Central Illinois Turtle Crawl

For generations turtle has been an important meat in many Midwest river towns. It's becoming less common but a few taverns near the Illinois River still carry on the tradition. These days the alligator snapping turtle is endangered in Illinois so most turtle is farmed in Iowa and distributed by Dixon Fisheries in East Peoria.

Last spring I accompanied Pigmon & Trixie Pea to Ladd for a turtle feed at Lanuti's (followed by chicken across the street at Rip's). For a while now, Cathy2 has been researching spots that serve turtle so a couple months ago we picked up the turtle trail at a couple towns around Peoria.

Lanuti's in Ladd, family-run for over a century, reportedly sells more turtle than anyone in Illinois. The interior is a beautiful 1940s tavern, worth a trip just for a $1 schooner of beer. Lanuti's prepares their turtle simply: large chunks are battered and deep fried, served without adornment.







This basic presentation allows one to fully savor the meat (whether that's a good thing is debatable). If you've only had little slivers and shards in turtle soup you haven't really eaten turtle. Its dense, stringy texture and gamy flavor aren't for everyone. It's not like chicken.

Most turtle restaurants have it as a weekly (or monthly) special but Riverview Inn, across the road from River Rats Taxidermy Shop in Liverpool, serves it every day.







They batter and deep fry it, then bake it a while, resulting in an unpleasantly gummy coating. The doggy bag came in real handy here.





Also at Riverview we sampled a tenderloin horseshoe. The pork was expertly prepared and I kept thinking how good the sandwich would have been if not for all that cheese sauce.



Olde Towne Bar & Grille in Delavan had perhaps the best turtle. They bake it first, then batter and deep fry it. This results in somewhat more tender meat with a fresh. crispy coating. Frank's hot sauce and ranch dressing were the accompaniments.







Another spot is Club Lacon in Lacon but they close pretty early so we weren't able to sample their turtle.

Lanuti's
302 N Main Av
Ladd IL
815-894-2124

Riverview Inn
245 E Main St
Liverpool IL
309-668-9857

Olde Towne Bar & Grille
410 Locust St
Delavan IL
309-244-9488

Club Lacon
1241 Lacon Rd
Lacon IL
309-246-5705

And LTH is, once again, proves itself a top-notch font of knowledge!

Although I have enjoyed a wide range of game foods, turtle hasn't been on my radar screen and I was genuinely surprised to see this thread. I hunted ducks along the Illinois River for about 12 years and never saw turtle offered in any of the local joints. Lots of carp sandwiches (perhaps another central Illinois thread-worthy topic?) but no turtle! Maybe I was too far south at Sanganois/Snicarte/Bath area.

What can you add, ReneG, about the flavor/texture other than gamy and dense, stringy and "it doesn't taste like chicken" as I am curious? Livery...beefy...just outright funky?

I had no idea alligator snappers were endangered - a few times each spring in Decatur I have to stop my car on the way to work in the morning and pick up an alligator snapper from the road (as yet, all still living and not roadkill) and deposit him/her on the far side of the road where I assume he/she is going! And the Davooda boys also seem to catch a snapper or two fishing farm ponds in the summer but we always cut the line so the hook can dissolve and they can go on doing their turtle thing.

Davooda

Rene,

thanks for the research.

a place to consider when out s.w. of the city again for Fiday night turtle(plus some darn good fried chicken):

Johnnies Corner Tap
700 E. Bluff Street
Marseilles, IL.

* Bluff street Route 6.

Thank you so much for this. Turtle was one of the first things I remember being live then butchered in my kitchen as a kid. My great-grandfather brought over a box - we let them crawl across the kitchen floor - I don't know why they always let us kids play with them - and then they were dinner. A murky soup I remember. And the doggie bags were an added bonus! I am now compelled to collect them. Add them to my menu collection. Thanks again.

Several years ago, Bruce Kraig of Culinary Historians helped develop for the Smithsonian a traveling exhibit called 'Key Ingredients: America by Food,' which often included a locally developed food history component. Bruce did a number of oral histories where he learned about the Illinois River people and their tradition of eating turtle, which was derived from deep poverty. These oral histories became the basis of a paper presented at the Oxford Symposium as well as a talk he gave to Chicago Foodways Roundtable:

Riverworld: The Vanished World of Illinois Riverfolk

Marking the boundaries and draining its central prairies, rivers flow around and through the state of Illinois. In the century before World War II the largest and slowest flowing gave home to groups of people who lived on the rivers, along their banks, and who made their meager livings by harvesting the waters. In those days, the rural societies that bordered the river formed themselves into social hierarchies: farm owners and town folk; tenant, farmers; share croppers; and at the bottom people described in Southern Illinois communities along the Ohio River as “them river rats.” The same opinion held for the clam diggers of the Illinois River in the center of the state. Although mostly of the same American stock as their neighbors, mostly of Appalachian origin, these river people were recognized as distinct not only by their occupations and relative lack of cash, but their diets. Surprisingly, as much as they were able, it was deficient in fish. World War II ended these generations-long traditions, but they are remembered by some as authentic folkways that are now lost.

Bruce Kraig With a Ph.D. in History and Archeology, Dr. Bruce Kraig is Professor Emeritus in History and Humanities at Roosevelt University in Chicago.

Dr. Kraig’s Riverworld presentation was from the recent Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery 2005.

When Bruce talked me into doing a talk for the Chillicothe Historical Society, he threw out the bone there was an opportunity to eat fried turtle. While people knew of fried turtle, nobody knew where to get it. The very first time I was at Willie's Mississippi Tamales and BBQ, I inquired if he knew where to obtain fried turtle. While he knew of it, he didn't know but asked that I clue him in on a source whenever it was located. I inquired with people from Peoria to Havanna, IL coming up dry every time. My luck changed this summer, when making small talk with a friend from mushroom club who happened to mention he grew up in Peoria. He promised to ask his brother who still lived in the area. A few days later, I received five sources for fried turtle. I later learned the Peoria Journal Star's Jeff Lampe had published an article on August 15, 2008 on Turtle devotees come out of their shells, which was likely the source of my friend's brother's information.

When I read through the list of restaurants and bars serving turtle, I realized I had come very close much earlier, but missed the bell. I had certainly been across the street from Lanuti's when I was in Ladd for fried chicken dinner at Kipp's. Dear sweet Willie never knew how close we both were to fried turtle, because Club La-Con is due east of Willie's location by a few miles. In fact, I had been inside Club La-Con to pick up a menu for future reference. Clearly I didn't read it with enough detail, otherwise my three-four year search would have been mere months. Fortunately ReneG, Pigmon and Trixie-Pea were fortunate to have tried fried turtle at Lanuti's in Ladd last spring.

Accord to ReneG the best of the three turtle preparations sampled was at Old Town Bar and Grill in Delavan, IL. Their method of braising the turtle, then breading and frying was less gamey tasting than our first try at Riverview Inn in Liverpool, IL. According to the owner of the Old Town Bar and Grill, the breaded, fried followed by braising is the classic Illinois River people preparation and what she grew up eating. When she first began offering the classic preparation, her customer's rejected it. When she reversed the method by beginning with the braise, then it was much better received. This is a non-menu item offered only on the last Friday and Saturday of the month at the Old Town Bar and Grill. However since the article in the Peoria Journal Star, there has been a surge of interest in this regional speciality.

From our experience as well as from what I have read, turtle meat varies in taste from cut to cut. It certainly was not eating chicken experience. While ReneG was not very enthusiatic about turtle from those sampled at Lanutti's. He was even less enthusiastic after the breaded-fried-and-braised prep at Riverview Inn. If we had not been commited to try Old Town Bar and Grill due to their monthly special, I might have been satisfied with having tried turtle though not very enthusiastic about the experience. However Old Town's Bar and Grill method took some of the unctuousness greasiness that mitigated the gamey taste. It was great to try authentic, though this revised method gave me encouragement to try more Illinos Riverfolk fried turtle someday.

Marseilles, IL: (seems to be dinner only): viewtopic.php?p=211219#p211219

Johnny's Corner Tap, 701 E. Bluff Street, Marseilles, IL. 61341
815-795-5577 - 4:30 PM

Ladd, IL: Lanuti's sells more turtle than anybody else in the area. Snapper and softshell. $14 for six pieces of turtle with potato and salad. Wednesday through Sunday - Sunday hours are 2 PM to 9 PM. 815/894-2124
302 N Main Av
Ladd IL
815-894-2124

Lacon, IL: Club La-con. Turtle on Mondays and Fridays. 309-246-5705 4:30 PM
1241 Lacon Rd
Lacon, IL 61540

Delavan, IL: Old Town Bar and Grill. Last Friday and Saturday or each month. 309/244-9488. – from 5 PM
410 Locust St
Delavan, IL

Liverpool, IL: Riverview Inn. Turtle served 11 AM to 9 PM every day. 309/668-3166.
245 E Main
Liverpool, IL 61543
(309) 668-3166

Davooda wrote:Lots of carp sandwiches (perhaps another central Illinois thread-worthy topic?) but no turtle! Maybe I was too far south at Sanganois/Snicarte/Bath area.

Yes!!!!

I met a woman from the Nature Conservancy who told me of fish sandwiches in the bars around Peoria. She said these local fish were full of bones, which made them undesireable to eat. However they made a cut into the fish before frying, which once fried made it considerably easier to eat around those bones. She said it was a bottom feeding fish, but not catfish. I guessed it might be carp, but the name didn't ring a bell with her. I have a feeling you are talking about this sandwich. Any details are very appreciated, because it can be conveniently added to the next turtle trail trip and probably tastes better, too.

Regards,

Cathy2 - I was told the method of cutting the flesh of carp is called "scoring" and it consists of diagonal hash marks, of a sort, against the grain of the meat. Indeed, this makes it possible to remove the bones. I only had a couple carp sandwiches and they were OK - nothing I'd really rave about! I liked mine salted and with several good shakes of Franks' RedHot sauce.

I recall the "County Line" cafe - on the north side of the bridge (Illinois Route 78) going north from Chandlerville toward Snicarte - offered carp sandwiches as did the two local taverns in Chandlerville (seasonally). I cannot say if The Brick tavern in Bath, IL did or not. That, I am afraid to say, is the extent of my tavern crawling in the area! We were there to hunt and did our evening imbibing mostly in the comfort of our duck club trailers near Matthew Bay.

Oh, the fun memories!

Davooda

Davooda,

I'm glad to have your information, because it made it more clear what to look out for.

Thank you!

Regards,

jimswside wrote:

a place to consider when out s.w. of the city again for Friday night turtle(plus some darn good fried chicken):

Johnnies Corner Tap
700 E. Bluff Street
Marseilles, IL.

* Bluff street Route 6.

on Friday, we were interested in having some turtle, and some of the best fried chicken around Chicagoland(right up there with Ripps, and Smitty's). Called up Johnnies(a few times), and no answer... Hoping they might be on vacation, this place is great.

I need to take a drive by again and take a closer look, and I am hoping they havent closed down(the last year or so has been really tough on American, and Illinois River Valley businesses.

Id say phone first if you were planning a visit for some turtle until I can verify whats going on with Johnnies

Cathy2 wrote:

Davooda wrote:Lots of carp sandwiches (perhaps another central Illinois thread-worthy topic?) but no turtle! Maybe I was too far south at Sanganois/Snicarte/Bath area.

Yes!!!!

I met a woman from the Nature Conservancy who told me of fish sandwiches in the bars around Peoria. She said these local fish were full of bones, which made them undesireable to eat. However they made a cut into the fish before frying, which once fried made it considerably easier to eat around those bones. She said it was a bottom feeding fish, but not catfish. I guessed it might be carp, but the name didn't ring a bell with her. I have a feeling you are talking about this sandwich. Any details are very appreciated, because it can be conveniently added to the next turtle trail trip and probably tastes better, too.

Not to derail the subject of turtle thread...

I'm sure it was probably Buffalo, carplike, and by scoring tightly enough the small bones actually fry up completely, leaving essentially a bone free filet. Carp and Buffalo were all my grandmother would eat at our fish fries (family all had cabins on the Illinois, north of Grafton) because she didn't want to fight bones. I was in college before I discovered that carp was thought of as a trash fish. It was a target fish for our trotlines, while we pole fished for bluegill and crappie. You'll find it a numerous stands along the Great River Road on the Mississippi/southern Illinois River system.

Hi,

You didn't derail, you offered interesting information.

Do you recommend any bars or restaurants who sell Buffalo prepared and served in the style your Grandmother enjoyed?

From what I have learned, there were people living along the Illinois River who lived exclusively off the river for income (almost none) and sustenance (turtle and fish). It wasn't food borne from the Depression, it was long their tradition.

The next time you clean Buffalo using that cutting style, it would be interesting to have pictures of the process.

Are you aware of a tradition of duck served with pears in this region?

Thanks!

Regards,

You'd for sure find it at the Fin Inn in Grafton. If you know Grafton it's basically 1 road, The Great River Road. There are little stands along there too where you'd find that style. On white or rye with lots of sliced onion.

Regarding the buffalo - a couple of years ago I ran across a diner in Beardstown - I think it was called the Star Cafe - it was just down the road from the Super 8 motel. They prepared the buffalo prpeared the way described above - it was delicious.

Star Cafe is one of those places where seemingly everything is under $10 and includes 2 homemade sides.

Not a fancy place - just one of those little treasures you bump into.

I love going around eating the specialties of different regions and seeing what they have to offer the food world. I have been very interested and intrigued by this thread since it was started and so much useful information was supplied by the OP and the others who have joined in on it. As intriguing as this fried turtle sounds, there just hasn't been enough good said to make me want to really try it.

However since this thread was originally posted the topic of Buffalo fish has come about and is something I have been very interested in.

Tabasco Elvis wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:

Davooda wrote:Lots of carp sandwiches (perhaps another central Illinois thread-worthy topic?) but no turtle! Maybe I was too far south at Sanganois/Snicarte/Bath area.

Yes!!!!

I met a woman from the Nature Conservancy who told me of fish sandwiches in the bars around Peoria. She said these local fish were full of bones, which made them undesireable to eat. However they made a cut into the fish before frying, which once fried made it considerably easier to eat around those bones. She said it was a bottom feeding fish, but not catfish. I guessed it might be carp, but the name didn't ring a bell with her. I have a feeling you are talking about this sandwich. Any details are very appreciated, because it can be conveniently added to the next turtle trail trip and probably tastes better, too.

Not to derail the subject of turtle thread...

I'm sure it was probably Buffalo, carplike, and by scoring tightly enough the small bones actually fry up completely, leaving essentially a bone free filet. Carp and Buffalo were all my grandmother would eat at our fish fries (family all had cabins on the Illinois, north of Grafton) because she didn't want to fight bones. I was in college before I discovered that carp was thought of as a trash fish. It was a target fish for our trotlines, while we pole fished for bluegill and crappie. You'll find it a numerous stands along the Great River Road on the Mississippi/southern Illinois River system.

Thanks for sharing, upon reading this I was instantly intrigued and have been wishing to try some since. So this is what we were headed down the Illinois River Road for. I did a good chunk of the WI River Road and gotta say it is much more scenic than ours. There really isn't alot going on both food and people wise.

BW001 wrote:Regarding the buffalo - a couple of years ago I ran across a diner in Beardstown - I think it was called the Star Cafe - it was just down the road from the Super 8 motel. They prepared the buffalo prpeared the way described above - it was delicious.

Star Cafe is one of those places where seemingly everything is under $10 and includes 2 homemade sides.

Not a fancy place - just one of those little treasures you bump into.

Thanks for the tip. We drove thru Beardstown and it was the first somewhat not dead spot along the road. My buddy who's done alot of campaign work on the trails of IL said that there's a chicken processing plant in Beardstown and many if not all of its residents work there. many of the small population is Mexican so we spotted and were tempted by a few grocery stores with taquerias but wanted to find what we were on our mission for. Unfortunately Star Cafe is now closed.


So is the local theater

But my buddy used to work for Gov. Thompson and he knew of a spot in Detroit, IL located in Pike County which is the deer hunting capitol of the state. We made our way there and upon crossing a drawbridge drove into the town of 100. Just like the last few stops there was nothing going on here. My buddy made a call and was told the place we were looking for (called Woodies by him) was at the other side of the drawbridge and right before the town of Detroit (in what I learned is Pittsfield) so we had overshot it. Right after crossing you make a right into the lot with a place located along the river.


take a right when you see this


Ed & Woodies

So we went on to the place where Governor Thompson and his right hand man would take the helicopter to on weekends when things in the office were going easy they would go grab a buffalo sandwich from E&W. Since Detroit has only 100 people and not much else near it, upon entering the 13 or so regulars all glanced over and wondered who we were. This is a pretty big bar and there are 15+ tables outside along the river.


Half of the people that go to E&W on wkds

We took a seat at a table and got some High Lifes and asked if they had Buffalo fish sandwiches and she said "not uh hun, only on weekends" Well aint that a bitch! We came a ways and I really wanted to try some but it wasnt going to happen here. I got some catfish instead and the bartender went back to get it prepared and one of the self described "alcoholic regulars" was celebrating his 26th bday and was really into the spirits of it. We got a "where the hell y'alls from" from him and I said "Chicago" and he said "sorry" but that was about it as far as intimidation. He asked us what we were doing down there and we said we were looking for some Buffalo fish. So he came over and talked us up for about 10 mins and the conversations and quotes and actions were anything from boring. Lets just say the bday boy was a character. However he was a nice dude and simply explained that hes country, he likes what he does (contracting and hunting, fishing etc...) and where he lives and that's fine by me. Later on his dad couldn't believe we drove from Springfield for a buffalo fish sandwich, even though we were going to Springfield, we drove from Chicago. Most people would find that crazy too...


The menu at Ed & Woodies...Buffalo Fish Sandwiches

I asked about the buffalo and he was happy to talk about it. They told us that they only do them on weekends because there isnt much going on during the weekdays. The fact they served food at all during the weekdays was described as the yocal as unique since the people at the bar were pretty much the only ones that go there on weekdays. We were told that on weekends people come from around the way to sit outside by the river and drink and eat and see some live music when they have that going on and of course eat Buffalo fish sandwiches which they all seemed to really love. I became even more intrigued by them by how good this places catfish was. I don't usually order catfish but this stuff was perfectly breaded and cooked. The


catfish and fries

The yocal told us that there was a place in nearby Milton? that also does them on wkds and that they were even better than E&W which he also really loved. The yocals dad must of liked us and the fact I bought his son a bday shot and insisted he buy some beers as he was getting ready to leave his drunk son and his friend and girlfriend home. The bar of regulars and the bartender were all really nice people. It was quite an experience and the warmness of the yocal and regulars will get me back there one weekend day. So it seems as though the sandwiches may be a weekends thing at the few local bars. Our search continued. It was onto to our original destination, Springfield to spend the night and do some work the next day. But there would also be plenty of eating and good things ahead.


at the end of the drawbridge

Ed & Woodies
Ste 2, 104 N Florence Rd
Pittsfield, IL 62363
(217) 723-9306

HI,

I'm sorry you missed a chance for Buffalo fish sandwich.

I appreciate the landmarks one must observe to find their way to Ed and Woodies. There are a few places where I navigate by landmarks more than roadsigns. I once read some of the very first road maps were like maps for airplanes: you went from water tower to other major visual landmark to make your way to wherever you intended to go.

I have several days set aside this summer for roaming the side roads of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. I am so looking forward to it.

Happy trails to you!

Regards,

Hell Da Beef, I'm from Quincy and you may have learned more about the "good stuff" in my old stomping grounds in a short trip than I did in decades of living there. I used to have to drive down to Pittsfield for work every so often (more often though I was in Griggsville just up the road a bit). When I'd have lunch in Pittsfield I'd either hit the little Chinese buffet or the Taco John's (built into a gas station at one of the main intersections in town). Wish I'd dug a little deeper.