Next Door American Eatery Vernon Hills IL

Let me preface this review by saying how much I wanted to like this place and in some respects, I came away with some very positive thoughts but where it counted this establishment left me cold.  

First impressions are everything for me. I had never heard of Next Door American Eatery and found out later that they are a small chain of restaurants which their store in Vernon Hills is the latest.  The decor is minimalist to the max.  The chairs at the tables are not very comfortable and the tables themselves would fit very well in a Woolworth's luncheonette but you cannot eat decor so I am very willing to overlook the plain, uninviting, uncomfortable seating provided for customers looking for some good food.  The menu is not hugely extensive but most everyone should be able to find something to try.   For once, my wife and I tried the same thing.  It was described thusly:

Next Door 50/50 12.99

Cremini mushroom & beef patty, swiss & balsamic onions (Gluten Free Friendly Optional)

We ordered this and asked for a diet Coke or Pepsi to wash it down. The waitress smiled and toddled off to put in the order. In a moment, however, she returned and said that they were "out of diet Coke."  Further questioning brought out the fact that they had no diet drinks at all.  As a diabetic, I need to be careful as to what I drink.  Anyway, the young lady pointed to a Strawberry Smoothie for $4.50 that might serve to slake our thirst.  Smoothies have a gazillion carbs in them so both I and my wife opted for water, which was promptly brought in an iced carafe - a touch of class to be sure!  In due course, the vittles arrived and the presentation was nice.  The burger was on a shiny and fresh bun and the burger sat majestically inside of it.  To the left of the burger was what was called "A simple salad" which consisted of a handful of every fancy green lettuce like green that can be found on earth which was soaked with some sort of house dressing.  The vegetation was not cold, and honestly, I like my salads cold and the dressing was almost flavorless. To the left of that was a portion of kettle cooked potato chips, fresh, right out of the ten-pound container kept in the kitchen for such occasions.  So, fully two-thirds of the plate, the pride of the kitchen, was unacceptable.  But that left the burger.  We have somewhat of a split decision on the burger.  For me, the most flavorful part of the burger was the balsamic fried onions.  The single slice of swiss cheese faded into nothingness and as for the flavor of mushrooms, well, it did not exist.  The burger was, at least juicy for me.  For my poor wife, she asked for her burger to be made with cheddar cheese, and they did that but it seems while they were looking for a piece of cheese for her they left the burger on the grill too long and her burger could serve as a hockey puck.  Our bill came to $27 and with the tip $32, the waitress performed her function well.  She was cheerful and helpful and laughed at a joke I told her.  So she was worthy of a 20% tip.  The food at BEST was lackluster and while the prices are average for a trendy, youthful place, $12.99 for the processed dog food we were served was too much to pay. 

                           THE POSITIVE SIDE OF THIS REVIEW

I DO recommend Next Door American Eatery if you want to go out for an evening of relaxation and pub grubbing.  No bar can make bad pug grub so you should be safe there.  Also, on the way in you will see board games that you can take to your table to play with your friends, there is a large menu of craft beers if you are into that (Prices $5 - $12 per glass- not sure if that is for a pint.)   Just don't go here and expect to be wowed by great food.  Enjoy the beer and tap your foot to the music that plays while you play games or watch sports on the giant screen TV above the bar. 

Chubby Mike's Rating of Next Door American Eatery

Chubby Mike can only rate this restaurant 2 out of 5 which makes it below average, because of the following reasons: 

Chubby Mike does not frequent bars.  This place styles itself as an eatery but it is obvious that their main focus is the sale of craft beer and craft cocktails.  

You're out of luck you if you want a diet drink - the only one they have is water.  The waitress told a little white lie when she said she was out of diet Pepsi/Coke.  If you review the menu, you will not find it.

  The food was sub-par in many ways.   When I pay a high-end market price for a hamburger, it should be a treat for my tongue, which this offering wasn't, and room temperature salad and chips from a bag should have no place on an establishment featured burger.  If you're going to have chips, here's an idea Next Door - fry them up yourself - it's cheaper in the long run and customers will appreciate the taste of freshly made chips. 

Mauris Famous Cafe Mundelein - A Cut Above The Rest

Let's face it. Lake County has plenty of breakfast & lunch places. Some are fancy, some are elegant, some are not worth walking into to borrow a tooth pick.  

Mauri's is a place that all of the others should emulate!  

The decor is tastefully simple.  The place is usually crowded and that is for a good reason.  Mauri's gets the job done.  There are signs posted throughout the small, two storefront, restaurant stating that they work as a team and if you need anything ask any staff member. They mean what they say.  One thing that places this small restaurant above any other breakfast lunch place in the area is the fact that the staff actually seem to like working at the place. They are always pleasant and attentive. 

But of course the other shining star of course is the food.  I have now eaten there several times and all of the meals I have had there were good. I tried the eggs and ground steak with poached eggs and was surprised at the quality of the ground steak, it was good, and I am the devil to please when I order a poached egg and these came out perfectly soft boiled.  My wife swears by the senior ham and cheese omelet, she gets it every time we eat there, she says the ingredients are fresh and the eggs are done to perfection.  I have also had the country fried steak and eggs and the while the sausage gravy could have stood just a little more sausage in it, it was tasty and the steak was very tender.  If there was anything that I could criticize about both meals is that they deliver the state of Idaho when they bring you hash browns. Even Chubby Mike left some of these nice tasting spuds on his plate. 

My wife and I went to lunch there one Saturday. She ordered the BBQ Beef sandwich which was good and I, with some mental reservations, ordered the Italian beef sandwich.  I was surprised by the quality of the product.  Sometimes when you order an Italian style beef outside of a restaurant that specializes in it (i.e. Portilo's) you get beef that is over seasoned and dry. My sandwich came with a generous but not overwhelming amount of beef, green peppers and cheese melted on the top. When I took my first bite I was transported back to my youth and the sandwiches that my father used to bring home from Falco's Pizza (still in business on the southwest side of Chicago-wear a flack jacket or bring an armed body guard if you go there today,)  It was perfectly seasoned, moist and not stringy.  Bravo.   Finally I have to commend them on their French Fries - I don't know if they are hand cut, but they taste like it. This means at the very least they keep their oil clean.

Mauri's gets five stars from me and I am awarding them my Key Eatery Award.  They qualify because they present quality food, in a very clean environment, and their prices are a good value for the products they serve.   Keep it up guys! 

Mauri's Famous Cafe      Senior Friendly Menu

510 E Hawley St                                  Open for Breakfast and Lunch Daily 

Mundelein, IL 60060                          

Phone 847 949 0950

                                     

The Silo In Lake Bluff

We had a tragedy in our family a few months ago.  The local Jake’s Pizza went out of business, one day they were there, the next day they were not.  This presented us with a dilemma. I am a pizza addict.  I love the combination of bread, cheese, meat and some sort of artery clogging high fat meat all held together by a tomato sauce that whispers tomato at you and perfectly complements the rest of the ingredients.  Jakes pizza always provided a good experience for an addict like me.  When they left we had a choice of Gino’s East and another mom and pop pizza joint in a strip mall near our home.  Of course we have a local Dominos and a Papa John’s but at best I consider both of them purveyors of Imitation Pizza Style Food Substitute.  So now you know the history of why we went to the famous Silo in Lake Bluff Illinois.

Silo has been around as long as I have lived in Lake County and is famous for its food and they have even won the Chili Cook Off at Taste of Chicago three times in a row and that is a marvelous accomplishment.  The décor is okay, it is a bit tired but the quality of the food absolves this place from any real criticism of the surroundings.  In the center of the restaurant in a step down dining area above your head you can watch two model trains complete circuits of a round track.  The box cars bear advertising for local businesses and fits in with the model trains that adorn shelves on the wall. 

On our first trip there we ordered thin crust pizza, half sausage and mushroom (for me) and half cheese and mushroom (for my lovely wife.)  The pizza arrived in short order and was piping hot. On my half of the pizza there was ample cheese, sausage, and mushrooms and the crust was light and crispy.  On the other side of the table my wife also found her pizza to be supplied with just the correct amounts of cheese and mushrooms.  The tomato sauce was not overdone, there was just enough to let you know that the sauce was there.  In other words the pizza was good.

On our second visit we ordered a deep dish pizza with instructions to construct it in a similar manner to the thin crust pizza.  The pizza took eighteen minutes to arrive which is reasonable and it was again piping hot.  I have to confess, I am not a great fan of deep dish pizza.  In this case I have to say we were served a good pizza but I thought that there was just a bit too much tomato sauce slathered on the top. All in all it was good and I certainly wouldn’t spit it out but I really like thin crust better.  If you like deep dish then by all means go for it!  It is probably the best deep dish available on the North Shore.

Service was slightly better than average and our waiter was pleasant but on our second visit the waiter seemed to disappear after bringing out the pizza and we were not offered a refill of our soft drinks as he returned only to present us with the check.

To summarize, The Silo is a great place to eat.  The other items on the menu we have experienced are good, combining reasonable portions and right on target seasoning.  Visit them, you will enjoy the food. 

Hackney's on Lake - A Northern Illinois Tradition

Okay I have to make a confession here.When I decided that I was going to become the author of a restaurant blog I wanted to start off with a bang so I picked a restaurant that has been around since the 1920's which has the reputation of providing both good food and good service.  Alas, I should have stayed home. 

My visit to Hackney's on lake was on Saturday, July 27, 2013 at about noon.  There was an average crowd on hand.  I found the decor of the restaurant rather gloomy, dark, and shop worn.  Our party of eight were seated at a round table near the entrance of one of their dining rooms and there was not very much room for the eight of us.  My wife ordered the soup and sandwich combination and selected lentil soup and a chicken salad sandwich ($8.95). Since Hackney's is famous for their burgers I ordered a bleu cheese burger which comes fully dressed with lettuce, onion and tomato ($11.95). After only a short wait our food was brought.  The presentation of the food was unappealing. Mary's lentil soup needed seasoning so she added salt and pepper, tried another spoonful, added more salt and pepper and unfortunately the soup still had no taste. The half chicken salad sandwich that came with the soup had no flavor at all either. Most of her meal was fed to the dumpster.  My bleu cheese burger arrived and the french fries appeared to be of the frozen variety although they were cooked well but not seasoned at all. The hamburger tasted of nothing, I asked for it medium but it came out north of that and was pretty much overcooked.  The menu stated that they put bleu cheese in the burger as well as on top.  If there was bleu cheese in the burger it was the blandest bleu cheese that I have ever had.  

Our waiter was the only bright spot on this occasion as he was attentive and courteous and he did not balk at providing separate checks. 

Mary and I were charged $25 for food that was completely tasteless. If Chef Irvine from Restaurant Impossible came to Hackney's on Lake he would have dumped the food on the floor. 

With dark, outdated decor, tasteless food, I would have to say that between Hackney's and Wendy's if you want a good burger, try Wendy's, you'll be glad you did. 

Chubby Mike 
The Restaurant Guy

A New Restaurant Blog - Northern Illinois

Okay, why a new Restaurant Blog? Well to be honest I think that the more information that is available to the average person about restaurants will help to spend your hard earned money and get value for your dollar.

I will be operating under the following rules.  No baloney - I will tell the truth as I see it as a matter of opinion.  If a restaurant owner wants to comment on what I write, well, I welcome their comments.

Restaurants will be graded on Decor, Service, Price, and Food quality.

Restaurants being honored with a EXCELLENT will have wonderful decor, fantastic service and food that cannot be beat. Price of the entree is worth it.  This would be 5 out of 5 points.

Restaurants receiving a SUPERIOR rating will have many of the same qualities as above but less spectacular.  Price point matches the quality of the food.   This would be 4 out of 5 points.

Restaurants earning a RUN OF THE MILL rating is average in most respects. Quality of the food is "so so" with an occasional "pretty good or excellent"  Service will be fair but might be lacking a little but all in all this is a good place to eat in a pinch. This would be 3 out of 5 points.

Restaurants rated as BELOW AVERAGE  will have similar qualities to a run of the mill restaurant but the setting may be dreary, or the service may be spotty. The food will be mostly of the commercially available "portion pack" type or it may give that appearance that it is.  A below average restaurant would have a numerical score of 2 out of 5 points.

Restaurants given a score of FAIL will be deficient in food quality, service, and price. . Their product may be sub standard, over or under cooked, bland etc.  Service may be completely lacking or rude, or slow, etc.

My readers are certainly encouraged to comment on their experiences at the restaurants I am rating. Now you may ask what qualifies me to be a food critic? Well, I have eaten food all of my life and have come to know and appreciate both good food and good service.  Enjoy the blog and thank you for dropping by.