The flights looked pretty good, so I decided to make a go of it. I left work a few hours early to catch the 8 am flight to Chicago and get my adventure started. After a very uneventful flight (the best kind of flight) I arrived in to O'Hare and went to get the rental car and start going.
I headed in towards the city and drove to the nearby suburb of Norridge to a place in a small strip mall called "Rex Italian Foods". I entered thinking that it was more of a Italian shop than a restaurant, but it is more of a restaurant that has specialty Italian items for sale. They make all types of Italian specialties on premises and also have deli meats and prepared salads and frozen foods and desserts. I sort of felt like I was in a Italian food wonderland, it all looked so good.
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| Rex Italian Foods |
I walked around just gazing at all of the great stuff. I met the owner Anthony Pinello and talked to him about my travels and he told me about the place and Guy's visit. There was just so much to choose from, but the Sausage Calzone looked great and the price was incredibly low only $3.95. Anthony delivered the extremely hot calzone and then told me that his chef was someone I had to meet. Walking out from the kitchen area was a shorter guy that looked exactly like Guy!
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| My Sausage Calzone |
He introduced himself, Joey "That Guy" Kornatowski. He has had the "Guy" look for about 20 years which was even before Guy made a name for himself. Joey has been a chef for years and also has been in a band. When the real Guy met him he asked Joey not to sue him as he has had the look for a shorter amount of time. Joey opened for Guy when his "Guy Fieri Roadshow" came to Chicago in 2009 (I attended the roadshow in Norfolk).
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| I am with Joey and Anthony at Rex Italian Foods |
After finishing off the calzone, I said my goodbyes to the staff and headed off. By the way the Calzone was fantastic. They encouraged me to come back the next day as it was Halloween and they would be all dressed up.
I drove towards the city as the next few places I wanted to try were on the south side of the city. traffic was not too bad, it was heavy, but steady so I made my way to my next stop. This was and older neighborhood and as I arrived the place was just opening. This is the first time I have been to a restaurant that features the cuisine of Belize. "Garifuna Flava" is a place that serves the neighborhood as both a restaurant and on the weekends a nightclub. They also sponsor a yearly festival to celebrate the heritage of Belize. I looked over the menu and the thing that really jumped out at me was the 321 Appetizer plate. The plate consists of 3 Panades, 2 Jerk Wings and 1 Garnache,
The plate came and it was awesome. The Panades are a empanada like turnover that is filled with hashed Buffalo Fish and the Garnache is a tostada like flat corn tortilla topped with refried beans, lettuce, cheese and ketchup. The wings were excellent with a bit of spice but not too much and in Belize they serve them with the sauce on the side. I was too excited about the Panades as they were a bit dry and not too flavorful, the biggest surprise was the Garnache, this was awesome, I was a bit scared with the ketchup sauce, but it tasted great!
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| The 321 Appetizer plate at Garifuna Flava |
As I finished I told the waitress about my journeys and asked if I could get the book signed so she went and got the owner to sign it. He then told me that I had to get a picture taken for their books, so we traded photos of myself with the waitress in front of the map of Belize. I really enjoyed both the food and the staff.
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| My waitress at Garifuna Flava with the map of Belize |
I headed out to my next stop and the one that I was really looking forward to. Let me first say that my past history on Triple D places that I was really looking forward to going to has not been that great, I am not sure if my expectations are too high, but in many cases they haven't lived up to what I saw on the episode. I drove into a classic Chicago South Side neighborhood and arrived at "The Original Vito and Nick's Pizzeria" This place has been in business for over 50 years and features what they say is the true Chicago pizza, not deep dish, but thin crust pizza. It is the epitome of the classic neighborhood bar with a big bar and a big room. I was really hoping that they had a small version of their pizza, but they didn't and I found that the price was a bit steep, so I chose the Meatball sandwich. I was very surprised that they place was very slow, only two or three others and very quiet. The server was very friendly and very nice to all of us in the restaurant. The sandwich came and I thought the meatballs were quite good, although I found the sauce to be a bit on the bland side. They served it with a side of sweet peppers which made it better. The bread was the best, chewy and tasty!
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| The Original Vito and Nick's Pizzeria |
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| My Meatball Sandwich with Sweet Peppers on the side |
I asked the waitress to get my book signed and she signed it and I asked about the place and the filming. She told me that the owner who had been a big part of the episode was sick and in the hospital and that since it was so slow they didn't need the full crew there and that it was pretty unusual for them to be so slow. On the episode they showed the pizza makers at work which features the throwing of the pizza boards and I guess that's why I was a bit disappointed, but next time I get to Chicago I want to go on a busy time to see the full show! From there it was time to get ot the hotel for the night and take a brief rest before heading out to the next places
After a short break I headed out to two places that would end my day and (at least on the map) were not too far from where I was staying out by O'Hare. My GPS showed that as the crow flies my next stop was less than 10 miles from the hotel and that even n the traffic it should take about 20 minutes. Well, let me tell you, the GPS lied! It took over an hour to drive that 10 miles and it wasn't the highway traffic that was the problem, yes it was heavy, but it took almost 15 minutes to get off the highway and then had to stop at every light along the surface streets! I guess Chicago doesn't like to synchronize traffic lights. It was very frustrating!
After the long ride I arrived at "Cemitas Puebla" a small restaurant tat does a huge carry-out business to the neighborhood. They have a few tables so they do some eat-in business like me, but all in all carry-out is their business. The restaurant is family owned and features a sandwich that is unique to the families hometown of Puebla, Mexico. The Cemitas are sandwiches made on homemade sesame seed rolls with the meat of choice and avocado spread, house made sauce, and Oaxacan cheese. I chose the Milanesa which is a breaded pork loin.
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| The Milanesa Cemitas |
The cheese, which is Mexican is very much like Mozzarella and is very chewy when melted. I thought the pork was very tasty, but I didn't like the cheese it was very stringy and I did like the softness of the inner roll.
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| The goodies inside the Milanesa Cemitas |
When I approached the staff so I could get my book signed I explained what I wanted and got the stare of "I have no idea what you are talking about" This is a family run place so a few of the staff didn't understand what I was talking about, but the young guy did and was very happy to sign. I think that if you are in the area, it is worth a visit since this type of sandwich is very different.
From there I headed to my last stop of the day, a place that is very famous due to the show, it was featured on one of the first episodes of "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" and has become somewhat of a Chicago institution. I have had several people ask me if I had been to this place and when I answere they asked me "why!". I had finally made it to "Smoque"!
This restaurant is not that big, but they do big business! Most of the tables are communal and they feature just about every type of barbecue, but they best known for their brisket. I decided on the half brisket sandwich with Cole slaw and Mac and Cheese.
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| Smoque Barbecue - Low and Slow! |
I also got a fountain drink and I know I might be offending some with this next statement, but even though they make great southern style barbecue, they can't make good Sweet Tea in Chicago! They called my number and I went up to get my meal. They gave me 2 types off sauce; one was a Carolina style vinegar based sauce and the other was a Memphis style thick sweet sauce, both were excellent but really unnecessary! The sliced brisket was unreal! It reminded me of the great brisket at the Pecan Lodge in Dallas. It was juicy, with great bark and no knives were needed! I used the bread to taste the sauce! The Cole slaw was very good too, with a vinegar base and a tad of sweet to offset the vinegar. Last but not least the Mac and Cheese, baked in a small container and very cheesy with a nice crust.
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| My Smoque meal |
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| Beef Brisket |
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| The sauces on the left is the Carolina Style Vinegar base on the right is the Memphis style sweet sauce |
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| Smoque's Mac and Cheese |
This was a great meal, Smoque had definitely lived up to their well deserved reputation! I will return here, actually I wish they would expand to the DC area, I'm sorry but I wish we had some good barbecue joints! I headed back to the hotel and really had to think about the next day, the places I was planning togo towere more in the city and with the traffic as bad as it was on this day it would be worse as it would be Halloween and the weather reports were not good! So there were some maps to look at and decisions to be made!
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