Lincolnshire, IL

Heading to a store opening in Lincolnshire mid-June. My tacit research suggests I'll have an easy time finding chains(and it's great having the opportunity to return to a Chicago outpost of, say, Big Bowl...the original Big Bowl was just down the road from us on the cusp of the Viagra Triangle back when we lived at 1400...recently, I was excited to see that Bruce Cost had marketed his ginger beer---the hibiscus pomegranate is the best---when I saw it on our grocery shelves...I've been a fan of Cost since I received his seminal tome Asian Ingredients years ago), however, I'm a tad dispirited; dear LTH, please reveal the local hidden gems. And if you say, Cubby Bear North, I will smack you(as a sometime fan of Lee "Scratch" Perry I never scratched the itch to see him perform at the Wrigleyville location...just couldn't make myself do it).

This should probably be moved over to the standard "Eating Out" [Edit - and indeed it was] -- Lincolnshire is still Chicagoland, and not "Beyond."

The area is indeed dominated by chains.
Broaden your horizons a bit, and you're really quite close to a lot of the north burb's classics:

Real Urban Barbecue at 22 and Milwaukee is closer to Lincolnshire than its address's Vernon Hills. Same center has Tom & Eddie's burgers, and Roti. Yes, chains all, but smaller chains.

The LTH North lunch group has dined at Wonton Express (Milwaukee just north of Deerfield), and Niku Niku Tokyo (Lake Forest, at Everett & Waukegan)
Also on the same corner as Niku Niku is Lovett's.

Further south on Milwaukee is Wheeling's and Buffalo Grove's restaurant row, perhaps faded a bit now, but there have been positive reports from Mi Restaurante (Mex) and Wooil (Korean) both just north of Lake Cook. I'm still fond of Golden Chef (old-school Chinese-American) a block or two south of Bob Chinn's. If you're that far south, you can hit Josh's on Sanders (just south of Dundee) for a Poochie's-style grilled salami sandwich.

There are a fair number of steakhouse chains in Lincolnshire (Sullivan's, Wildfire, Fleming's) plus Cheesecake Factory, Kona Grill, Red Robin. For great breakfast or brunch, there is Walker Brothers. They have a few locations, but they are local favorite with everyone I know. Also Egg Harbor Cafe is pretty popular.

Walker Brothers - The Original Pancake House
200 Marriott Drive
Lincolnshire IL
847-634-2220
http://www.walkerbros.net/

Egg Harbor Cafe
300 Village Green
Lincolnshire IL
847-821-1515
http://eggharborcafe.com/

For a pretty solid East Coast style pizza, try Giuseppe's. They do slices, whole pizzas, and even pastas made to order. It's right on the border of Lincolnshire (I always thought the area where it is was Lincolnshire) next to Tom and Eddie's Burgers, Halsted St Deli, Real Urban BBQ, and the Beer Market which has like 500 beers available and all the restaurants next to it will run food over to you while you sit there in a nice setting. Real Urban is ok, but they do not use real wood to smoke the meat, so it looks the part, but there's no smoke flavor at all.

Giuseppe's Pizza
1220 US 45
Vernon Hills IL
847-883-0222
http://giuseppesvernonhills.com/

If you go north of Lincolnshire on Milwaukee Ave, in 5 minutes you'll be in the Vernon Hills shopping area with lots of choices, but almost all chains. If you go 5 minutes south on Milwaukee you be in Wheeling which has a number of restaurant choices including Saranello's (Italian), Tramonto's Steak and Seafood, Cooper's Hawk (American) all located at the Westin on Milwaukee. Superdawg (not a fan myself, but a legion is), Buca Di Beppo (Italian chain), and D'Agostino's for Chicago thin crust (with a sweeter sauce) are a little further down. Also right near all that is one of my favorite thin pizza joints in the North Suburbs - Joe's. It's open late too. More of a takeout place, but you can definitely eat in there. About 5 - 10 minutes west of Lincolnshire is my favorite deep dish pizza, Lou Malnati's in Buffalo Grove. As you can see, pizza is a big deal to me!

D'Agostino's Pizza
241 S Milwaukee Ave
Wheeling IL
847-808-8200
http://www.dagsdelivers.com/zgrid/theme ... /index.jsp

Joe's Pizzeria
57 N Wolf Rd
Wheeling IL
847-537-1477
http://joespizzausa.com/

Lou Malnati's
85 S Buffalo Grove Road
Buffalo Grove IL
847-215-7100

Thank you LTH As an early-adapter, I'm always amused with the wealth of information at a fingerstroke. In return, I hope locals to Lincolnshire enjoy our new location. Thanks, again. And if any of y'all wanna say hello, please stop by the deli and ask for me. I look forward to a strong opening.

I'd check out these non-chains

Lincolnshire: Bonta Italian Market
Buffalo Grove: Wiener Take All

I'd avoid the whole Vernon Hills Town Center...a bunch of crap IMHO.

** Aww snap ** I just realized that my favorite restaurant in Vernon Hills closed.

Edited to not send you on a wild goose chase looking for awesome Mexican food.

This place is aight for lunch though:

Spicy Bites
139 E Townline Rd, Vernon Hills, IL
(847) 549-0099 ‎http://www.spicybitescafe.com

Scoot a little west on 22 to - http://www.smokingtsbbq.com/

Green Basil in the Vernon Hills mega mall area has pretty decent Thai food for the suburbs.

A second for Spicy Bites, mentioned by vinyl endive. At there last night. Small place, a bit rustic -- most folks seem to take their food with them. But it's fun and interesting, and actually has brunch items on the menu.

Pricing for a meal is pretty simple: vegetarian special (rice, naan, and 3 veg dishes from the steam table) is $7 and the non-veg (rice,naan, 2 meat dishes and one veg dish) is $8. Servings are generous. Food is tasty. Last night, I had goat stew, tandori chicken, and a mixed veg dish with eggplant, potatoes, and spinach. Tasted my dining companions chicken kabob and navratan korma, and both were good. I heard someone order masala dosa, so that would be worth going back to sample. Perhaps because they are small and mostly for carry out, they have a surprising range of snack items/small dishes/chaat. We tried the aloo tiki, as an appetizer, which was two potato patties covered with chick peas in sauce and scattered with chopped tomatoes, onion, and cilantro and one of the many spicy, crunchy, fried things one finds in the snack aisle of Indian food stores. That actually could have been a meal in itself and was only $3. So a great place to drop in for something smaller than a full meal. Masala chai, $2. And, if you need it, bottled water is $1. So reasonably priced.

One thing that makes it especially convenient is that two doors down is Spice Bazaar. So you can enjoy your meal and then walk over to the store and buy whatever ingredients you need for home cooking.

People are friendly and enthusiastic.

Christopher Gordon wrote:Thank you LTH As an early-adapter, I'm always amused with the wealth of information at a fingerstroke. In return, I hope locals to Lincolnshire enjoy our new location. Thanks, again. And if any of y'all wanna say hello, please stop by the deli and ask for me. I look forward to a strong opening.

I was by the deli on your opening weekend talking to a guy I thought was you! I forgot your name so I just asked if you were on LTH. How long are you going to be in Lincolnshire?