I'm not a huge fan of Mancini's, although they have a great location! I do, however, very much like their house salad dressing, and I really like their newly offered ice creams.

We find that you have to get the New York thin, I think its called or whatever their thinnest offering is. I can never remember if its what they call thin or NY thin (they offer both), but just ask for the thinnest one. I agree, their gelato is pretty tasty, much better than the new Lido's cafe on Marion.
LO

Well, I took the little lady out to Jimmy's at 5:30 on Saturday. Couldn't get a table. Half the place was taken by a private event and most of the other tables looked reserved for big groups. OK. I guess I'll phone first next time. So we went to Franchesca's Fiore which is next door and fairly terrible. Don't say I didn't warn you. Anyway we salvaged the evening with some excellent ice cream at Brown Cow down the block. Six high school girls ordered the "trough" which is 21 scoops (seven pounds) of ice cream ($45 and you get a t-shirt). We didn't stay to find out if they finished it. We were speaking to the owner and he said one guy ate the whole thing by himself once. Talk about a gut-ache!

Have you heard, very soon there will be another great pizzeria with authentic Italian pizza in town. Gaetano is working on opening a new place just down the street from his current restaurant in Forest Park. I can't wait. Just try the pizza he's currently serving at his restaurant and I am sure you will agree.

My husband and I are just getting back from a having a absolutely delicious dinner at Grape Leave. The hummus is outstanding and the entrees are huge, enough for 2 people, but and are very inexpensive. The Kebabs start at $9.95 and you can get Lamb Chops for $14.95.

abweekes wrote:Have you heard, very soon there will be another great pizzeria with authentic Italian pizza in town. Gaetano is working on opening a new place just down the street from his current restaurant in Forest Park. I can't wait. Just try the pizza he's currently serving at his restaurant and I am sure you will agree.

Is there any update on this? I drive 'The Strip' often and I am on the lookout but nothing so far has caught my eye.

My Bride and I have grown fond of Bar Louie on Lake St in Oak Park.

The atmosphere is nice with a lot of wood and even though it is first and foremost a bar it isn't too noisy (like Avenue Ale House or Poor Phil's) and is actually quite cozy.

The menu has a nice selection of appetizers and is heavy on the sandwiches. Not stellar but good and nice sized portions. Link to menu.

We stopped by today for their Brunch and it is not a standard brunch as one might expect (IE: buffet) but a meal between breakfast and lunch where you order off a menu. A nice touch was complementary 'Bag of Donut' holes and a small Bloody Mary. My Bride had the Salmon Benedict and I the 'Morning After' skillet which had over a bed of tater tots, bacon, choriso, some green pepper with a slightly spicy cheese sauce. Both meals filled the need and the tater tots were a nice alternative to regular breakfast potatoes.

They have monthly specials for instance last month, Mondays: Half price food and drinks. This month: $5 set of 4 sliders.

A good selection (20) of tap beers. Different seating is also available, in the bar area, high tables with stools, at the bar, or the long row of booths along the wall or the regular table seating in the back.

I don't know, we just feel comfortable there even if they are a nationwide chain.

Bar Louie
1122 Lake St, Oak Park
(708) 725-3300

The one or two times my wife and I have eaten there we've left smelling very strongly of whatever it was we ate. I credit the grease. But as far as large-portioned American chain bar food goes, it's not that bad.

Seems like the best place to put a comment about Papaspiros. We held a private function yesterday afternoon in their downstairs dining area. Service was excellent and the food was good to very good. We had saganaki, gyros and salad to start, followed by greek chicken, lamb (sliced), rice and vegetables. Topped off with dessert samplers and plenty of wine and coffee and we were sated. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Papaspiros for a private event.

The GP wrote:Seems like the best place to put a comment about Papaspiros. We held a private function yesterday afternoon in their downstairs dining area. Service was excellent and the food was good to very good. We had saganaki, gyros and salad to start, followed by greek chicken, lamb (sliced), rice and vegetables. Topped off with dessert samplers and plenty of wine and coffee and we were sated. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Papaspiros for a private event.

Delighted to hear it. A few birthdays there have been perfect, and they've even made hamburgers for kids that aren't attuned to Greek food yet (folly). Their loukaniko is particularly special; spanakopita and avgolemono are well-executed but just a touch on the bland side.

Can anyone think of any BYOB (or BYOB-permissive, even with a fee) restaurants in the greater OPRF area open later than 10 PM on a Thursday? Thanks for any brainstorms.

Edit: went to Winberie's, wouldn't allow outside booze but was open plenty late and has a reasonable beer list right now. Calamari, Caesar salad, and especially the chilled cucumber-dill soup were quite good. Maya del Sol closes early on Thursdays and Papaspiros, which is supposed to be open until 11 PM per their website and previous experience, said wearily that they were closing at 10 tonight. "Nobody comes. Unless we have party, we close."

I go to Winberie's every once in a while since it is walking distance. I never really want to go but after leaving I generally find the experience to my liking. I especially like the room and everyone I take think the banana cream pie is amazing.

I recently went to the new Italian restaurant that took over the pasta shoppe location. It was very good and I will probably be back and review it later.

My wife and I have been to La Bella twice. We love the room and ambience. The drink list is also impressive. There are over 12 different Manhattans. The staff is friendly and attentive. Basically, we love everything about the restaurant except the food. They have a huge menu and the items we have ordered have been average to below average. I would like to know if there are any dishes that could be recommend to me that are winners. Any help would be appreciated.

This thread smells of desperation.

dradeli wrote:My wife and I have been to La Bella twice. We love the room and ambience. The drink list is also impressive. There are over 12 different Manhattans. The staff is friendly and attentive. Basically, we love everything about the restaurant except the food. They have a huge menu and the items we have ordered have been average to below average. I would like to know if there are any dishes that could be recommend to me that are winners. Any help would be appreciated.

Haven't been to LaBella in years. Wish I could offer you some advice but I just haven't been there recently enough to offer up any type of useful advice. Even years ago there was nothing stellar there, everything more or less as you said..average. Plenty of other italian options in the area that are better. Probably why LaBella just fell out of the rotation.

teatpuller wrote:This thread smells of desperation.

Little Gem might be worth a taste. The cocktails and service are nothing special, but the room is warm and cute, and I've found the food at lunch and dinner better than average for the area. The salads are appropriately savory up and down the board with touches like house lardons, poached eggs, verjus, confit, and bitter greens, and the soups have been simple and well-prepared, from onion to artichoke-potato. Entrees actually have reasonably-sized, not-overcooked proteins, which is rare around here.

Burgundy boar tagliatelle was an umami bomb; pork belly with root vegetables just exactly right, almost restrained. Espresso, good house desserts including a classic mousse. Hungarian chicken lollipops and a sauteed cod were nicely finished on another visit. The small plates section may need some work, with things not appearing to be harmonious side choices (especially not knowing exactly what else is appearing on the entree plates), or priced high enough to steer choices towards the salads and soups which are more thoroughly unpacked on the menu. Croque monsieur at lunch is a big portion and plated with some flair. The burgers were delivered juicy and looked good. It's overall a Winberie vibe, with just one more scratch touch on everything, and slightly smaller and more balanced portions. There is no paradigm shift here, but modest bistro French has been in relatively short supply in the Near West for a little while. Those that enjoy Autre Monde (which I do, with a better wine list and cocktails, and more transparently shareable small plates) might dig it.

189 N Marion St
Oak Park
(708) 613-5491

I go by this place about five times a week. While I'm drawn to the art deco sign and classic interior, the posted menu and its prices have never made me interested in a meal. Not quite sure why Le Coq I loved and this place leaves me blank.

As long as this thread is percolating, anyone have recent experiences with Marion St?

Vital Information wrote: Marion St?

It was getting progressively worse and I wouldn't go back unless someone told me there was a major shake-up.

I'll check out Little Gem.

Prettiest Plate in the Village: Vegetable Pavè, Little Gem Café

Used to be, the life of the vegetarian was a hard lot indeed. A few decades ago, if you asked about vegetable-only options, you’d maybe get just pasta with vegetables on top, something ladled with gloppy cheese, or sometimes just a blank stare. During brief periods of my life when I flirted with vegetarianism, I was discouraged in part because sticking to a vegetables-only diet was tough if you like to eat out, and I always have.

Needless to say, over the past few decades, options have significantly expanded to satisfy increasing numbers of vegetarians and even vegans.

I try to stick to lighter dishes for breakfast and lunch (knowing that I’ll usually be chowing down big time at dinner). For a recent lunch at Little Gem Café, although I fantasized about the Gem Burger (a hamburger is usually always what I want), I ordered the Vegetable Pavè. I was very glad I did.

A “pavè” – French for paving stone – is (as you probably know) usually a square or rectangular piece of something.



The Vegetable Pavè at Little Gem Café is six or seven layers of vegetables, topped with crispy leeks and surrounded by a moat of a cauliflower puree (containing just a little butter and cream – which is probably the only reason this dish is not fully vegan).

A truism is that we eat with the eyes, and this multi-leveled vegetable tart in creamy sauce was definitely the prettiest plate I can remember enjoying in the village.

Little Gem Café, if you haven’t been there, conveys a sense sophistication that you wouldn’t find at some of my other favorite lunch places in Oak Park, including Luo’s Peking and Jerusalem Café.

The Vegetable Pavè is listed at $13, and for that price you could get lunch for two at either those local Chinese and Middle Eastern places, but the price does not seem out of range considering the thought and care that goes into preparing this dish.

If I had one criticism, it’d be that the vegetables (particularly the carrots) were a little undercooked, making it more difficult than it should have been to cut through the layers of vegetables, but it’s much better to undercook than to overcook vegetables.

This dish is rather simply spiced, but that’s not a negative criticism because a lot of French or French-inspired dishes tend to dial down the seasoning, the better to allow the natural goodness of the flavors to shine through.

In line with the “eating-with-the-eyes” idea, the Vegetable Pave from Little Gem Café, though it’s not a huge amount of food, is hugely satisfying, in part because it’s visually interesting. I didn’t eat a lot for lunch that day but I didn’t feel like I wanted to eat more food; I was satisfied.

The only regret I have about ordering this dish is that I didn’t get a glass of white wine with it (it was lunch, after all), because a dish this good – and good looking – deserves a good pairing.

David Hammond wrote:A “pavè” – French for paving stone – is (as you probably know) usually a square or rectangular piece of something.

Interesting! I knew that's what the word meant when applied to food, but the association with pavers never registered. Thanks!

Not impressed with my one (early) visit to Little Gem. But I am hopeful for another option upon learning that House Red is reopening in the former Klay Oven space. That place (House Red) was great and often overlooked. Marion St., we've had several people tell us that things have taken a turn for the better, but we've had so many eh meals and notably weird or terrible service that I'm reluctant to go back. Gaetano's and Autre Monde remain the most stable, ambitious and delicious but not too expensive stand-bys in the area, though the latter in particular really seems to fear shifting too far from its safety zone.

Comfort-food wise, we're doing much better (greater OP region) than I ever imagined. Freddy's, Big Guy's, Saigon Pho, Katy's, Carnitas Don Alfredo, Carnivore (some of the best sandwiches and fresh meat/seafood in Chicago, imo), Forno Rosso up Harlem, Mr. D's Shish-Kabobs ...

Vitesse98 wrote:Not impressed with my one (early) visit to Little Gem. But I am hopeful for another option upon learning that House Red is reopening in the former Klay Oven space. That place (House Red) was great and often overlooked. Marion St., we've had several people tell us that things have taken a turn for the better, but we've had so many eh meals and notably weird or terrible service that I'm reluctant to go back.

House Red moving to Lake Street is an almost-unheard-of move of a resto/store from Forest Park to Oak Park rather than vice versa, but it makes sense, I think.

I've been a big supporter of the Marion Street Cheese Market from Day One; the café, not too much, even under the tenure of Leonard Hollander, a very interesting guy and chef, recently featured in Fooditor: http://fooditor.com/the-most-important-restaurant-of-2015-that-youve-never-heard-of/

Vitesse98 wrote:Not impressed with my one (early) visit to Little Gem. But I am hopeful for another option upon learning that House Red is reopening in the former Klay Oven space. That place (House Red) was great and often overlooked. Marion St., we've had several people tell us that things have taken a turn for the better, but we've had so many eh meals and notably weird or terrible service that I'm reluctant to go back. Gaetano's and Autre Monde remain the most stable, ambitious and delicious but not too expensive stand-bys in the area, though the latter in particular really seems to fear shifting too far from its safety zone.

Comfort-food wise, we're doing much better (greater OP region) than I ever imagined. Freddy's, Big Guy's, Saigon Pho, Katy's, Carnitas Don Alfredo, Carnivore (some of the best sandwiches and fresh meat/seafood in Chicago, imo), Forno Rosso up Harlem, Mr. D's Shish-Kabobs ...

Carnivore is so good; I should post more. I served their sausages in several applications over these past few weeks, but it's the sandwiches I really like, made to order, with you often picking produce from the farm crate to hand over to the maker.

We had friends host a dinner at Carnivore, and the food was incredible, from fresh rolled sushi to small bites in ample, essentially all-you-can-eat quantities. Great guys, too.

Carnivore has dinner? What's that all about? I've only seen sandwiches at lunch.

Aripo's Venezuelan Arepa House closed on 11/22:

https://twitter.com/aripos

Q BBQ is getting ready to come in nearby (not the same storefront).

This is more a lunch than a dinner musing, but I have had a string of modest successes at Luo's Peking House after writing it off entirely about 5 years ago. The egg rolls and soups were always credible but the entrees have gotten stronger to the point where I'm willing to stay past the Kow Kow Ruse (TM), and RIP, and the place seems less sullen than it did.

Santander wrote:I have had a string of modest successes at Luo's Peking House after writing it off entirely about 5 years ago. The egg rolls and soups were always credible but the entrees have gotten stronger to the point where I'm willing to stay past the Kow Kow Ruse (TM), and RIP, and the place seems less sullen than it did.

Me, I like the EFY:

Carnivore has dinner? What's that all about? I've only seen sandwiches at lunch.

Not like a walk in and order thing, something that's organized through them. And it was awesome.

Vitesse98 wrote:

Carnivore has dinner? What's that all about? I've only seen sandwiches at lunch.

Not like a walk in and order thing, something that's organized through them. And it was awesome.

You can also order sandwiches and other items from Carnivore off a small menu to be delivered at the Beer Store on North Blvd. which is a killer combo. The prices are pretty reasonable. Pairing possibilities are off-the-charts with the Beer Store's usually excellent draft/bottle selection.

And Carnivore bought the food truck from the 206 waffle shop, so I imagine they will soon be mobile, if they're not yet.

Two years in a row with a Carnivore turkey, by the way. Excellent as usual.