Chuck's LTHForum Dinner [Pictures + Long]

LTH,

Best get out your umbrellas as I'm about to go into full hyperbole mode. First, moderate disclaimer, Chuck and I are friends. Moderate you say, well, much as I like Chuck and the food at Chuck's Southern Comfort Cafe, not 100% of everything is to my taste, only about 95%.

What I will say is that 100% of the offerings at Chuck's are sincere. Sincere you say, what an odd word to use in relation to a restaurant, not in Chuck's case, he has 100% sincere effort behind each and every morsel of food that is served at his restaurant.

Chuck cares, it's evident in his demeanor, his staff, the cleanliness of his restaurant, and overall presentation. You get his best effort, no matter if you are a group from LTHForum, family from the neighborhood or a couple of Burbank teenagers on a first date. Pride is not only for groups of lions.

Chuck, who along with his fiancee Marla, graciously dined with our group, started our meal in fine fashion with one of my favorite cheeses, Double Gloucester with Stilton along with sliced green apple and grapes. Chuck even went so far as to tap into his private stock of port as an accompaniment.

Double Gloucester with Stilton


Next up was a delicious, if slightly out of focus, Chicken and sausage gumbo.


Followed by Bruschetta w/house-made pesto, tomatoes and Parmesan cheese.


[Warning] Our Chuck's LTHForum dinner, with Suzy/Sdritz at the helm, was 16-courses. This is going to be a long post, best get a cup of coffee before proceeding.

Next up, course 4, of 15 if anyone's counting, was Chuck's version of a Bow of Red, made with Ancho, pasillia and guajullo. I could have used a bit more heat and a little less sugar, but, overall it was quite good.


Incredibly rich Garlic Shrimp served


w/garlic bread


Mexican Pot Roast w/Chipotle, tomatillo and garlic marinade and sauce.


Dry rub Spare w/dried mora chilies and Baby Back's w/dried chipotle and morita. (I need to double check with Chuck on this)
L) Randy R) Chuck


Next up was Chicken fried chicken


and Chicken Fried steak.


This is a perfect example of Chuck's over the top attitude. When Chuck heard we were thinking of having chicken fried steak, he said he also makes a great chicken fried chicken, why not do both. I like the way Chuck thinks.

Here's my little piece of Chicken Fried Chicken heaven, (I preferred, in this instance, the CFC to CFS) with a liberal does of El Yucateco.


Smoked sausage was tasty, but to my taste had a little too much sage flavor, making them more like breakfast sausage then hot links.


When I mentioned this to Chuck he, ever adaptable, suggested we take a few home on garlic bread for breakfast, and had them bring out small styrofoam containers.


Our Chuck's Southern Comforts Cafe degustation was almost at an end, though we did, in a momentary burst of common sense, pass a course of Crawfish Etouffee, which I had a few weeks ago and is delicious. (You know when the likes of myself, YourPalWill, Bruce Cook and Petit Pois cry Uncle things are getting out of hand. )

Our last non-dessert course, Chicken Quesadilla w/yellow mole and Hoja Santo was interesting. May have been palate fatigue on my part, but this was my least favorite dish of the night. I, though I am not sure others did, got a mildly bitter taste from the Hoja Santo, instead of light root beer/anise.

Chicken Quesadilla w/yellow mole and Hoja Santo


We finished (almost) with a stunner of a dessert, Banana's Foster Crepes with caramelized pecans and ice cream. Mary Cook, who is one of the lightest eaters I know, had almost 2 full portions.


As it was JoJo's B-Day Chuck's brought out an ice cream brownie, complete with cherry and candle. I did not have a bite, but judging from the happy smile both JoJo and Ms. EC aka Petit Pois's had I'm sure it was delicious.


In case anyone lost count that's a total of 16-courses, an incredible bounty of wonderfully prepared, and artfully presented gustatory delights. Chuck, whose generous sprite is only eclipsed by his talent as a chef, charged us a grand total of $28 per person, including tax for this feast. Not only that, he kindly allowed us to bring our own wine and liquor with no corkage fee. Those who wished beer chose from Chuck's nicely thought out beer menu.

I would like to thank Chuck and his lovely, and engaging, fiancee Marla for a wonderful evening. Ellen and I will be back, and soon.


Enjoy,
Gary

Chuck's Southern Comfort Cafe
5557 W. 79th Street
Burbank, IL 60459
708-229-8700

Gary -- That looks like a fantastic meal, and I'm doubly sorry now that we missed it due to a scheduling problem. Question: What are the three golden-yellow orbs in the Garlic Shrimp?

JiLS

JimInLoganSquare wrote: Question: What are the three golden-yellow orbs in the Garlic Shrimp?

Jim,

Lemon's, cut in half.

Having just watched Decoding Ferran Adria, with Tony Bourdain, I was tempted to suggest something witty, then realized I was fresh out of witty at the moment.

Decoding Ferran Adria is an amazing program, not simply for the peek into Ferran Adria, but the first segment, on ham made from Spanish black-footed pigs which feed on acorns, as well.

Enjoy,
Gary

It was indeed an incredible dinner. As Gary mentioned, Chuck, for the first time in my memory, actually forced the LTH contingent to tap out in surrender. There was a final pre-dessert course of Crawfish Etoufee on which the group agreed to pass in happy, full bellied misery.

A couple of my own personal notes: The 20 year old Graham's Port was a wonderful accompaniment to the tangy Huntsman Cheese and fruit.

Chuck's gumbo is a thing of beauty wth the levels of flavor that one can only acquire from years of Gumbo expertise.

I liked the chili. It was sweet. But, I picked up all kind of flavors at its front end...from cinnamon to pasilla.

The baby backs with honey chipotle rub needed absolutely no sauce.

The Mexican Pot Roast came to life on its own when sampled sans the accompanying cheesy mashed potatoes. There were some great flavors going on in that dish.

Chuck is a great host and a great restauranteur. As always, the company of other LTHers was warm, interesting and convivial. I cannot think f a more interesting diverse group of people to sit down and have a meal with. The three hour dinner passed as if it were only a few minutes.

G Wiv wrote:

JimInLoganSquare wrote: Question: What are the three golden-yellow orbs in the Garlic Shrimp?

Jim,

Lemon's, cut in half.

I think I need to adjust my monitor.

gwiv wrote:We finished (almost) with a stunner of a dessert, Banana's Foster Crepes with caramelized pecans and ice cream. Mary Cook, who is one of the lightest eaters I know, had almost 2 full portions.

They were great. I told Bruce I was full after the third course. I ate a little of everything and it was all great. When the Banana's Foster came Bruce asked if I wanted to split one (He doesn't like banana's). I said yes. After about 6 bites I told him to get his own. He pouted, and said to Marla, Gary and Chuck what I told him. Marla had the waitress bring me my own. Thanks Marla

I loved the Strawberry salad w/caramelized pecans, red onion and strawberry. Sweet red wine poppy seed vinaigrette. Which Gary left out of his pictures.


I had a wonderful time at Chuck's and with all the LTH folks. Since we live in South Bend we don't get over to as many of the outings as Bruce wants to. But I always have a good time and feel very welcome.

mary50505 wrote:I loved the Strawberry salad w/caramelized pecans, red onion and strawberry. Sweet red wine poppy seed vinaigrette. Which Gary left out of his pictures

Mary,

How the heck did I manage to forget to post the Strawberry Salad? Though I'm glad I did as it prompted your first LTHForum post.

I also wanted to mention the wonderful company at dinner, and it was very nice to meet Veeral and his wife who, even though it was their first LTHForum event, did not seem shell-shocked by our Nothing says Excess Like Excess attitude. In fact, I think I detected a hint of disappointment we passed on Crawfish Etouffee.

Enjoy,
Gary

Chuck's is the restaurant I've been dreaming of.



A lot of times I just wish for a modestly priced, casual place where they make the usual, good ol' American stuff that I grew up on in Kansas, but at a level that my Chicago sophisticate's snootified taste buds can handle. That's what Chuck's is-- American enough for great-uncle Chet, who's still complaining about the Thai food he took one bite of the time he visited you in '88, and yet done with expertise and subtlety, revealing layers of flavor under something, like pot roast, that you never thought of as having anything but a surface before. It's easily the best comfort food joint I've been to in the Chicago area.

Okay, that was pretty much all I had to say, apart from the fact that I seriously suggested to my wife this morning that we could maybe go there for dinner tonight. Wonderful time, great to meet new folks, thanks to Sdritz, G Wiv, and most of all Chuck and his staff. Now here are some more pics. The crab cake, another item left out of previous posts:



30-year-old cognac, a typical feature of a night out in Burbank:



A spoonful of the chili, which I loved-- and I don't particularly like that Cincinatti cinnamon chili style, but here it was just one note in a Chili Symphony:



Our waitress, as she appeared throughout the evening:



Chuck, the man and the ribs:



Y.P. Will demonstrating how he can sense exactly where to grab a plate of food in mid-air without looking:



Which of the evening's delights accounted for this enigmatic smile? Perhaps we'll never know...

My wife and I had a wonderful time. The food was outstanding. I didn't taste a thing I wouldn't hesitate to order upon a return visit, even the ribs and I never order ribs in a restaurant.

The gumbo had a wonderful mingling of flavors. The Mexican pot roast had to be my favorite dish. I took a small sampling and then added some Pyromania Hot Sauce and the perfect combination was born.
The garlic bread was outstanding. There was just something about it that created an addiction. I think I ate about 5 pieces. I also have to mention that the chicken fried chicken was a delight. Tender chicken fried to a perfect golden crispness with perfectly textured gravy on top.

Chuck's also has a nice selection of beers to go with any meal. I had a Robert the Bruce Scottish Ale that I believe is brewed in Muncie, IN.

I will say that Chuck's has been added to my favorite restaruant list in Chicago.

Looks fantastic (although truth be told, i'd probably have skipped the stawberry salad...). Thanks for the pics guys!

Rob

Gary, thanks for the great post and to everyone who took the wonderful pictures of our dinner at Chuck's, although I started to get that sick, full feeling just looking at the pictures. Randy and I have no problem overeating if it's something we really like (which may be why we look like a couple of weebles). That being said, it was a struggle to get through the dinner because of the amazing quantity of high quality food being served, even though I tried to only take a couple of bites of everything.

For all the times I've eaten at Chuck's, I got to try a lot of things that were new to me. Not everything Chuck chose for our dinner is on his regular menu, but if you're out there lurking on the board, Chuck, I strongly suggest you add them into your menu. I'm a big fan of your ribs -- but the spare ribs on Friday were even better than your usual baby backs. Everything, from the cheese and fruit through the bananas foster, was just great. I really liked the chicken enchiladas, but I was too stuffed to eat more than three small bites of Randy's.

Of course, when dessert came, I felt compelled to eat the entire thing and probably would have happily eaten a second helping if it had been offered.

Thanks to everyone who showed up and made this a terrific evening of good conversation and gluttony.

Suzy

P.S. Three Floyds Brewery is in Munster, not Muncie. They do tours. If anyone is interested, PM me and we'll set something up!

I am man enough to admit it: Chuck hurt me, and I liked it.

At risk of echoing some earlier posts, I can't say enough about what Chuck did for us. At first, the meal moved like a dance party, full of colors and flavors that you didn't want to end. By the end of the third hour it was more like a boxing match, except in this match our opponent's gloves were ancho-crusted and covered in yello mole; we had to stand up for each round and take it.

I was particularly impressed by the chili, Mexican pot roast, the ribs, and the ribs. Did I mention the ribs? Both the spare and the baby backs were flavorful, tender, and had a beautiful crust. I didn't use more than a teaspoon of sauce on mine.

The pot roast, while slightly salty at first bite, revealed layers of flavor after Will encouraged, nay, prodded me to dig back in. This is the dish that I'm most likely to order on my next visit.

The chili, or "bowl of red", was a fantastic blend of comforting sweet and spicy flavors. This is the dish that I'm most likely to get a few to-go orders of for my freezer.

Chuck is a fantastic host and his place is extremely comfortable, (and an incredible value). Go with a group and have a blast. I'll definitely return.

Many thanks to Chuck, his staff, and sdritz for organizing this event. I should be recovered in time for Beefathon IV.

Here's a few more pics from this epic Chuck-a-thon:

A man in his element. G Wiv photographs the CFS and CFC while Jane wonders if she can eat another bite:

Octarine presents the sausage:


Our host displays his ribs:


On the way out, the Petit Pois felt like the Petit Cochon:


Best,
Michael / EC

I guess I'll have to return to Chuck's. I visited a number of weeks ago, but was not impressed. I usually won't comment on a place without more than one visit, but on my visit I ordered the gumbo and the dinner portion of rib tips. IMHO, on my visit the gumbo was passable, but not truly enjoyable, while I found the tips to be absolutely awful. In fact, I think I ate my mac & cheese side and left 3/4 of the tips on my plate. Hopefully, I'll have better luck next time.

Flip

Flip wrote:left 3/4 of the tips on my plate. Hopefully, I'll have better luck next time.

Flip,

I can see going in cold and being underwhelmed by Chuck's rib tips. As a matter of course Chuck sauces his BBQ, with a slightly too sweet for my taste BBQ sauce, and smokes the meat slightly past toothsome, but not falling off the bone.

It's not that Chuck doesn't know BBQ, or BBQ sauce for that matter, his original spicy BBQ sauce was a symphony of toasted and ground Mexican peppers, not sweet in the least, and the dry-rub ribs, sauce on the side, spare and baby back ribs, we had on Friday were quite good.

The Midwest, Chicago and Burbank are fall-off-the-bone territory, eat it with a spoon, sweet BBQ sauce, and when people talk about BBQ they rarely talk about the meat, just the BBQ sauce. Chuck is making a bold statement by not serving smoked into submission BBQ as a matter of course.

Next time ask for sauce on the side, add a wallop of a nice fruity habanero based hot sauce, Marie Sharps would be a good choice, to his 'spicy' BBQ sauce, dunk judiciously, and I'm guessing you will increase your enjoyment of Chuck's BBQ.

Enjoy,
Gary

Gary,

If there is anything I have learned from LTH it is to order with sauce on the side. I tried multiple combinations of the sauces. I actually didn't detect any smoke flavor, and the meat mostly reminded me of underseasoned beef jerky. It probably was just an off time.

Flip

Flip wrote:I guess I'll have to return to Chuck's. I visited a number of weeks ago, but was not impressed. I usually won't comment on a place without more than one visit, but on my visit I ordered the gumbo and the dinner portion of rib tips. IMHO, on my visit the gumbo was passable, but not truly enjoyable, while I found the tips to be absolutely awful. In fact, I think I ate my mac & cheese side and left 3/4 of the tips on my plate. Hopefully, I'll have better luck next time.

Flip

Flip count me as someone who both likes Chuck's a lot and who does not really like the his BBQ that much. I've had the tips (sauceless) and several other things BBQ there, and disregarding all the issues with technique, southern pride smoker, Mid-west, whatever, I just find his BBQ too muddled in flavors and textures.

I do think Chuck has great chops, I love his specials, and surely love his way with the fried chicken breast. I like the special brisket sammy. I like a lot of other things there.

I guess my point is not so much to defend Chucks or debate BBQ, just to say different people are gonna like different things at the same place.

Rob

Flip wrote:I actually didn't detect any smoke flavor, and the meat mostly reminded me of underseasoned beef jerky. It probably was just an off time.

Flip,

I'd say you caught Chuck's on an off day.

"underseasoned beef jerky' does not sound the height of deliciousness.

Enjoy,
Gary

The possibility of an off day (or more likely, and off hour) at a real BBQ place is relatively high, even for the good ones. I had one disappointing meal, meat-wise (sides were good), at Chucks a few years back. The problem was simply dried out ribs. There's always that sticky issue with BBQ, especially ribs, on what to do when things slow down. The folks at Honey 1 address this by not making many slabs; others hold ribs in foil; others are so busy the turnover is constant and high. You learn when to go and what to order and hope for some good advice from your server. On my one bad visit the whole place seemed to be run by high school kids with zero interest or ability to help me choose a meal. On my one good visit, Chuck was around and all was great. Clearly, they are taking things seriously. I am positive that my good experience was more representative of the average meal at Chuck's.

Service seemed hypercompetent when we were there-- okay, the boss sitting at your table will do that, but real kudos to our waitress who handled a large table AND another one or two without a sweat. Whatever it was then, it was a very tight ship Friday night.

Thanks for the great pictures and comments - wish we could have made it . But it seems everyone ate enough - even for the two of us (and others) who couldn't be there

In the Thread gone due to glitch

Pigmon wrote:However, I couldn’t get past the fact that their was no continuity in the restaurant’s philosophy. Serving BBQ, Cajun, AND Mexican cuisine is, in my opinion, tough to take seriously. Does anybody else have trouble with this sort of thing?

I do have a problem with this kind of thing - which is why I generally avoid the burger/taco/pizza/gyro/beef/kitchen sink places. However, Chucks is an intriguing exception that actually makes me want to step in, because of the variety. The offerings are out of the ordinary, so in this case the diversity on the menu would reflect the expertise, and as GWiv mentions, the sincerity of the chef.

I have never set foot in this place, but from the pictures of Chuck's, it seems to me that quibbling over the quality or execution of particular preparations is a little like hating on Jimmy Buffet for not being Bob Dylan. The sheer joy and lack of pretension of the place really came through in these photos. They've also sent this lifelong denizen of places north of the Eisenhower Expressway scurrying to Mapquest. Thanks for a great report.

At the risk of being redundant, I will extole the virtues of Chuck's BBQ like many others here. Saturday night, I forced three other couples to take the trip to Burbank (25 minutes). This group can be problematic, as most were raised on Irish American well done roast beef seasoned with salt and maybe some six year old pepper out of the plastic vial. Throughout adulthood, thier tastbuds have matured at a slow rate. While skeptical, they came along ( I have been overaggresive in the past, head-on shrimp at Emperors, most of the choices at La Boca Della Veritas)

The place was jammed at 7:45, including a group of 18 policepersons from Chicago. Service was a little haphazard and while we were waiting for our appitizers, we kept viewing the items going to the coppers. Everything looked awsome. I ordered pulled pork nachos and bbq shrimp for the table. While waiting, Chicago's finest brought us a plate of fried chicken wings with bbq sauce, excellent. The shrimp were absolutly succulent with a huge mellow garlic and butter blast. I did not want to waste valuble stomach space on bread, but I had to dip twice. Nachos were a strange concept that went together very well. I was getting kudos from the crowd.

Most of the group ordered some form of bbq combo. I tasted ribs, tip, pulled pork, all great especially PP, I wanted the beef brisket and the smoky link, but no one obliged. I ordered a cup of brunswick stew. It was not as I remembered from Virginia( creamy with tomatoes corn and beans), but tastey nontheless. Scallops with crawfish etoufee and red rice needed more carmalization on the scallop. I tried to order some pork in banana leaf with habenaro, but they were out. Settled for a skirt steak taco thing which was the least exciting dish of the night, but fine on own merit. Mashed potatoe and gravy, mac and cheese looked fab.
Peach cobbler and Banana Bread pudding for desert with great coffee. Both great, peach better.

I cannot believe it took me so long to get there. I want to go back tomorow and try the briskit, link and hot pork thing. Chicken fried steak or chicken, i couldn't tell which, may draw my order. Many beers, big tip $27.00 per person, Such a deal.

Is there spell check on this site?

Yes, Chuck's really is fabulous. We took my cousin there last Wednesday because she has heard us raving about it for so long. Dinner was great. My younger daughter had shrimp enchiladas and the rest of us had barbeque combos. We left the restaurant happy and satisfied, and the bill was ridiculously cheap.

Now that the kids are off to camp, my husband and I plan to go back next Monday. The special is the chicken quesadillas with the yellow mole sauce. We really liked it at the LTH dinner, but could barely handle more than two bites because it was the last entree served before dessert. This time, I plan to eat the entire plateful.

Suzy

Is there spell check on this site?

No, though we recommend people write their posts on their word-type program, which does have spell check, then copy and past onto LTH.

FYI - this prevents any loss of information which can happen occasionally when uploading.

Regards,

I will spare all of you the gory details of my outpatient surgery yesterday, but when it was all over, my husband and I chose to ignore the instructions of my very nice nurse. Instead of going home and going to bed, which would have made sense, we decided to go to Chuck's for a late lunch instead.

Why, you may ask, would anyone choose to take a long drive to Chuck's after enduring painful surgery? Because yesterday's special was the chicken quesadillas with yellow mole sauce that I was too full to have more than two bites of at our Chuck's LTH dinner, and there was no way I was going to miss out on that. We went to Randy's union pharmacy, dropped off my prescriptions, and headed straight to Chuck's. Both of us ordered the chicken quesadillas, preceded by a cup of soup. Randy ordered the stuffed pepper soup and I opted for the cream of poblano pepper. Both soups were excellent and we polished them off. I am not a fan of stuffed peppers, but this soup is incredible. It almost tastes like an intensely rich cream of tomato, filled with peppers, rice, meat -- just unbelievably good. I can't wait to go back and reorder the cream of poblano. The peppers were spicy and the combination of the hot, creamy soup along with the spiciness of the peppers was fabulous.

I tried my best to get through my enormous plate of quesadillas, which were served with seasoned rice and a caesar salad, but I ended up bringing most of it home and Randy took it for lunch today. We grabbed two of Chuck's mom's cookies on our way out and headed back for the pharmacy. When we left the pharmacy I was beginning to question our wisdom in blithely ignoring doctor's orders and was happy to hit the couch when I got home.

Was it worth it? You bet it was.

Suzy

With the holiday dinner here coming up, I thought people might want to take a look at the original post and see what they are in for. I, for one, have no idea how I am going to get past the 4th course in terms of volume of chow... For those planning on attending, better start training now!

PBandFluff and I are already signed up for the event and can't wait....

My training plan consists of the following:

1. Pre-party visit for our daughter's 4th birthday in November. E-Mailed Chuck and he agreed to whip of some of her favorite Pumpkin soup for the day....In addition to the birthday this will be a training run as to determine what areas of eating that I need to improve upon. Gotta pack in as much food as possible during the event, so many good things to choose
2. Cease all eating at noon on Friday, the day before the party
3. Run 10 miles on the morning of the party
4. During the party, keep a consistent eating pace as to not let my mind allow itself to tell the stomach that it is full....Keep with the mantra, hurry up and eat before you get too full
5. After sampling all courses once, do a victory lap around the buffet table....

I've been dreaming of Chuck's for weeks now, and since both daughters were babysitting last night, my husband and I took that as a sign that we should get in the car and have dinner there. Big mistake -- Chuck's was featured on Check, Please! last week and it was an hour wait to get a table. Generally, arriving at Chuck's at 8:00 p.m. on a Saturday ensures there will not be a wait at all. Even on a regularly busy night I have never had to wait more than 15 - 20 minutes.

Rather than stand around that long, we opted to go elsewhere and decided to try again during the week. We also figured that all the specials would be gone by the time we finally got seated at 9:00 and we weren't willing to risk that.

I'm happy for Chuck, but I really, really don't like the Check, Please! effect.

Suzy

sdritz wrote:I'm happy for Chuck, but I really, really don't like the Check, Please! effect.

How does Check Please pick the restaurants it picks? Is it truly "random" (i.e., do the ideas really come from viewers, who submit their favorites, which are then drawn out of a hat), or do the show's powers-that-be play a role in "directing" the selection process?

The reason I ask is, if it's the latter, they probably get some of their best ideas from LTHForum.

So, while none of us likes the Check Please effect, I think we have to take responsibility for it, a "bitter" that comes with the "sweet" that this forum brings.

We used to go by Chuck's all the time. Mrs. riddlemay's brother (who sadly passed on way too young a couple of years ago) lived a block or two from there with his family. I was always intrigued by the sign, but also pre-judged from the look of it and the building's appearance that the restaurant had no more to offer than the typical place along that long stretch of 79th St. Looks can be deceiving.

I believe they ask prospective participants for a high, a medium and a low end place. (There are some LTHers who've been through the process who can elaborate.) Then they pick people partly based on how they are on camera, and partly based on whether the producers like the choices they're suggesting. So the choices are really coming from the guests... but who the guests will be, and thus which restaurants will be featured, is driven by the producers.

I don't think they need our ideas per se, which is not to say that the guests may not on occasion know about places because of LTHForum directly or indirectly, or that the producers' receptivity to a place on occasion may not be influenced by the fact that there's been a lot of online talk about it.