Making my trip to Mundelein worth it.

I have to go to traffic court in Mundelein in the next few weeks, and was hoping that there is somewhere very special to eat near there which will soften the blow of having to make the rather long trip. My only prerequisite is excellence.

You mean, like Bill's.

The Main Street Smokehouse opened recently in Libertyville. Their beef brisket sandwich is excellent, if pricey at $9. On Tuesdays it's even better, when it's the lunch special at $5!

Main Street Smokehouse
536 N. Milwaukee
Libertyville 60048
847.247.4330

I'll add - viewtopic.php?f=14&t=25187&hilit=mundelein

I was seriously disappointed by main street smokehouse on a recent visit there. it's got all the smokehouse ambiance of a Subway, they were out of ribs, and the pork and brisket left much to be desired. no flavor, no seasoning, and overcooked. the service was also completely apathetic--they appeared not to care at all about us. the brisket had the telltale mushy/rubbery quality of at least a few hours spent wrapped in foil. the only thing I liked was the fries.

Bill's Pub, on the other hand, is my favorite pizza of all time.

Karma
510 E. Route 83
Mundelein, Illinois
847-970-6900
http://www.karmachicago.com/

Truly fine dining in a non fine dining town.

They're closed from 2-5 on weekdays except on Friday when they are only open for dinner

I like Park Street. I think it is only open for dinner. I have never tried to go at lunch time.

D.

14 E. Park
Mundelein

dodger wrote:I like Park Street. I think it is only open for dinner. I have never tried to go at lunch time.

D.

14 E. Park
Mundelein

Closed Monday
Open for lunch Tuesday-Friday at 11:30
http://www.parkstreetdining.com/index.html

Dover Straits is pretty good.

http://www.doverstraits.com/

Not a place for lunch, but worth a visit -- United Grocers on Route 60 just east of 83. May be the biggest Indian grocery store in the metro area. (When I first visited and said I thought it looked bigger than Patel Brothers, the manager just smiled and said, "yes." When I said half an hour later that it looked like they had everything, he smiled again and said, "that is our goal.). So a fun place to stock up before you drive home -- if you like Indian food.

And if you like wine, DiCarlo's, also on 60, but west of 83, is a great place for bargains. They have regular wine and liquor stock, but they also handle a lot of "closeouts" -- vintages where the winery doesn't have enough cases left to distribute to a large chain like Binny's. You can often find remarkable bargains.

Monica's Mexican Restaurant
839 S. Lake St
Mundelein, Il 60060
847-520-1070
http://monicasrestaurante.com

A new outpost of the one in Prospect Heights. Cecina, lomo, lengua are some of the meat choices.
supposed to have pozole, menudo, birria and barbacoa on the weekends.
They also serve pizza!

Mike G wrote:You mean, like Bill's.

What was the rest of the menu like?

http://www.billspizzapub.com/

Franks for the Memories. New York white hot dogs and great Buffalo wings. (I can't confirm it, but I believe this place may have been the first to serve Buffalo wings in the Chicago area.)

Franks for the Memories
847/949-9464
645 E. Hawley St.
Mundelein
http://franksforthememories.com

Cynthia wrote:Not a place for lunch, but worth a visit -- United Grocers on Route 60 just east of 83. May be the biggest Indian grocery store in the metro area.

Bigger than Bombay Bazar?

mrefjl wrote:What was the rest of the menu like?

It was like, "Dude, you're here for thin crust pizza, what do you care how the chicken caesar or the meat jello ribs are?"

LAZ wrote:

Cynthia wrote:Not a place for lunch, but worth a visit -- United Grocers on Route 60 just east of 83. May be the biggest Indian grocery store in the metro area.

Bigger than Bombay Bazar?

I don't know how these two compare, but it's bigger than anything on Devon, and the manager was clearly proud of the fact.

Given that United Grocers is about 15 minutes from my home, and Bombay Bazaar is more than an hour away, I may never find out which is larger.

It's just nice to not have to drive to Devon when you want, say, a bag of cardamom.

LAZ wrote:Franks for the Memories. New York white hot dogs and great Buffalo wings. (I can't confirm it, but I believe this place may have been the first to serve Buffalo wings in the Chicago area.)

Even though Franks for the Memories in Mundelein takes credit for introducing Buffalo wings to the Chicago area and the Midwest, they weren't the first.

On their History page, Franks for the Memories wrote:Franks For The Memories is a family run restaurant in Mundelein, Illinois grown famous for introducing the Chicagoland area to the delicious taste of "Buffalo Wings" which originated at Buffalo, New York's Anchor Bar in 1964.

20 years later in 1984, Jim and Carol Schultz, natives of Buffalo who had relocated to the Chicago area years before, decided to open the restaurant and share with everybody the tasty morsels that made them homesick. Franks for the Memories is considered to be the first restaurant to offer Buffalo Wings in the Chicagoland area, as well as the Midwest.

Before the 1980s most people outside of Buffalo NY were unfamiliar with the odd little spicy chicken wings served with blue cheese dressing and celery sticks. All that changed with Calvin Trillin's "An Attempt to Compile a Short History of the Buffalo Chicken Wing" in the August 25, 1980 issue of The New Yorker. It was followed the next year by Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey's article, "Winging It in Buffalo" in The New York Times Magazine. Buffalo wings took off.

Chicago's first Buffalo wings may have been served at Randall's for Ribs (41 E Superior, owned by the Levy Organization). Here's a description of Randall's wings from the Chicago Tribune in 1982: "Buffalo-style hot chicken wings, fried with lots of hot pepper sauce and served with blue cheese dressing for dipping."

But credit for popularizing the treat in Chicago should perhaps go to Yak-Zies, who repeatedly ran the following ad in late 1983:

PUBLIC NOTICE
If you have ever been
hooked on real
Buffalo Chicken Wings
and still want them
Yak-Zies Bar & Grill
has them
506 W. Diversey
11:30A.M. – 1 A.M. 348-8740
Not a corner saloon – Just a basement tavern

Franks for the Memories probably wasn't the first in the suburbs either. In an ad from January 6, 1984 a place by the name of HMS Boston in Schaumburg mentions their Buffalo Style Chicken Wings (and explains what they are).

In the next year or two, many wing slingers appeared in the city and suburbs, including Franks for the Memories, Buffalo Joe's, C K Buffalo's, City Tavern, Fallen Angel and others.

That teaches me to say something like that off the cuff.... Thanks, Peter!

LAZ wrote:That teaches me to say something like that off the cuff.... Thanks, Peter!

I think you qualified your comment enough (can't confirm, may have been) to not need to feel embarrassed.

However, it's nice to have someone like Rene G around to dig up the real story.

I gave Franks 4 or 5 tries 15+ years ago. I was never impressed with anything they made.

D.

dodger wrote:15+ years ago. I was never impressed with anything they made.

Since they're still doing a great business 15 years later, I guess a lot of people must disagree with you.

The original owners have retired. Their son is running the place now. There likely have been other changes over 15 years. I can't say, because I've only been visiting the past couple of years.

Hey, Franks For the Memories ain't the Taj Mahal, but it's a really solid Mom-and-Pop operation. Wings (my faves are medium hot buffalo & teriyaki), turkey burgers, and Sahlen's hot dogs (from Buffalo NY) are probably the highlights. The rest is normal fast-food fare. The Schultz family has served this area very well, and are great people.

Thanks everybody for the rec's. It turns out I wound up in a hurry and was almost killed by a firetruck on the way up, spoiling my apatite.