chrisbcritter wrote:Got a few fuzzy memories of restaurants from the '60s and '70s I hope you can help clear up and come up with names:

- An Italian spaghetti restaurant I think was on the 9000 block of Waukegan in Morton Grove; the thing I remember was a large bulletin board full of customer photos with the words "Our Messiest Eaters" on top.

Tonelli's It's long gone.

- Really good gyros from a place on the NE corner of Washington and Golf Road in Niles (next to what used to be the Topps discount store)

The Works
2676 Golf Rd
Glenview, IL 60025

Wow, thanks for the responses!

OK, this is really vague, but in the early '90s there was a small fast-foodish type place in a strip mall in Vernon Hills two or three doors west of the Wal-Mart at Rt. 60 and Milwaukee. I want to say it featured Mexica/Latin food, but I recall it being very different from the typical taqueria. I used to go there for lunch from time to time when I worked in the area and recall it being quite good.

Anyone?

The spouse recalls an ice cream place in the North Riverside Mall, 1970's and perhaps into the early 80's, with a specialty dish called the Pike's Peak, a huge sundae for five or more persons. She says that the Peak was carried out by two waiters, in a huge bowl.

Does anyone recall the name of the place that sold it?

It sounds a lot like Margie's Candies to me, but since I didn't relocate here until the 80's, I just cannot remember it.

The spouse recalls an ice cream place in the North Riverside Mall, 1970's and perhaps into the early 80's, with a specialty dish called the Pike's Peak, a huge sundae for five or more persons. She says that the Peak was carried out by two waiters, in a huge bowl.

Possibly Farrell's, a chain from the West Coast.

Farrells signature sundae was the "pig's trough." After you finished it, the staff would sing a song celebrating your gluttony.

Hi,

I was leaning toward Swenson's Ice Cream for the Pike's Peak, which originated in San Francisco. I remember enjoying a Cote Tower sundae, though I had no idea what or where Cote Tower may be. As of five minutes ago, I now know.

My family and I still miss the demise of Zephyr's. Their War of the Worlds ten-scoop ice cream sundae was shared by all of us. It was a deal for around $10. Everywhere else a mega-sundae was far more expensive.

Regards,

Toscano's on Oakley is one I really miss. As a teenager going there in the early 80's it seemed like the closest thing to a NYC Italian restaurant from the movies. Had my first Chicken Vesuvio there and absolutely loved their rendition.

bigd wrote:Farrells signature sundae was the "pig's trough." After you finished it, the staff would sing a song celebrating your gluttony.

One of my more cherished accomplishments as a teenager.

Artie wrote:

chrisbcritter wrote:
- An Italian spaghetti restaurant I think was on the 9000 block of Waukegan in Morton Grove; the thing I remember was a large bulletin board full of customer photos with the words "Our Messiest Eaters" on top.

Tonelli's It's long gone.[quote]

Nope. Tonelli's was located on Waukegan and Shermer Roads in Northbrook. You may referring to Esposito's in Morton Grove...but I'm not certain on that one.

spinynorman99 wrote:

The spouse recalls an ice cream place in the North Riverside Mall, 1970's and perhaps into the early 80's, with a specialty dish called the Pike's Peak, a huge sundae for five or more persons. She says that the Peak was carried out by two waiters, in a huge bowl.

Possibly Farrell's, a chain from the West Coast.

Yeah, Pikes Peak was definitely a Farrell's thing. It may have been the progenitor of the Trough. In the 70's, they had the Pike's Peak and the Zoo (which they still have). They would sometimes change the name of Pikes Peak to a local mountain, and the Zoo to a local zoo. In Seattle, the Peak was called the Mt. Ranier and the Zoo was called the Woodland. In Portland, it was Mt.Hood and Burnside. I wonder if the N. Riverside place served a "Brookfield Zoo" ?

d4v3 wrote:

spinynorman99 wrote:

The spouse recalls an ice cream place in the North Riverside Mall, 1970's and perhaps into the early 80's, with a specialty dish called the Pike's Peak, a huge sundae for five or more persons. She says that the Peak was carried out by two waiters, in a huge bowl.

Possibly Farrell's, a chain from the West Coast.

Yeah, Pikes Peak was definitely a Farrell's thing. It may have been the progenitor of the Trough. In the 70's, they had the Pike's Peak and the Zoo (which they still have). They would sometimes change the name of Pikes Peak to a local mountain, and the Zoo to a local zoo. In Seattle, the Peak was called the Mt. Ranier and the Zoo was called the Woodland. In Portland, it was Mt.Hood and Burnside. I wonder if the N. Riverside place served a "Brookfield Zoo" ?

Former Farrell's in the North Riverside Mall confirmed.

If you dig through that site further, it seems Farrell's was there until 1995. Another site reveals it opened in 1975. Strangely, while I have been going to that mall since at least the early 80's, I have zero recollection of Farrell's. It must have been in one of the small side wings with no other stores that would ever get me to walk down that way.

The North Riverside Farrell's is the one I remember, too.

chrisbcritter wrote:Got a few fuzzy memories of restaurants from the '60s and '70s I hope you can help clear up and come up with names:

- An Italian spaghetti restaurant I think was on the 9000 block of Waukegan in Morton Grove; the thing I remember was a large bulletin board full of customer photos with the words "Our Messiest Eaters" on top.

- Really good gyros from a place on the NE corner of Washington and Golf Road in Niles (next to what used to be the Topps discount store)

- Pizza place on the west side of Waukegan near Techny in Northbrook that had real good pan pizza except for the time the waitress dropped the darn thing just before she got to our table.

Thanks!

The pizza place on Waukegan I believe you mean is (I mean was) Carval (sp?). Carval was a lot closer to Techny, I believe south of Techny in then what was a pretty no-man's land kinda of area whereas Tonelli's was much further north, at Shermer. Also, while it has (obviously) been years since I've been to Carval, I pretty sure pan pizza was their thing. Tonelli's was a classic Chicago thin kinda place--and in it's day man that was good thin.

The Works is still there BTW.

As noted above by AlexG, it was:

Salvi's Caravel Inn
2370 Waukegan
Northbrook, IL
847-498-2030

It was indeed a "no man's land" on that side of Waukegan, surrounded by undeveloped land which I believe belonged to the church/mission on the east side of Waukegan. That whole area has been developed in just the past few years. I think Caravel Inn was about where the north entrance to the strip mall with Whole Foods now stands.

Vital Information wrote:The pizza place on Waukegan I believe you mean is (I mean was) Carval (sp?).

I don't think Carval is the correct name for this place. Carvel was (is) a New York based ice cream chain, best known for an ice cream cake called "Fudgie the Whale", that briefly had an outpost on Dempster near Crawford.

Disclosure: Carvel was my tenant.

stevez wrote:I don't think Carval is the correct name for this place.

nsxtasy wrote:As noted above by AlexG, it was:

Salvi's Caravel Inn

Another spot I sorely miss is Kahala Terrace, which was located at Dundee and Landwehr in Northbrook. It was owned by Bob Chinn's brother (and also by Bob and his brother at one time) and served Chinese/Polynesian food. It's not that the food was great, but it was pretty good and different . . . in a Trader Vic's kind of way.

Grecian Taverna on Lincoln, where Bad Dog, or Mad Dog, or Sad Dog, or whatever is now.

Ahhhhh....Farrell's in North Riverside Park Mall! Wow, now THAT is a blast to the past. I remember countless visits to that place as a teen, sharing another one of their "signature" menu items, aptly called "The Mountain of Fries", with my friends. We would always ask for 2 FULL bottles of ketchup...and usually polished off both of 'em. That place was famous amongst the "high school" crowd because if you went in there and claimed it was your birthday, the whole staff would come out and sing to your table and bring FREE ice cream. Needless to say, me and my friends celebrated birthdays on a monthly basis.

Ambria.

Bob Bansberg on wine, Willis the most amazing server, Christian in the kitchen and Michele Briand.

Class everything.

I've never got used to the loss of Brief Encounter, my favorite hamburger and fries joint Downtown Chicago in the seventies.
It was located in the Stone Container building at 360 North Michigan in the same building where the London House was located.
The main entrance was on Michigan Avenue, but there was another one from inside the building where I worked at the time ( 1975-1976).
The hamburger was the perfect size and very tasty and juicy, but lean. The fries perfect.
I also sometimes enjoyed sitting at the bar at the London House at lunch time and have a very good sandwich with a beer while listening to marvelous live jazz, soemetimes Ramsey Lewis.

I was trying to explain the fabulousness of the long-gone NN Smokehouse on Irving Park to Kevin Pang earlier today on Twitter, and realized that 140 characters just wasn't going to cut it - didn't even mention that another incarnation of the business was on Grand Ave. near Damen a few years back, in the original Wishbone location, IIRC - and then abruptly vanished. The owner/chef was a very interesting and friendly guy - I'm sure someone here can recall his name.

Wherever he is, I hope he's doing well and is happy. I'd kill to have one more plateful of those burnt-end/bark-laden baked beans. Just heavenly stuff.

Yup, NN was one of my favorite Q joints too. I loved to wash down one of their pulled pork sandwiches with a homemade dessert. The peach cobbler was always spot-on. I could never figure out why they closed down, every time I went there they were quite busy.

Hi,

NN is where I learned about sweet chili sauce, which was always on the table due to his (now ex-)wife who was a Filippina.

I was there only a few times, though I remember having to always add salt his BBQ.

Regards,

Any oldtimers remember the Stockyard Inn at 43rd and Halstead.Anyone have a menu to post from there?Great steaks at the peak of the stockyards in Bridgeport(Canaryville).
Also I remember the Hickory Pit Bar-b-que at 27th and Union.At times fabulous ribs, at times mediocre.Home of the Glass Dome!!
And not to be forgotten ,The Painted Doll bar-b-q at 61st and Halstead.Some great Q joints have passed on through Chicago.

jerryg wrote:Any oldtimers remember the Stockyard Inn at 43rd and Halstead.Anyone have a menu to post from there?Great steaks at the peak of the stockyards in Bridgeport(Canaryville).

When I was a kid we'd go there whenever we were going to something at the Amphitheater. It really was kind of stupid though. The appeal was that it was right in the middle of the stock yards. But their meat was aged so proximity to the yards really had no bearing. It wasn't like it was fresher.

The Glass Dome Hickory Pit was at 2801 S. Halsted. I loved it when I was in college at IIT back in the late 70's. Sorry it's gone.

And forgot to mention Mell Markon's in Lincoln Park. Loved their strawberry cheesecake. And Prince Castle. I believe they had square ice cream cones.

Does anyone else remember The Loophole on Lake or Randolph, between Wabash and Rush? It was part of the Don Roth company and sold soup,salads,sandwiches, also you could get a combination. The beef goulash was good, and it was there that I had gazpacho for the first time.

Mexican: There used to be a great place on the southeast corner of milwaukee & Division-cant remember the name. Periodically they would be closed because, rumor had it, they had been serving horse meat! If so, it was tasty.

I agree with other comments about the Berghoff. I used to eat there regularly before Goodman performances and for special occasions. They "closed" just long enough to get rid of the unionized workers. I haven't set foot inside since.