I've got to add one of my favorites during college and for a few years after: Los Magueyes on Chicago in Evanston, which was the Firehouse before and afterward.

They were standard mexican fare very very well prepared. Great salsa with load of cilantro, wonderful mole, fantastic flautas and chiles rellenos. They tried to expand their facilities to include an upstairs dance club, lost money, sold the biz and went downhill.

The food never seemed heavy, the fried items were always crisp and light, the flavors bright. These days I get pointed to places like La Chicanita in Arlington Heights, and it just doesn't match my expectations.

Joel, I think you and I have discussed Los Magueyes before. When Mr. kwe and I first got married we lived at Sheridan Rd. and South Blvd. which made it conveniently located to Magueyes. I totally agree with you on the food. Very fresh and well prepared.

Another one of our favorite Evanston places was called Famous. It was located on Davis St. and occupied the space where Davis St. Fishmarket now is. They had the most wonderful borscht and chopped liver. It was also a great place to go for Sunday brunch. Darn, another place I miss!

nr706 wrote:Does anyone remember the name of this place? It was on the east side of Sheridan, north of Loyola, a few steps below street level, maybe 10 - 15 years ago, had a cigar bar attached, but the most identifying characteristic - it was fondue-like, but instead of a pot of hot oil, you cooked your food on a hot stone with a polished surface. Anyone remember it?

sundevilpeg wrote:....was it called "Distant Mirror Cafe," or something much like it? I can see the sign on the building in my mind's eye. but I'm just not sure that the correct name...

I think that's right or pretty close. Thanks. Anyone else go there? It seemed like an interesting concept.

I think Armando's was on Superior Street. Always enjoyed the food, but one had to watch the bill. Little errors (invariably in the restaurant's favor) would creep in; this was particularly likely with a large group. If you caught it they would politely correct the "mistake." Caveat emptor.

They did get their comeupance once when I was there. I was part of a group from my company who were having a dinner meeting. It was our financial review team, so you can imagine 17 nit-picky auditors going over the bill. There had been a fair amount of drinking so some of the guys were quite loud with their complaints, and other diners were staring. My boss was an aggressive guy and gave the restaurant manager what-for, loudly asking him why our company should ever give them business again when they pulled that sort of stuff? It was amusing watching the manager cringe.

Kwe730 wrote:Another one of our favorite Evanston places was called Famous. It was located on Davis St. and occupied the space where Davis St. Fishmarket now is. They had the most wonderful borscht and chopped liver. It was also a great place to go for Sunday brunch. Darn, another place I miss!

I thought it was called just "Davis St. Deli" but you could be right on the name. I remember their menu said that Corned beef may not be served on white bread or with mayonaisse without South Dakota ID

I went to NU 1980-84, and lived on Oak St. a year past that. At least there are more restos there now, due to the lifting of the dry laws (it was just starting as I was in school, at the same time the school was cracking down on student drinking -- all due to non-student incidents)

Well while we're talking about Evanston, here's a few places only I probably remember.

First, under the 'L station at Central circa 1972 there was a pizza place that was really good. I can't remember the name, but it was good enough that we'd often take the drive from Rogers Park.

The other place is even more obscure I'm sure. It was a little 'diner' type place on the Evanston side of Howard, a little west of Damen. I remember some seats at a counter, but I don't think there were tables. I think it was called 'The Cottage'.

They opened early in the morning and probably closed very early in the day. I'd never been there for anything other than breakfast, but man, what a breakfast. The guy that ran the place, I want to say his name was Ken, always had the best bone-in ham. This ham always made for the best breakfast EVER. 2 eggs any pedestrian style you wanted, 2 pieces of white bread toast, hash brown potatos with probably no spices and a slice of ham the size of Iowa.

If you go way back in Evanston, there was a pizza place where Las Palmas is now -- I think that's Clark St. It goes way back and I remember that it was a "towny" place that catered to ETHS students, rather than the NU crowd. It was pretty good, but I can't remember the name.

Also, there was a terrific Italian restaurant on Foster St. They had an amazing meat-based pasta sauce. Later a place with the same name opened on Central St., but it was mostly a pizzaria and not nearly as good as the original. Anyone know what it was called?

midas wrote:First, under the 'L station at Central circa 1972 there was a pizza place that was really good. I can't remember the name, but it was good enough that we'd often take the drive from Rogers Park.

Was that called The Spot?

Joel...The place was definitely called Famous. The napkins had the name written on them in the same sort of script that the TV Show "Cheers" used. That line about the corned beef sandwich sounds typical.

I remember going to buy liquor for the first time in Evanston. I thought for sure a cop was going to stop me as I walked out of the store. Either that or someone from the Women's Christian Temperance Union was going to beat me with her purse.

As for pizza, I used to love Carmen's.

Kim

The Spot was definietely on Foster. I actually delivered for them for a few months when I was a teenager.

I want to say the place on Central was named 'The Inferno', but I'm just not positive. And while 'The Spot' specialized in thin crust, the place on Central was deep dish all the way.

You're right. The Spot was on Foster in Evanston, but there was another place about a block west on the corner that specialized in pastas rather than pizzas. It had an Italian name -- I think it started with a "c".

And maybe The Inferno was the place on the little triangle where Las Palmas is now.

Someone here just remembered. It was Michelini's! I loved their pasta with meat sauce. Never figured out why the sauce had the chewy texture it had.

The dill pickle (on van buren)--bar in back

all pixley and eller's

wimpy's

Edith's Bar-b-q on north clybourn 1816? wonderful smoked bbq and funny fries and bbq sauce. god bless you edith!

metro club, 3032 north lincoln=best goulash and wiener schnitzel
when trib asked the secret of his goulash (it had been named best in chicago) pepo replied, "Ist made mit luv"

so many others i'm tearing up.

also, i miss great places that are still here physically, but have deteriorated so badly, that i now hate them--like miller's.

El Panzone wrote:Edith's Bar-b-q on north clybourn 1816? wonderful smoked bbq and funny fries and bbq sauce. god bless you edith!

Edith's RIP. I went into the place that now sits on the site of Edith's. There on the menu board was BBQ Beef & Ribs with Edith's sauce. How could I resist! It was not only not Edith's BBQ by any stretch of the imagination, but the BBQ sauce was straight from the bottle Open Pit. Yuck! And what about the french fry machine that Edith had? I've never seen another one like it.

Just noticed, though I'm sure this happened too soon for nostalgia, that the Cuban nightclub Zza Zzo, in the space that was Bone Daddy is something else now, a nightclub called Cream. (Who just got back together, but that's for another forum.)

Now then, back to nostalgia: Edith's sucked!

Okay, I don't actually remember the BBQ at Edith's, although if it had been good maybe I would, but here's what has stuck with me for years about it. David Hammond posted this on another board: "That said, I don't think I've ever eaten a fry I didn't like." To which I replied:

One of my first Chow experiences in Chicago (as in roaming to a then-distant and forlorn neighborhood because I heard something was great) resulted in the scariest fries I ever tried one bite of.

The place was Edith's BBQ, on the now totally yuppified 1800-1900 stretch of Clybourn. The BBQ was passable, although I think even then I suspected that it was famous because it was on the north side and patronized by people who never crossed Roosevelt, not because it was especially great. But the fries... they had some machine from the 60s that took ground-up dehydrated hydrogenated potato parts and by-products, much like what goes into Pringles, and sort of pooped them out as fry-shaped torpedoes which fell straight into the churning brown oil (have I painted an unappetizing enough picture yet?) and produced mushy rejected-by-NASA fry substitutes a few minutes later. Gross, gross, gross, and I couldn't help but think that any place that could do that to the noble potato was not to be trusted with pork, either.

I miss -- perhaps not so much for the food, but for the fabulous memories growing up there -- Markon's on Jeffrey next to the old Jewish Community Center. I also miss Unique deli from Hyde Park. It was never the same once they moved it to Homewood.

I also miss the Tropical Hut on Stony Island for its exotic (well, to us)atmosphere while I was growing up. And Jenny's restaurant, also on Stony Island. We would take my grandmother there when she came in from the east coast for a visit.

Also, in Chicago Heights, I really miss Arturo's Three Star. I loved their Friday night calamari special. They also had a goat special on Saturday nights. A real loss to the community.

like i said mike, edith smoked some good ribs in her smokehouse.
edith's, when she was there, was very good.
i heard her son took over and ruined the place later on in the 90s, but back in the early/mid 80s, her stuff was as good as farmer brown's down the street, where, yes, i was afraid to go.
yep, those dehydrated potato pellets were weird, and did have a pringle-like tinge to them, but went well with the slightly sweet sauce.
had many a great byob party there.
do you travel to barbara ann's and lem's for ribs often mike?

I agree with you El P. Back in the day, Edith's ribs were the real deal. I never had the ones prepared by her son, so I can't comment on those.

You know what? I miss Memere's in Oak Park something fierce! I would miss this place on ambiance alone. This was a family-owned cajun restaurant. Often, grandma would be hanging in the back by the register, sitting in her rocking chair. Her daughter would do the cooking and the granddaughters the waiting. Always enjoyed its authenticity. Anybody remember it?

Pigmon

Sure, Chicago Avenue, right? Though the mists of memory I seem to recall the gumbo. Place must have closed in the late 80s, I'm guessing.

Hammond

Rene G wrote:Here are some addresses and comments about Wells Street in the 1960s, according to a 1964 guide book.

Speaking of Wells Street, does anyone remember "The Pickle Barrell", south of North ave. on the east side of the street?

The Pickle Barrel was at 1423 N Wells.

[quote]
wow notwthat brings back memories..used to go to the Wax Museum back in the late 60's -early 70's then go to Pickle Barrel afterwards

Tiritilli's... great Italian..In Northlake of all places too

Pickle Barrel also had a location in Northbrook near Charlie Beinlich's. So I guess that made it a chain, although a very small one.

It was a locally owned "chain" of 3 - 4 restaurants.

Kwe730 wrote:Does anyone remember a place called Shangri-La that used to be near the Chicago Theater? My Mom and I talk about that place all the time. Kind of an upscale Don the Beachcomber's. There was a main floor with tables, but they also had two ascending tiers of tables on either side. Definitely the best place to sit was to score a table on one of these tiers.

I think it became a Burger King.

It kind of fell on hard times, I think, in the few years before it closed. My brother and I were fascinated by the window decorations and always begged Mom to eat there. When she finally took us there, we were all very disappointed. But, yeah, it must have been something else in its heyday!

I came across some old postcards of Kontiki Ports that Mom had saved. The restaurant designs (there were several themes within Kontiki Ports) were really lavish.

I actually delivered for The Spot for a few months back about 30 years ago. I don't know how long they were in business after that. There were also 2 other Spots at the time, one on Broadway and one on Peterson. But the Evanston one was by far the best of the 3.

Midas, my wife and I have many fond memories of the Spot on Broadway. The thin crust pizza was quite good, but their cole slaw was absolutely the best we've ever had. And you couldn't beat the 15 cent draft beers when you ordered a pizza! Once we were there with our 5 year old niece, Carron, when Barry himself appeared at our table. Carron's eyes got so big - it was like Santa Klaus appearing in person because Barry looked just like the caricature on his sign.

Dan AKA "slowisgood"

I wasn't going to post a message, but seeing that this thread is still attracting attention, I've got to. No one has mentioned one of my childhood favorites, Slicker Sam's in Melrose Park. My grandparents used to take me there all the time in the '70s. I've yet to find somewhere that beat their deep dish pizza. My favorite meal there, though, was the whole dungeoness crab, which I could finish by myself from the age of 5. I took my future husband there while we were dating in the early 90's. He still won't let me forget that I let him order the $8.00 lasagna, while I went on to order the $22 dungeoness crab. Does anyone else remember it?

Also, was it Cock Robin on St. Charles Road in Villa Park that had the square scoops of ice cream they'd stack on a cone?

Yes it was Cock Robin. They just closed the location that was just north of Gene and Jude's on River Rd. I think it's been gone 2 years or so.

The first one I ever went to was on Asbury in Evanston just north of Howard. That location closed a long long time ago.

Petite Pantry (Evanston)

Villa Toscana

Big Herm's

Sam & Hy's

Red Hot Ranch

Black Angus

Charcoal Oven

Villa Gergenti (great thin crust pizza)

New Capri (fantastic chicken vesuvio)

Sandler's Drug Store (this one's REALLY old, corner of Touhy & Damen, had an ice cream counter where I used to get a hot dog, fries and a Coke for a quarter - anyone else remember this one?)

marydon2 wrote:Petite Pantry (Evanston)

Villa Toscana

Big Herm's

Sam & Hy's

Red Hot Ranch

Black Angus

Charcoal Oven

Sandler's Drug Store (this one's REALLY old, corner of Touhy & Damen, had an ice cream bar where I used to get a hot dog, fries and a Coke for a quarter - anyone else remember this one?)

Both Big Herms and the Charcoal Ovenare still open. You might be thinking of Big Herm's arch rival Herm's Palace, which was just across the street.