Best Steak in the Subrubs

The city gets a lot of attention when it comes to steakhouses. Gibson's Morton's and all the rush street establishment's get their fare share of press but seldom do we hear about the suburbs. There's some great place's to get a steak in the suburb's but you have to know where to go.

The Trib reviewed some of the best places to grab a steak in the burbs. Check out the video review after the jump.

First Slice Cafe

Happy New Year! A new year brings a new post of a new restaurant or a cafe in this case, First Slice Cafe.


View Larger Map
163 E Pearson
Chicago, IL 60611

4401 N. Ravenswood
Chicago, Illinois 60640 

Quick Review: Stopped in at the Downtown location of First Slice and now I have a favorite cafe for pie and coffee.

Long Review: After a quick tip from a friend I decided to check out the downtown location of First Slice inside the Old Water Filtration Building (across the street from the Water Tower) on Michigan Avenue. The entrance was a bit hidden as it's in the middle of the building on Pearson, removed from the hustle and bustle of Michigan Avenue.

I walked in and saw the cafe laid out inside the entrance. The interior space is very nice, quite and calming. Couches and chairs are off to the for patrons to sit and read a book while sipping their coffee. There's also a couple of large tables near the counter so finding a seat shouldn't be a problem. Though, when I stopped by it was around 5pm a couple of days before Christmas and wasn't very crowded to my surprise.  

Said friend and I walked up to the counter and wondered what to order. Since I wasn't in the mood for coffee I just grabbed a Pelligrino from their case that offers cold beverages; a Chai latte for her. I noticed the case with pies in it turning around- so many different pies to choose from. I grabbed a mint pie and my friend got a slice of Pumpkin Cinnamon. We then noticed the large lemon bars stacked up on a cake platter. We couldn't resist and picked one of those up to.

Since it was around dinnertime (and we didn't want to just get sweets) we looked over their other food items they had to offer. I got a spinach quiche and my friend an arugula and spinach leaf salad tossed with walnuts and cranberries. The total came to around $17 dollar for everything.

The Spinach Quiche was delivered to the table once it was heated up. Tasty and not too eggy or runny. Well made, as was the salad. I took a sip of the Chai latte, it was alright. The pies were the highlight of the whole meal though. Both of them were delicious and I would come back just for a slice of pie (or two slices).

All in all a nice cafe Downtown to stop and relax. They are a vegan cafe (which I didn't even notice being a non-vegan) and donate a portion of their profits to local charities. They also have two other locations in the city so be sure to check them out.


Overall Rating: 4 out 5 stars

* I've recently moved to New York so for NYer's and visitors alike be on the lookout for New York Restaurant Review soon*

Chicago's Best Ribs

Chicago's Best Margaritas

Chicago Best Resturants by Occasion

There's a lot of great places in the city to go to eat but here to the top six places to go to sorted by occasion.  From brunch to drinks to drinks here's "the list."


Weekend Brunch-


North Pond
2610 N Cannon Dr
Chicago, IL 60657

This Lincoln Park locale serves up sweet onion veloute soup with crab from a weekend prix fix menu ($29) The food is as good as anything you'll find during dinnertime.

Lunch Downtown- 
1028 N Rush St
Chicago, IL 60611 

Gibson's - Big portions, big steaks and big deserts. Gibson's is the place to go for lunch (to avoid the dinner crowd and the long waits) If you're savoring some grilled steak or fish than head up Rush Street to one of Chicago's best steakhouses.


For the Foodies-

Moto-
945 W Fulton Market
Chicago, Illinois 60607

 Most foodies will be impressed if they don't realize you're truing to impress them. Though, you wont just impress a foodie Moto will outright baffle them with entrees that look like they're from the next century.

Good Date Spot-

Tango Sur-
 3763 N Southport Avenue
Chicago, IL 60613
 
Dim lighting, great drinks and great food makes this a top date spot. This BYOB Argentinean spot in Lakeview offers great entrees such as the churrasco, a slab of chimichurri-topped beef.

Late Night-

Japonais-
600 W Chicago
Chicago, IL 60610
 
With glamorous indoor and outdoor spaces it's hard to choose which one to pick. The restaurant serves until 11pm.

Favorite Cafe-
3601 N Southport Ave.
Chicago, IL 60613 

Julius Menil- Vienna in Chicago. This place has a great relaxed European cafe vibe to it and some of the best coffee, sandwiches, and pastries in the city. The Mozart cake is absolutely delicious.

D's Haute Dogs Review

 551 Lincoln Ave
Winnetka, IL 60093


View Larger Map

Short Review: Went up to the North Shore for some hot dogs and came across D's Haute Dogs. Even though this place is not as good as Mustard's Last Stand (which will have it's own review next week) it is still has some great food to serve up. Who knew? Hot dogs in Winnetka.


Long Review: I stepped in when I went out to lunch with a friend. My standard yellow flags were raised when I noticed no one was inside on a Saturday at noon. There was just one family sitting outside. (However, this is standard for many North Shore restaurants as it is hard to run a restaurant there)

After pondering over the menu for a while I settled on the Chicago Dog with fries. $7.50. A bit on the pricey side without a drink but then again the North Shore property taxes are what drive the prices up.

The counter person was very nice and served us professionally. It's also decorated similar to Mustard's with local sports photos on the walls of the various organizations in the area. They have a nice little outdoor seating area which is good for the summertime.

All in all a nice little hot dog/ burger joint in the area.

4 out of 5 stars.

Greek Islands West Lombard Review

View Larger Map300 E 22nd St
Lombard, IL 60148

There aren't that many places to go for Greek food in Lombard so it's no surprise this place gets packed on weekends. Actually, all the restaurants get packed in the western suburbs after a certain hour on the weekends.

Went for an early dinner, arriving early because the wait can be 20-30 minutes during the diner rush hour, and it can be hard to seat anyone if you arrive too late. It was just starting to fill up when we arrived.

After a short wait we got a table by a window in the bar section of the restaurant which is the first time I've sat there. We pondered over the menu for appetizers and we greeted by our waiter. We ordered the usual: Greek Salad, Taramasalata and Calamari

Flaming Saganaki's and the accompanying "Opah!" were going of around us, we were use to it by now and too concerned with our food (it's also kind of gimmicky but people who have never seen it enjoy it)

The appetizers were good as usual.

 Our waiter was attentive and made his best effort in checking up on our table despite the place filling up quickly and having other tables to wait on.

I ordered the Arni Fournou, or the roast lion of lamb.I always order the lamb, that's one of meats of Greece.


It was a little overcooked yet still juicy, and good as usual. It comes with roasted potatoes which are good but a bit salty. The portions here seem larger than at the Greektown location.

During our dinner the bar area filled up quickly and the dining area became so loud we couldn't hear the other person sitting across from us unless we shouted. The main dining area is more quite in general.

For desert I ordered the Tiramisu. Good but slightly dry, it had probably been sitting in the case for a couple of days. I could barely finish it as I was filled up from the large portions.

Near the end of desert I  looked out the window saw a mouse run across the dining terrace outside and watched as he slipped into a crack in the building. Presumably going into the basement or headed toward the kitchen. This is the first time I've seen anything like at here and I've been a lot over the years.

Despite that, if you want some pretty good Greek food in the western suburbs than Greek Island's is the place.

Overall rating 3.5 out 5