Two Non-Local Meals (in the same night) + non-local treat

If you know anything about the Omega, the mega-Greek Coffee Shop in Des Plaines, you would find it hard to believe that I was still hungry after dinner. Yet there I was, driving down Cumberland looking for something interesting because, yea, I was still hungry. Many (many) years ago, Mike G asked how. Not how I could still be hungry after eating dinner, but how one finds interesting eats. He focused on Mexican restaurants, but it was a good question for any restaurant. What do people look for when they are out chowhounding. Me, I’m a sucker for signs I cannot read. In languages I cannot recognize.

So, I U-Turned and pulled into this strip mall in Norridge, intrigued by what exactly was Tasty World. There were two especially pale cones of gyro. I did not want that. I quizzed the fetching girl with green eye shadow. She showed me a tri-part menu with value meals across the range of Chicago fast food. I tried to figure out a way to ask nicely. The sign, what the hell does it say. What the hell language is that. Which is what I finally blurted out (or something to that extent). Bulgarian. Bulgarian she admitted. She told me that the sign roughly translated as tasty cheap treats, or Bulgarian fast food. But where was the Bulgarian on the menu. “Oh, this menu,” she showed me—in Bulgarian Cyrillic. She kindly read me the list.

Mousaka, tripe soup, sausage, Bulgarian burgers shaped either long or in patties, a few other things. I got the burgers, one in each shape. It came with, as my daughter noted, Bulgarian ketchup, think red, but thicker and spicier; an onion heavy salad with bottled dressing and crinkle-cut fries (something Ms. Green Eye shadow was especially keen on). It was supposed to be the same meat, but I liked the round patty better. The onion flavor seemed more pronounced and integrated in the meat, a more complex product. It was, as advertised, cheap but tasty food.

Like I say, I should not be hungry after Omega. I mentioned to Pigmon yesterday how I (oddly) loved this place. He zeroed in right away on what made it appeal to me but not him. Vegas. Eating at Omega is like eating at one of the Vegas buffets before they went gourmet. If you know Las Vegas, think Station Casino. Of course, there is no buffet, they just bring the food. Completes start with big bread baskets, croissants, muffins, soft rolls, then soup, salad, big portions of your main, starch, vegetable and finally a dessert that neither looks nor tastes too special but fits properly in this meal. Few people, even me, eat a complete. Rather, we split.

While I love Omega, I really limit myself to a few offerings. My favorite is what I split with my daughter the other night, Greek style skirt steak. I like the meat and its lemony-oregano bath, but I also like (nay love), the Greek salad offered with this dinner. Again, this is like the buffet comes to the table, a big mass of feta fingers, peppers, anchovies, thick vegetables and a creamy, hearty dressing. I just wish they’d dry the lettuce better. It’s not just the gluttony that makes Omega Vegas. It is the crowd. It is my people. Alter-kocker heaven. The loud kibitz, the duds, the packing away the rolls to go, well you just will not find this kinda place very much longer. Appreciate it while you can.

Finally, a purchase far from the Eat Local Challenge; in the same strip mall as Tasty World is a small Middle-Eastern market called City Food. They were selling tiny-tart green plums from California. I figured how much degradation of product could something supposed to be picked too young, to green be? If anything was meant to be shipped, was this not it?

Tasty World
4834 N. Cumberland
Norridge, IL
708-453-2725

Omega Restaurant
9100 N Golf
Des Plaines
847-296-7777

City Food & Grocery
4832 N Cumberland Ave
Norridge, IL 60706
(708) 453-1899

Vital Information wrote:They were selling tiny-tart green plums from California. I figured how much degradation of product could something supposed to be picked too young, to green be? If anything was meant to be shipped, was this not it?

tiny green plums from Shirak (Armenian) Market in Hollywood, CA

E.M.

VI,

Very entertaining post. I definitely want to check out Tasty World... Thanks for the write-up.

A

Antonius wrote:VI,

Very entertaining post. I definitely want to check out Tasty World... Thanks for the write-up.

A

But not Omega

Vital Information wrote:
But not Omega

No, no, that's not what I meant. Omega definitely sounds like it's worth a visit too -- though I don't think I could follow in your footsteps and do both in rapid succession. But Tasty World strikes me as being a bit exotic. I don't think I've ever eaten in a Bulgarian fast-food restaurant before. Besides, the waitress there is fetching!

Just kidding, Amata.



A

I will say that the Omega skirt steak VI favors is really pretty damned good. It's almost always cooked properly, which isn't all that easy for skirt steak (Nuevo Leon has done it all of once, for me), and it's seasoned aggressively but not overwhelmingly with that lemon/oregano/salt mixture.

Vital Information wrote:It’s not just the gluttony that makes Omega Vegas. It is the crowd. It is my people. Alter-kocker heaven. The loud kibitz, the duds, the packing away the rolls to go, well you just will not find this kinda place very much longer. Appreciate it while you can.

The vibe is vastly different late at night. But it still has its charms.

I also enjoy the skirt steak. The soups are excellent, and all the breads (they are worth packing up).

The desserts so often look better than they taste. Lately, we have been trying pies at Omega. They are not wonderful pies. They are workmanlike pies. The crust was decent, though the filling on my blueberry pie tasted as if had come out of a can. The filling on the lemon meringue pie was delicious but the meringue was a bit rubbery.

I will say the food is somewhat better at Sander's in Skokie (and the AK quotient even higher), but it's not open all night. Wonderful Greek-style chicken and very good rice pudding, there.

Omega
847/296-7777
Golf Glen, 9100 W. Golf Road, Niles IL 60714
Also Downers Grove and Crestwood

Sander's Restaurant & Pancake House
847/673-2626
5320 W. Touhy Ave., Skokie

VI, I'll join the chorus: excellent hounding and posting.

The catsup at Tasty World sounds particularly interesting -- I'm assuming it was some kind over-the-counter Bulgarian variety.

Hammond

I haven't been to Omega in years ... but I used to enjoy it for all the same reasons: the bread basket, the portions, the good-for-what-it-is diner food, and the frozen in time vibe (perfectly embodied in their AC Slater look-alike host).

I preferred their Greek inflected menu items, but they did serve a pretty good matzo ball soup.

Nice find, VI.

The Omega does harken back to the old Chicago dining world, when everything was dominated by Greek-owned restaurants and particularly family-style places. I go to the one in Downers every 10 years, and find it pretty uninspiring, tho I suspect you are right about the skirt steak, I just never tried that. Aside from the profusion of massive and truly mediocre pastries and desserts one can choose from (VI - I assume you were able to resist, else you would not have still been hungry), there are two other items to note about these places:

Many of the main dishes, including the skirt steak, I bet, are actually prepared in some central kitchen by a supplier and provided to the restaurant ready to cook, or in some cases (stews, roasts, etc.), just reheat. And since the kitchen help is assuredly a succession of ill-paid short order cooks, it is amazing they are able to maintain the same quality at each visit. Irony not quite intended.

Perhaps I need to make my trip to the Omega for this decade since I tend to frequent Quincy's once or twice a month, just down Ogden in N'ville, for their Greek Salads (get a small which is massive, not a large which is mammoth). And Quincy's in almost every respect is the same place as the Omega. Right down to the bread basket and dessert selection. Hmmm, I wonder if the same supplier makes the baked goods, too...

Quincy's Restaurant
1112 E Ogden Ave, Naperville

Omega Restaurant
1300 Ogden Ave, Downers Grove

Try both & compare!

Edited to add this:

Here is Omega's web site: http://www.omegarestaurant.com/

Strangely, it does not mention the Des Plaines location, so perhaps they are no longer owned by the same folks??

dickson, my mom's slogan for Omega is "Microwaved for your pleasure." For about 90% of the dishes, I think it, or "Deep fried for your pleasure" is accurate.

I'm pretty sure that the pastries, if not made in some Omega-owned central kitchen, come from Chicago Sweet Connection bakery on Northwest Highway and Bryn Mawr. They are a large commercial bakery supplying Omega-style pastries to most of the Greek owned diners around town. They have a retail outlet in the front of the store as well. I find their ethnic breads better than average, although the pastries (with the exception of the baklava) are mostly forgettable.

Oh, and one more thing

Chicago Sweet Connection
5569 North Northwest Highway
Chicago, IL
773-283-4430

edited to fix broken link

We've been known to dine at Sanders (because you get there before my son sees Chuck E Cheese's and we can eat without the whining, although he's starting to look for it as soon as we cross the highway on Touhy)
it's got some killer-sounding dinner specials which I am inclined to actually believe, because we've never had a bad meal there. One of them is a Prime Rib dinner for some incredible price like $8. Haven't had it, but am curious if it is anything close. Anyone?

I know we've had excellent Chicago-style breakfasts there, giant fruit plates and pancakes and the like. I know we stopped there for lunch, but I just don't remember...

More on Tasty World:


Cheese burek


Lamb w/mashed potatoes



Fried cheese


Interesting but not what I'd call highly delicious...

Rob,

Thanks for reposting the pictures. "Tasty World" didn't ring a bell when it came up in the thread in Guess the Restaurant but now I see that I had read your original post.

Perhaps an early senior moment, though a bad cold and jet-lag seem like a good excuse to be a little out of it too...

A

For those lovers of all things Bulgarian, I did find a couple of pictures I forgot to upload earlier today.

The inside of the burek


The spinach-cheese pie


The last thing might have been my favorite (or should I say the one I like the best); the pie gets the griddle treatment that adds a nice crust.

So, how is Omega in Des Plaines different from Omega in Downers, which I find to be the best in Greek coffeeshop/pancake house genre?

Despite a decent looking trompo and the promise of thigh meat i had a pretty lackluster flavorless doner kebab at tasty world. Pasty food service fries really sucked the life out. Sticking to baked goods is probably the way to go.

Nine-year bump alert!

nsxtasy wrote:Nine-year bump alert!

Nine years, but my tastes and habits stay rather consistent. Within the last month, I've had Bulgarian a few times and Omega once.

Omega: the skirt steak seemed a little lesser in quality, maybe inner skirt instead of outer or outer instead of inner--which is the cheaper tasting one? Muffins, greek salad hit the spot.

Bulgarian: a fun place in Des Plaines, not too far from Boston Seafood called Mehanata. It's like Turkish food but with more pickles or Polish food with more garlic. http://www.restaurantmehanata.com/

Outer skirt steak, which is thicker and closer to the width of your wrist, is better and more expensive than inner skirt steak, which is flatter and closer to the width of your outstretched hand. The way I remember it is "O" is optimal, "I" is inferior.