If you'll forgive a little nostalgia brought on by annieb's post about Ogallala, Nebraska. We can't recall the name of the cafe--amazing in so many countless ways--where we stopped at for lunch, but I vividly remember the rest of our time there. Boot Hill cemetery (not THE Boot Hill but rather "a" Boot Hill) and this arresting sign as we filled up with gas and prepared to wend our way toward that evening's destination, lovely and enticing Lincoln.

Ah, the good ol' days.

GB:

Do you know that the "pickles" referred to in the sign are not the edible type? Rather they are essentially a raffle, but the tickets look different than a regular raffle ticket. They call the number and you pull out your "pickle" and if your number matches, well, Bob's your uncle.

They are much greater revenue generators at Bingo halls than the bingo itself.

Interesting thread.

Saw Cock Robin mentioned a few times.

We frequented the one in Naperville until closing about 2 years ago.

Been to the one in Brookfield a few years back, and it appears to still be open (see it on the train everyday)

This may have already been said here, but if so, I missed it.

Its still listed too:

Cock Robin Ice Cream Co
Address: 8861 Burlington Ave, Brookfield, IL 60513
Phone: (708) 485-7504

I grew up in the greater woodfield area (Schaumburg/Hoffman Estates) and there was this little burger place on Roselle Rd between Higgins and Golf that I believe was called Naugles. I'm not sure of the spelling. It was a fast food place that served a mix of burgers and tex-mex. I was just a wee kid then, but I remember craving their burgers/tacos with a passion.

Another place that I remember was Victoria's Station. It has since been replaced by a hair salon. It's exterior was surrounded by what I would call a "faux railroad" exterior. There was one right by Woodfield and there may have been others. This was our fancy dinner place growing up. I don't remember much about the food, but I do remember being delighted as I drank a "kiddy cocktail" in the caboose bar.

marydon2 wrote:Petite Pantry (Evanston)

Villa Gergenti (great thin crust pizza)

I've been looking for a "Villa Gergenti style" thin-crust pizza for over 20 years, without
any luck.
When I was a kid, we used to get carry out pizzas from them all the time.
Does anyone have any recommendations?
Thanks.

Tizzy2c wrote:

marydon2 wrote:Petite Pantry (Evanston)

Villa Gergenti (great thin crust pizza)

I've been looking for a "Villa Gergenti style" thin-crust pizza for over 20 years, without
any luck.
When I was a kid, we used to get carry out pizzas from them all the time.
Does anyone have any recommendations?
Thanks.

That's been the holy grail for me as well. I've had no luck at all. Marie's comes the closest, but it's really not the same at all. At least they serve their pizzas on square pans.

SteveZ,

Sorry to hear you are also unsuccessful.
Someone just told be about a place called "Chica-ga"on Milwaukee avenue
south of Devon. Anyone tried their thin crust?

Hello! I landed here because I was searching for history on Fritzel's and read this entire thread! Your postings are making me hungry!

Must chime in with places no one mentioned. Former Chicagoan who moved to Florida 8 years ago. When you read my list you will see I was a north sider.

Melange - delightful restaurant in Nomansland
Oddo's - Peterson near California but they delivered (garlic pizza)
Black Angus - western near touhy (greek goddess salad dressing)
Talbott's (ribs) (review in Chicago magazine [20 yrs ago!] said bbq sauce like swampwater)
Papa Milano's on Western nr Devon (chicken vesuvio)
L'epuisette at Dearborn and Goethe (Ok, this was mentioned but it was so great! )
Cafe de Paris (across the street) (duck)
Oak room in the Drake (lobster thermidor)
John Barlycorn on Armitage - burgers and the best cottage fries in the world

My favorite food items from childhood that are gone:
Ice Cream from Vala's on Broadway near Aldine with actual fudge in it
Candy from Martha's on Broadway nr Roscoe

My other favorite food items that are still available but can't be duplicated in Florida:
Chocolate doughnuts from White Hen
Heinemann's Bakery, especially the 'Chocolate cake with Pistachio Green Buttercream Frosting' and 'Seven Layer bittersweet chocolate torte'.

Erika wrote:Hello! I landed here because I was searching for history on Fritzel's and read this entire thread! Your postings are making me hungry!

Must chime in with places no one mentioned. Former Chicagoan who moved to Florida 8 years ago. When you read my list you will see I was a north sider.

Melange - delightful restaurant in Nomansland
Oddo's - Peterson near California but they delivered (garlic pizza)
Black Angus - western near touhy (greek goddess salad dressing)
Talbott's (ribs) (review in Chicago magazine [20 yrs ago!] said bbq sauce like swampwater)
Papa Milano's on Western nr Devon (chicken vesuvio)
L'epuisette at Dearborn and Goethe (Ok, this was mentioned but it was so great! )
Cafe de Paris (across the street) (duck)
Oak room in the Drake (lobster thermidor)
John Barlycorn on Armitage - burgers and the best cottage fries in the world

My favorite food items from childhood that are gone:
Ice Cream from Vala's on Broadway near Aldine with actual fudge in it
Candy from Martha's on Broadway nr Roscoe

My other favorite food items that are still available but can't be duplicated in Florida:
Chocolate doughnuts from White Hen
Heinemann's Bakery, especially the 'Chocolate cake with Pistachio Green Buttercream Frosting' and 'Seven Layer bittersweet chocolate torte'.

Erika,

This is an interesting list. Many of the places you mention are actually still open including:

Oddos Pizza (they moved to a new location)
Black Angus (still there)
Papa Milano's (Oak Street locaton still open, although I miss the Western Ave one as well)
John Barlycorn (with an additional new location in Wriglyville)

In your case, you can go home again.

I haven't pored over the entire thread to see if they're mentioned, but two of my old favorites, Le Cheminée and Le Festival, come to mind. They were right around the corner from each other at Dearborn and Elm. I can still close my eyes and remember the taste of Le Festival's amazing Veal Normande, as perfect a dish as there ever was.

Nearby on Clark just north of Division was the Little Rock Garden, another regular haunt of my misspent youth. Open till 5 am, this little dive sustained me with cheap Chinese food all through college and beyond. Nothing will ever beat a $1.00 plate of pork fried rice and a Kirin Beer at 3 am, accompanied by Sam and Dave on the juke box. Sadly, when Arthur Rubloff demolished the block for an expansion of Sandburg Village, LRG briefly moved to Walton Street, then disappeared.

stevez wrote:
Erika,

This is an interesting list. Many of the places you mention are actually still open including:

Oddos Pizza (they moved to a new location)
Black Angus (still there)
Papa Milano's (Oak Street locaton still open, although I miss the Western Ave one as well)
John Barlycorn (with an additional new location in Wriglyville)

In your case, you can go home again.

Haven't been to Angus in years. Used to frequent Miller's also. Milano's on Oak was never the same.

We do come in at least once a year but usually try newer places, such as MKs, and I've still never been to Trotter's.

Steve, where has Oddo's moved to?

midas wrote:Steve, where has Oddo's moved to?

Oddos Pizza
3535 N Pulaski
Chicago, L
773-583-6163

stevez wrote:

midas wrote:Steve, where has Oddo's moved to?

Oddos Pizza
3535 N Pulaski
Chicago, L
773-583-6163

Hilarious, I've passed by that area a million times. I never noticed it, and if I did, I wouldn't have thought it had anything to do with the original on Petersen.

Black Angus' building is there, newly rehabbed, but it has a banner on it saying a bank or mortgage place or something is opening soon.

I come to this thread late but have to put my 2 cents in:

-Rudi's wine bar and bistro on Ashland
-Lockwood Castle in Edgebrook
-Johnstone's (for fried chicken) (Peterson & Cicero)
-I know they were just mentioned but I used to frequent L'escargot and LeChiminee

midas wrote:Hilarious, I've passed by that area a million times. I never noticed it, and if I did, I wouldn't have thought it had anything to do with the original on Petersen.

I can't say that it is the same, either, but I would guess so from the name.

Erika wrote:My favorite food items from childhood that are gone:
Ice Cream from Vala's on Broadway near Aldine with actual fudge in it
Candy from Martha's on Broadway nr Roscoe

Vala's ice cream! My favorite was pistachio! And, there would be the name of the woman who packed it stamped on the bottom of the carton! We used to buy Vala's at the Shop and Save on Diversey. I think it's now called the Marketplace? Interesting food store. Many years ago, I bought a can of Lyle's Golden Syrup there.

Apple wrote:

Erika wrote:My favorite food items from childhood that are gone:
Ice Cream from Vala's on Broadway near Aldine with actual fudge in it
Candy from Martha's on Broadway nr Roscoe

Vala's ice cream! My favorite was pistachio! And, there would be the name of the woman who packed it stamped on the bottom of the carton! We used to buy Vala's at the Stop and Shop on Diversey. I think it's now called the Marketplace? Interesting food store. Many years ago, I bought a can of Lyle's Golden Syrup there.

LOL
My favorite was vanilla with chocolate fudge. I wonder how they got those ribbons of fudge?

Yes, I forgot that part: the woman's name on the bottom. And of course, all hand packed.

I remember eating at a deli-style restaurant in the early 80's in Skokie located directly west of Herm's Palace on Dempster. The building is still there, but the name (and I think type of food) has changed. Does anyone remember the name of this place?

Thanks

Could it be Sam and Hy's?

That's it!!!!

Thanks so much.

Actually the Black Angus that was at Estes and Touhy is not related to the one near Howard St. The Black Angus at Estes and Touhy was infact somehow related to Carson's Ribs. The green goddess dressing was similar to their house. Black Angus had a great piano bar with a guy named Norm Scheer (not sure about spelling) The place closed, then reopened as a place called "The Library" then ooopps burned up to be an empty lot for about 20 years. Now it the site of a strip mall with bad chinese and a quickie mart. My parents and other family members were frequently there, I went once in a while, but it was most a "grown-up" thing.

dan1234 wrote:The Black Angus at Estes and Touhy was infact somehow related to Carson's Ribs.

Don't Estes and Touhy run in the same direction?

David Hammond wrote:

KateOC wrote:I wasn't going to post a message, but seeing that this thread is still attracting attention, I've got to. No one has mentioned one of my childhood favorites, Slicker Sam's in Melrose Park. My grandparents used to take me there all the time in the '70s. I've yet to find somewhere that beat their deep dish pizza. My favorite meal there, though, was the whole dungeoness crab, which I could finish by myself from the age of 5. I took my future husband there while we were dating in the early 90's. He still won't let me forget that I let him order the $8.00 lasagna, while I went on to order the $22 dungeoness crab. Does anyone else remember it?

The Wife and I used to go there when we were courting in the early 70's, and the main attraction for her was the dungeoness crab (a dish I never really understood, even in the excellent LTH rendition; way too much work for the return). That...plus local legend had it that Sinatra used to eat there.

I went back to Slicker Sam's in the last decade or so (don't recall exactly when it closed), and it seemed to be a shade of its former self (then again, what isn't?).

Hammond

We used to go there all the time for the baked clams and pizza. Wow I miss that place. The Pizza is no good here in the South.

Black Angus & The Library were on Waukegan Road North of Touhy. THe Library would bring a large copper kettle of soup (they had many great varities) to the table along with wonderful warm bread with butter. Talk about wonderful comfort food during the cool months!!

dan1234 wrote:Actually the Black Angus that was at Estes and Touhy is not related to the one near Howard St. The Black Angus at Estes and Touhy was infact somehow related to Carson's Ribs. The green goddess dressing was similar to their house. Black Angus had a great piano bar with a guy named Norm Scheer (not sure about spelling) The place closed, then reopened as a place called "The Library" then ooopps burned up to be an empty lot for about 20 years. Now it the site of a strip mall with bad chinese and a quickie mart. My parents and other family members were frequently there, I went once in a while, but it was most a "grown-up" thing.

When I was a teenager in the 60s it was a special place to go for dates and I did indeed feel very grown-up! When I was first married (early 70s) and lived in Rogers Park we went there often for dinner, after work. Had ribs or filet, salad and baked potato.

Carson's green goddess dressing is identical to the Angus, but I don't think they were the same family. Could be wrong! I have a recipe for the dressing that I haven't tried yet.

The restaurant was on Western near Touhy.

I'm nostalgic for dead LEYE restaurants. The Great Gritzbe's Flying Food Show, Fritz That's It!, Lawrence of Oregano, Jonathan Livingston Seagull--from a time when it really was enough to have a funny (and maybe ever-so-slightly stoned) concept and taste wasn't strictly necessary. Nowadays we actually care about the food, which complicates everything. Is it the seventies I miss, or my twenties?

riddlemay wrote:I'm nostalgic for dead LEYE restaurants. The Great Gritzbe's Flying Food Show, Fritz That's It!, Lawrence of Oregano, Jonathan Livingston Seagull--from a time when it really was enough to have a funny (and maybe ever-so-slightly stoned) concept and taste wasn't strictly necessary. Nowadays we actually care about the food, which complicates everything.

I loved all those also. They were a lot of fun. We lived near Jonathan L Seagull back then (the Rogers Park thing) and they had a FABULOUS seafood buffet. The food was excellent. Or was I just stoned?

riddlemay wrote:Is it the seventies I miss, or my twenties?

LOL
Yes. Life was simpler then - in the 70s AND being in your 20s.

George Diamond's on Wabash
The Cart on Wabash
Lung Fung in Chinatown
Charlie Lui's on Howard (where I first ate Moo Shu Pork)
Ghisela's on Wells (Remember the strudel?)
House of Bertini on Wells
Acorn on Oak (burgers)
The Waterfront on Rush St.
Cafe Bohemia
Shangri-La on State St.
Shanghai Lil's on Milwaukee
Barry's Spot (on Sheridan - when they still had the dining room and the fifty - or were they twenty-five - cent beers)
The House of Cohasset Punch on West Madison
Three Coins Restaurant (on Wells?)
the lunch counter in the bargain basement at Marshall Field's State St.
The Governor's Table (in Bridgeport)
Glass Dome Hickory Pit
Round Robin on Diversey
Merchant's on State St. (pizza)
Diamond Jim's on Dearborn
Pago Pago downtown (had a few diff. locations)
South Pacific on Randolph (in a basement)
Kiyo's Japanese on Clark