Some people would consider this great service. I always appreciate it when someone will tell me if a dish isn't up to snuff that day.

I wonder: did you order it anyways, and then agree with her? Or did you take her advice?

True. I suppose I should have clarified. It wasn't a nice recommendation or even an intelligent critique. Instead, it was, "that's totally gross." I asked my roommate and he said it's one of the best things on the breakfast menu and that this particular waitress is known for these kinds of unconstructive criticism.

I ended up going for the triple decker turkey sandwich instead. I guess I'm just too timid.

I would like to nominate that wild-game restaurant on Lincoln...Grizzly's maybe? I'd always heard how good it was, and how you could get all sorts of exotic meats, so I was pretty amped up about the possibility of chowing down on some rattlesnake or emu or something.

Turned out that the only mildly exotic thing they had was ostrich...which they were out of. As well as the buffalo and venison. Pretty much all that was left was beef and chicken, so we ended up ordering that. Pricey, bland, and yet the place was packed, in the middle of the week.

Oh, and Margie's Candies. I waited in line for an hour one weekend night, because my friends insisted it was the awesomest ice cream imaginable. All I can say is, if that's there idea of fantastic ice cream, I can't wait to introduce them to Edy's! They'll pee their pants!

Margie's is a victim of the fact that "superpremium" ice creams of the Haagen-and-Jerry's variety have jacked up the butterfat content in ice cream compared to what it was 40 years ago. So Margie's perfectly authentic 1950s ice cream seems weak by modern standards.

Grizzly's is pretty lame but I think a decade ago it had more exotic things on the menu. The problem may have been too many customers like a friend of mine who I went there with once-- the kind of guy who orders bear because it's on the menu, then finds it inedible and considers that the restaurant's fault rather than his, and bitches enough that the restaurant has to comp it. It wasn't good, but for cryin' out loud, it was bear.

Mike G wrote:Margie's is a victim of the fact that "superpremium" ice creams of the Haagen-and-Jerry's variety have jacked up the butterfat content in ice cream compared to what it was 40 years ago. So Margie's perfectly authentic 1950s ice cream seems weak by modern standards.

I concur, and I really don't get the (unfavorable) comparison to Edy's. Not that it's worth an hour wait, but Mrs. JiLS and I waited about half that time for a pair of really enjoyable sundaes a couple of weeks ago (fudge atomic on my part; a baroque version of a banana split on hers). I agree with the evaluation of "superpremium" ice cream, as well, and wonder whether that particular (and somewhat perverse) interpretation of "good" ice cream may have negatively impacted the public ice cream palate. Frozen custard can and should have that type of butterfat content, but good, solid ice cream doesn't need it, and that's not what Margie's is selling. That said, I do really enjoy the superpremium butterfatstravaganzas that B&J and the like crank out, especially the ones with about 15 miscellaneous snack foods stirred in "kitchen sink" style. I am particularly looking forward to trying Willie Nelson's Country Peach Cobbler.

Oh, yes, to keep on thread, the lousiest thing I ate lately was an Italian sandwich at Potbelly. Boy, was that a weak and worthless effort. The different meats all tasted like Utah pepperoni, the cheese (provolone) was way too mild, and the bread was just plain wrong, soft and spongy. I can forgive wrong if it tastes good, but sorry no.

It wasn't just the butterfat content. The ice cream had ice crystals in it, and the hot fudge was sugary and thin. Dreadful.

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:...the hot fudge was sugary and thin. Dreadful.

Strange. The hot fudge is the one product at Margie's that most folks agree is quite good. Even many of those who don't like the ice cream have some respect for the fudge sauce, which I also happen to like. With regard to ice crystals in the product, maybe it's a YMMV situation, and maybe on weekends it all goes to heck in a handbasket, but I've never thought Margie's was anything less than competent, certainly never dreadful, and often quite good. But do you honestly (in the "I might be subjected to cross-examination by JiLS in a court of law" sense) think that Edy's ice cream is superior to Margie's? Maybe so, based on the ice crystal thing.

Jim took the words out of my mouth. The hot fudge is actually fudge -- which seems strange when your experience has been with the Smuckers gunk (like my own experience). So, yeah, the description seems off. Maybe they ran out and used chocolate syrup. Maybe worth another try.

Lower butterfat shouldn't be a deal breaker for someone who loves DQ, either (again, I'm also guilty of enjoying a watery not-ice cream-not custard vanilla dipped in waxy cherry stuff).

Grizzly's is an enigma. It's almost universally recognized here as once and forever terrible, despite the interesting concept. Yet it remains. I live down the street and used to stop in for a reality check from time to time. I don't anymore

Lower butterfat shouldn't be a deal breaker for someone who loves DQ, either (again, I'm also guilty of enjoying a watery not-ice cream-not custard vanilla dipped in waxy cherry stuff).

Prolonged exposure to Scooter's has cured me of any desire to eat watery not-ice-cream-not-custard at DQ within the Chicago metro area, even as much as the same stuff dipped in waxy butterscotch is an old fave for the way the wax breaks as you eat it. But the real purpose of DQ is that even the town in Kansas that is too small for a Pizza Hut has a DQ, and after one has driven an hour in the 100 degree shimmering heat, after one has given up all hope of ever really feeling comfortable and fresh again, a chocolate cherry blizzard at DQ restores hope and joy from the inside out. Just thinking of a DQ brazier dog at all conjures up a panoply of multisensory images-- heat so thick it releases the smell of frying grass into the air, grasshoppers emitting a continuous reedy C sharp, leaving the prints of your Schwinn in the tar that's softened in the parking lot, the long slow lumber of endless day toward the brief cool of night...

JimInLoganSquare wrote:

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:...the hot fudge was sugary and thin. Dreadful.

Strange. The hot fudge is the one product at Margie's that most folks agree is quite good. Even many of those who don't like the ice cream have some respect for the fudge sauce

Not me. I've always considered it their second worst product, behind their ice cream. If it's not sugary and thin like Suzy describes, it's actually salty.

Every time I wind up at Margie's because someone drags me in, I swear it's my last visit.

And the super-premium comparison, Mike. I don't buy it. Just because all the other ice cream in 1952 sucked as bad as Margies doesn't make it taste any better.

Best,
Michael

Just because all the other ice cream in 1952 sucked as bad as Margies

That ice cream saved your heinie from the Reds, you little snot-nosed punk!

Petersen's Ice Cream in Oak Park has been making 18% butterfat ice cream since Hans Petersen, a Danish immigrant, first introduced it in 1919.

JimInLoganSquare wrote:Strange. The hot fudge is the one product at Margie's that most folks agree is quite good. Even many of those who don't like the ice cream have some respect for the fudge sauce, which I also happen to like. With regard to ice crystals in the product, maybe it's a YMMV situation, and maybe on weekends it all goes to heck in a handbasket, but I've never thought Margie's was anything less than competent, certainly never dreadful, and often quite good. But do you honestly (in the "I might be subjected to cross-examination by JiLS in a court of law" sense) think that Edy's ice cream is superior to Margie's? Maybe so, based on the ice crystal thing.

I don't care for Edy's. My point was more that Margie's was so bad, it made their Bucket O' Flavorless Fat look kind of tasty by contrast.

And Mike G is absolutely right; the appeal of the DQ has nothing to do with its quality.

Here are my picks:
Cafe Selmarie, I want to like it, I really do, it's in my hood. Kamihachi, Cafe 28 whatever????????, Bob Chin's even the mai tais are mediocre, and Garret's popcorn. My explanation for garrets is that it must contain some form of crack.

It's like DQ - the nostalgia factor plays in heavily. I even feel it, and my first taste of the stuff was a mere five years ago.

After all of my "Suzy's Food Shame" posts, I think I should go post in a thread about Alinea or something

FOGO DE CHAO.................... Especially considering its price point. I did enjoy the Fraldinha and Picahna which they did a good job bringing to me rare with everything else just okay . Still your basically talking at least $100 a person with some drinks, tax and tip. Add an atmosphere on a Saturday night that comes close to a crowded rush hour L car and I'm perplexed by the throngs around the revolving entrance door.

This is ages old, but I stumbled on it and thought I'd pull something from it. To refresh, he's offering a nomination for a Sheeple spot -- a place people flock to for no discernible reason other than the fact that others flock there:

Mike G wrote:Hell, any brunch spot that commands hour-long waits even for top quality, perfectly rendered breakfast. Standing in line for an hour for any breakfast is foolish.

While you're correct that it's baffling that you have to wait in line for eggs and bacon, the reason people do so isn't the reputation of a place (whether deserved or undeserved). People wait because there are only so many places to go to brunch in most neighborhoods, and there's a wait at almost all of them.

It mystifies me. Why don't more restaurants offer brunch? Is it really that tough (or expensive) to find a cook or two and a couple waitstaff to get up on a Saturday and Sunday morning? Do people not tip well enough on brunch to induce the staff to come in? When every brunch spot in the city has a line, how can there not be enough money in it to entice even a few more failing restaurants to cash in and rescue themselves from oblivion? (And I know this can be done, because I know a place in Roscoe Village that did so till the owner got bored with it. Out of consideration, I won't name the place. Let dead restaurants rest in peace.)

This could even be a way for would-be immigrants to get in the country. Restaurant owners could offer temporary work visas for the scarce worker category of early morning brunch-provider. There's no stretch of rural road in the entire country of Mexico where it would take me as long to drive at random and find someone who would make me huevos rancheros as the amount of time I'd be standing on the street corner waiting at any brunch spot between Chicago Ave. (Flo), California (Flying Saucer), Lawrence (Pannenkoeken) and Lake Michigan (can't remember the name, State near Delaware)

I agree. When somebody here was first talking about opening a place, my first response was "offer weekend brunch! It's a goldmine!" (He's going in a different direction which is also a potential goldmine. I hope!) I think a lot of it is that the people who cook and serve for dinner don't see brunch as a desirable time. And so it often comes out as half-assed or poorly thought out, indifferently served, etc. There's nothing worse than a hopping late night bar doing a lousy, snail-paced, half-the-food's-cold Sunday brunch.

The great and super-busy brunch places know how to run like a bullet train during those hours, and how to put together a menu that works. I'm sure that's not easy. But if you can get to that point, you will see lines at breakfast like no restaurant sees at any other time (except Hot Doug's every day).

I've often thought there ought to be an opportunity for chefs or caterers to come in to a place that would otherwise be dark during breakfast and run a weekend breakfast-only place on somebody else's premises. Obviously there would be a lot of issues, but...

ryanwc wrote:brunch spot between Chicago Ave. (Flo)

What I don't understand is why in the name of sweet Carol Channing's ghost do people go, much less wait, to Flo when Cafe Central is right across the street.

Cafe Central
1437 W Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
312-243-6776

G Wiv wrote:

ryanwc wrote:brunch spot between Chicago Ave. (Flo)

What I don't understand is why in the name of sweet Carol Channing's ghost do people go, much less wait, to Flo when Cafe Central is right across the street.

Cafe Central
1437 W Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
312-243-6776

Or Habana Libre is next door.

While you're correct that it's baffling that you have to wait in line for eggs and bacon, the reason people do so isn't the reputation of a place (whether deserved or undeserved). People wait because there are only so many places to go to brunch in most neighborhoods, and there's a wait at almost all of them.

For nothing more difficult or unusual than eggs and bacon, there's always home, no lines, no waiting.

aschie30 wrote:Or Habana Libre is next door.

Right, exactly, yes, good call, all of the above!!

G Wiv wrote:What I don't understand is why in the name of sweet Carol Channing's ghost

Ahem .... dude ... Carol Channing...

The last time I went to Flo, Habana Libre wasn't next door. That said, Flo used to make excellent Eggs Florentine. But I'm not waiting more than a few minutes anywhere. My Sunday breakfast decision tree looks like this:

_______________________________> if yes, go to trendy place
_______________ /
is it before 9 am?
________________ \______________> if no, go to C.J.'s Eatery

Katie wrote:Ahem .... dude ... Carol Channing...

Has anyone ever mentioned you are a very literal person?

G Wiv wrote:

Katie wrote:Ahem .... dude ... Carol Channing...

Has anyone ever mentioned you are a very literal person?

You say that like it's a bad thing!

I happen to think Flo is great. Good food, fast service, reasonably priced. Granted, I won't wait an hour or even 45 minutes, but it's my favorite breakfast spot in the city.

so there. baaaaa

This was pretty interesting thread to pop to the top. I found it entertaining to read through the whole thing.

Katie wrote:

While you're correct that it's baffling that you have to wait in line for eggs and bacon, the reason people do so isn't the reputation of a place (whether deserved or undeserved). People wait because there are only so many places to go to brunch in most neighborhoods, and there's a wait at almost all of them.

For nothing more difficult or unusual than eggs and bacon, there's always home, no lines, no waiting.

I live in Lincoln Park and having waited awhile in the line at Nookies Too, I'll tell you why people do it. If you are young and single, you probably don't have the ingredients to make a good breakfast in your house. I love to cook but my fridge right now has no milk, eggs, or bacon. I don't have any bread either. So yeah, if I was meeting my girlfrind or friend for breakfast, I'll have to hit one of the brunch spots (Mitchell's on Clybourn is my go to but I've also done Nookies). I live in a 1BR and I don't have room to entertain. So if my mom comes to town, we are going out for brunch.

That's just how I roll, speaking of. Someone mentioned Ann Sather on this thread. Ann Sather's has great cinnamon rolls and that's it. Everything else on the menu is mediocre at best.

Cheesecake Factory. An acquaintance insisted on going here for the best cheesecake not once but twice. Um, sorry no but blechh! I am perplexed by the appeal of the Cheesecake Factory and it's cousins(mediocre chain restaurants). Why is always full and always a wait and other conundrums.

gooseberry wrote:Cheesecake Factory. An acquaintance insisted on going here for the best cheesecake not once but twice. Um, sorry no but blechh! I am perplexed by the appeal of the Cheesecake Factory and it's cousins(mediocre chain restaurants). Why is always full and always a wait and other conundrums.

This especially confuses me when I am watching TMZ (don't judge me) and I see people who have the ability to eat literally anywhere they want walking in/out of a Cheesecake Factory.

Cheesecake Factory = large portions + large menu full of an insanely wide variety of food that's been extensively tested and formulated to appeal to as many people as possible.

You always have to remember, most people don't like to eat like LTH'ers.