McCook Bohemian American Restaurant

OK... for anyone who's interested in Czech or Slovak cooking, heres a place worth checking out.

This obscure restaurant that has pretty basic signage out front and looks like a dive bar is a little gem of a restaurant.

The clientele is an average age of about 80, but the reason for that is that the food tastes exactly.... and I mean EXACTLY like something my grandmother (who would be about 100 today) cooked. Thats a good thing, if you're wondering.

The dishes here are very standard - and they seem to do a pretty good pork tenderloin and duck (avoid the goulash) but with a stellar lineup of carbohydrates. Their potato pancakes were perfect.. just the right touch of onion with a nice heaping of applesauce. Their knedle (bread dumplings) are outstanding - the best I've ever had anywhere - and that includes Prague and Bratislava. They have Czech and Slovak beer and a full bar.

All for the low low price of about ten bucks for a full meal with soup and vegetable and kolacky or strudel for dessert. The strudel is no where near Grandma level though.

Of course, I got there on a Friday night at 7PM, and all the elderly patrons were finishing their meals - we were one of two tables in the dining room on a Friday evening at 7:30. But if you're eating dinner at 4:30 - you might need a reservation!

I'd be interested if some Bohemian minded LTHers have come across this place. If you havent, its kind of a trip.

McCook - by the way, is around First Avenue and 47th St. Stop by Buckle Down Brewing for a beer while you're in the neighborhood.


McCook Bohemian American Restaurant
708-442-0836
8300 Joliet Rd
Mccook, IL 60525

When it first opened, my guess is twenty years ago, I loved the place! I moved and unfortunately, it's in the kind of location where I simply forget it exists! I haven't been there in seven years or so but would return in a heartbeat. When they first opened the owners had a young son. Sadly, the wife passed away soon after, and the husband dedicated his every waking minute to his boy and the restaurant. I hope they are well and the restaurant has continued serving fantastic Bohemian.

threegoofs wrote:I'd be interested if some Bohemian minded LTHers have come across this place. If you havent, its kind of a trip.

I'm Bohemian-minded enough to have visited a few years ago. I'm happy you mentioned McCook Bohemian because I had thought about returning but it completely slipped my mind. We were there after 8 so the place was dead and many of the best sounding entrees were gone. We had mixed luck with the mains but the sides were generally very good. Liver dumpling soup was a fine way to start.



That beef was as dry as it looks (the kitchen was smart to hide it) but those potato pancakes still made it an enjoyable plate.



Stuffed peppers were fine but those excellent bread dumplings deserved better sauce to soak in.



Breaded pork tenderloin was the best of the bunch and even that boatload of gravy (looking not terribly unlike the applesauce) was pretty good. Excellent sauerkraut too.



Worth another visit but next time I'll try to get there by duck o'clock.

McCook Bohemian-American Family Restaurant
8300 Joliet Rd
McCook IL
708-442-0836

Kind of a rule of thumb, not to go to a Czech/Bohemian restaurant after 730 or so. Too late to eat that heavy food anyway. Duck-O-Clock!!! Love it!