Casino Dining on the Southeast Side of Chicago

CASINO DINING on the Southeast side of Chicago

Gambling on Casino
For yesterday evening, in the continuing celebration of my onomastico (part 1 at Carnitas Uruapan), we had planned an outing to Resi's but ended up having good reason to postpone our first trip to the Bierstube. Instead of heading north from our Printer's Row neighbourhood, we decided to go south and, indeed, to the far south, to an area that to my mind seems to be something like a Chicagoland analogue to New York's Staten Island. We headed south on Lake Shore/US 41 and continued further on past the end of Lake Shore, following US 41 as it turned into South Shore Drive and Burley Avenue and finally Mackinaw Avenue, all the way to Calumet Park at 95th, where we had decided to stop for a while, in order to let Lucantonius run around a bit and see the lake from a new (industrial) setting and give us a chance to breath in the invigorating south lake breeze, that our appetites be whetted. After an hour or so in the park, we headed off, westward on 95th Street, past the Calumet Fisheries and over to Commercial Avenue, turning southward into Ed Vrdolyak's old stomping ground, or what is left thereof, namely the old Croatian neighbourhood around Commercial in the upper 90's. Our destination was the Croatian restaurant Casino, which Amata had never been to but which I had fond memories of stemming from a visit in the early 1990's and a fine and very substantial and inexpensive meal.

The neighbourhood had clearly changed since last I had been there, with the overtly Croatian presence much reduced and the Casino restaurant itself now flanked by a Mexican grocery store and a soon-to-open taqueria. But Casino was still there, a couple of neon beer signs a-glowing and the front door open. We went in and found the medium sized dining room (ca. 12-14 tables?) empty but for a pair of what were surely CPD detectives, eating and quietly chatting. No sign of anyone who worked at the restaurant appeared for several minutes, not until after we had finally given up waiting and taken a table on our own; then finally a middle-aged woman with a very handsome visage but a rather dour mien appeared to deliver sandwich platters and remove soup bowls from the detectives� table. From there she strode up brusquely to our table to hand us menus and take an order for drinks. When she returned with our beverages, we attempted to ask her some questions about menu items, which she answered but in a terse manner, and it seemed clear that she was at that moment not especially interested in talking. We fell back on a mutually agreed first option, placed our order and watched the dour lady disappear back into the kitchen.

As soon as our waitress disappeared into the back room, the sounds of intense kitchen activity commenced and continued unabated for a number of minutes until she reappeared with our salads -- raw cabbage in vinegar, reminiscent of cole slaw* insofar as it had the intense raw cabbage flavour but, to my delight, without the sweetness or mayonnaise richness of the American dish. From our table it was back to take care of the detectives briefly and thence another longish disappearance into the back room, whereupon the sounds of frenzied kitchen activity returned. Finally, some thirty minutes or so after our entrance, our dinner plates arrived and we began to eat.


Cashing in Our Chips
We had ordered two items: a 'Gypsy Platter for Two' and a half order of stuffed peppers, with the idea being to get a fairly broad sampling of the current Casino offerings. The Gypsy Platter for Two was arranged in two matching sets of equal portions divided by an invisible diagonal boundary across the large square plate. On each side there appeared the following: two pieces of Parisian snicel, one skewer of shishkebab (four pieces), one small patty of pljeskavica, and two cylindrical pieces of cevaps, accompanied by a mound of mashed potatoes, dressed in gravy and festooned with a bright slice of tomato standing up on edge in its puréed pedestal, and this potato-and-gravy-and-tomato assemblage itself all resting comfortably on a large leaf of iceberg lettuce. The only shared zone of the platter was a mound of chopped raw onion at the epicentre of the Gypsy feast, and a side-dish of corn which came in a separate bowl. A few minutes after the platter was served, the waitress and, quite obviously also chef, brought us our half order of stuffed peppers: one, very large red pepper stuffed with a combination of rice and ground meat, and accompanied by another mound of mashed potatoes and the whole dish dressed with a tomato flavoured gravy. Here follow comments on the individual items:
• Parisian snicel: veal, pounded quite thin, dipped in flour (no breadcrumbs) and fried. To me, this was the weakest element of the platter, for the flour coating was too voluminous and maintained an unwelcome floury taste. I would be most willing to try one of the three other snicel preparations and would suffer the Parisian again as part of the Gypsy Platter, but I would not want to order it on its own.
• shishkebab: marinated pork pieces, grilled. Tasty enough for me.
• pljeskavica: a well seasoned, ground meat patty of veal and pork; very tasty.
• cevaps: very garlicky, also very tasty.
• mashed potatoes and gravy, brown and red: serviceable.
• stuffed pepper: I think the individual pepper which we got had been overcooked, for the pepper itself was too soft and characterless. The stuffing, of rice and, I suspect, veal and pork, was very nice and I would gladly try this again.
Lucantonius ate some mashed potatoes, cevaps and shishkebab and seemed reasonably happy. Amata can speak for herself but I will add that she had for dessert a krempita, which I sampled not once but thrice, in order to be certain that it really was as delicious as it first seemed -- it was.

Casino's Empress
When the waitress/chef brought us our stuffed pepper, she also checked on how we were enjoying our Gypsy Platter. By this time, with the preparation of our meal done and the two detectives gone, there was clearly a different mien on her handsome face. And when we asked a few questions about the food, she broke into a smile and chatted in a very friendly manner with us. After we finished dinner and she returned to clear the table and take dessert orders, we chatted some more and, with no other customers competing for her attention, we were treated to an engaging conversation on various topics, some food related and some not. Who had seemed so dour earlier on, turned out to be a very charming person indeed, with an excellent command of idiomatic English to go along with a fairly strong accent. It turns out that she is, in fact, Bosnian, more specifically a Bosnian Croat, and one with little patience for those from the old country who are inclined to bring their tribal conflicts with them to the U.S. She took over the restaurant from the previous southside Croatian owners in 1997 and, though she usually has the help of another woman who works for her, she clearly does the bulk of the work in her business. What seemed like dourness was, in reality, just the usual reserve of Europeans, perhaps a little augmented among people from places like Bosnia, together with, I presume, a bit of fatigue at the end of a long work day.

Casino is obviously not a place where one finds haute cuisine, but it offered us a very satisfying meal from a cuisine that we seldom get to enjoy. In addition, we got to chat with and learn something of a very interesting person. The drive was long, but the prices low and the 'winnings' certainly large enough to bring us back.

But alas, as the Empress of Casino said to me before we left, if you want to come, don't wait too long, because if you do, you might find a Mexican place.

Some further practical notes
There is a full-service bar, as they say, though no bartender, aside from the hostess/waitress/chef. The beer offerings were only of the most basic sort, i.e., no beers from Croatia: just Becks, Heineken, and various products of the two American mega-brewers. I should have, but failed, to ask if any Dalmatian or Slovenian wines are available.

There are daily a couple of specials ($5-6), the most interesting of which seemed to me to be the Dalmatian Roast chicken ($6.50), which is offered on both Saturdays and Mondays and, according to our hostess, is very popular. Two other dishes which I�d like to try are the vesalica (grilled veal steak) and the muckalica (pork with onions and peppers); the other snicels are 'Casino', natur and Vienna. There are also different soups offered daily and a number of sandwiches, all about $4. Half orders are available for a number of the basic dishes, none of which costs more than $9. The Gypsy Platter for two costs $20. Finally, the delicious krempita costs a mere $2.

Casino Restaurant
9706 South Commercial
Chicago
773-221-5189
Open till 9 p.m.; closed Sundays.

Antonius

* Lucantonius has analysed the phrase 'cole slaw' as 'cold slop', declaring one day that one of his day-care mates had ended up with "cold slop in his hair." An intelligent child, if I do say so myself. I'm not so keen on cold slop myself.

Post-site-move character problems fixed.

Krempita and other notes

First of all, let me say that after eating half a Gypsy Platter and half a stuffed pepper I felt like a stuffed pepper myself: I didn't really need a dessert. But in researching Casino on Chowhound I had found mention of krempita and wanted to sample it, if only to add a recent report. It was great! I couldn't stop eating it. I'd even say the krempita alone is worth a trip to Casino.

My piece was about 4 inches square, and probably 3 inches high: thin layers of flaky phyllo dough on top and bottom, beautifully creamy, white filling between, and powdered sugar generously sprinkled on top. The filling was light and delicious, vanilla plus, I think, a hint of lemon, but substantial enough to stand up to such a height on the plate. I thought perhaps there was some whipped ricotta in the filling, like an Italian cheesecake, but the owner, who makes the krempita herself, said no. Instead, we learned, a sweet vanilla custard is made with evaporated milk, stiffened with a little gelatin, and then whipped cream is folded in. As full as I was I ate the whole thing, allowing my companions only a few tastes.

***************

I thought the food at Casino was not only good but also quite authentic. I spent the summer I was 18 on an exchange program in Sarajevo, living with a Muslim family in the old Turkish section of the city. (It was heartbreaking for me to watch the news in the early 90's and see places I knew shelled and destroyed.) Certainly a homey dish like stuffed peppers was on my host family's table quite a bit, and while I don't remember eating a veal schnitzel at their house, a similarly cooked pork chop could be found. (In the urbane cosmopolitan city that Sarajevo was/is, nobody I met seemed to care much about food taboos.) My host mother didn't serve cevapcici at home, at least not while I was there, but it was fun to go out to a place that specialized in them. And again, the version at Casino is just like I remember.

Of course what I had several times a day in Sarajevo, at home and in cafes, was 'Turkish' coffee. I didn't try the coffee at Casino, because all I wanted to do was go home and sleep in a krempita-induced coma. I'm sure, too, that I can no longer do the trick I learned in Sarajevo, of holding a sugar cube in my teeth while slurping the coffee through the sugar. Why do this? Well, what I was told is if you don't dissolve sugar in the coffee the grounds left at the bottom are the right consistency for fortune telling. You up-end the little cup on its saucer, wait a few seconds, then 'read' the pattern. When I was first able to do this, the neighbor my host mother and I were visiting revealed my future: 'You will marry my son Mustafa!' Hmm well, I can't claim that the coffee never lies.
Amata

When Antonius mentioned Casino Restaurant last week I was surprised to hear it was still in business. Happily, a phone call confirmed that they were indeed open and I wasted no time visiting. Coincidentally we had much the same meal as A&A (even though our Gypsy Platter lacked the bowl of corn and tomato slices and the krempita was without powdered sugar). Here's something I wrote last week but didn't get around to posting. Some of it may sound a bit repetitive and for that I apologize. It's uncanny how similar a few of our comments are. I thought about rewriting but decided against it, mainly out of laziness.

As Antonius mentioned, this corner of Chicago is changing rapidly. In spite, or because, of this I find it one of the most fascinating areas of the city to explore. One of my favorite stretches is S Commercial Av north of 91st St, an area I posted on a couple years ago. I'll try to dig that out, dust it off, and post it again.

Casino is an interesting restaurant, probably very off the beaten track for many residents of Chicago but well worth a visit. I've been only once and had a somewhat mixed experience but look forward to returning.

Casino is a medium sized room with a bar along one side and 8 or 10 tables taking up the rest of the space. It's a very humble space, with inexpensive wood paneling, acoustical tile ceiling, and only few token decorations. When we were there on a Friday evening we were the only customers and the owner/waitress/cook was the only other person there (a neighborhood gentleman did stop to purchase some soup to go but he was only there a couple minutes). If it hadn't been for the blaring TV over the bar it would have been eerie indeed. I presume (or hope) they must do much of their business at lunch time.

The menu comprises about 50 items, tending heavily toward meat. Some of the characteristic Croatian offerings include cevaps (skinless sausage), various snicel (schnitzel), pljeskavica (seasoned meat patty), stuffed peppers and cabbage. There are also plenty of things like roast beef, ham, pork chops, and liver and onions. Many dishes are around $7-9 and nothing exceeds $10. Sandwiches and daily specials are also available. I'm curious about the Thursday special of musaka ($5) and hope to return for it.

We opted for the Gypsy Platter ($20 for 2) in an attempt to try as many dishes as possible. It consisted of meat, meat, meat, meat, and potatoes. A salad of chopped cabbage dressed with much oil and only a trace of vinegar began the meal. It was unseasoned except with salt, setting the tone for the entire meal. The meats were generally of good quality, competently prepared but sometimes underseasoned (that's not to say inauthentic). The entire meal called out, no screamed, for just a bit more spice. Cevaps and pljeskavica were perhaps the highlights and had the most complex seasoning (onion, garlic and black pepper, in addition to salt). The snicel was decent but one dimensional. I should have asked at least for a squeeze of lemon to perk things up. Grilled (pork) kababs were dry and nearly devoid of seasoning but not objectionable. A large mound of good but very bland mashed potatoes with homemade bland beige gravy came along. A little mound of chopped onion was called on to provide zest to the whole large platter. Sad slices of damp Gonnella Vienna bread (I saw the bag) also accompanied the meal.

The beer choices are stunningly boring, with only a few standard US brands plus Heineken and Becks. No Eastern European brews. I forgot to ask about wine. There's a sparsely stocked bar notable only for its several selections of slivovitz (untried on this occasion).

Three desserts are offered: krempita, strudel, and crepes. An order of krempita (a sort of cream-filled strudel; $2) was plenty for two and quite good. The pastry could have been a mite fresher but it was a very humid day so perhaps that was excusable. Turkish coffee ($1.50) is available.

Service was pleasant but a little remote. She just seemed to be tired.

Casino Restaurant
"Guaranteed Best Food & Service in Town"
9706 S Commercial Av
Chicago
773-221-5189
Mon-Sat 10:30am-9pm

I grew up in this area and everyone on the East Side would go to this place called the Golden Shell , they served platters of food and a dessert that was all whipped cream between a light pastry. As a kid I never knew the name of it and never had it again . This was the only dessert they served , I thought. Thank you so much for giving me the name of this wonderful pastry. Now where can I find it besides going all the way to the East Side? Thank you again.

Rene G wrote: Some of it may sound a bit repetitive and for that I apologize. It's uncanny how similar a few of our comments are. I thought about rewriting but decided against it, mainly out of laziness.

Renee:

As Yogi Berra said: It's like deja vu all over again... It is uncanny the degree to which our reviews point out the same things, in similar ways, and also the degree to which our judgements are in agreement. I'm glad you published your write-up as is; the level of agreement is such that others should feel like they've gotten a pretty accurate picture of the place.

Where there are minor disagreements about the food, I don't think the disagreement necessarily lies so much in the interpretation of or reaction to identical stimuli but rather in variation in the stimuli themselves. What is particularly charming about this place is its un-restaurant like aspect; especially in this country, where chains increasingly rule, this is the anti-chain. Obviously, it is a restaurant and the proprietoress/chef makes things in quantities and ways appropriate to that context, but the Casino experience is in a number of ways like stopping in at your dear Aunt X's house for a visit and a meal. Including the no-put-on-smiley-face of the staff (as it were).

Some little observations about the food, responding to your observations:

Coincidentally we had much the same meal as A&A (even though our Gypsy Platter lacked the bowl of corn and tomato slices and the krempita was without powdered sugar)...(1)
A salad of chopped cabbage dressed with much oil and only a trace of vinegar began the meal... (2)
The snicel was decent but one dimensional. I should have asked at least for a squeeze of lemon to perk things up...(3)
Grilled (pork) kababs were dry and nearly devoid of seasoning but not objectionable...(4)

(1) Clearly, she liked us more. (:wink: )
(2) Ours also had a good bit of oil but the vinegar was ample; I put this aside and saved it to use as a condiment with the meat, where the vinegar and raw vegetables worked well as counterpoint to the cooked meats.
(3) I thought the selfsame thing about wanting lemon, which would have been more refreshing than the cabbage/vinegar condiment. I bet too that your snicel was less thickly floured -- I know that sort of thing varies in my productions at home and sometimes, when tired, I overdo things.
(4) Our shishkebab wasn't exactly intensely flavoured but definitely had garlic and herb flavour; again, I wonder whether the difference is a question of whether or how long our respective kebabs were marinated.

With just one person doing the job, I think certain kinds of variation are more likely than with several who follow guidelines and I really like the idea of that; as I said, it's like visiting one's Aunt.

If it hadn't been for the blaring TV over the bar it would have been eerie indeed. I presume (or hope) they must do much of their business at lunch time.

Mercifully, the t.v. wasn't blaring, it wasn't even on. I found the quiet and darkness at first a little odd but then, once we settled in, it just seemed so much like a little mom-and-pop village restaurant in Europe. Very little traffic on the street (we were seated all the way in the front, by the door), just the occasional group of Mexican kids playing as they passed by... The ceiling fans provided a pleasant little bit of white-noise...

Casino is an interesting restaurant, probably very off the beaten track for many residents of Chicago but well worth a visit. I've been only once and had a somewhat mixed experience but look forward to returning.

Amata and I intend to return some time soon (hopefully before it turns into a Mexican place!*) to try the Dalmatian Roasted Chicken, which the owner seemed to take particular pride in. Perhaps an LTH (mini-)group outing should be organised... I know she has a woman who helps her at times but I can't imagine what it would be like if there were lots of people there and she were working alone.

Antonius

* I hope it's obvious I have nothing against Mexican food-- quite the opposite is true. But there is no dearth of taquerias in Chicagoland and not many places like Casino.

Kim wrote: Now where can I find it besides going all the way to the East Side? Thank you again.

I'm sorry I can't give you a specific reference but surely there must be one or more places where one can get krempita in the northwest of the city; around Albany Park and just to the south there are some Bosnian and Serbian establishments. Pending help with concrete information, that's an area to look in.

A

Kim wrote:I grew up in this area and everyone on the East Side would go to this place called the Golden Shell , they served platters of food and a dessert that was all whipped cream between a light pastry. As a kid I never knew the name of it and never had it again . This was the only dessert they served , I thought. Thank you so much for giving me the name of this wonderful pastry. Now where can I find it besides going all the way to the East Side? Thank you again.

Hi Kim,

Here are names of a couple places on the north side (thank you RST), and perhaps one of them might make krempita:

Pita etc (a Montenegrin place), Ridge south of Howard
http://www.chowhound.com/midwest/boards ... 20421.html

Cafe Sarajevo: Lawrence (around Rockwell)

Also, did you see this old discussion about the Golden Shell?
http://www.chowhound.com/midwest/boards ... 18921.html

good luck,
Amata

CASINO DINING on the Southeast side of Chicago

On 17 June 2004 Antonius wrote:But alas, as the Empress of Casino said to me before we left, if you want to come, don't wait too long, because if you do, you might find a Mexican place.

Casino Restaurant
9706 South Commercial

You waited too long:



'I våt mèyeû tård què djamais', mins 'trop tård à l'sope n'a djamais rin'.

Antonius

Antonius wrote:You waited too long:

Thanks for relaying the sad news. The thing I’ll miss most about Casino, aside from its low-key atmosphere, is the krempita. I can’t say I’ve tried too many but it was the best I’ve had in Chicago. Next time I’m in the area I’ll have no excuse for not checking out Jovial Club, almost across the street from Casino.

Kim wrote:I grew up in this area and everyone on the East Side would go to this place called the Golden Shell , they served platters of food and a dessert that was all whipped cream between a light pastry. As a kid I never knew the name of it and never had it again . This was the only dessert they served , I thought. Thank you so much for giving me the name of this wonderful pastry. Now where can I find it besides going all the way to the East Side? Thank you again.

The new owner of a bar in the Hessville area of Hammond,In is the son of the owners of the Golden Shell. They plan to install a kitchen in about 6 months and use the recipes from the original with help from his mother.
Read about it here http://tinyurl.com/2uew6k

Coach's Corner
6208 Kennedy Ave
Hammond,In
219-844-1111

Artie,

I just saw your post, Thank you so much . I'm going to have to do a road trip back to the old hood. I remember their breakfast , platters of bacon , sausages, ham , eggs, with a sterno in the middle of the platters. all you can eat for a few bucks . It was great for the longshore men. But the main reason to go back is for the Krempita. Might have to stop in for soft cheeses at Mexican Inn. Thank you for making my day.

Artie wrote:

Kim wrote:I grew up in this area and everyone on the East Side would go to this place called the Golden Shell , they served platters of food and a dessert that was all whipped cream between a light pastry. As a kid I never knew the name of it and never had it again . This was the only dessert they served , I thought. Thank you so much for giving me the name of this wonderful pastry. Now where can I find it besides going all the way to the East Side? Thank you again.

The new owner of a bar in the Hessville area of Hammond,In is the son of the owners of the Golden Shell. They plan to install a kitchen in about 6 months and use the recipes from the original with help from his mother.
Read about it here http://tinyurl.com/2uew6k

Coach's Corner
6208 Kennedy Ave
Hammond,In
219-844-1111

Their kitchen is now open. According to the ad I saw today in the NWI Times they feature "Original Golden Shell Cooking" with a "Gypsy Breakfast",Fish Frys every Friday,and Lamb on Saturday.

KItchen Hrs Mon-Sat 7AM-8PM Sun kitchen open at noon.

We went and tried the food at Coach's Corner last night, the Pljeskavica (Serbian hamburger) was very good and the chicken parmesean (which was actually chicken cordon bleu) was also very good. But the atmosphere is nothing like the old Golden Shell, it's a bar first and foremost, and I had forgotten what it was like to eat in a smoke filled room. Next time I'll see if we can get food to go.

Now if someone can tell me where to get karadjordjeva snicla (veal steak wrapped arround kajmak, lightly breaded and baked with sour cream on top) like we used to get at Skadarlija up in Albany Park before it was turned into another Mexican restaurant....