Burning Rubber in Mundelein

60,000 mile scheduled service and four new tires never tasted so good. I enjoy trips to my dealership more than anyone has a right to. One reason is that Fields Volvo/Infinity in Libertyville is one of the more chow-centric auto dealerships in the region. A back corner of the showroom is devoted to a kitchen/dining area open to customers and potential buyers. This is no Bunn-O-Matic desperatorium featuring brown and orange carafes steaming depressingly away on unattended burners while the Willy Lomans of the automotive world run fingers through their thinning hair amid a panicky cloud of blue cigarette smoke. There is coffee "decent-for-food service-Green Mountain brand in several different flavors" but the draw here is the DIY ice cream parlor, pastry tray and bagel basket. Time was, you'd wait for the car porter by impatiently leafing through an issue of Apartment Finder from the Clinton administration. Not here. Select from plain/sugar cones or a plastic dish, grab the scoop from the parlor-esque rinse fountain and choose from ever-changing flavors in four five gallon containers in the sliding door case. In addition to free Internet access and a big flat screen monitor, there is now a Golden Tee offering unlimited free games to keep me from my newly-serviced car. Fresh-from-somewhere doughnuts and bagels are perfect for morning drop-offs. I hope there's a recall soon.

Anyway, the trip always puts me in the vicinity of Alef Sausage and Deli in Mundelein, where the lure of Russian mystery meats and 47 kinds of pickled tomatoes from the former Eastern bloc always proves irresistible. The place has changed little since I first wrote on it a couple of years ago, but a subsequent search for a website (none yet) revealed that they have just purchased a 15,000 square foot industrial building to "expand production capabilities in the new facility while retaining its retail store at its current location."

So, it appears they are here to stay, and that their presently large variety of sausages and prepared foods will only grow. I was looking forward to the Lithuanian cepalinai (grated potato dumplings filled with ground meat) but there were none to be had. Instead, a staggeringly inarticulate exchange with the elderly counter woman left me spent and clutching clear plastic containers holding iterations on a ground chicken theme. One was simply a spiced and formed ball, the other a breaded patty with slices of sauteed mushrooms in the middle. Both had a liver taste that I have come to associate with the chicken offerings from here, but the mushroom version was the better of the two. I left with a couple of different smoked links and drove up Route 45 on the strength of Mike G's Bill's recommendation to pick up a pizza.

Perhaps feeling a foolish sense of security on my new Michelins, I felt the need to sneak a couple of corner pieces from the box while driving home to try it fresh. It's good, and it tasted a lot like thin crust I grew up on from Village Pizza and Pub in Carpentersville. Village is related to another good thin crust place called Nick's in Crystal Lake, and while I was searching addresses to include in this post, I found this interesting connection, from Nick's website: "Nick's Pizza & Pub opened in June, 1995. The basic concept was derived from 'Bill's Pub' in Mundelein and my father's former place, 'Village Pizza' in Carpentersville." Further...

"We have our own recipe for our pizza. The sausage and cheese is only shared with Village Pizza and Bill's Pizza. What this means is that our supplier developed a special recipe for Bill over 30 years ago. The mozzarella is 100% real cheese, made with real milk. We use all fresh vegetables, delivered two times a week..."

It seemed a night for coincidences, as, back home, I learned on the news about the demise of another Mundelein institution. Quig's Apple Orchard is calling it quits after a final harvest this fall. So it goes.

Alef Sausage & Deli
354-356 Town Line Road
Mundelein
847-566-0008

Bill's Pizza & Pub
624 S Lake St
Mundelein
847-566-5380

Nick's Pizza & Pub
856 Pyott Road
Crystal Lake
(Corner of Pyott & Virginia)
815-356-5550

Village Pizza & Pub
Rt. 25 & Helm
Carpentersville
847-428-6678

Fields Volvo
1121 S. Milwaukee Ave.
Libertyville
866-532-7855

You seem to be in this Eastern European state of mind lately. Those of us in the N/NW burbs thank you for that.

Coincidentally we patronize the Liberty Auto Plaza as well. I had no clue that it was a chowish destination. Cathy posted about a deli a while back that I believe is at the north end of that complex.

If the Cold War had been fought with sausages, the Warsaw Pact would have prevailed.

If they are still in business, a short walk north of the Liberty auto store is Bagels by the Book. They make their own, they make them from scratch and they make them "by the book" (i.e., they boil them then they bake them). And they make the best bagel breakfast sandwich ever (apologies to McDonald's, whose steak bagel is a strong effort but can't compete with the made-to-order attention of Bagels by the Book's tiny griddle).

Bagels by the Book
870 South Milwaukee Avenue
Libertyville, IL 60048
847-367-7811

The phone rings with no answer. I'll call tomorrow to get the hours to edit in, then I will pay a visit in the very near future. Better than McD's, oh that is a recommendation because you know I really like McD's Steak Bagel sandwich.

Cathy2 wrote:Bagels by the Book
870 South Milwaukee Avenue
Libertyville, IL 60048
847-367-7811

The phone rings with no answer.

You mean the phone rings with no answer AT 9:30 PM? They are a bagel place, after all. Seriously, this along with Firkin, Tavern, Sunset Foods, Viva Le Vine and a couple of other places, including the butcher who didn't even BLINK when I asked him to grind two pounds of white suet, were things that made my 3-year stay in Libertyville bearable.

Bagels by the Book
870 South Milwaukee Avenue
Libertyville, IL 60048
847-367-7811
Monday-Friday: 6 AM - 2:30 PM
Saturday: 7 AM - 2 PM
Sunday: 7 AM - 12 PM

I called because often establishments have an answering machine outlining their hours. The bagel bakery near my sister's in NJ has bakers working the 3rd shift, it opens at 4 AM, so anything possible.

What do you think of the bagels at Once Upon a Bagel?

In any case, thank you for highlighting a relatively close-to-me dead early breakfast find.

Regards,

I haven't been to Bagels by the Book since I stopped in while having my car worked on at the Liberty auto store about two years ago. Accordingly, my opinion is way out of date, but I thought they did a fine job at that time and also were consistently good between about 1998 and 2001, when I lived in Libertyville. They were very conscientious in the preparation, had lots of varieties and, of course, the great made-to-order breakfast bagel sandwiches. Green Mountain coffee, though, which didn't do much for me. Any or all of these features may have changed in the past couple of years.

CoolerbytheLake wrote:...
Perhaps feeling a foolish sense of security on my new Michelins, I felt the need to sneak a couple of corner pieces from the box while driving home to try it fresh. It's good, and it tasted a lot like thin crust I grew up on from Village Pizza and Pub in Carpentersville. Village is related to another good thin crust place called Nick's in Crystal Lake, and while I was searching addresses to include in this post, I found this interesting connection, from Nick's website: "Nick's Pizza & Pub opened in June, 1995. The basic concept was derived from 'Bill's Pub' in Mundelein and my father's former place, 'Village Pizza' in Carpentersville." Further...

"We have our own recipe for our pizza. The sausage and cheese is only shared with Village Pizza and Bill's Pizza. What this means is that our supplier developed a special recipe for Bill over 30 years ago. The mozzarella is 100% real cheese, made with real milk. We use all fresh vegetables, delivered two times a week..."

Bill's Pizza & Pub
624 S Lake St
Mundelein
847-566-5380

Nick's Pizza & Pub
856 Pyott Road
Crystal Lake
(Corner of Pyott & Virginia)
815-356-5550

Village Pizza & Pub
Rt. 25 & Helm
Carpentersville
847-428-6678

8/15/12 - Nick Sarillo, the owner of Nick's Pizza & Pub explains how to build a successful small business as described in his new book, "A Slice of the Pie." (podcast)