Palatine Area Lunch?

Hi all -

Will be attending a function with some co-workers in Palatine on Monday. Function will be over right around lunch time. We will essentially be around Rand and 53 looking for lunch. The office we are heading back to after lunch is at Dundee and Sanders in Northbrook.

Although it's not on the way back, there is some real interest in trying the Reuben Pizza at:
Old Oak Pizza Company
781 N. Quentin Rd.
Palatine, IL 60067.

Another option (so far) is closer to the return point for diner food at:
Market Square on Dundee, - but we go there every two weeks or so for their awesome 1/2 lb hand formed burgers. (Oh man, starting to get hungry now - these are good burgers)

Dengeo's, Portillo's on Dundee are also options, but I'd rather push for something new.

There will probably be around 6 of us, looking for casual, more of a mainstream type place. - I am Siam for Thai is prolly out
Standard Ameri-Chinese / Mexican would work well.
Not really familiar with the areas west of Wheeling. Anyone know of a place that might fit the bill here?

P.S. - We are regulars at the Pita Inn on 83 in Wheeling which would be an obvious suggestion.

It's perhaps a trifle downmarket for a business group, but you might enjoy La Granja, a Peruvian place on Rand. They have terrific grilled chicken and papas a la huancaina. If Mexican suits your group, it's probably not too offbeat.

On your route back across Dundee, you'll pass Walker Bros. And up at Lake-Cook and Arlington Heights Road is Kamon, an excellent Japanese restaurant, but it's not very mainstream. Buffalo Grove has a branch of India House, which is quite good but probably too exotic as well.

Chaihanna, an Uzbek restaurant in Buffalo Grove, might work. It's different, but not too different.

La Granja‎
1572 N. Rand Road, Palatine
(847) 202-9105‎
Daily Herald review (pdf)
ChicagoScope podcast

Walker Bros. Original Pancake House
825 W Dundee Rd, Arlington Heights
(847) 392-6600
www.walkerbrosoph.com

Kamon Japanese Restaurant
129 N Arlington Heights Rd, Buffalo Grove
(847) 537-7550
www.sushi-kamon.com/English/Top.htm
Daily Herald review (pdf)
ChicagoScope podcast

India House Restaurant‎
228 McHenry Road, Buffalo Grove
(847) 520-5569
www.indiahousechicago.com

Chaihanna‎
Cambridge Commons, 19 E. Dundee Road, Buffalo Grove
(847) 215-5044
Daily Herald review (pdf)

Thanks LAZ!
I get to that India House once in a while for lunch, and yes, it would be too adventurous for this group. I know exactly where La Granja is -good call. I have not yet been to a Walker Bros, and I think they all like it. Had no idea there was one over there. Maybe now's my chance for trying the famed walker bros breakfast offerings if the Rueben Pizza intrigue loses steam among the group. Thanks again!

Kosta's Gyros
401 E. Dundee Rd., Palatine, IL
847-991-3088

http://www.ylunch.com/palatine/kostas/kostas.html

seebee wrote:I know exactly where La Granja is -good call.

It was good while it lasted. Before Christmas, they put up a "Closed for the Holidays" sign, and never came back.

Remembering that chicken makes my mouth water. Well, at least Palatine still has Szechwan House... DOH!

Anko wrote:

seebee wrote:I know exactly where La Granja is -good call.

It was good while it lasted. Before Christmas, they put up a "Closed for the Holidays" sign, and never came back.

I just phoned and the line is indeed disconnected. Oh, dear. I did love that chicken. What a shame.

But they barely marketed the place. Not even a web site.

Here is the link to a thread that discusses lunch options in and around Northbrook. It might also have some good suggestions for you.

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... rook+lunch

Thanks! I'm VERY familiar with that thread. First posted in it in Nov '06. Looking for things a little bit west of there, but I did skim through it looking for ideas yesterday.

You can also do Brandts tavern which is across from Oak Alley Pizza, great burgers there as well. Otherwise, you can hit downtown Palatine, Durty Nellys actually has some great food. Otherwise, you have Gators on Rand and Dundee. They placed 3rd in the Chicago Wings contest last year. Good food as well.

Durty Nellies 180 N Smith St, Palatine, IL 60067
Gators 1719 Rand Road Palatine , IL 60074
Brandts corner of Quentin and NW Highway. Palatine

I think you guys would love The Continental Restaurant, in the Dominick's strip mall at Dundee & Buff Grove Rd. Huge portions with solid pricing and great big bowls of soup for an extra dollar. One of my favorite lunch spots, huge menu and great specials...and they have big round tables that can seat all 6 of you comfortably. Probably $10-$12 each after tip, and most if not all of you will go home with leftovers.



These places won't be ideal for Monday, but just in case for future reference when you're in the area:

Capri Deli in the strip mall on the NE corner of Rand & Dundee. Great sandwiches, good soups, excellent pizza & competitive pricing.

Biaggi's just north of Palatine in Deer Park.

A friend told me about am amazing chinese place just outside of downtown Palatine, but unfortunately the name escapes me.

Arranella (sp?) on Rand just north of Dundee, if they haven't gone back to dinner only.

Jameson's Charhouse at 53 & Dundee...consistently very good food, nice atmosphere and excellent portions.

Tony_Spilotro wrote:I think you guys would love The Continental Restaurant, in the Dominick's strip mall at Dundee & Buff Grove Rd. Huge portions with solid pricing and great big bowls of soup for an extra dollar. One of my favorite lunch spots, huge menu and great specials...and they have big round tables that can seat all 6 of you comfortably. Probably $10-$12 each after tip, and most if not all of you will go home with leftovers.



These places won't be ideal for Monday, but just in case for future reference when you're in the area:

Capri Deli in the strip mall on the NE corner of Rand & Dundee. Great sandwiches, good soups, excellent pizza & competitive pricing.

Biaggi's just north of Palatine in Deer Park.

A friend told me about am amazing chinese place just outside of downtown Palatine, but unfortunately the name escapes me.

Arranella (sp?) on Rand just north of Dundee, if they haven't gone back to dinner only.

Jameson's Charhouse at 53 & Dundee...consistently very good food, nice atmosphere and excellent portions.

Tony_S -
Thank You. Two questions on the Continental - hoping you might know
1. Is it an "in house, roasted turkey" type diner place? and
2. Are the burgers the hand shaped 1/2 lb variety?

This may seem like an option that would be right up our alley.

Another option is Palm Court.

http://www.palmcourt.net/

Seebee,

Like Market Square, The Continental also roasts their own turkeys. An everyday special is a half turkey sandwich and a huge bowl of soup for $4.99.

I think the burgers are hand packed but not positive...one cool thing they will do is sub ground beef with turkey if you want. On a recent visit I got a turkey burger patty melt with hash browns instead of fries and it was awesome.

It is a comfy, Greek owned place with a nice noise level and plenty of space between tables (which are 75% booths). Once in a blue moon you'll get a flaky waitress but 9 out of 10 times the service is great.

As far as Palm Court, it is a great place but too upscale for what you want this lunch to be.

Arenella ( if open for lunch ) is a very solid choice. If not, Biaggi's --- yeah I know it's a chain --- is also very good. Both of these places serve quality food with a bit more innovation than your typical red-sauce Italian restaurant.

Regarding Palm Court--- I think you have to be at least 70 years old to be seated there. Same goes for "The Wellington" on Arlington Heights Road. Decent-enough food at both places but the clientele skews older.

I'd like to thank those who responded once again. This forum continues to be a valuble tool. A group of 7 adventurous eaters (more adventurous than I thought all were going to be) all agreed that the fabled rueben pizza was indeed worth a try. The location of the function did not move after the mid morning break as planned, so it worked out even better. The rueben pizza purveyor was only a scant 15 minute drive from the site of the function. We called ahead. Here's what it was:

Plain thin cracker pizza crust:
Not a BAD crust. Nothing remarkable. More than likely, a prefab deal.

Sweet / hot mustard:
A honey/dijon most likely. The mustard did not have sinus clearing kick, but it did have that dijon nose to it. The sweetness of this sauce kind of detracted from the product as a whole, but as a whole, it was still "pretty good" to "very good" according to the entire table. All were basically in agreement tho. If there were to be a "next time," the pie would probably be better without the mustard sauce. The mustard sauce was one of those tastes that kind of "wore" on each of us after a while. We still enjoyed the pizza enough to keep taking slices, and kind of scraping the sauce off when we were nearing complete fullness. The rest of the pizza was easily good enough.

Corned beef slices:
Nothing exciting here. I think it was probably a mid grade corned beef.

Sauerkraut

All under a blend of Mozz and Swiss cheese.

Would I get it again? Absolutely, but the mood would have to strike me. All did really enjoy this pie though, and were surprised at how good it turned out to be. We ordered a cheese and snausage as a fall back just in case. The Rueben pizza was far better. The cheese and snausage was pedestrian at best. If in the NWesty burb of Palatine, and you wanna try something a bit different, I'd definitely have it on the radar. I've heard of it offered at other places here and there, but this was my first actual sighting, and tasting. I'm certainly glad I did.

Old Oak Pizza Co
781 N. Quentin Rd.
Palatine, IL 60067 847-359-6444
Quentin and Northwest Hwy.
(It's basically a bar with bar food, pizzas, and a few tables.)