Chicago Bagel & Bialy

Matzo Ball Soup

We saw Chicago Bagel & Bialy featured on Chicago's Best a few weeks ago and since Nick can never pass up a good Reuben sandwich he wanted to try it out.  It is located in Wheeling and we happened to be near there so we stopped by.

Matzo ball soup with a challah roll - good solid Matzo and big chunks of vegetables. We got the smaller size serving and it was more than enough for both of us.

Bagel and Lox sandwich

Reuben Sandwich

Reuben sandwich - lots of pastrami, good sandwich but not the best Reuben Nick has ever had.  It came with a pickle and coleslaw.

Bagel sandwich with veggie cream cheese, lox, tomato, red onion and cucumber with potato salad and pickle on the side. Natalie loves bagels and lox and would eat them all the time if smoked salmon were cheaper. They have lots of bagels and cream cheeses to choose from. They toasted the bagel before preparing the sandwich.


Final thoughts on Chicago Bagel & Bialy:
Food - good Jewish deli food but nothing that we would drive so far for in the future.
Service - you order at a counter and they bring out food to your table or you can take food to go.
Atmosphere - it is a cozy, casual place on a busy street right across from Superdawg II

Bob Chinn's Crab House

Since we were up in the northern suburbs already we stopped by for lunch at Bob Chinn's Crab House.
Natalie had been to this restaurant over 10 years ago, so it was time to go again.  It is known as being one of the largest volume sales restaurants in the United States.  In fact in their lobby they display a 2006 list where they are the #4 restaurant in sales volume. (The funny thing is that we realized we had been to the #1 sales volume restaurant on that list - Zehnder's in Frankenmuth, Michigan).

Bob Chinn's is located at 393 S Milwaukee Ave in Wheeling, IL. We went for lunch because we knew that at dinner it can get pretty busy.  In fact walking in towards our table you are able to see how they corral the huge crowds.  There is a waiting line area that has a label for parties that are 4 or more people and another line for parties of 5 or more.  There are arrows on the floor directing you to different sections of the restaurant.  There is also a separate entrance and exit door area.

Nick ordered a lobster pot pie.  It was good and had some large chucks of lobster meat. Great?  No. Tasty? Yes.  Natalie ordered a crab cake with pasta Alfredo - the crab cake was good but the pasta was just average. As starters the restaurant brought out super messy garlic butter rolls; you could smell the garlic before they even got to the table.  Certainly one way to ward off vampires.  Also before our meal  they brought out some house coleslaw.  It was sweet and creamy, without the super "vinegary" taste that most coleslaw has.  On second thought, maybe we should have ordered crab legs seeing that they are in season and looked great, but they sure do seem like a lot of work.

Final thoughts on Bob Chinn's Crab House:

Food - good, but we probably should have coughed up some more money and ordered their specialties

Service - attentive and well versed in their crab offerings

Atmosphere - fun and playful, not super refined