"Manny's" Pastrami sandwich at Pinstripes in Northbrook. Pretty sure "Manny's" refers to the dishwasher and not the downtown institution.

How was the Gibson's steak, though?

pizano345 wrote:"Manny's" Pastrami sandwich at Pinstripes in Northbrook. Pretty sure "Manny's" refers to the dishwasher and not the downtown institution.

LOL!

=R=

tatterdemalion wrote:Chow mein sandwich

Was this some impromptu experiment
at home, or did someone actually have
this as a menu item? Could be the
inspiration for a "Fear Factor"
restaurant.

The chow mein sandwich is a Fall River, Massachusetts specialty. Stay tuned for further information.

Kinda the red-headed step cousin
of a St. Paul sammich?

A cheeseburger at Cleo's on Armitage. Don't know what I was thinking. It was wretched.

NeroW- I have eaten at Cleo's many times, usually the goat cheese quesadilla (pretty hard to screw up) , so, I would "think" that a hamburger would be good. What is the problem with it, as I don't expect anything other than bar food from that place. You say you don't know what you were thinking, but I would have thought it was a solid choice. I hope I remember not to order it. The nachos there were pretty awful as I recall. I think they took carne asada and put that on top, and not in a good way.

nicinchic wrote:NeroW- I have eaten at Cleo's many times, usually the goat cheese quesadilla (pretty hard to screw up) , so, I would "think" that a hamburger would be good. What is the problem with it, as I don't expect anything other than bar food from that place. You say you don't know what you were thinking, but I would have thought it was a solid choice. I hope I remember not to order it. The nachos there were pretty awful as I recall. I think they took carne asada and put that on top, and not in a good way.

The burger was just really overcooked, stale bun, etc. I am totally down with bar food but this was more like school lunch food And I thought it would be a safe choice as well.

Where do I even start with Lorraine's on Chicago and Damen? The greasy eggs(vegetable oil to fry) the biscuit taken out of the plastic wrap and thrown in the microwave, the disgusting gravy from the food service, the grocery store bread, the frozen sausage patties, the dishwater coffee? Just the worst... I wanted a do over.

SCUBAchef wrote:

tatterdemalion wrote:Chow mein sandwich

Was this some impromptu experiment
at home, or did someone actually have
this as a menu item? Could be the
inspiration for a "Fear Factor"
restaurant.

It's on the menu at Nathan's on Coney Island, too. I haven't had the fortitude to try it. After seeing the pic, I probably never will.

A breakfast sandwich at Quizno's in Terminal 2 at O'Hare. I expected the soggy square of scrambled egg and the square of white cheese (aka provolone), but I did not expect the half cup of soggy bacon pieces which failed to get to room temperature, let alone crisp, in the run through the toaster.

I was running around, coming back from around Skokie on Lincoln, and I just wanted a quick bite, and I remembered Hub's, one of those Greek burger places I've railed against, but I figured, it should meet minimal acceptability standards, hadn't been there since the kids were stroller age, I went in and ordered a burger and fries...

It was a limp, careless desecration of everything a burger should be. Flavorless frozen patty, then the grilled onions proved to be a sodden mass of cold jellyfish which had immediately soaked the heel of the bun into a pulpy mass. It was like eating grilled pasteboard between two wet rags, and the fries were the coated kind like Burger King has now, the fries covered with a crunchy fried-snot crust. It is not often I wish I had gone to McDonald's or Wendy's, but both were in my path home and either would have been an infinitely more honorable choice than this crapburger.

There are TWO places with this name, no less, though the website for the one seems to suggest that they're separate now. Here's the one to not go to. I can't speak for the other, it's possible that it would be okay if every other restaurant north of Peterson and east of 294 suddenly closes.

Hub's
5540 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60625
(773) 784-4228
http://www.hubsrestaurant.com

NeroW wrote:

nicinchic wrote:NeroW- I have eaten at Cleo's many times, usually the goat cheese quesadilla (pretty hard to screw up) , so, I would "think" that a hamburger would be good. What is the problem with it, as I don't expect anything other than bar food from that place. You say you don't know what you were thinking, but I would have thought it was a solid choice. I hope I remember not to order it. The nachos there were pretty awful as I recall. I think they took carne asada and put that on top, and not in a good way.

The burger was just really overcooked, stale bun, etc. I am totally down with bar food but this was more like school lunch food And I thought it would be a safe choice as well.

I have been going to the Cleo's on Chicago ave for years, and it's always decent - especially their chorizo wrap for breakfast/veggie burger/salads/bean & cheese nachos/mediteranian pita...
I have always avoided the "new" one. I have heard from other people, as well, that the food isn't as good. Not that the original serves culinary masterpieces... but it consistently serves up cheap, good, bar food.

LTH,

Today was a total dining disaster.

Lunch
- Spring Roll at Rush hospital cafeteria. Lizard tongue tough rice paper roll filled with thick mushy spaghetti noodles, overcooked rubbery egg, limp-wristed cucumber, watery bean sprouts and dipping sauce that tasted like it was sourced from McDonald's central commissary

Dinner
- Chorizo and eggs at Arturo's on Western. Greasy, yet bland, refried beans, rice that had any hint of flavor removed by electroshock treatment, microwaved corn tacos aka masa frisbees, mishmash of overcooked eggs and church social chorizo.

I'm taking tomorrow as a Kuhdo*

Enjoy,
Gary

*Kuhdo Rule #121.a, if your first dinner is not up to snuff, go for a second

I called Will Smith for comment:

"Aw hell. Arturo's. Damn."

Date: Thursday morning, October 29th
Place: Prentice Women's Hospital 2nd floor cafeteria at Northwestern Memorial
Item ordered: Biscuits with sausage gravy
Excuse: Temporary insanity

Was incredibly disappointed with my first trip to Habana Libre. The jibarito was all kinds of terrible as a whole, but the steak in particular was just inexcusable. I've literally never had anything that had such a high gristle quotient. More than half of it could not be eaten. If I can muster up the courage to return, I'll definitely choose the GNR-earning pollo frito. But it'll be tough to get me back in there.

Hellodali wrote:Continuing on the bad Thai trend - pad siew from Noodle Zone on Clark St. My eight-year old visitor wanted to order in Thai and it's one of the few places that delivers to my area. They must have used the same recipe as the pad thai above. Mushy noodles and a ketchup like sauce with a few pieces of broccoli. It had no resemblance to any pad siew I've had before.

Noodle Zone is bad. Everything is bland and "meh." The only thing that's good is the appetizer sampler, which is decent for the price.

But ever since my wife found a curly black hair in her noodles, it's been X'd off our options. I wish it would close.

A double cheeseburger and chocolate malt from Big Boy in Imlay City, Michigan. Made me want to vom for the remainder of my 5 hour drive.

G Wiv wrote:LTH,

Today was a total dining disaster.

Lunch
- Spring Roll at Rush hospital cafeteria. Lizard tongue tough rice paper roll filled with thick mushy spaghetti noodles, overcooked rubbery egg, limp-wristed cucumber, watery bean sprouts and dipping sauce that tasted like it was sourced from McDonald's central commissary

Dinner
- Chorizo and eggs at Arturo's on Western. Greasy, yet bland, refried beans, rice that had any hint of flavor removed by electroshock treatment, microwaved corn tacos aka masa frisbees, mishmash of overcooked eggs and church social chorizo.

I'm taking tomorrow as a Kuhdo*

Enjoy,
Gary

*Kuhdo Rule #121.a, if your first dinner is not up to snuff, go for a second

Did you have a stroke of bad karma, Wiv?

makemedinner wrote:Did you have a stroke of bad karma, Wiv?

No doubt.........

Strawberry and vanilla Lithuanian marshmallows

They looked like pretty sandwich meringues and contain apple sauce. They tasted like blocks of sweetened white sugar. I had to spit out my first and only bite. What I get for being a fiend of marshmallow novelties...

Had one of the worst sandwiches ever...though it is a stretch to say that I "had" it since it is 90 percent uneaten.

I stopped into one of my favorite Greektown restaurants for carryout. This isn't one of the large, older restaurants. It's a smaller restaurant/bar/cafe that I really like and am rarely disappointed with anything. I was actually walking to one of the fastfood-type places for something quick and cheap, but the blackboard outside of this restaurant listed "Smoked Butt Sandwich" as a special. I thought to myself "A greek place without a smoker is not likely to have a good smoked pork sandwich. Don't be tempted." Then I thought "It's probably pre-smoked somewhere else and reheated here. Don't be tempted." But like I said, this place rarely disappoints and so I went in.

Sandwich is terrible. Truly awful. The meat is sliced into thick slices and are full of connective tissue. The connective tissue is really difficult to get through. So it is impossible to eat this as a sandwich. Did anyone who works there try to eat this? Did they really think it was good enough to serve?

So I pulled pieces of meat off the slices and ate them separately. Even the meat by itself isn't that good - it's got this strong, toxic hickory flavor. So, I'm sitting here eating the bread (which is good) and the fries (which are good also).

Luckily, I'm heading to Kuma's for dinner tonight.

Jelly donut from Dunkin. Nothing but the taste of oil lingered on my tongue for about half an hour.

Costco 'ceviche' (I know, I know, don't go shopping hungry).
There was absolutely no flavor of lime at all, and I'm not exaggerating. The garlic smelled funky, in a good way, I suppose, but had no taste. The onions were limp and flavorless. The shrimp felt like they had been microwaved on an airplane and tasted like they were made from seitan or something equally flavorless. What did I expect getting something as delicate and needy as ceviche at a place as cold and inhuman as Costco? I gave it a chance because they begrudgingly and repeatedly surprise me with the quality of their products, perhaps because I have no positive expectations to fulfill. But their "ceviche" was so awful, it's tragic. Don't let your empty stomach lead you astray!

G Wiv wrote:...Rush hospital cafeteria...

That's all you had to say. In case of long-term confinements, quite a few decent places deliver there. The nurses (in my ward, at least) are very relaxed about allowing in food (especially if you share). True story, Llama once brought in a griddle, some custard, and crusty sourdough bread from the farmer's market and made me french toast in my room. If you want to pull this off, however, you must share with the nurses.

geno55 wrote:Jelly donut from Dunkin. Nothing but the taste of oil lingered on my tongue for about half an hour.

you post here, and had a jelly donut from Dunkin?

one of these things is not like the other....

Now, now. We've all been somewhere that the only choices were bad, and we've all been lured by promise that wasn't fulfilled, even when we should have known better. Judge not, lest yer lunch be judged.

Mike G wrote:Now, now. We've all been somewhere that the only choices were bad, and we've all been lured by promise that wasn't fulfilled, even when we should have known better. Judge not, lest yer lunch be judged.

Indeed. Yesterday I dined in Lombard at a place called Miller's Ale House. Among us was a regular who took over the ordering: chicken wings with "sweet Thai sauce", some fried thing with cream cheese and supposedly hot peppers, some of the world's mosy greasy and flavorless french fries, etc., etc... I ate some of it all, and every last bite belongs in this thread.