My daughter and I stopped in at Glenn's for dinner last night and were reminded how much we like this place. The low lighting and low noise level (in spite of Counting Crows soundtrack) make this a wonderful weeknight place for conversation. Clearly Sunday is off-peak, and for early dinner times I have never been there when it is crowded.

My sturgeon was delicious, perfectly cooked. This was a thick, moist, meaty portion of sturgeon with a mushroom sauce tied to the fish by deglazing the pan. A touch of crispy bacon on top made me realize that my good deed of the week should be to drag GWiv and MikeG there to eat. Actually, the whole idea of mushrooms on fish makes me think of the nearly extinct dish, Filets de Sole Bonne Femme (last eaten with my grandmother in 1969), but this dish worked well in spite of my reservations.

And though my daughter and I tend to view pie as something that can only be homemade, Hoosier Mama maple pecan pie left us perfectly satisfied.

Upthread comments on service have been mixed, but mostly regarding brunch. I have never been to brunch there, but dinner service last night was non-intrusive and very attentive, (though it's hard to say if our experience was representative, since my college-age daughter's presence tends to insure exponential improvements in the most lackluster service.)

I love the potato pancake and its creamy center. But it's definitely not a standard potato pancake. In my experience, they serve it on weekends with the fish entrees (instead of roasted potatoes) because it's during the brunch rush. When I was there on a week night evening, I was served roasted potatoes. My husband had the sturgeon last week and we both loved it as well. I had the whitefish which is crusted with the potato pancake mixture mentioned above and I really enjoyed it. We were there on Sunday when they don't offer the fish special but we had it a couple weeks ago on Saturday and it really is a great deal. It's $12.95, 8 oz. fish portion limited to 4 of the blackboard fish items, and comes with soup and salad, potatoes (either roasted or pancake) and vegetables (a mixture of green beans, wax beans and carrots the last two times I was there).

Hi,

As I suspected, though I waited for the news to confirm. Glenn's Diner is where the sinkhole on Montrose happens to be located. They expect to be closed for three weeks.

Regards,

I'd been avoiding that section of Montrose, but I drove past Glenn's last night and they had re-opened. This might be a good time for their fans to show them a little love. Margie's, (the one across the street) too.

A new post about disappointment with Hopleaf's mussels reminds me to write about being at Glenn's ten days ago and having the very best mussels I've ever had in Chicago--and I've had some good ones. Every single one was plump, fresh and delicious, and the sauce was great.

On Sunday evening, the Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives crew was filming background at Glenn's. Word is that they will be back tonight and later in the week to finish up.

Two thoughts about the food:
1. Their claim to the World's Greatest Shrimp Cocktail is tough to argue against.
2. As mentioned in other postings for other places -- you have to like a place that can put a char on a piece of fish and still have the inside juicy and fork-tender.

It's nice to see Glenn's getting some attention, but I think that Diner's, Drive-ins and Dives is not exactly where Glenn's belongs. It's none of the three things in the show's title...indeed it's probably a step or two up the niceness scale than most places featured on that show. I wonder if the producer's picked it just because it had "Diner" in the name.

The show is not terribly true to its name- they also featured Hackney's last summer, and I can't see how it fits any of the three.

sweetsalty wrote:The show is not terribly true to its name- they also featured Hackney's last summer, and I can't see how it fits any of the three.

Agreed. That's another strange choice.

I think Hackney's qualifies based on the onion loaf alone.

sweetsalty wrote:The show is not terribly true to its name- they also featured Hackney's last summer, and I can't see how it fits any of the three.

I agree. How DDD thought we are a diner, I'll never know.

I think we have to allow DDD some poetic license here, or else assume they are being disingenuous to refer to any of the places they've featured on 3-D as "dives." A true dive is a place in which decent people don't feel comfortable. Yes, the name "dive" gets tossed around to include some one-time dives, even those now mainly inhabited by introspective 20-something liberal arts grads with star tattoos and ironic t-shirts drinking Milwaukee's Best in the can.* But I'm willing to give D-cubed some slack on just what constitutes a dive or a diner. Basically, they've extended the term to cover any dining establishment that is small, charming, not overly fancy and laid-back in the attitude department. I don't think I'll let myself shed too many brain cells worrying this one.



* Any tavern where Nelson Algren rested his rear for over 29 seconds seems to fall into that category.

One comfort is that no matter what the name of the show (or, let's face it, the name of the restaurant), I don't think there's any way Glenn's will come off as a diner, a dive, or a drive-in. So it seems there's zero chance the place will be misrepresented by the content of the piece. The "visuals" of the place (the specials blackboards most prominently), the manner in which the servers present themselves, and the food are all congruent with each other, and not congruent with a D, a D or a D. Unless the piece spends its entire time-allotment on Glenn's breakfast service (which is a possibility, I suppose), I'm thinking it almost can't not be truthful to the Glenn's experience.

riddlemay wrote:and not congruent with a D, a D or a D.

It's a tv show with a catchy name and a spiky hair plantinum blond host with a quiver full of off-the-hook catch phrases who tilts his head back, like a baby bird being fed, when he eats on camera.

I'm certain the restaurants featured on the show, be they Diners, Drive Inns, Dives or none of the above are happy as a clam at high tide for the publicity.

Regards,
Gary 'Not all that literal' Wiviott

I think that peoples' definitions of these terms vary greatly. About a year ago, I took an out-of-town colleague to NaHa for a business lunch. Recently, when she was fondly recounting the experience to me, she referred to it as 'that great lunch we had at that little dive.' Say what you will about NaHa but it never occurred to me that someone could think of it as a dive. In any case, I just nodded my head, let the conversation move on and thought about taking her to Moon's Sandwich Shop the next time she came to town.

=R=

Just a quick kudos to the staff at Glenn's -- in addition to more raves about the food.

We met another couple at Glenn's on Friday ~6:00 pm -- no reservation and they were full. We inquired about moving a couple of small tables together, but we took too long to ask and the tables became occupied. As we pondered the myriad of nearby options, the lady who was managing at the time noticed our quandary. She talked it over with us and offered to seat us at the bar until a table became available.

We did not realize until the bill came that her phrase "We'll get you some drinks while you wait" meant that she would comp the drinks. And she would not let us pay for them when we found out.

There was certainly no need for the restaurant to comp our drinks. She had already been gracious about helping us decide to stay. Certainly that was somewhat self-serving, but how many hostesses/hosts just turn away from you while you're trying to decide what to do? She had us at her offer to seat us at the bar and give us the next table -- we certainly did not expect to drink for free. And they Bloody Marys were terrific.

What a combination -- great food (we all had fresh fish and raved about each entree) and thoughtfully gracious staff.

That's how you build customer loyalty!

As far as Diners, Dives and Drive-ins goes, at the least the guy is exposing people to the idea of searching for things beyond the fast food drab. Many moons ago( 20 yrs) I worked a midnight shift while in school. I worked with a guy that read Shakespeare...in comic book form. Initially I thought, what a goof, then I realized at least he was exposed to the bard's ideas.

LTHForum,

Glenn's is now open on Monday's and to celebrate that fact they offer all blackboard fish specials, of which there were 8 or 10, for $13.95. A seriously good deal. I had a drop dead gorgeous generously proportioned hunk of pan fried Hawaiian Sea Bass with anchovy butter so fresh I was thinking of asking it out for a drink instead of eating it for dinner.

Char-grilled Colorado River Sturgeon, rich, meaty fish flesh enhanced by bacon and mushroom cream sherry sauce and Idaho Rainbow Trout with brown sugar pecan stuffing. All $13.95 dinners were served with crisp fresh asparagus and choice of starch, I opted for just ok slighty gummy potato pancake, and nibbled my brides delectably brown/crisp oven baked fingerling potatoes.

Garlic mussels with garlic toast appetizer was a tasty study in garlic, though I found the crab cakes dense and lacking in flavor. We capped the meal with mango Italian ice from Anthony's on Southport, enjoyable, though to my Mario's centric palate it tasted more sorbet than ice.

Service was friendly, informed and efficient, seating outdoors in full bloom and the price, though I never saw a final bill as our weekend house guests generously treated, with Monday night specials and drinks* for all four of us, reasonable.

Enjoy,
Gary

* As mentioned upthread, Glenn's Diner is no longer BYOB

G Wiv wrote:Char-grilled Colorado River Sturgeon, rich, meaty fish flesh enhanced by bacon and mushroom cream sherry sauce

I'm glad you mentioned this dish, Gary. I ordered it the first time against my better judgement because the sauce sounded over-the-top rich. However, the moist sturgeon really stood up to the preparation. I've ordered this dish several times and always been pleased. To me, Glenn's has GNR potential-- just a thought. Though by no means "cheap eats," the price/quality ratio at Glenn's is quite favorable.

Hi

They have a Wed. night All-you-can-eat Ribs special. How are these? And are they still BYO, as mentioned upthread?

Thanks,

They offer wines (and beer, I think), but last time I was there, they waived any corkage and let me drink what I brought in. Not sure if that's still the policy or not.

The corkage fee is still only $5 if you BYOB. As for the ribs, I've never had anything other than seafood at dinner at Glenn's, so I'm not sure.

I was just there this afternoon and someone inquired...they have beer, wine and vodka. The person in question ordered a vodka lemonade.

This was my first time there and the Vanilla Cinnamon French Toast was out of this world with a side of pork sausage links that had that nice texture of not being overly ground up before being encased.

OK, for two visits, I have been trying very much to find something to like at Glenn's.

I first went for breakfast, which might have been a mistake as their dinner food seems to be better praised. I had the corned beef hash which was, in a mouthful, unremarkable. The details escape me now, but I seem to remember pallid potatoes and not much corned beef in volume, texture or flavor.

I went back last weekend to try the dinner on for size. My dining companion and I ordered two of the world's largest shrimp cocktail. I know others have mentioned it a number of times, but I found this to be a cheap party trick. Yes, it's big. Big and necessarily overcooked in places. You can't, I think, have a 4.5 oz shrimp cocktail without some toughness. The sauces were OK. Wish I had followed my instincts and gotten the mussels instead.

On to mains. I was deciding between the pretzeled walleye and the sauteed trout. I asked for an explanation of the pretzeling (they crush rold golds to form a crust) and a recommendation. Pretzels all the way, he said. Again, should have gone with my instincts and gotten the trout. This too was a one trick pony. Sure, crust some bashed pretzels around an unseasoned piece of fish and what do you get? Pretzels and bland fish. I'm no walleye expert, but I think it was supposed to have flavor of some kind. I boo myself for poor ordering. But this dish should be more than a bottom-of-the-snack-bag brainstorm by a part-time fish monger to be on the menu.

I will probably give them another chance and give another blackboard special a try. So far, I'm just not finding a lot of flavor at Glenn's.

gastro gnome wrote:I will probably give them another chance and give another blackboard special a try. So far, I'm just not finding a lot of flavor at Glenn's.

I really enjoyed both the Hawaiian Sea Bass and Char-grilled Colorado River Sturgeon, in particular for the special Monday anything off the blackboard price of $13.95 with starch and veg. Maybe give one of those a try before dropping anchor on Glenn's.

Yeah, that $14 monday special is awesome. We stopped by last night and beth had halibut (with the blue cheese/horseradish cream sauce) and I had barramundi (with an herb butter or something along those lines). Fantastic, beautifully cooked, and very reasonably priced.

I have found there to be an inverse relationship between creativity and tastiness at Glenn's. Stick to simply prepared fish in simple or no sauce, and you get a consistently good (never great, imo) meal at an excellent value.

Like Gastro, I'm still waiting for the thrill. I too had one unremarkable breakfast with disappointment in the corned beef hash, and one dinner so completely unremarkable that I can remember nothing about it except the failure of the potato pancakes. It just can't be that hard to make a good, crispy potato pancake.
Yet, personal friends, as well as many up thread have raved, so I hope to try again---probably that sturgeon dish that does indeed sound way over the top, but if Gary liked it....
I want to love it; it's local, it's right there in the mid-price range for something a little more upscale than normal....here's hoping.

Count me in the waiting for the thrill. Went for breakfast on Sunday. Didn't have any wait, but the staff was all over the place, trying to get people seated, the hostess didn't tell the server she sat us, finally just asked the bus boy for some coffee. Hubby had corned beef hash, asked for eggs over medium, and they were still runny, hash, unremarkable. Potato cake while tasty, was under cooked.

I had the bisquits and gravy and couldn't have been more disappointed. First, I asked if I could get a half order. I was told, no way, that they are all apportioned out at the beginning of the day. So, I didn't get what I wanted which was the Mediterranean omelet, because I figured at $8.95 the bisquits and gravy would be huge. What I got were three small drop type bisquits that were flavored with herbs and cheese, and cold. I got a half full ramekin with sausage gravy that could have been good, but I promise you there wasn't more than a 1/4 cup of gravy, enough for only one bisquit. Gravy also warm, not hot. My eggs ordered over medium came with brown edges and over done yolk.

What I was expecting were big fluffy bisquits and a plate full of sausage gravy and nice eggs on top. I could have had better bisquits and gravy at Hollywood Diner or Sunshine Cafe and not made the special trip to Glen's, and gotten a half order at both places.

I don't even know if i would go up there for dinner now.

nicinchic wrote:Count me in the waiting for the thrill. Went for breakfast on Sunday....I don't even know if i would go up there for dinner now.

It has been pointed out throughout this thread that breakfast and dinner are two completely different stories at Glenn's. I have only eaten dinner at Glenn's and have always experienced good service and good fresh seafood at a good price. I don't know why, but it seems (atleast from what others have written) that Glenn's is almost like two different restaurants. Unfortunately, there are probably people that pass on Glenn's fine seafood dinners because they were once served cold oatmeal. That would affect mostly neighborhood residents since they are more likely to go there for breakfast. I also think that KennyZ is correct, Glenn's does best with the simplest preparations, where the flavor of the fresh fish shines through.