Jim's Original

Well after eating at a lot of great places over the last month, we weren't really planning on going anywhere big for Valentine's Day.  In fact we had planned on spending the evening at home with a nice homemade meal. We have only ever been out to dinner once for Valentine's Day.  It's just not worth it - all the fuss to get a reservation, then you are crammed in tightly and you just don't get the benefit of the nicest meal possible at that restaurant (same holds for New Years Eve).  Last year we went to MK on February 13 and had a great time.

Double hot dog

We got tickets to the Chicago Auto Show and discovered that the only evening that was going to work for us for Valentine's Day.  We didn't eat anything ahead of time so that we could see everything we wanted before it closed and we brought a granola bar to tide us over. Afterwards we stopped for food at Jim's Original - a hotdog stand located right next to UIC. This place had been mentioned a couple of months ago on the Layover show with Anthony Bourdain. 

It is quite an adventure going there because it is just a walk up place - you order your food outside and they have it out to you instantaneously.  Jim's Original is located on the street that parallels the Dan Ryan Expressway so we have seen it while driving past many times. The show said you had to try the pork chop sandwich so we ordered that and the double hot dog. The pork chop is tender but what is a little strange is that it is a bone-in pork chop in a sandwich.  So you have to eat around the bone - kind of weird in a sandwich. We thought we were ordering 2 hot dogs but it was 2 hot dogs within one bun. Each item comes with fries.  None of this food was super extraordinary but it was quick and cheap. This is another cash only establishment, but luckily nothing is over $5 on its own.

Pork Chop Sandwich (bone in)

Since there is no inside and no specific parking we pulled over to the side of the road to eat our food before driving away.  All in all it was an interesting experience - especially for Valentine's Day.  If you feel bad, this was actually Natalie's suggestion based on location alone.  Nick did not even remember this place - so he wasn't trying to weasel out of a more expensive meal.

Final thoughts on Jim's Original:
Food - nothing to write home about, but convenient for those who are nearby
Service - very quick, remember cash only
Atmosphere - despite the walkup nature of the place, it is suprsingly open all year round 24/7.  It is in an evolving neighborhood but while we were there we didn't see anyone walking around alone so be careful .

Retaurant Week 2013

In addition to going to Capital Grille (our last post) for restaurant week, we tried to get to as many places as possible.  We didn't want to write up individual entries about them because we have eaten at these places in the past year. 

Joe's Stone Crab - we liked our Restaurant Week 2012 experience at Joe's so much (and it was such a great deal) we wanted to try it again. Again it was a great deal, but apparently there was not much of a crop of stone crabs this season so another similar crab claw was offered instead of stone crab.  They were good, but just not as good as last year's stone crab.  Since we have gone there 2 years in a row for restaurant week we will probably try something different next time around.

Rosebud - Nick loved this place so much last summer so when we saw they were going to be part of restaurant week we wanted to check them out.  The experience was a little weird though - we had to ask before being given Restaurant week menus.  And then upon peursing the Restaurant week options we surmised that it was really a better deal NOT to order off the restaurant week menu. So we feel sad for choosing to go here when we could have gone somewhere that was really offering a deal.

Rockit - Again we had to ask to see the restaurant week menu here.  But at least the options here saved a few dollars over ordering the items separately.  They were a little different than other restaurants in that the 3 course restaurant week menu offered an appetizer, soup or salad and entree (instead of appetizer, entree and dessert).  It ended up being a lot of food so we had lots of leftovers, but despite the fact that it wasn't a spectacular deal like Joe's or Capital Grille it did give us the opportunity to try a couple things that we wouldn't normally order.  As an appetizer we tried Scotch eggs which are hard boiled eggs covered in sausage and breadrumbs - not something we had ever had before but very interesting to try.  The other item we had was a wedge salad.  Now normally we don't order wedge salads because they aren't too complicated to make at home, but since it was part of the deal we ordered one of them.  Natalie was particularly interested in how they presented the salad - instead of a wedge of icebeg lettuce they had romaine hearts and instead of chopped up regular tomatoes they had sun dried tomatoes.  Since Natalie doesn't love iceberg lettuce this was a great step up and something she will try at home in the future.

We look forward to next year's offerings for Restaurant Week.  We would love to go back to Capital Grille and Natalie's mom went to Courtrights this year and it sounded like a great deal as well so we would like to try that.

Capital Grille



Caesar Salad

Clam Chowder

We have driven past the Capital Grille in Lombard a lot and have wanted to try it for a while.  When we saw it was participating in Restaurant Week we figured that would be a great opportunity to try it. Chicago started participating in Restaurant Week several years ago and every year more and more restaurants are a part of it.  Three course fixed price meals are available costing $22 at lunch and $33 or $44 for dinner. We figured since the Capital Grille is known for steak, the fixed price meal would cost $44 but we were pleasantly suprised at the $33 price tab.  The three course meal includes your choice of soup or salad, an entree with sides and dessert.

 For appetizers we ordered clam chowder soup and ceasar salad. The Caesar salad came with some croutons that were exceptional. The salad was a balance of sweet and tanginess; but not too sharp to overpower your taste buds.The clam chowder as warm and creamy as it should be with large pieces of clam meat with most of the bites.

Kona Crusted Sirloin wtih Shallot Butter Sauce

Filet Mignon

For main entrees we chose the 8 oz filet mignon and the 14 oz bone in Kona crusted dry aged sirloin.  These came with mashed potatoes and creamed spinach as sides.  We were a little worried about how the Kona crusted steak would taste but it was very subtle and provided a nice flavor. Both of the steaks were very tender and jucy.  The sirloin came with a shallot butter sauce which had a great flavor as well. We didn't expect any less since this place is known for being a steak house. The potatoes were creamy; a perfect starch to go with all the juicy protien that we were enjoying. And the spinach was a good way to pretend to eat our greens

Creamed Spinach and Mashed Potatoes



For dessert we had guava ice cream with biscotti and creme brulee. We chose the guava ice cream because it wasn't a typical ice cream flavor we've had and it was really good.  It makes us want to try making exotic ice creams at home. 

Desserts

Final thoughts on Capital Grille:

Food - good food at a great price, we want to come back next year for Restaurant Week for sure!

Service - good service, they were up front about participating in restaurant week and answered our questions

Atmosphere - high end atmosphere and decore. Definitely a great night out in Lombard.