I love corned beef hash. Going ot for breakfast on the weekends gives me a chance to sample a number of places and their corned beef hash offerings. A few months ago, I invited Steve Z to meet me for corned beef hash at the Melrose Restaurant and decided, at that time, that I would spend the next few months sampling some of the offerings available around Chicago.
From that sampling, I developed the following list of places that I consider to be excellent places for corned beef hash as well as some that weren't so excellent. I apologize as I am not a picture taker. So, you have only my written dissertation on this critical subject
Here are my contenders:
Stella'sOh, how I love Stella's. Such friendly people and, mostly solid food. Unfortunately, Stella's relies on canned corned beef hash on its breakfast menu. It is nothing that one couldn't fix at home. It's on the mushy side, too. Stella's gets a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10 n the corned beef hash sweepstakes - and that's because they are very friendly.
Stella's Diner
3042 N Broadway
Chicago
773-472-9040
Yellow Rose CafeThis place was a bit of a surprise to me. The Yellow Rose is a small non-descript place located on Elston Avenue just north and West of Bryn Mawr. When one walks into the Yellow Rose one feels like he has walked into someone's home for breakfast. Obviously, most of the folks there are regulars as evidenced by the back and forth banter that goes on. The corned beef hash here is excellent, chunky with big pieces of slow cooked, shredded corned beef, big chunks of potato, onion and peppers. My only complaint is that it could have been a little more aggressively spiced. In terms of consistency, The Yellow Rose's corned beef hash is somewhat the same consistency as Patty's Ham Hash. Yellow Rose gets a 7 from me for fresh corned beef, but not quite enough seasoning. The corned beef hash at Yellow Rose comes with 2 eggs, potatoes and toast.
Yellow Rose Cafe
5640 N Elston Ave
Chicago, IL 60646
Original Pancake HouseI know that this is a chain which sometimes brings out the worst in LTHers. But, when you're really hungry as I was one Saturday morning leaving the Green City Market, you may find a pleasant surprise just like I did at the Original Pancake House. It seemed like my order there took forever. When it finally arrived, I was kind of disappointed because it looked canned with its fine, uniformed potatoes and ground meat. The good news is that it didn't taste canned. Instead, it had a garlicky, oniony flavor that indicated someone had put some TLC into its crispy preparation. It included a huge serving of corned beef hash, two eggs and your choice of dollar pancakes or toast. Original Pancake House gets an 7 from me.
Original Pancake House
2020 N. Lincoln Park West
Chicago, Illinois 60614
773-929-8130
Patty's DinerObviously, no one at LTH needs a further introduction to Patty's, a real gem of a breakfast place in Skokie. Like many of you, I have a hard time choosing anything other than Patty's ham hash as my entree. One morning, far the sake of this sampling, I opted for the corned beef hash. The corned beef at Patty's is real, served with big chunks of potatoes, onions and lots of salt and pepper. The ratio of corned beef to potato is a bit on the low side compared to other places sampled. Its not a bad corned beef hash. Its just not as good as the ham hash. Patty's gets a solid 8 for freshness and the use of real corned beef. The dish come with two eggs and toast at Patty's
Melrose RestaurantMelrose makes its own corned beef hash in house. Fresh corned beef, onions, peppers, garlic and various spices are ground through a meat grinder to a somewhat fine consistency of hash. The texture allows for a crispy exterior without the meat becoming dry and tough as it does at some establishments that make a chunkier version. This offering is particularly well seasoned and tasty The CBH comes in two forms at Melrose: a standard plate including three eggs, hash browns, toast and fruit as well as a skillet in which they bastardize this most excellent of breakfast foods by covering it and a pile of hashbrowns with cheese and a couple of eggs. On a scale of 1-10, Melrose gets a very solid 9.
Melrose Restaurant
3233 N Broadway St
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 327-2060
Sally's Pancake HouseBad service and average food seem to be the hallmark of Sally's. The corned beef hash was canned and was one of the most expensive of those I sampled. Even canned, it came to the table mushy and with no crisp exterior. Skip corned beef hash in favor of pancakes at Sally's if you bother to go at all. No points given.
Sally's Pancake House
5454 N. Harlem Ave.
Chicago, IL 60656
773-631-8966
Glenn's DinerI have recently fallen for the delicious food at Glenn's. Especially its daily selection of fresh fish. Given their attention to detail, I had great expectations for their corned beef hash, especially since they feature it in their Gonzo breakfast special. Glenn's variety of corned beef hash is canned. But, they do go to the trouble of picking it up with some extra onions, peppers and garlic. And, they do fry it really nice and crisp. If it wasn't for that, Glenn's corned beef hash would compare to Stella's. instead, Glenn's gets a 3 from me.
Glenn's Diner
1820 W Montrose Ave
Chicago, IL 60613
(773) 506-1720
I'm interested to hear other opinions or notes of other places that may make an excellent corned beef hash.
I'm open to hearing new and better suggestions. It seems to me that Chicago would be a really great town for corned beef hash. Maybe I'm missing some really good places here.
Last edited by
YourPalWill on July 20th, 2008, 7:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.