A Delicious Tag

Anonymous Blogger tagged me with a meme that is spreading through the blogosphere like wildfire, so I have to do it before all the people I want to tag are tagged by someone else.

The rules:

1. Add a direct link to your post below the name of the person who tagged you.
Include the city/state and country you’re in.
Nicole (Sydney, Australia)
velverse (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
LB (San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy)
Selba (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Olivia (London, England)
ML (Utah, USA)
Lotus (Toronto, Canada)
tanabata (Saitama, Japan)
Andi (Dallas [ish], Texas, United States)
Lulu (Chicago, Illinois, United States)
Chris (Boyne City, Michigan, United States)
AB (Cave Creek, Arizona, United States)
Johnny Yen (Chicago, Illinois, USA)

2. List out your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location.

3. Tag 5 other people (preferably from other countries/states) and let them know they’ve been tagged.

1. Hong Kong Buffet
Okay, so it's a buffet. But it's easy to eat healthily there-- salmon, lean chicken, lots of vegetable choices. My son and I love it.

2. Jury's
Full disclosure: I work at this place. But it hasn't diminished it for me. I went in there one night over seven years ago to eat, and was so impressed I left an application. Two weeks later, I was working there.

This place was started in 1979 in Lincoln Park by Pete and Dan, two double brothers-in-law-- they're married to two sisters. They moved the place up to the Lincoln Square neighborhood right before the neighborhood got "hot." They were wise enough to buy the building.

The food is, overall, great. They don't do nouveau cuisine-- the portions are good. Particular favorites of mine: lemon-caper butter salmon; the "Summer Salad", with either blackened chicken or blackened shrimp; grilled calamari.

Before I found out I had celiac disease, I enjoyed the pasta dishes, including one with grill chicken, sun dried tomatoes and broccoli, cooked in garlic and olive oil. The Reubens are to die for, and we're known for our burgers.

The staff is friendly-- I enjoy working there. Blogger Phil is a co-worker. The staff turnover is glacial-- that's a sign that it's a good place to work. I was there for nearly five years before I was finally not "the new guy."

We have tons of regulars, many of whom we are on a name basis with. Our Alderman, Gene Schulter is a regular, and Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich used to come in all the time when he was a congressman-- his office was right down the street.

Co-owner Pete is quite the wine affionado, so we keep a nice selection. On the weekends, there are great deals on those wines-- some are half price.

3. The Lincoln Restaurant
This place has been at it's location, Lincoln Avenue and Irving Park Road, for as long as I can remember. The area around it has gentrified, but the Lincoln keeps on doing what it's doing for decades-- good food, good service at reasonable prices.

The restaurant, in keeping with it's Lincoln theme, names a lot of its dishes after Lincoln-related things-- particularly the civil war.

My favorite dish is a skillet with potatoes O'Brien, a bunch of vegetables and cheese, topped with basted eggs-- all for $6.95. They have great breakfast, lunch and dinner menues.

This is another place where there's virtually no staff turnover-- again, a good sign.

It's a favorite of my son's, too, which is ironic, because I think that he saw a ghost in the place a couple of times when he was very young (2 1/2 year old or so). I'll post about that soon.

4. Chicago Joe's
If you've ever seen Wayne's World, you've seen this restaurant-- it's one of the places Wayne and Garth pass at the beginning as Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" played. I liked the place even before it was in the movie. In particular, their Sunday brunch is a favorite. The buffet has smoked salmon, poached salmon and grilled vegetables, baked chicken and various salads-- it's a real treat.

5. Tango Sur
I've only been to this Argentinian restaurant a couple of times, but it's a sentimental favorite: Kim and I had our first date there.

It's actually really good-- we had a dish for two that's a big steak, with potatoes and a salad.

Since it's across the street from a school, they can't get a liquor license, but that's okay-- they're BYOB.

The service has always been excellent, and it seems busy all the time, always a good sign in a restaurant.


I'm tagging Kim, Bubs, Dale, Skyler's Dad and Dead Spot On The Web.