Family Visit in Waukegan

Hi everyone,

First, a little about me, since I'm new to the forum (obviously). Skip to the next paragraph if you're in a hurry! I'm currently an intern working with Abbott over the summer, living in the Waukegan area. I'd heard about your fine forum quite a few years ago while I was in Louisville, KY and was a dedicated user of the LouisvilleHotBytes forum. I certainly see a lot of similarities between the two, and I think the unique combination of consumers and professionals creates a very healty environment to explore new food. In fact, I've already tried out a couple GNRs, and I definitely haven't been disappointed!

Anyway, my family is converging on Chicago in a few days, and we're planning to meet up one night with my brother's girlfriend's family as well. The only evening that works is the same one that they will have driven about 9 hours to get here, so they're probably not going to want to stray too far from the Waukegan area.

So the first restriction is that the restaurant would be anywhere within 45 minutes south of Waukegan (so I guess we're talking Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Highland Park). I've looked at the GNRs within the area, and the options appear to be Inovasi and Prairie Grass Cafe. My guess is that those choices are a bit more expensive than they'd like, but they may be willing to splurge since it's a vacation.

So your second restriction is no more expensive than those two (and probably less expensive would be best).

Finally, none of us are picky eaters, so no restrictions there, but in terms of food requests, I think the more local flair a restaurant has, the better. Though don't be afraid to throw out a few ethnic choices, if you can think of one.

Thanks, everyone, for being a great resource, and I look forward to your responses.

Joe

Prairie Grass is a great restaurant that will please a variety of palettes. While you can certainly find places that are less expensive, it is hard to find places that are as good a value, in my opinion.

Two other places that comes to mind are Captain Porky's and Wooil. Captain Porky's is a little bit north of Waukegan and may be too causal for your needs. It's a bbq and fried fish place. Wooil is a Korean restaurant in Buffalo Grove that I like very much.

Captain Porky's
38995 U.S. 41
Wadsworth, IL 60083
(847) 360-7460
captainporky.com‎
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=217825

Wooil Korean Restaurant
185 Milwaukee Ave.
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089
(847) 215-4949
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=31320

Highwood should be in the list. Search for 'restaurants highwood' as they have a website with many fine restuarants.
Wooil is not my favorite Korena BBQ but San Goo Gap San has just opened a place on Golf, a few miles down the road but either is a ways from your specfic locations and the Highwood area is close to Waukegon.-Dick

I second Captain Porky's.
It is where I stop when coming back from Waukegan business trips.

HI,

At Captain Porky's, you order at the counter and sit down to wait for your food.

If you want more service, immediately next door is The Shanty. It is owned by the good captain and run by his son. Often the meat and vegetables are from the good captain's farms.

It has not had so much play here largely because most of us go to Captain Porky's and get back on the road. For your family get together, you will likely be quite happy with The Shanty. If you do go, please write up a report.

For a nice breakfast or lunch, you can go to The Point, at the intersection of Milwaukee Ave and Route 41.

Regards,

If you're gonna be in Waukegan you should check out Big Ed's new place. Not sure where it is exactly, but I think its right in the downtown area. He just shut down his bbq place to focus on his new bar and grill, but he's bringing most of his bbq dishes with him. Best bbq in the chicagoland area in my opinion.

Thanks everyone.

I'll relay the suggestions so far to the family. I like the looks of Captain Porky's - the only problem is that the brother's s.o.'s family is coming from northern Indiana, so that's why I was looking for places south of Waukegan. Either way, I certainly have many more choices than I did a couple hours ago, so this is a great start.

Since I'm one of the pickier eaters on this board, I'll throw out a few of my simple go-to places for out of towners near my home that are inexpensive and show off Chicago's food. All of these are with in 30 minutes of Waukegan.

Barnaby's Of Northbrook - Midwest style thin crust pizza, sandwiches. Recent GNR nominated by me has been a local favorite since 1968.
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=34375
Barnaby’s of Northbrook
960 Skokie Blvd
Northbrook IL 60062
847-498-3900

Portillo's Hot Dogs - I don't care if some disagree, there's a reason it's so popular with the locals - it's great. Go for the Italian Beef and/or Sausage and Chicago style Hot Dogs. Burgers are solid, and the chocolate cake is killer. They also have a second restaurant in there that does salads, pastas and other things, so everyone can find something there.

Portillo's Hot Dogs/Barnelli's Pasta Bowl
221 East Townline Road
Vernon Hills, IL 60061
(847) 367-7290

Lou Malnati's - My favorite deep dish pizza. Very popular local chain that does it right. Get the buttercrust.

Lou Malnati's Pizzeria
85 South Buffalo Grove Road
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089
(847) 215-7100

There might be some good Mexican in Waukegan, you'd have to ask around. Don't go to the Quonset Pizza in Waukegan. The only people that like it seem to be people that never get out of Waukegan!

Great suggestions so far. I'd also add these places to the list of solid, northerly prospects:

Avli Estiatorio
566 Chestnut St (in The Laundry mall)
Winnetka, IL 60093
(847) 446-9300

Cho Jung
952 Harlem Ave
Glenview, IL 60025
(847) 724-1111

=R=

I should add that I've heard great things about Slyce Coal Fired Pizza Company in Wauconda. I've never been but it comes highly recommended by folks whose opinions I trust.

=R=

Slyce Coal Fired Pizza Company
127 N Main St
Wauconda, IL 60084
(847) 469-8840

shakes wrote:If you're gonna be in Waukegan you should check out Big Ed's new place. Not sure where it is exactly, but I think its right in the downtown area. He just shut down his bbq place to focus on his new bar and grill, but he's bringing most of his bbq dishes with him. Best bbq in the chicagoland area in my opinion.

HI,

I would not take your family there until I heard more reports about the new location. While I can appreciate shake's wanting to be supportive, shakes has not been there yet, either.

If it was just yourself doing a scouting trip, please go and report back.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:

shakes wrote:If you're gonna be in Waukegan you should check out Big Ed's new place. Not sure where it is exactly, but I think its right in the downtown area. He just shut down his bbq place to focus on his new bar and grill, but he's bringing most of his bbq dishes with him. Best bbq in the chicagoland area in my opinion.

HI,

I would not take your family there until I heard more reports about the new location. While I can appreciate shake's wanting to be supportive, shakes has not been there yet, either.

If it was just yourself doing a scouting trip, please go and report back.

Regards,

yep, definitely haven't been there. Just basing the suggestion on the quality of food at his other location. Has anyone here been there yet?

I strongly agree with Cathy2. My wife and I were big fans of Big Ed's in North Chicago and ate there quite often. But, we have not yet had the Q at the Waukegan location. We've called a few times about the Q menu in Waukegan and they had baby back ribs only on Friday and Saturday. No spares or tips. We will report as soon as we get to the Waukegan location.

Also, I am not a big fan of Wooil since the time the manager made a concerted effort to direct me away from be bim nyang mun because it was too spicy - or any other spicy dishes at that. The food we had was OK, but nothing special.

I recently had the lunch buffet at Curry Hut in Highwood - Indian and Nepalese - which, in my opinion, was very good. Very fresh and tasty.

Curry Hut
410 Sheridan Road
Highwood, IL 60040
(847) 432-2889

Captain Porky's is probably too casual for a family vacation meal. The seafood is pretty good, but I'm not a huge fan of the rest of the menu. I think the BBQ there is even in the "bad" category.

Barnaby's in Northbrook is unique pizza with a crust that is the most addicting ever. Old school setting a la 70's. You order food and drinks yourself.

Slyce, in my opinion, is quite underwhelming, especially if you've ever been to the more noteworthy fired pizza places.

Portillo's is a great choice for a quick service Chicago standard. But not sure it's the one place I would take the family.

We had a fantastic meal at Bluegrass in Highland Park last week. Strong recommendation.

My best recommendation is Ristorante Bottaio in Libertyville. Reasonable prices, great service and menu with lots of solid choices. I don't understand why it doesn't get more mentions on this site.

abevigoda wrote:My best recommendation is Ristorante Bottaio in Libertyville. Reasonable prices, great service and menu with lots of solid choices. I don't understand why it doesn't get more mentions on this site.

Start a thread on it and post about a meal (I see that you posted about it oncea few years ago).

Barnaby's in Northbrook is unique pizza with a crust that is the most addicting ever. Old school setting a la 70's. You order food and drinks yourself.

While I have not been to this location, the Barnaby's that closed in Schaumburg/Hoffman Estates was the first place I went to when moving back into the area.
It still was awesome after 20+ years and worth the 80 mile drive. According to things I have read on this board, the Northbrook location was always better.

Louie's is our go to Waukegan eatery.

1009 North Ave
Waukegan, IL 60085

http://www.yelp.com/biz/louies-waukegan#hrid:cHwI3p0roH_lHSaLvntzWw

Their breadsticks are worth going for alone.