Railroad Themed Restaurant

Hi All!

My nephew is crazy about trains, and I'd like to take him to a railroad restaurant. Preferably, one where the food is served on a toy train. (He's three). Quality of food is not that important, although good would be better.

Anybody know of a place like this?

I know there used to be one in the south suburbs called Snackville Junction, but I think it's closed now. We live in western suburbs, so anything not too far from there would be ideal.

Thanks in advance.

Your food will be delivered by a train. Can't vouch for quality. Good luck.

Choo Choo Restaurant
600 Lee St, Des Plaines, IL
(847) 391-9815

Oh man, I went into that place once before a meeting looking for a quick lunch. On the outside it looked like a cool, old-school neighborhood burger place. Walking in was like walking into Toon Town. Loud, children everywhere. There was a lot of train stuff though, even one chugging along the length of the counter.

I also couldn't vouch for the food since I only spent about 5 seconds in the place.

Snackville Junction
Address: 9144 S Kedzie Ave, Evergreen Park, IL 60805
Phone: (708) 423-1313


Just called. Open till 8 tonight.

Diner, only counter gets train service.

Snackville Junction

This place is great. I have the fondest memories of going here when I was kid, my grandfather lived in Beverly and that was our reward for treking out there to visit him...a stop at Snackville. I had a few birthday parties here too, it's nice to know it's still alive and kicking.

Hi,

They have train tracks above your head with trains moving from room to room. The cars all feature advertisements from local businesses. They also have a lot of collectibles and signage on the walls.

Lantern of Lake Forest
768 North Western Avenue
Lake Forest, IL 60045
847-234-9844

Quick note about the Choo Choo.

We went about three or so weeks ago to take some kids up there for lunch. We went rather early on a Saturday and couldn't get seated at all. The line was out the door about a half hour past opening. It's a very cute little place. I'd suggest going as soon as they open if you're going on a weekend or maybe if possible if your kids aren't in school yet, going on a weekday.

The place was a lot smaller than I remembered and I think that I misjudged the timing and the size of the resturant and we went a bit later (closer to noon).

We went to Choo-Choo about 3 weeks ago and had a great time. My son is 3 and is fasinated by trains.

We sat in a booth right across from the counter (my daughter is 14 months so wasn't condusive to sitting at the counter since we needed a highchair) where the train "delivers" the food. If you can't sit at the counter or the booths to the side of the counter...your next best bet is to sit in the booth right across from the counter where the servers go in and out (or under) the counter. This way you can see the train as it passes because no one is sitting in front of the train.

Yes, this place can get packed even on a weekday. Get there early! We got there at 11:15 on a Thursday for lunch and all the booths surrounding the counter were filled and some counter seats already taken...by 11:30, almost no seats to be found.

Food is not spectacular but they do an okay to good rendition of an old-fashioned, pressed, slightly crisped edged burger. Fries are average. My grandmother likes their chocolate shakes. They also offer chicken, egg salad, BLT, grilled cheese, etc sandwiches along with chili. Nothing fancy but overall a good spot to have an entertaining, somewhat tasty lunch with kids.

As a side note, I did see adults in there alone eating lunch without kids.

We plan on going back very soon with our son to "Choo Choo Burger".

http://www.thechoochoo.com/menu/menu.html

Thanks everyone.

There was a place like the above in Baltimore when I was a kid (a long time ago). Which makes me think it must have been a national craze at some point. Nice that a couple of the ones here are still around. Seems like a topic worthy of a coffee table book!

Hope this isn't too late, but there's also The Depot Restaurant in Winnetka, where I took my kids often when they were little. I haven't been in some time, but if all is still in place, the restaurant has a train that runs around the ceiling of the restaurant, too. Not terribly exciting, but it is next door to a candy shop/ice cream parlor that serves Homer's ice cream. The food at The Depot is standard burgers, grilled cheese, etc. The restaurant is also right across from the Hubbard Woods or Winnetka (I forget which) Metra train station, so you could actually ride the train somewhere and back, if that's what your nephew likes. Also it's two blocks away from The Book Stall, a wonderful independent bookstore with a great kids' selection, so that can make a nice outing.

Illinois Railway Museum
7000 Olsen Rd.
Union, IL 60180
815-923-4391

http://stepintohistory.com/states/IL/Illinois_Railway.htm


i don't know if the place has a restaurant but the Illinois Railway museum is a place that most kids really enjoy.

It has a serviceable, but far from delectable, snack bar inside a diner building which really ought to house something better. (Your recommendations in the area are more worthwhile.)

The museum is highly recommended.

Actually, you could probably eat at Donley's Wild West in Union. I have never been at the restaurant but the two company picnics that they catered for me were a real hit

However, I had the best nachos ever at a Mexican place at the corner of US20 and IL23 in Marengo back during the World Series.

Donley's Wild West in Union

Is that place still on the sales block? I drove past it last summer and didn't go in because it seemed so touristy. That their catering was a hit with your company is an endorsement, what kind of food did they serve?

Regards,

We have the usual picnic food - bbq chicken, bbq ribs, hamburgers, ranch beans, tacos, nachos, etc. It is not a spectaular menu but the food has always been well prepared and ample.

We have been to other places where employee response has been a lot less favorable.

I will have to make it out to Union sometime soon and try the restaurant. Lately, I have been cooking more at home or bringing food home from Joseph's Marketplace.

If your kid (or you) are digging trains, I suggest you check out Hesston's Train Museum in LaPorte, IN. They don't have food there, but they have picnic spots. They are only open from May to September, I believe. I took my three year-old last summer and he was completely blissed out. There are three different sized trains you can ride on.

Not far from Hesston's is Garwood Farm, you can pick fruit and they too have picnic tables. Down the road they have a market with everything from homemade pickles and fresh produce to insanely good fresh apple doughnuts.

[http://www.garwoodorchard.com/] [http://www.hesston.org/][/url]

I will check it out. Especially since it's semi-near the best store in the universe.

Liam awaits the Cupcake Express, 2/17/06. I was a little frightened when the same blaring, insane-clown version of Happy Birthday played twice in a row when we first walked in, but the atmosphere subsided to a roar of not-so-oldies after that. And as noted, the hamburger is Not Bad At All. Though $1.75 seemed a little rich for a cupcake (though I know it wouldn't bother big dessert spenders like Jim in Logan Square). Still, for a little guy, the kind of happiness you can't buy, except you can.

"Can we come here every day that it is open?" --Liam

Incidentally, we were there at 11:20 and snagged a counterside seat right before the line started going out the door. No surprise, food and trains are a business-building combo. This little place down the street looks like it had promise but just couldn't make it up against competition like The Choo-Choo.



The boys spent the evening working out the logistics of installing a train-based food delivery system in our house.

As is probably becoming apparent to those who've read my posts, my suggestions most often have a connection of where to get a good pint,
and who needs a pint more than someone spending the day with toddlers.

Actually, this is a pretty fun suggestion for train loving kids.

Flossmoor Station Brewery.

It is located inside the old Flossmoor train stop, and the Metra train still stops right there, within 5 feet of the back of the building. The beauty of this is that you can take the train right there from the loop ($5 weekend pass and kids ride free), which the kids will love and it means you can have a pint without driving worries.

There is a toy train that choo-choos along around the bar (up near the ceiling). It is a family friendly place with the best time to go being warmer weather. You can sit outside on the deck near or inside "The Olde Caboose Ice Cream Shoppe", an authentic IL Central Caboose made into an 'ol fashioned ice-cream parlor. (Call ahead to make sure that the Caboose and deck are not reserved for a private party)

Their pub food is well executed and they have a kids menu with corn dogs, mac-n-cheese, dogs, burgers, etc.

Oh yeah, and Flossmoor has excellent award winning beers.


All the info you need:
http://www.flossmoorstation.com/ChildrenMenu.htm

Mike G wrote:Though $1.75 seemed a little rich for a cupcake (though I know it wouldn't bother big dessert spenders like Jim in Logan Square).

Mike, you know that experience scarred me, yet you insist on bringing it up here. You really know how to offend .. err, hurt a guy. And, of course, my $6.50 donuts were notably not delivered by a train, which just sorta twists the knife, doesn't it? (Although I recall the waitress who served said donuts was pretty cute in that Wicker Park "my other job is graphic artist" kinda way.)

griffin wrote: Flossmoor Station Brewery.

It is located inside the old Flossmoor train stop, and the Metra train still stops right there, within 5 feet of the back of the building. The beauty of this is that you can take the train right there from the loop ($5 weekend pass and kids ride free), which the kids will love and it means you can have a pint without driving worries.

There is a toy train that choo-choos along around the bar (up near the ceiling). It is a family friendly place with the best time to go being warmer weather. You can sit outside on the deck near or inside "The Olde Caboose Ice Cream Shoppe", an authentic IL Central Caboose made into an 'ol fashioned ice-cream parlor. (Call ahead to make sure that the Caboose and deck are not reserved for a private party)

Their pub food is well executed and they have a kids menu with corn dogs, mac-n-cheese, dogs, burgers, etc.

Oh yeah, and Flossmoor has excellent award winning beers.

An enthusiastic second for Flossmoor Station. I was last there about a week ago to pick up a growler for dinner the next day. There’s plenty of railroad memorabilia but the little bar room train might be a little disappointing, only an engine and caboose circling almost out of view near the ceiling. They have a train whistle in the dining room they might let the kids blow (take it easy, that thing’s obnoxious!). The place was packed with families and kids early Saturday evening.

Beer is clearly the reason to go. In addition to their regular lineup (most very good) they had an ESB (Aught Six), a super IPA, coffee stout, and a killer barley wine. I thought the ESB was the standout. The IPA was interesting. Usually a favorite style of mine, this one was made exclusively with a ton Amarillo hops which I didn’t love. They were all very much worth a try however.

Flossmoor Station (kitchen end) in the Snow

Flossmoor Station Restaurant and Brewery
1035 Sterling Av
Flossmoor IL
708-957-2739
http://www.flossmoorstation.com/

Just heard from my sister that "Toot's Steam Whistle" will be opening in Downers Grove, replacing the closed Shoo Fly Pie. Also, Al's Beef WILL be opening there as well...it's been almost 2 years in the works, but legal issues with Shoo Fly Pie kept them out. So, in a one block area across from the DG Main St Train Station, you will soon have:

Tivoli Theater and Bowling
Aurelio's Pizza
Al's Beef
Every Day's a Sundae (featuring Sherman's Ice Cream)
Toot's Steam Whistle

Sheesh, I should have bought one of those Station Crossing Condos.

Rene G wrote:The IPA was interesting. Usually a favorite style of mine, this one was made exclusively with a ton Amarillo hops which I didn’t love.

Thank you. I just don't get the Amarillo fixation. It doesn't do it for me either.

HI,

While not precisely responding to your request for a railroad restaurant, I can recommend a railroad outing: you could begin the day by having a kewpee burger in Racine, Wi, then drive south to Kenosha to ride restored vintage street cars for 25 cents.

Regards,

The Last Run of Snackville Junction



The news that the food-delivered-by-train place in Evergreen Park, which we'd been meaning to go to for a while, was closing this weekend sent us straight down there this evening.

"There's an hour wait," we were told at 5:10 pm. Considering we'd just driven an hour, that didn't seem particularly daunting, though it was clear that a lot of the locals were shell-shocked to find how crowded the place was after years when it was probably half empty. (I believe the precise phrase I heard several times, in the quaint argot of Evergreen Park, was "I can't f---ing believe how many f---ing people are in this f---ing line.") My wife heard the owner advise a regular, "You think I'm cranky now, don't come anywhere near here on Sunday."



After an hour we took seats along the counter in the back room-- the party room, I suspect-- and quickly ordered. Things seemed to be pretty freshly made, flames rose from the kitchen grill, cheese was freshly sliced from a fluorescent orange block, chocolate was squeezed into the milk cups from a repurposed ketchup bottle (the inevitable mixup surely doesn't happen more than once or twice a week). We waited.


Look closely at the ceiling tiles.

At last our Cheddarnooga Choo-Choo burgers and hot dogs arrived. Alas I didn't get a good shot of both food and train, so I'll stick with the train. The burgers were quite decent-- as with The Choo-Choo, better than they probably have to be.



Afterwards my older son observed that if my younger son was grown up, he'd buy this place. Instead, it closes this weekend, serving the last of whatever's left. As we left at 7 we heard they had already stopped taking new customers for the evening. This frantically busy final week is a nice sendoff for the Snackville Junction after 60 years of operation, I hope its current owners (who've had it for 22 of those 60 years) enjoy retirement and the memories of many children as happy to see their food arrive by HO train as mine were.

Snackville Junction
9144 S Kedzie Ave, Evergreen Park
(708) 423-1313

Mike G wrote:Afterwards my older son observed that if my younger son was grown up, he'd buy this place. Instead, it closes this weekend, serving the last of whatever's left.

<as seen in the lth professional forum>
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=13045

FYI, the owner (Jeff) is interested in selling the business, if he can find a buyer.

Assuming Marc's information is accurate, this could be a nice turn-key business to invest in. I'm not trying to push this sale in any way - I just thought this message could be useful to somebody here. So, if anybody knows of an interested party, feel free to forward this information along.

Sad to hear about the closing of Snackville Junction...I only made it there once about 5 years ago with multiple family members and kids in tow, but I had vowed to go back sometime.

Amazing how the "Circle of Life" happens even with restaurants. A year ago I wrote about the opening of "2 Toots Steam Whistle Grill" in Downers Grove across from the Main Street Metra station. Now comes word that a 2nd train-themed place will be opening up this month as well...All Aboard Diner at 75th and Lemont. Not sure if it works as well without being able to watch the real trains themselves (where 2 Toots has an advantage) but I'm sure I will check it out this summer.

http://www.allaboarddiner.com/

Chessie's in Barrington has a couple of railroad dining cars within the restaurants and is located in the Icehouse Mall adjacent to the METRA tracks in Barrington.

And the food is very good.

http://site.mawebcenters.com/chessiesre ... enu_c.html


Chessie's Restaurant
200 Applebee St.
Barrington 60010-3063
847-382-5020

Wasn't there a restuarant chain in the 70s that featured old railroad cars?