Waiting in line

The report that included the waiting line at Hot Dougs, got me thinking about places where I would be willing to wait in a long line for chow.

The few places I would and can think of quickly are Garrett Popcorn Shop and Rainbow Cone.

Anyone else?

Original Rainbow Cone
9233 S. Western Ave.
773-238-7075

Garrett Popcorn Shop
670 N. Michigan Ave.
312-943-8464
Other locations: 10 W. Madison St., 26 E. Randolph St., 2 W. Jackson Blvd. and 18 E. Adams St.

Mario's Italian Ices during the Summer ... fortunately they move quick so this is not much of an issue.

Mario's Italian Lemonade
1068 W Taylor St
Chicago
(no phone)
May 1st until sometime in September

Well, waiting and line ARE somewhat relative, no? I mean that long line at Garrets moves fairly quickly.

Anyways, places that I will deal with the line at times:

- Carving bar at Berghoff's Bar

- Walnut Room, Marshall Fields, Christmas time

- Heaven on Seaven, real location

Note, I just ate at one of the most famous "wait" places in the world, Joe's Stone Crab in Miami Beach, and I can vouch that once again, at lunch, you can avoid all that wait--and the general rumour/thinking at Joe's is that you have to duke the Maitre D' after the meal. So, it would take one meal of waiting, duking then moving ahead of the line next time. (Of course, at lunch, no duking necessary.)

PS
C2's post reminds me that Ted Drewes in St. Louis is worth the wait too, and thinking also out of town, Galatoires is well worth the wait (and if you are a partner in a New Orleans law firm, you send your associate every Friday to hold you place in line.)

I can honestly say I've waiting in line for 45 minutes at Garrett's on Michigan. Mr. Food Nut waited outside VERY impatiently.

I've never eaten at the Walnut Room. It's not about the food, right?

I seem to be willing to wait in line for Walker Brothers on Green Bay road, but I'm not sure why. Force of habit, I guess.

I have fond memories of waiting in long lines early on weekend mornings for apple fritters at the original Amy Joy Donuts.

Oh yeah, and Hot Doug's.

I lived in Roscoe Village for 7 years and never got into Hot Dougs. I think the kitsch factors in along with the food quality and the Chef's personality there.

I used to wait a long time for a sandwich at Costello's. Then, I learned to phone ahead and carry out.

I never waited in line for breakfast at Kitsch'n or Victory's Banner. Although, I do believe that Victory's Banner has a kickin' breakfast.

Costello Sandwich & Sides
2015 W. Roscoe
773-929-2323

Kitsch'n Retro Lounge
2005 W. Roscoe
773-248-7372

Victory's Banner
2100 W. Roscoe
773-665-0227

eatchicago wrote:I seem to be willing to wait in line for Walker Brothers on Green Bay road, but I'm not sure why. Force of habit, I guess.

Ditto, not just for force of habit, but for probably the best conventional breakfasts in the USA.

You can get in almost anywhere if you are just smart about not going there at prime time, as VI says about Joe's. I always forget that Iberico has a rep for being an hour wait place because for me it was always a lunch place, when at best it's 2/3 full on the main floor only. Even Heaven on Seven I could always get into-- because I would only try on a really rainy, crummy day, when other Loop denizens would be too timid to venture beyond the Subway or Chen's Express in their building. Of course, that's when a hot, spicy bowl of gumbo really feels earned.

Mind you, sometimes you end up going so completely out of sync with the rest of humanity that you miss the scene entirely, but that's life.

For the most part, I am quite unwilling to wait in line for anything. I am, however, occasionally willing to wait on line.



Antonius

I remember back in the 1970s my wife and I used to wait on a long line (willingly) at Steve's Ice Cream in Somerville, MA. It was the place to be. The first (?) place to get "homemade" ice cream with mix-ins. Alas, there seems to be no ice cream place in Chicago that would be worth waiting on line for an hour.

Hi,

Lobster shacks on the beach along Atlantic Coast. Totally pleasureable experience at the end of a swiftly moving long line with lots of people watching opportunities. Once I have my lobster, then there is the long, slow process of eating every morsel. Those who eat the claws and tail only are missing all the best bits.

I once had the opportunity to wait in line for Julia Child at the Best of Midwest Farmer's Market at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I was amongst the first 150 who were guaranteed to meet her. The day was too hot, steamy and uncomfortable. I remember sitting in a Dunkin' Donuts an hour later drinking a frozen fruit drink and glad I was where I was at. As much as I admired the lady, a heat stroke wasn't worth it.

I think lines in Chicago are very tame compared to New York and New Jersey where I remember showing up to popular restaurants that would not take reservations and waiting 1-1.5 hrs for a table, in a small, loud, crowded waiting area. I know it's difficult to imagine signing up for this abuse, but the food was really good and the alternatives were very mediocre.

Here I have the opposite reaction, when I see a great restaurant practically empty on a Friday night and worry about it closing.

Where have I been willing to wait (and not walk somewhere else?)

Gene & Jude's (75 families ahead of me after a youth football game)
Frontera Grill (miss that first seating and you're toast)

It's all about the strategy - making the first seating at Frontera is a good example.

I rarely think standing in line makes the food at the end worthwhile. On the rare occasions I lose my resolve on this point and wind up in a long line, I'm often grumpy enough by the time the food comes that I don't really enjoy it.

Mike G wrote:I always forget that Iberico has a rep for being an hour wait place because for me it was always a lunch place, when at best it's 2/3 full on the main floor only.

That's 1/2 of the experience for me, really. Get some friends, put your name down, and grab a few pitchers of sangria. The time flies by and we've met some interesting people in the past by doing that. I'd almost feel cheated if we were sat immediately.

Back in the "Baby Boomer go to college days," we would have to wait 30-40 minutes to eat cafeteria food that was not worth the wait. It was one of my incentives for working in the cafeteria. You had to work, but you did NOT wait in line.

I have always thought that there was something unamerican about waiting in lines for service. I guess the image I get after about 3-4 minutes in line are the old pictures of Russian peasants waiting to shop in shelf barren supermarkets during the Soviet era 30-40 years ago.

I do not wait in lines as a general rule. There are very few places that offer a unique product that cannot be procured elsewhere. And that is true of restaurants. I will admit that I prefer to cook on Friday and Saturday nights at home as I know places will be crowded

The wait at Garrett's was so worth it. The mini-mix with fresh and warm carmel corn mixed with the cheesiest popcorn I've ever tasted.

The salty/sweet combo is so delicious to me it's worth the wait if I have time(but, I almost always have to wait 20 minutes or more). The service is not only slow at the N. Michigan location, but they are making popcorn non-stop. The last time I was there I had to wait an extra ten minutes for the carmel corn to cool down before they would bag it up.

I was thinking way, way back in time, to when we were young and excited to be out for the evening, to when R.J. Grunts was new and how much fun it was to be waiting in that crowd for a table and have a salad bar with hamburgers. And, how, after a Devo concert at the Park West, we gave the name Devo to the hostess at Mel Markon's. But, getting back to your question, Hattyn, I really wanted a hamburger and fries today for lunch, so I picked it up at a nearby grill that is Korean owned and where I usually only get the Korean dishes. It was a meal that made me long for the hamburgers and fries at Fast Track on the corner of Desplaines and Lake Street. I ate it anyways.

after a Devo concert at the Park West

I probably was at that concert. You are going back. They did put on marvelous concerts, back in the day. De-evolution lives.

I've never eaten at the Walnut Room. It's not about the food, right?

No, it is definitely not about the food, but memories and more. Three generations of my family have gone on Fields outings with meals at the Walnut Room.

More on topic, I am not willing to wait in line at the Walnut Room, or much of any place else. I do agree that in some places the wait and the scene are sufficiently fun to make it worth waiting (Iberico sounds like one, and Joe's Crab is definitely one), so when I expect it and am prepared, I will wait. But the Bride is allergic to waits, so I can only do that when on my own.

It is sort of a fun challenge to strategize to hit popular places when there is not a line, and for marital harmony, that is what I do.

Paradise Pup in Des Plaines. Char cheddar burger, seasoned fries & a chocolate shake please.

Paradise Pup
1724 S River Rd
Des Plaines, IL 60018
847-699-8590

Like most of you I usually try to time my visit for the least amount of wait. But at some places it is inevitable, so places I will wait are

Genes ^ Judes - to me it is part of the experience. It is especially more fun if George has just returned behind the counter from one of his frequent trips to Deer Head Tavern as we get a little repartee(sp) going

Johnny's Beef - If they are open and the temp is above freezing, you will wait.

Elliots Dairy Deli Counter -Still pound for pound my best corned beef bargain in the city.

bob Chins - dont go too often but have waited as long as 20 minutes at lunch

Of course none of these compare to 1 -1-1/2 hour waits that some of you have experienced at the swanky places mentioned above. But it is still a wait.

Bob

You know, I do not think of Gene and Judes or Johnnies as "wait" places, because even when there are long lines, the lines are always moving. I've been to G&J when the line snakes around itself, and even that does not end up being that oppressive.

On the other hand, the quality at Gene and Judes suffers a lot when the line gets real big. You would think that, perhaps the opposite, that huge crowds would keep the food ultra fresh. But in my experience, when the line gets so long, the three part fry system gets out of whack. They are pulling them way too soon. When you have two things to do, and one suffers--the quickness reduces the crispness on the fries for sure--then, it does lessen the overall experience.

Rob

Since moving to Chicago in 2002, I've found far more places at which I'm willing to line up to eat than I ever did in the New York/New Jersey area. My home county, Bergen County NJ, was a dining desert, where we both benefitted from our proximity to Manhattan and were hindered by it (like when we wanted somewhere decent to eat but didn't want to cross the George Washington Bridge at rush hour). It always baffles me, for example, that just 10 miles from Manhattan at the Riverside Square shopping mall in Hackensack, NJ, the wait to eat at the Cheesecake Factory is consistently between 2 and 3 hours every night.

The two places in the NY/NJ area I'll gladly wait at are Saigon Grill and Grand Sichuan International. Saigon Grill (which, due to its well... weirdness, can never be duplicated) is an inexpensive, 350-seat Vietnamese-Chinese hybrid widely considered the best value for money in a VERY expensive city, and Grand Sichuan is an outstanding Chinese restaurant by any standard. Here in Chicago, Hot Doug's is the place I have the most patience for, and I will stand contentedly with pleasure until Doug acknowledges me. I'll also wait in line for LTH, Johnnie's beef, Lou Mitchell's (the free donut holes do help), and even, occasionally, for one of our studenty places in Hyde Park such as the Med or the Florian when sheer convenience dictates. I've lost my patience however, waiting in line for Piece and for Cafe Iberico. Nothing can be worth that much agony, and I still don't get the lineups at places like the Flat Top Grill and Grand Lux Cafe, despite the fact that they are unofficial U of C student hangouts when we find ourselves downtown.

Help Wanted: Someone to Soothe the Restaurant Line

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/03/dinin ... -ipad&_r=0

Dave148 wrote:

Help Wanted: Someone to Soothe the Restaurant Line

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/03/dinin ... -ipad&_r=0

Thank you, that was a very interesting read.

I have no problems waiting, but when it comes to significant lines, I think I'm about done. Life's too short.
I've done it at Margie's (now I wait for winter, non-holidays), Kuma's (their time has passed), Doug's (decided for me). If it's more than 30 minutes, forget it. Less if it's just a busy time and not something that promises to be the bees knees. Luckily we live in a town where another tasty meal is in spitting distance.

Very interesting read, we're getting ready to go to Austin in March, and I'm reading about BBQ places that have very long lines - 1 hour, 3 hours, 5 hours- and I'm just really?
I don't know how good that BBQ can be or how bad other BBQ can be, but there is no WAY on G_d's green earth I am waiting on line 5 hours for food...

irisarbor wrote:Very interesting read, we're getting ready to go to Austin in March, and I'm reading about BBQ places that have very long lines - 1 hour, 3 hours, 5 hours- and I'm just really?
I don't know how good that BBQ can be or how bad other BBQ can be, but there is no WAY on G_d's green earth I am waiting on line 5 hours for food...

As for Austin and the surrounding area, if you go early to the places in Lockhart, you'll barely wait. Just get there when they open. We hit all 3 (Smitty's, Blacks, Kreuz Market) and there were essentially no lines. From there we went to Luling and had lunch at City Market. There was line by then but we still waited less than 30 minutes.

They line up at Mickelthwait but again, we got there at 10:30 (they open at 11) and there were just 2 or 3 people in front of us. By the time we left, the line was substantial. The same was true at La BBQ but the line was more substantial before they opened. I think we got there at 10:30 and ended up with our food at around noon.

2 other BBQ trucks, Valentina's and Kerlin had pretty much no lines when we hit them. The same was also true for brick and mortar spots Freedmens and Sam's . . . no lines, no waiting.

As for Franklin's, that's where you'll almost certainly have a 3-hour wait . . either 3 hours before they open, near the front of the line or 3+ hours after they open, deeper in the line. The only issue with that is that they do run out of bbq every day, so if you get there too late, you could get skunked. If that is going to happen, they'll usually send folks to walk down the line and let you know as far in advance as possible.

=R=

Looked at the line at Franklin's and asked self "so how much better could this possibly be than the best in Kansas City?" Self responded: "Let's go to highly rated #2, taste Texas bbq, enjoy it, and return to KC."

Three hours wait for bbq? that's simply nonesense. Distinguishing between excellent bbq and worth-three-hours-wait bbq is beyond my sensory abilities. Maybe yours are waaay better than mine, eh? OK, you can wait three hours. Me? No! : )

Geo

Geo wrote:Looked at the line at Franklin's and asked self "so how much better could this possibly be than the best in Kansas City?" Self responded: "Let's go to highly rated #2, taste Texas bbq, enjoy it, and return to KC."

Three hours wait for bbq? that's simply nonesense. Distinguishing between excellent bbq and worth-three-hours-wait bbq is beyond my sensory abilities. Maybe yours are waaay better than mine, eh? OK, you can wait three hours. Me? No! : )

Geo

Yeah, we didn't wait, either. I'd love to try Franklin's someday -- his show on PBS made me a big fan -- but when you think about how much other bbq you can actually eat in 3 hours, waiting 3 hours at one place isn't attractive. Just driving by and seeing the line there was agonizing. But I'd probably feel differently about it if I lived there. 3 hours is actually a measurable percentage of a weekend visit.

=R=