chips are about their only edible offering. They do still offer a danish mustard on the table. I also happen to have a 1985 guide to Oak Park/River Forest dining by one Lee Brooke, the VI of his day (?). The book features both a...

You know this is not really much of a point, and it is something I kind meant to mention anyway, but tips or no tips, I like nearly every Mexican place I go. I mean every “real” place. Maybe it’s just because I...

very interesting post. I am a Californian and I don’t know the answers to some of these questions. Carnitas though are supposed to go with tortillas. Burritos can have anything inside, cheese, fish, shrimp,eggs, potatoes,...

sponge cake for quick easy jelly rolls, roasting veggies, and making your own tortilla chips, etc. A good quality one will only cost about $10-15. (check the size of your oven before you buy them). Versatile and useful gadgets:...

Garlic and everything qualify. Oat bran, sun dried whatever, pesto, chocolate chip and blueberry are stretching reality. I must admit I liked an Asiago one at Sonoma Bagels in San Francisco and a jalapeno cheddar once as well,...

I LOVE SMITTY"S!!! They have amazing meats and other great things...love their wine selection and the potato chips at the bar ROCK! Bistro 45 has always been enjoyable along with Arroyo Chop House. SHIRO is my fav on that side of...

puree, fried potatoes, and the amazing donuts that you dip in hot chocolate. My Spanish friend swooned, it was all so real. Runner up: A Cote in Rockridge, if only for the fantastic fries and the esoteric apperitifs, though...

't miss this opportunity for a couple of good Global knives while you’re at it. As for crystal, I would go for the line that seems least likely to chip at the rim (and, if none suits your fancy that qualifies, there’s...

I had a perfect summer lunch today. A sandwich of Brandywine tomato/English cuke/lettuce/red onion sprinkled with balsamic vinegar, salt and freshly ground pepper on Grace potato bread eaten outside with a big glass of ice tea...

chips they supposedly toss in before bottling. It was nice to see someone else note “off” flavors, and then I read your post, Jim, and now I wonder if my taste is what’s "off."

—the salmon, which was broiled and topped with garlic chives, with a lattice potato pancake underneath. It was great, but it seemed like it came from another restaurant. Everything else, with the exception of the desserts,...

....very good. They offer chips and salsa on the house – not the case at La Bamba. And I highly recommend the pork tamales-only $1.50. The owners are Salvadorean (?) and their tamales are more moist than most Mexican...

those sandwiches that you make in a toaster thingy – nice and warm and gooey – for about 5/6 bucks and they come with a small but good salad (or you can get potato salad i think) - You have to go all the way in the...

DITTO! it is such a cheat when the recipe has gobs of cream or butter. A sweet potato recipe someone raved about comes to mind “so EASY!” yeah...pour two cupps of cream over sweet potatoes and they’ll be...

Trader Joe’s stocks around 90% things I’d never buy—gross and expensive packaged food, crappy produce, perhaps the world’s worst tortillas and tortilla chips. But the prices on and quality of the remaining...