Sunday, December 30, 2012

Papa Marcos Grill and Kabob

Another place Greedy Eater 2 and I stopped at yesterday was Papa Marcos Grill and Kabob. Papa Marcos is located in Waukegan, IL. They serve Mediterranean food along with American style food. We found this place on Yelp. They had excellent reviews and we wanted to eat at a non-chain restaurant.

Greedy Eater 2 and I decided to each order a Mediterranean dish. Greedy Eater 2 ordered the Beef Kafta Sandwich. It consisted of beef kafta, lettuce, tomato, onion and tahini sauce wrapped in a pita-like bread. I ordered the Chicken Shawerma Sandwich. It consisted of chicken, lettuce, tomato, onion and tahini sauce wrapped in a pita-like bread.

The sandwiches came wrapped in aluminum foil. We decided to split the sandwiches so we could try each other's sandwich. Both sandwiches were very good. The tahini sauce tasted great. The main ingredients of the sauce consisted of sesame seed paste, kosher salt, olive oil, lemon juice, crushed garlic cloves, and parsley. Both the beef kafta and the chicken were well-seasoned and flavorful.




The owner was very nice and knowledgeable. We definitely plan on going back to try other items on their menu.

The Doughnut Vault

Greedy Eater 2 and I decided to take a road trip yesterday and head north to the Chicago area. As always, we make a point to stop by restaurants that we've heard about. Plus, it's been a while since we've posted anything.

The first place we went to was The Doughnut Vault. This place is known for long lines of customers waiting to get these freshly made doughnuts. A primary thought that came to mind was what is so special about these doughnuts that people will stand in line, sometimes over an hour, to buy. So Greedy Eater 2 and I wanted to find out. First, a couple of things about The Doughnut Vault:
  • On Saturdays The Doughnut Vault opens at 9:30.  Tuesday through Friday they open at 8:00. They stay open until they sell out.
  • The Doughnut Vault is not big at all. The space is big enough for about 10 people to stand in a single-file line. There is only one person who gets your doughnuts and also works the cash register. 
  • They only take cash. 
  • Everyday they're open, they have a specialty doughnut (i.e., Birthday Cake, Mocha Glazed, Pistachio, Powdered Sugar Stack, etc.), in addition to their standard doughnuts.
  • All of the standard doughnuts, except for the Buttermilk Old Fashioned, cost $3 each. The Buttermilk costs $2 each.
  • They serve coffee that is $1/cup.

We got there around 9:45 and there was already a line of customers around the corner of the building. We stood in line for about 45 minutes.While standing in line we could smell the doughnuts. A customer in front of us told us that the doughnuts are well worth the wait.We hoped he was right.

We got in the small space and it smelled awesome! The specialty doughnut of the day was Mocha. We decided to get a dozen of doughnuts that consisted of Buttermilk Old Fashioned (2), Gingerbread Stack (1), Chestnut Glazed (1), Vanilla Glazed (2), Chocolate Glazed (2), Jelly (2), and Mocha (2).



We went back to the car and each devoured a doughnut. They looked, smelled, and tasted really good. The size of the doughnuts are bigger than the run of the mill doughnuts. The doughnuts are deep-fried goodness, and they were well-coated with icing and sugar. The jelly doughnut was the best of them all. There was plenty of jelly and it didn't taste like jelly out of a jar.

Personally, we felt the Doughnut Vault was worth the stop. We would definitely recommend as a place to get doughnuts if you're in Chicago, don't mind standing in line, and don't mind the price.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Food Collection


Lemon Tower Cake at Biaggi's: The cake itself tasted good, but the sauce was too thin, bland and runny.




Meat Lover's Skillet at Wild Berries: This was pretty good. Shredded hash browns, bacon, ham, sausage, monterey jack and cheddar cheeses with 2 scrambled eggs. Adding gravy would have really made this a great skillet.




Breakfast Skillet at Shannon's: This was another good breakfast skillet with fried potatoes, ham, bacon, sausage, two scrambled eggs, (minus grilled onions and peppers). This skillet also had sausage gravy which the skillet from Wild Berries lacked.



Chocoholic Cheesecake and Peanut Butter Cheesecake at Sweet & Savory Grille: Homemade cheesecake that is somewhere in between the cheesecake sold at Wal-Mart and the cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory.





Bacon Caramels at The Caramel House: My co-worker and her husband spotted this while they were in St. Louis. These were awesome! Definitely could taste the bacon. I really liked the combination of bacon and caramel.



Sunday, November 4, 2012

Magnolia's on Prospect - CLOSED

Update: Magnolia's closed in April 2013.

Last Saturday, Greedy Eater 2 and I went to Magnolia's for dinner. This was our first time there and had heard good things about this restaurant.

We ordered two appetizers: Bacon Wrapped Shrimp and Southern Calamari.

The Bacon Wrapped Shrimp came with Haricot Verts, Scallions and Red Peppers, with a sweet chili sauce. There were 3 shrimps in this dish. The shrimp tasted really good. If you like bacon and shrimp, this is a must-try dish.



The Southern Calamari had a cormeal coating and came with slices of bell peppers and spicy horseradish sauce. The cornmeal coating gave the calamari a good flavor. This was a pretty good dish.



For the entrees, I ordered the Pan Seared Sea Scallops and Greedy Eater 2 ordered the Rosemary and Thyme Filet Mignon.

The Pan Seared Sea Scallops came with grilled asparagus. There was a roasted garlic and chive cream sauce on top of the scallops. The asparagus was on top of a parsnip puree. The scallops and asparagus were cooked perfectly. This was a great dish.



The Rosemary and Thyme Filet Mignon came with a demi-glace. This entree also came with one side. Greedy Eater 2 chose the Wild Mushroom Risotto. The filet mignon was cooked medium rare. Greedy Eater 2 felt it was an excellent cut of meat. The meat was very tender to the point of just melting in the mouth. 



Overall the food was excellent at Magnolia's. We definitely plan on going back and would recommend this restaurant.



Monday, September 17, 2012

Salty Hog Pie

I will be the first one to admit that I was crushed when the Baker's Square in Bloomington/Normal, IL closed. That was the only place I could get a decent pie. After seeing a picture of the Salty Hog Pie from Baker's Square, I went on a quest to find the closest Baker's Square, and to my surprise I found one in Springfield, IL. So two Sundays ago, I drove down to Springfield just to get this pie. Greedy Eater 2 came along because of the obvious, it's food.

You're probably wondering what's so special about this pie. Well, two things: 1) bacon and 2) chocolate. If you haven't already figured it out based on previous blog posts, I LOVE bacon. So, of course I had to get this pie. Not just to try a slice, but I was so confident in the tastiness of this pie, that I got a whole pie to go.

Per Baker's Square website, the pie consists of "Layers of salted caramel and roasted almonds, moist chocolate cake and our famous rich French Silk in our flaky pie crust. Top with candied bacon, fluffy whipped cream, roasted almonds and salted caramel drizzle." One word=Awesome!

So the verdict? Both Greedy Eater 2 and I really liked this pie. It tasted great. There is definitely sweet and salty going on. The bacon tasted good. The chocolate in the pie was great. It's definitely a unique pie with a twist.  If you just can't fathom eating a pie with bacon, just take the bacon strip off the top.






Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Swinger's Grille - CLOSED

This past Saturday, Greedy Eater 2 and I ate at Swinger's Grille for the first time. We've heard good things about this place. The place was pretty busy, but we didn't have to wait to be seated.

Greedy Eater 2 ordered the Spicy Seared Ahi Tuna. The tuna is served rare with a snowcrab (on top), sliced avocado, and cucumber with wasabi cream, soy, and black sesame seeds. The tuna looked and tasted very good. The piece of snowcrab was a nice twist on the dish. The cucumber slices along with the avocado and tuna was a nice combination.

I ordered the Braised Chicken Sliders. The sliders just had chicken and cheddar cheese on them. The shredded cabbage and pickled red onions were on the side. A side of BBQ sauce and a side of spicy mustard was also served on the side. The only thing I added to the sliders was the BBQ sauce. The chicken was seasoned well, and I liked the taste of the BBQ sauce.

In addition to the Chicken Sliders, I also ordered the Idaho Baked Potato with bacon, cheese, and scallions. The baked potato was cooked well.





We would definitely go back to Swinger's to try some of their other dishes.


Sunday, August 19, 2012

Destihl

Friday afternoon, Greedy Eater 2 and I went to Destihl to try their Beer-Battered Bacon. A couple of people had recommended trying this dish. In addition to the Beer-Battered Bacon, we also tried the Bacon & Brussels. Normally we don't order dessert, but based on our server's recommendation, we also tried the Fresh Berry Napoleon.

The Beer-Battered Bacon was the main reason why we went to Destihl. After trying Aleta Jane's deep fried bacon, we knew we had to make it over to Destihl to try theirs. Destihl's deep fried bacon was very different from Aleta Jane's. Each has their own way of deep frying their bacon, in addition to the amount of bacon, and the price. It's just a matter of what a customer prefers. I really liked the taste of Destihl's beer-battered bacon. It had some heat to it due to the jalapeno and chipotle sauce. I would recommend trying both Destihl's and Aleta Jane's deep fried bacon.



The Bacon & Brussels was good. We wish it would have had more bacon. We did like the taste of the candied applewood smoked bacon.


The Fresh Berry Napoleon was very light and very good. It didn't have the heaviness that a piece of cake would have. The fruits were fresh, and they meshed well with the lemon curd and raspberry-lemon ice cream.



Sunday, August 12, 2012

Aleta Jane's - CLOSED

Greedy Eater 2 and I have been eating at Aleta Jane's for a few years. They serve good and reasonably priced comfort food.

Yesterday, Greedy Eater 2 and I ate at Aleta Jane's for breakfast and we were excited to see FRIED BACON on the chalkboard. Of course we had to try it. The type of bacon and the batter used play a big part in how the final product will taste. Having eaten at Aleta Jane's many times in the past, we were pretty confident the fried bacon would be good, but we just didn't know how good.

The fried bacon came out and it smelled and looked great. There was even a cup of gravy on the side to dip the bacon in. The fried bacon by itself was great. The batter was really good. What really put it over the top was dipping the fried bacon in the gravy. One word, WOW!


For pure bacon connoisseurs, we would recommend trying the fried bacon at this restaurant.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Burger Barge

Yesterday Greedy Eater 2 and I ate at the Burger Barge for the first time. We've heard a lot of good things about the food, so we were finally able to find the time to try it out. The Burger Barge is located before you get to the Paradice Casino in East Peoria, IL. It looks like a dive on the outside, but looks a little better on the inside. With that said, I don't think either of us would go there when it's dark outside.

I ordered the Tavern Burger that had bacon, ham, grilled onions, cheese, and a fried egg. Greedy Eater 2 ordered the Ship, Captain & Crew Burger that had cheese, french fries, coleslaw, lettuce, tomato, onion, and a pickle.

We decided that we would split the burgers and order onion rings. Both burgers tasted good, but the Tavern Burger really won us both over. Everything tasted so well together. The Ship burger tasted like it was missing something. Maybe the coleslaw needed to be jazzed up some more.

We would definitely go there again and would recommend it to anyone that hasn't been.

The Tavern Burger and Onion Rings:


Ship, Captain & Crew Burger:

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Love of Food 2

Here's another hodge podge of food eaten that was posted on Twitter:

Stolfa's Pizza: Fried Chicken and Chocolate Cake




Bacon Peanut Brittles:


Beef Patty, Bacon, Cheese, and a Fried Egg in between two Krispy Kreme doughnuts:


Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies and Bacon Cheesecake Brownies:



El Porton Beef Burrito:


The Baconator from Wendy's:




Great Wall Sesame Chicken Combo and Veggie Lo Mein:



Bacon Buttermilk Pancake Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream Frosting:


Bacon Weave (very first one):






Maple French Toast and Bacon Cupcakes:



Burger King Bacon Sundae:


J&D's Bacon Croutons:


Bacon-Flavored Potato Chips:


Ruffles Ultimate Bacon Smokehouse Dip:








 

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Las Vegas

I've been to "Lost Wages" many times. I headed out to Vegas on Mother's Day to spend some time with my mom and sister-in-law. This trip I decided to take some pictures of some of the food we ate. Everything tasted good. Here's a summary of some of the food:

Bacon Cheeseburger and Fries: More than a fast food cheeseburger, but with a buttery bun, bacon, cheddar cheese, tomato, lettuce, onions.


Mild Buffalo Wings:


Breakfast Burger: Buttery bun, fried egg, bacon, cheddar cheese.


Breakfast Fries: Scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, cheddar cheese, and fries.


Southern Belle Cupcake (i.e., Red Velvet) (Cupcakery):


Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake (Cupcakery):


Bacon Waffle (Hash House):


Tractor Driver Combo (Hash House): Scrambled eggs, sausage links, and apple cinnamon pancake.