LTHForum.com

I really liked La Salade. At the time they were in operation, my office was directly across the street (in fact, La Salade was my tenant). In those days, my rotation during the week was Barnum & Bagel, La Salade and Poochie's. The owner eventually got married and decided to close the business.

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Steve Z.
Photographer/Pseudojournalist

"The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook." - Julia Child

La Salade was great in the first half of its life. Soups were great, lots of variety in the ingredients at the salad bar. Eventually it tapered off. Being that close to Pita Inn I'm surprised that never made it into your rotation.

Yes. Once Cupid struck, the owner paid much less attention to the restaurant, eventually closing it entirely.

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Steve Z.
Photographer/Pseudojournalist

"The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook." - Julia Child

You know, Dave, I think you're right. That Baskin-Robbins was my go-to for ice cream (along with the DQ farther east down Dempster) when my kids were little & we lived close by. Chicago Salad was next door. There was also North Shore Ticket Connection for scalped/'brokered' event tickets on the other side of BR I think. A funky little strip mall it was...

And yes, I do remember La Salade kind of going downhill towards the end. You're right, Pie Lady. Salads as a destination doesn't seem to work anymore, which IS a shame.

I'd love to have a salad destination place nearby for those days I need to buy lunch out. There are too many places near work to get a hot dog!

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I want to have a good body, but not as much as I want dessert. ~ Jason Love
There is no pie in Nighthawks, which is why it's such a desolate image. ~ Happy Stomach
I can't go to Hollywood. I got biscuits to make. ~ Dwight Henry

Late-Nite Eats Database

Sweet Tomatoes is about as close as it gets these days. I've taken the niece/nephew there a couple of times and it's not bad.

Skewerz, the "meat on a stick" place on Damen by the blue line L stop, is cleaned out and papered over. Looks like they left in a hurry.

The hungry masses are not weeping.

http://www.aokgourmet.com/ - made to order salads and sandwiches. In the strip mall across from the Swift.

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"A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let fruit rot, it turns into wine, something Brussels sprouts never do."
-- P. J. O’Rourke"

Aha! I forgot about that place.

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I want to have a good body, but not as much as I want dessert. ~ Jason Love
There is no pie in Nighthawks, which is why it's such a desolate image. ~ Happy Stomach
I can't go to Hollywood. I got biscuits to make. ~ Dwight Henry

Late-Nite Eats Database

Wow, good riddance. The actual meat on a stick was OK, but.. ugh. Not a good place.

Also, there's yet another sushi place going in between the Caribou and AT&T store on Damen, just north of North ave. Just what the neighborhood needs.

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Ed Fisher
my chicago food photos

RIP LTH.

Garden Fresh in Mount Prospect (Central and Rand) had announced it will be closing, citing "landlord issues" and the expansion of Walmart's food section not helping. The article in the Mount Prospect Journal says that the Wheeling outlet it's going quite well.

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What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
-- Lin Yutang

Was the Arlington Heights location leased from the same landlord, or was it just coincidence that it closed in the last couple months?

I was only in the Arlington Heights location once, never in the others. I wasn't that impressed with it; maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but they didn't have an on-site butcher, right? The meat was packaged somewhere else? Something about that bothered me.

No, they've got butchers there. At the AH location, they'd ground a leg of lamb for me (turning $4.99 LoL into $1.99 ground -- I was very pleasantly surprised they did that), and I've seen them working with meat through the glass at the MP location.

I'll definitely miss them. Although certain things are dubious (their fish, their stock of things like yogurt), their produce has been pretty consistently good, their meat is decent, and all at much lower prices than Randhurst's Jewel (which I despise for everything but dry goods). The AH Mariano's is probably the next-closest supermarket, or perhaps the Des Plaines Shop 'n' Save.

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What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
-- Lin Yutang

Yeah, the Randhurst Jewel has a good baking aisle compared to most other grocery stores. That's about all it has going for it.

I'm lucky enough to work in Barrington, so on my commute on Rand Road, I pass two Trader Joe's, Caputo's, Fresh Market, Costco, several eastern European stores and with a little detour, a Mexican grocery store. The only thing I don't think I pass is an Asian grocery store.

I seem to be the bearer of bad shopping tidings this week. Asia Super, on Milwaukee just North of Greenwood, appears to be closed: no lights on and some sort of orange sticker on the door.

This was the first Korean grocery I'd ever shopped at, long preceding the other Niles-area stores such as Assi Plaza and H-Mart. That's three stores lost on that intersection: Farmers something or other has been gone for a while, and another Korean market has been a restaurant for a couple years. The neighborhood has gained Super Tony's and GFS, but I feel like some of the uniqueness had been lost from North Niles.

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What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
-- Lin Yutang

Distinctive Cork, a fun wine bar in Naperville, has closed. I guess it had a pretty good run.

City Island, Flavors for Life, a restaurant that was open for a couple of months in Naperville at the old Boston Blackie site, seems to have closed.

We have until the end of the month.



Stopped by today and had a burger and The Mother-In-Law...



My Bride had bacon and eggs. She thought the Chili was a too sweet. Everything else was fine.


Cool old phone booth in the back.

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"Make Lunch, Not War" ~ Anon

I stopped in there on Saturday while picking up some Mother's Day presents at one of the Irish stores. Mr. Maki and I just needed a snack, so we split a chicken salad sandwich and a mini banana cream pie. Everything was really good. The chicken salad was big chunks of chicken, dried tart cherries, pecans, local honey and a little mayo. The pie had great crust and the filling was excellent. The topping on it was Swiss meringue- it was like homemade Marshmallow Fluff.

Chicago Meat Market Changes their name to Butcher Block

Here's what they say:

"BUTCHER BLOCK SPECIALTIES, INC. IS A TRADITIONAL, OLD-WORLD BUTCHER SHOP IN THE MODERN DAY.
We bring you the finest prime beef, fresh poultry, lamb, veal and pork that we select from a handful of small Midwestern farms we know and trust. "

I wonder if this means they switched who their suppliers were of if this a new marketing angle to play up the trend in "old world butcher"?

Butcher Block Specialties
Categoría: Carnicero
3021 N Cicero Ave
Chicago, IL 60641
Barrio: Cragin
(773) 777-7117
http://www.butcherspecialties.com

The old website was:

http://web.archive.org/web/201102021817 ... arket.com/

Nuevo Taco Loco on Lawrence between Hermitage and Paulina is papered over and cleaned out. The food was a bit pricey and never appeared to draw a huge lunch crowd.

Nuevo Taco Loco A.K.A El Taco Loco
1724-26 W. Lawrence Avenue Chicago, IL 60640

Wow, very interesting. I don't remember ever seeing prime beef there before. Did I just miss it? I also never thought to buy outer skirt or flap there.

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Ed Fisher
my chicago food photos

RIP LTH.

I never saw prime grade there either. But for that, Josephs is just 5-10 minutes down Addison:

Joseph's Finest Meats. Address: 7101 W Addison St Chicago IL 60634; Phone: (773) 736-3766; josephsfinestmeats.com.

Was finally getting through some two-week-old newspapers and saw this article about Ramova Grill for anyone who missed it:

http://www.suntimes.com/12180370-417/so ... close.html

Pastoral to open bistro concept in East Lakeview -
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... z1uzmMN5F9

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"A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let fruit rot, it turns into wine, something Brussels sprouts never do."
-- P. J. O’Rourke"

Yeah. Sadly, as much as I love Joseph's, their open hours and my shopping hours rarely overlap

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Ed Fisher
my chicago food photos

RIP LTH.

At the location of my beloved Jerk Grill (that did not survive the new ownership) at ...

6814 W North Ave

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"Make Lunch, Not War" ~ Anon

Costa's Oakbrook Terrace. Anyone know what happened. My co-worker just went to pick up a donation for our March of Dimes event and the door is padlocked? We've eaten there many times for work functions. Thanks for any info.
Janey

Costa's
1 S 130 Summit Ave
Oakbrook Terrace
60181

Looks like it was true, La Amistad on Montrose is open once again. Walked past a little after lunch and they had quite a few tables going.

La Amistad
1914 W Montrose Ave

Krakus Homemade Sausage, at Milwaukee and Lawrence has closed. Rumor has it, Gene's will be opening a satellite store in the same address soon.

Rapa Nui (fomerly Latin Sandwich Cafe) on Elston at Irving Park is closed and papered over. I'm kinda sad but kinda not sad about it. The interior was a little run-down and the food wasn't that great (except their excellent baked empanadas), but there was still something endearing about the place. I had doubts about its long-term survival once it was announced that El Llano was opening up literally next door.

Anyway, they had a "Restaurant For Sale" sign up for a couple months and it looks like they found a buyer; a sign in the window indicates that another Chilean restaurant will open up in its place. I didn't catch the name of the forthcoming restaurant as I passed it. I'll do another drive-by and post an update.