Delivery in Winnetka?

Hello all, I am new to this site and hoping someone can point me in the right direction. We have recently moved to Winnetka from Manhattan and we miss our order-in options. Does anyone know of some good restaurants that will deliver to Winnetka? We've found Opart for Thai and a chinese place in Wilmette. I'd love to find a great Indian (there's Mt. Everest in Evanston but they don't deliver) and good burger/pasta/seafood type place. TIA.

We like the Little Red Hen in Glencoe. It has been a north shore staple since i was in high school at New Trier 20 ears ago. Pretty goodFried Chicken, Greek Chicken, RIbs, burgers, etc. Very Inexpensive and cheap delivery.

Vernons on Vernon has what my wife describes as the best veggie burger in the whole wide world. Everything else is pretty decent.

I dont consider either of these options particularly fantastic however they are just decent delivery options in what is otherwise delivery wasteland.



Little Red Hen
653 vernon
glencoe, il
847-835-4900
www.jimmysredhen.com

Vernons on vernon
667 vernon ave
glencoe, il
847-835-6225
www.vernonsonvernon.com

WinnetkaFoodie wrote:Hello all, I am new to this site and hoping someone can point me in the right direction. We have recently moved to Winnetka from Manhattan and we miss our order-in options.

Very tough move, foodwise, Winnetkafoodie. I know, since I moved Manhattan to Glencoe 20 years ago. Not much has changed, except that now Glencoe has lost even the mediocre deli they had then, and Winnetka has lost the pretty good Amato's to another real estate office. The only delivery I regularly used was from Grand Foods, the supermarket on Greenbay, which was quite a luxury beore Peapod. They don't have a lot of prepared foods, though. One strategy is to go to Foodstuffs in Glencoe for prepared salads, cheese and bread. Another place for light takeout and excellent pastries is Three Tarts Bakery in Northfield. Otherwise, Winnetka is all about staying home for dinner with the kids, and an occasional side trip to Homers for peach ice cream (though technically, Homer's is in Kenilworth). For more interesting fare, you will have to go north to Highland park or Highwood, or south to Evanston, Rogers'Park, Devon Avenue, etc.

Unfortunately, the food options are not great. I think Little Rickey's in Winnetka will deliver. Their salads and sandwiches are O.K. and my teenagers like the boiled and then grilled ribs.

Boston Blackie's on Green Bay road in the strip mall just north of Scott has descent burgers, but I don't know if they deliver. A new Mexican joint, Wholly Guacamole, also just opened in that mall, but I doubt they deliver. Both are passable takeout options.

There is a Vicino's (I think I got the spelling right) in Northfield that makes deep dish pizza and will deliver. I'm not a fan of deep dish, so I'm not much of a judge.

I think most people use order in to get pizza for young kids. It's just not that big a deal beyond that.

Thanks for the responses. This is pretty much what I figured - that it's not a big order-in community. I love food, love to eat, but I like to eat OUT and can't cook to save my life. I stopped by Foodstuffs this morning but they weren't open yet, and I went to Grand Foods and bought some chicken enchiladas, crab cakes, and an interesting looking turkey bleu cheese burger. I think I can cook that.

On my list to try (in general, not just for delivery):

Three Tarts bakery
Little Red Hen
Vernon's
Wholly Guacamole
Homer's (for the kids)
Boston Blackie's

I drove past the new Mexican place and made a note to try that - we love Mexican food (I grew up in AZ). What are the other must-try Mexican joints in the area?

What is Marani's like, on Elm in Winnetka?

There is amazing Mexican food in Chicago, less so in north shore. In our area, you'll need to head up to Highwood, which is at the north end of Highland park. It's an easy 15 or 20 minute drive up Green Bay Road. A very casual, but fairly authentic place is Tacos El Norte at the north end of Highwood. I nicer, recently opend place, is La Casa del Isaac. It's not open on Friday night, and may just now be openind late on Saturday (yes, it's a Jewish-owned place). I haven't been, but it gets mostly raves on this board (a search will turn up a long thread on the place).

While you're up in Highwood during the day, do not fail to see Maria at Il Mulino bakery. Just look for threads on that place; it's an outstanding, tiny Italian bakery.

Enjoy,
Jonah

Sunset Foods in Highland Park also has pretty good prepared food for take out. Sunset is more of an all purpose supermarket then a gourmet food store like foodstuffs, but I think you will find that it is a very good market. One great thing about Sunset is they will order absolutely anything for you. All you have to do is ask. Also, the deli case is pretty good as is the freezer case full of products from the Romanian Sausage Company in Rogers Park. We eat the prepared turkey meatballs in red sauce and the acapulco tuna salad like it groes on trees.

Excellent, thank you so much for the responses. I'm kind of laughing at the thought of the Jewish Mexican place, but hey, if it's good it's good. Il Mulino sounds like just what I need. I've heard that there are a lot of excellent places in Highland Park, so I'm sure we'll be headed up there soon.

Welcome to the area, WinnetkaFoodie!

I second the recommendation for La Casa de Isaac, which shouldn't be too far a drive for you. I also think Boston Blackie's produces a quality burger, decent wings and fries that can be hit or miss. I order delivery from their Deerfield location but I'm not sure if the Winnetka outlet delivers. In any event, carry-out is an option.

A couple of additional suggestions (for carry-out or dining out):

Barnaby's Family Inn, for a fairly distinctive, corn-meal assisted, thin-crust pizza.

Prairie Grass Cafe for contemporary American cuisine served in a casual, family-friendly atmosphere. 2-time Beard award winner Sarah Stegner and George Bumbaris are the chefs and owners, along with Rohit Nambiar, who runs the FOH (and is chef Stegner's husband).

=R=

La Casa de Isaac
431 Temple
Highland Park, IL 60035
847 433-5550

Boston Blackie's - Winnetka
73 Green Bay Rd
Winnetka, IL 60093
847 242-9400

Barnaby's Family Inn
960 Skokie Blvd
Northbrook, IL 60062
847 498-3900

Prairie Grass Cafe*
601 Skokie Blvd
Northbrook, IL 60062
847 205-4433

*Disclaimer: After dining at PGC fairly often over the past few years, I've become friendly with the owners. But I wouldn't recommend it here if I didn't really love it and believe in their food.

Just a quick reminder that Penny's Noodle also opened shop in Northfield. It might not be Siam House (or even Amarinds, for that matter) but for the area it is pretty adventurous and seems to already be doing a brisk takeout business.

Thank you Ronnie and Monksblu, your feedback is much appreciated.

Someone was telling me of a great thai place at Lake and Waukegan called Your Way Thai, or something like that. She said it's the type of strip mall place you'd normally avoid, but that they have excellent thai. Anyone heard of it or tried it?

WinnetkaFoodie wrote: She said it's the type of strip mall place you'd normally avoid, but that they have excellent thai. Anyone heard of it or tried it?

Don't think you're going to find too many people here who avoid eating in strip malls. There is plenty of good food to find in strip malls

Yes, definitely good food in strip malls. Yum Thai in Forest Park is in a strip mall, and when it's on, it serves some fantastic real thai fare.

Today I found Il Mulino in Highwood. Oh my. I went in thinking I'd just grab something small and came out with more than I can eat in a day. I can't remember what the rice balls are called in Italian, but they are divine, and they taste just like the rice balls I had in Sicily. Crispy outside, tasty rice (is that risotto?) inside, meat and cheese in the center... out of this world.

I also bought a piece of the tomato/mozzarella pizza and I can't remember the last time I ate something with such beautifully balanced flavors. The cheese was perfect, the sauce perfect, the crust perfect. I am full but might have to eat the other half of that piece, as it is taunting me from the fridge.

And the eclair, the eclair... I can't even talk about the eclair. I must go eat it now.

In other Winnetka food news, we went to Wholey Guacamole and enjoyed it. Unpretentious, fresh and simple ingredients, I'll definitely go back.

As a former New Yorker myself and someone who badly misses the ethnic food options of urban living generally, I cannot add a lot to the discussion above. That said, I can make two potentially useful contributions. First, Ruby of Siam, which, in my opinion, is a pretty good Thai place, has a branch on Skokie Blvd. in Skokie that delivers to Winnetka. It compares pretty favorably to Thai places in the city and if you tell them to make it "spicy," they in fact turn up the heat. We eat there and have delivery from there regularly. Second, Curry Hut in Highwood, has above average Indian/Nepalese food and also delivers. It isn't quite on par with Mt. Everest, but if you don't feel like schlepping to Evanston, it's not bad. There are also several sushi options in the area (including Kyoto in Hubbard Woods and Sushi Kuski in HP) that are fine if not spectacular. As for pizza, it is a sea of mediocrity. If we absolutely must get pizza, we get it from Homemade Pizza in Glencoe, which is good, or we go to Coalfire at Grand and Ogden in Chicago for the real stuff. The Chinese food options are horrific and we simply have stopped eating it here, preferring instead to get Thai. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the response, jsquinn. We've been here about a year and a half now and have fallen into some pretty decent dining habits.

There's a new Thai place on Chestnut in Winnetka and it's pretty good, but you have to tell them to spice it up or it's very mild. It's called Lemongrass. They don't deliver, but it's only a couple minute drive for us to pick up.

I have heard that Marani's is closing but don't know if it's true. It wouldn't surprise me, as it seems very overpriced for what it is. Harbor House also closed.

A good friend of ours is going to open a Mediterranean restaurant in the old Harbor House space (Chestnut in the Laundry) and we're excited for something new. Will report back after it opens - I think he's looking at April.

In the meantime, we keep heading down to Evanston to Mt. Everest, LuLu's and Thai Sookdee. We don't get to HP and Highwood as much as we should, but rereading this thread reminds me that I have to get back up to Il Mulino soon.

WinnetkaFoodie wrote:We don't get to HP and Highwood as much as we should, but rereading this thread reminds me that I have to get back up to Il Mulino soon.

Speaking of Highwood, as I recently posted here, chef Roland Liccioni recently took over the kitchen at Miramar Bistro, so it's definitely back on our radar.

=R=

Good to know, thank you.

I also live in Winnetka and enjoy Thai food. My family's current Thai favorite is Tub Tim Thai in Skokie. It's about a 20-25 minute drive from Winnetka (on Oakton, just west of Skokie Blvd) so it's a bit farther than some of the other places you mentioned, but is well worth the drive. Very fresh and tasty food even though the menu is much smaller than a place like Thai Sookdee.

Looking forward to the Mediterranean restaurant you mentioned - Winnetka can certainly use more dining options!

WinnetkaFoodie wrote: I can't remember what the rice balls are called in Italian, but they are divine, and they taste just like the rice balls I had in Sicily. Crispy outside, tasty rice (is that risotto?) inside, meat and cheese in the center... out of this world.

"Arancini". The name derives from their typical color, which reminds one of an orange (the Italian word for orange is arancia, and in Sicilian, arancine means "little oranges").

You missed one of the best items that Il Mulino makes- their canoli. Not just any stale, made-two-days-ago canoli. No, they go in back and fill them fresh to order. Fabulous- no other canoli will compare after you've had theirs. Give it a try next time...