Dropping anchor once again

After seven years of writing this column, we are proud to say we have never repeated a restaurant. That is partially due to the fact that after we review them, for some reason, they go out of business. Was it something we said???

All aboard!

Recently our son and his family came for a visit from the great state of Florida. They have a seven year old son, Henrik, and four year old twin daughters, Ana and Greta. As it is with most grandchildren these days, it seems like they have to be constantly entertained every hour, every minute, every second, of every day, 24/7 during their four day stay.

Spelunking for dinner

As you may or may not know, Nancy is President of the Sun City Bocce Club. Every year, from the beginning of May to the beginning of June, it is absolute chaos in the Dining Duo household. There are an average of 12 calls a day with such earth shattering questions like: “did I sign up for bocce ball last year, if so, when do I play,” and the ever popular, “where are the bocce ball courts?”

Lunch in a garden

Spring is in the air, tra-la, tra-la. Nancy’s mind turns to thoughts of . . . landscaping. She gave me a reprieve for the last two years due to my bionic knee and hip replacements. As a result, all of our perennials somehow turned into annuals. It was now time for me to pay the piper. We took a ride to our local nursery and began looking in the “no watering required and impossible to kill” plant section. After hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds of dollars spent on “supposed” perennials, and a must have concrete smiley face sculpture for another couple hundred dollars, the two of us and our wallets were both running on empty. In keeping with the garden theme, we decided to have lunch at Lily Garden Restaurant in Lake in the Hills.

And so, armed with beef jerky and Twizzlers, began the Dining Duo’s “Christmas Vacation” to see the grand kids in Jupiter, Florida.

The Dining Duo’s best of 2018

Another year and 23 restaurants bite the dust. This was a tough year to review restaurants since we had a run of mediocre venues. Jim and I sat down, locked ourselves in our office, and tried to pick the best 10 restaurants by pondering over the reviews we did last year. “Pondering” is such an understatement; it was more like yelling, screaming, biting, and kicking.

1 tequila, 2 tequila, 3 tequila, floor…

Jim officially retired on October 1, and boy is he enjoying his free time. He has spent most of his days touring doctors’ offices staffed by the medical team of Moe, Larry, and Curly, with Shemp being on call. He also visited the hospital, the emergency room, and physical therapists trying to get his new knee and hip play nice together. These truly are the “Golden Years.” We wanted to celebrate the doctors’ decision to let him graduate from a walker to a cane, so we decided to try Good Tequila’s Mexican Grill in Elk Grove Village. Is there such a thing as bad tequila???

It’s not in Addison…

We decided to go all out for Jim’s “Last Supper” before he goes “under the knife” once again. He is turning into a living “Operation Game.” The doctor replaced his knee and the buzzer went off, WRONG!!! Now, the hip doctor is giving it a try with a back surgeon waiting in the wings. Jim is turning into the bionic food critic. He felt he needed a good steak before surgery, so we thought we’d give Addison’s Steakhouse in McHenry a try.

Lucy, I’m home!

Before Nancy and I moved to the sunny confines of Sun City, we lived in Hoffman Estates, which is basically a suburb of Schaumburg. Our days living there included a lot of fond memories, such as when our son played basketball for a church league that was coached by one of my high school buddies. He coincidentally now also lives in Del Webb. After the games, the whole team would often go to a local haunt and “lick their wounds” over a big pepperoni pizza. We decided to revisit this haunt and “go back home” to Riccardo’s Ristorante in Schaumburg.

Where is it??

While we were scouring the countryside in search of new and exciting eateries, one restaurant in particular piqued our interest. In researching this restaurant we became very confused. Its address is listed as St. Charles. It’s located across the street from Niko’s Tavern and Mel’s Diner in Campton Hills, which we recently reviewed. The website address says Wasco, but the name of the restaurant is Old Towne. So, where is it??? We’ll tell you how to get there, but the world may never know its exact location. We are referring to The Old Towne Pub & Eatery in Wasco.

Gifford’s… not Kathy Lee

“What’s in a name”?

“You can’t judge a book by its cover”.

These two sayings apply to the restaurant we are reviewing today. The building’s exterior does not do justice to the beautiful wood accented interior. We are referring to Gifford’s Kitchen & Social in Elgin. Dining Duo Useless Information: This restaurants namesakes, Hezekiah and James Gifford, founded the city of Elgin in 1835.

Where’s the ‘Grits!?’

When we were reviewing Niko’s Tavern & Neighborhood Grill in Campton Hills, we drove by a little place called Mel’s Diner. Could this be the place where the 1970’s sitcom “Alice” was filmed? Will Mel and Alice be inside? Would Flo be there yelling “kiss my grits”? Inquiring minds want to know.

How now Blue Cow

Several of our loyal readers recommended a new restaurant in the neighborhood. Since we both love Polish food, we put it at the top of our list. One evening we jumped into the Mini-Mobile and headed out in search of kapusta pierogis. When we pulled into the parking lot, we spotted a sign over a storefront that said Polish Restaurant. We said to each other, “this must be the place.” We are referring to the Blue Cow Polish Restaurant in Lake in the Hills.

Schnitzel happens

Nancy has been having a craving for different types of ethnic foods lately. I hope she’s not pregnant! This time it is a craving for German cuisine. She was reminiscing about how her and her mother would go shopping at the Harlem Irving Plaza (HIP) and out to lunch. She remembered passing by a cute German restaurant on Irving Park Road in Norridge called Edelweiss. So again, into the Mini-Mobile, and off we went in search of schnitzel.

Meeting around the table

The Neighborhood 35 Supperclub is on the road again. This time we traveled to the South Barrington Arboretum to “meet around the table” with our friends. What better place to do this than a restaurant with the name Incontro a Tavola, which loosely translates to “meeting around the table.”

Due to some new construction and the fact that the restaurant is by a roundabout, parking is a challenge. Just be creative and put on your walking shoes. Since Jim’s new knee is not playing nice, I was his own personal valet parking attendant.

Cruisin’ to Carrabba’s

Nancy and I seem to be slaves to our food cravings lately. First it was Chinese food, and now Nancy had an insatiable desire for lasagna. She remembered that one of the stops on a Del Webb Senior Safari was Carrabbas Italian Grill. The one she went to is now closed, so the next closest one we found was in Woodridge. Off we went in the Mini-Mobile, Nancy salivating at the thought of having her craving satisfied.

Sammy’s “SI”

The World Cup is in full swing, and the entire planet is excited about “Futbol”, except for the U.S. We call it soccer and consider whatever “da Bears” do to be football. So what better way is there to join in the celebration since Mexico is in the World Cup, but with a dinner at Sammy’s Mexican Grill in Elgin.

Niko’s – Part Deaux

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The sun was shining, the birdies were chirping, and the Del Webbers were out walking their fluffy white doggies. What does the Dining Duo do on such a lovely afternoon? I’m glad you asked. We hop into the Mini-Mobile and venture out in search of food. We do have to keep up our strength, you know. It was such a gorgeous day for a drive in the country, and we wanted to go to Ream’s Meat Market in Elburn for some sausages to put on the barbie that evening.

See Yu’s for dinner

“Yu” know what they say about Chinese food? They say, “after you’ve had it, a few hours later, you’re hungry, and want it again.” This saying proved to be true with us. We just reviewed a Chinese restaurant, and we found ourselves having an overwhelming desire for Chinese food again.

Chinese food ‘your way‘

It was a dark and stormy Saturday afternoon, and Jim and I had an intense craving for Chinese food, but we didn’t want to venture far from home. We drove up to what we thought was a new restaurant with shiny brand new signage. We were, as Confucius would say, confused because the front window had the old restaurant’s website on it, and the welcome mat also had the old restaurant’s name on it.

Proudly Serving the Community of Sun City in Huntley

Proudly Serving the Community of
Sun City in Huntley