delk wrote:Now I'm trying to remember the chili place on the West side of State St. just North of Archer.

That was Mexican Joe’s Chili at 1802 S State. Reportedly the owner was Polish but made a good bowl of red. I never had the pleasure.

Melody Lane was on the southwest side. It was destroyed by a tornado back in 1967.

Driving back from Morton Grove today, three places gone, two of which I considered long term fixtures, plus Pita Town (becoming Burrito House, reported elsewhere).

Maxwell's, on Dempster just west of Ferris, has always been one of those typical 'restaurant restaurants' - probably greek owned, specials paperclipped to the main menu, a la carte or full dinner, you know the drill. I won't miss it much, but it's one more landmark on my old commute that's gone.

The other place that's gone isn't chow, except for a small snack bar, but it's definitely a lost piece of Chicago History: Par King on Dempster just east of Waukegan is now a field of gravel. Sure, they've still got one on Milwaukee in, uh, what is that, Buffalo Grove? But it's part of my childhood: an expensive round of goofy golf with some of the best animated playing fields around. Roller coasters, sky scrapers... there just wasn't anything like it.

I lived in Lakeview and Roscoe before the gentrification explosion and remember many wonderful little German mom-and-pops, including Kuhn's Delicatessan (heard it relocated to the burbs), Reynan's Bakery (owners retired), Otto's Meats (the owner was a character straight out of a Hertzog film), Zum Deutschen Eck.

Other places I mourn: Helmand (Halsted and Belmont), Vietnam Little Home (Damen), The Wild Onion (Lincoln and Roscoe), Chez Paul (my boss took me there in 1986, very dazzling for a little country bumpkin like me), the Busy Bee (legendary Wicker Park diner where you could eat pierogies with artists and rock starts), the original Wishbone on Grand (maybe not rock stars, but artists, artists, artists). Delwood Pickle in Andersonville for crayons, camp and incredible meatloaf.

Other places I mourn . . . the Busy Bee (legendary Wicker Park diner where you could eat pierogies with artists and rock starts)

If you're nostalgic for the above, you might be interested in the work of Marie Gedroc (mariagedroc@cs.com). She's painted a number of Wicker Park storefronts, one of which is the Busy Bee, and has reprinted them as notecards available for sale. Look for her to show at the next Around the Coyote festival in the Fall. Here's a sample of her work:

http://www.tranzart.org/Gedroc%20Tranzart.htm

I've been looking through here to see if anyone mentioned Corona Cafe or Ricardos. Anyone remember these places?

I used to go to both regularly when I worked at 500 N. Michigan. My co-worker loved Ricardo's because she would get cocktails to go and sip them at her desk all afternoon.

Suzy

I also had an office at 500 N. Michigan from 1975-86. For many of those years, the back room counter at the Corona was our regular stop for wonderful lentil with sausage soup and a cheap, filling frittata, the composition of which changed daily, depending upon what the chef had lying around. The waitress (Betty?) was right out of Central Casting, and the counter filled up with her regulars every noon.

Our other favorites from the day are all gone, too. The Boston restaurant on Grand below Michigan became Ho Choy, which featured a Chinese buffet. The Kabuki Steak House on Ontario served a fantastic, cooked-at-the-table Benihana-style luncheon for under five bucks. We ordered great catered box lunches from Mitchell Cobey on Walton. The name escapes me now, but there was a little lunch place on lower Michigan, south of Wacker. Anybody remember that?

I worked in that area starting in the middle 70's. Could you possibly be thinking of Rachel's Belgium waffle house? Design your own sandwich/salad similar to the English Room in Fields.

Riccardo's was a favorite hang out. Loved the Mike Rudi salad with bibb lettuce, artichoke hearts and blue cheese dressing. And some reddish seafood salada that was also good.

Worked for an ad agency then and had all our farewell parties there. . . . ad agencies always have lottsa farewell parties. . . .nuff said.

Corona's basement had excellent Manahattan Clam chowder and meatball sandwiches to my recolletion.

That recollection could be faulty due to the vodka martinis at Riccardo's. Best price value relationship for alcohol in the area for many years. Saw many interesting, well known ad and media types taking advantage of that.

My grandparents lived at 535 N Michigan for a few years, and the Corona was their local food place, so I ate there many, many times, since I dined with them once a week for the better part of 20 years. The Corona also ran a Sunday shuttle to and from the Bears games for a few years in the 70's and 80's, which Grandpa and I used. I enjoyed the place quite a bit. Only went to Riccardo's a couple of times, and do not remember much.

When Corona stopped the Shuttle we moved on the Mama Batt's on Cermak for a couple of years, until Grandpa had to stop attending the games.

Brings a tear to my eye to think back on it.

The Big Nasty - does anyone remember this Lincoln Ave bar? They sold as much silly string as beer.That place was a blast!

Don't remember that bar. Do remember the Ink Well on Ontario. Lot's of printers in the area at that time. Still remember Diane w/ the kohl eyeliner and the quick quips. Spent way too much time there.

West on Ontario was a Mexican place - the name escapes me. But they had a buffet lunch that was really good. And killer margaritas - which, we drank at lunch. How we got anything done, ever, is beyond me.

Also, good lord I've lost my memory chip, was a seafood place that had oyster specials and a nice chowder and a great bartender, Jim - go figure, him I remember. Was very sorry to see this place had gone a few years ago.

It's strange how many of my food experiences tie into old jobs - but they do.

I'm thinking that the Mexican place you refer to my Mi Casa Su Casa.

And I, too, remember that seafood place. I was a college intern at (ok, here's another long walk down memory lane) The Chicago American just before it went under (jingle -"Chicago's American ... Always on top of the news") and I remember how incredibly sophisticated I felt going there for oysters and drinks at lunch with the real journalists. If you think of the name, let us know.

bryan wrote:I've been looking through here to see if anyone mentioned Corona Cafe or Ricardos. Anyone remember these places?

Not to toot my own horn too loudly, but I mentioned Ricardo's, along with The Blackhawk, back on p. 2 of this thread, I think.

Toni - Sorry I missed that.

And gail - It was Mi Casa Su Casa. And, oddly enough, the name of the seafood place just came to me: Shuckers.

Oh, no apologies necessary -- the Ricardo's reference was buried in the post. By the way, I have confirmed with various folks considerably older than me that Ric did keep large dogs in the restaurant, in the kennels that were ensconced in the wall by the front entrance. One of the great charms of the place, and not anything I've ever seen before or since.

During the early years of my parents' marriage, they used to come into the city and go to a place called Don the Beachcomber's. They have never been able to give me a satisfactory explanation as to what kind of restaurant this was. Or was it just a bar?

Anyway, I would appreciate a brief description from anyone out there who remembers. Also, where was it?

Kasia wrote:During the early years of my parents' marriage, they used to come into the city and go to a place called Don the Beachcomber's.

Don the Beachcomber's was a small chain of Tiki Bars/Polynesian Restaurants originally started in Hollywood in the 1930s. The one in Chicago was Donn's second venue and was located at 101 East Walton Place (just west of Michigan ave). Don the Beachcomber's served as the prototype for the more successful Trader Vic's (and every other tiki bar in the world). In fact, both Vic and Donn laid claim to having invented the Mai Tai. In the end, Vic supposedly admitted to having stolen the recipe from Donn (Donn and Vic were friends as well as competitors), although I think the name was Vic's invention. A more important question is, who invented the Pu-Pu Platter?

Mi Casa Su Casa was a family-run Mexican restaurant at the southwest corner of Southport and Lill. They closed a few years ago but went back into the 1960s when that neighborhood was a bit rough around the edges.

Su Casa at 49 EAST Ontario is still in business trapping tourists. The founder, Ike Sewell, died some years ago. I have no idea who runs it now. Metromix indicates that they have a sign with the motto "Mi Casa, Su Casa", which may be the cause of the confusion, but that was never the name of the restaurant.

Well I can't believe I forgot about this place this long, considering it's special meaning to me, but I'll never forget Dewey's on Clark just north of Devon. This was probably as far from fine dining as you could get. But the place was there for years.

And for my special memory. I got married at a little church on Devon, just east of Ravenswood. We got the word that my wife to-be was running late. Being Jewish, I wasn't really in the mood to spend any more time in a church than I had to, so my father and I walked to Dewey's. We were both dressed in our suits and ties, which was not normal attire for this dive.

There were 3 things I went to Dewey's for, the burgers, the chilli and pop served in the bottle with a straw. My father still talks about going there 34 years later. We lived in Rogers Park for many years but he had since moved away and that was the last time he was ever there. I, OTOH, am just glad I didn't spill any chilli on my suit before the wedding.

Unfortunately, my wife is still mad at me for not being hungry at the reception. Oh well, that's the price you pay.

grant wrote:The Big Nasty - does anyone remember this Lincoln Ave bar? They sold as much silly string as beer.That place was a blast!

I remember The Big Nasty, but does anyone remember the little, elegant restaurant that was previously in that space? I think Jackie Shen's ex-husband was the sommelier. It was a great place, but I can't remember the name.

Kasia wrote:During the early years of my parents' marriage, they used to come into the city and go to a place called Don the Beachcomber's.

d4v3 does a great job describing it. My parents had their first date there. I was lucky enough to go there once shortly before the building was torn down. As I remember, it was below grade and fairly dark, but otherwise a true anachronism - fairly typical of a Tiki Bar in the 40s and 50s.

La Chenimee

Le Mignon

Zaven's

Escargot on Halsted (before the fire)

Cafe Bohemia

Cricket's

La llama

Le Bordeaux

La Tour

Topkapi

pago pago

binyon's (coming back soon tho)

pixley and eller's

otto's (used to be the only restaurant in depaul on halstead)

wimpy's

Berghoff's?

Roma's (sheffield and webster

Belden Deli

ham n egger

Seminary restaurant at lincoln, fullerton and halstead--now a mcdonald's

too many to mention

I miss Chez Quis.

And yes, I am Abe Froman.

how about tango in the belmont hotel?

or la choza or pauls umbrella. oscars deli on sherdian and columbia or the thorndale deli? there was some romanian steak house as well that i used to go to as a kid. early garlic experiences.

Wow -- La Chosa. Are you talking about that tiny, wonderful Mexican restaurant on Paulina in the old Jonquil Jungle? The food was great, the owner was so friendly and it was dirt cheap. Great for a starving college student. I wonder if it really was as good as I remember.

There was an old-style Italian restaurant almost right across the street from La Chosa that I really liked also, but I can't rememnber the name of it. Anyone know what it was called?

that's the one. a burrochoza and some nachos w/guacamole (that had a name for it as well, that i don't remember).

Recent Bucktown/WP deaths:

Kudos - could never catch the Division St.-bound sushi crowd

Roong Thai - neighbor of Kudos. Probably the same owner

Tre Via - killed off by Francesca's Forno. I had figured it was gone for a while as I rarely saw anyone actually in there. Walked by last night at what should have been prime-time and saw the windows covered and various people (probably ex-employees) sitting around drinking at the bar.

Romeo Romeo - closed a few months ago.

Jazzfood: The name of La Chozas nachos was wither kamush or camush. Loved 'em.

bryan, thanks. it's all coming back to me. i believe it was spelled kamoosh.