Burrrr - Ger!

This is the burger from Reel club in Oak Brook at 272 Oakbrook Center
Oak Brook, IL And it is ridiculous. This Burger is so freakin Monte-licious you will wanna hug me. It is juicy, meaty, covered in bacon, and sweet grilled onions, with a soft bun.... what more could ask for? Maybe the ability to make love to one of the cute waitresses? If I were single!

The Bongo Room for breakfast. Remember Congo Bongo on Atari 5200?

The Bongo Room in Wicker Park at 1740 N. Milwaukee Ave. Serves up a Monte-licious breakfast, and on of my recent faves.... The BLT Benedict with a pesto hollandaise sauce is delicious. They use spinach, and bacon, topped by a wonderfully monte-riffic poached egg, and that pesto hollandaise sauce... it makes the meal. It comes served with triangled , seasoned red potatoes, get em well done, which are very tasty, and the english muffin is good.

One of my favorite things about the meal was, I took half home, and reheated it the next day in my counter top convection oven... it was so goooood! Even the next day. Keep in mind I said convection oven, and not microwave. Microwaves ruin everything, don't use em.

The place is definitely expensive, they charge over $3 for a small OJ that is no more than maybe 3 shot glasses worth of product. And the meals themselves are pricey, but, and this is important, for the meal, it's totally worth it. Completely. Skip the drinks. The service is good, and there are a lot of cute girls there. And the ladies will probably like the boys there.

Shizzity Shaw's Crab House.

when yer ready to splurge, go to Shaw's, it is definitely Monte-licious!
Shaw's in Chicago is at 21 E. Hubbard in the Near North Side. We had the wedge salad, which they have one of my all time favorite house salad dressings there. We also had the King Salmon, Grouper and Raspberry pie. And by we, I mean me and my wife, Meatball Head.

My favorite breakfast spot closed. Sad face.

My favorite spot for breakfast was a place called Patty's Diner which was at 3358 Main St. in Skokie, Il. It is gone/closed/finito. It closed Dec. 31st. 2010. This place was absolutely the best place I have ever been to for Ham Hash, a hamburger, and biscuits & gravy. It was owned and run by Patty and her sisters, and a few friends for 20 years! I am still saddened by it's absence, so here are a few pics. to remember it by.

New York Deli in Chicago?! What? Yes, it's true. And it's good!

This is not me in the photo, it is Kevin Hogan, they guy I photographed.

So I do head shots for people from time to time. I am a great photographer, and I give a great deal. $50, you get great head shots and you buy me a lunch/meal/sandwich. It's a great deal for everyone involved, and it brings me to new places to eat I am not yet familiar with.

Last week I shot a man named Kevin Hogan, he was down for the deal, and excited to bring me to a place he knew of that I have never been to before. Exciting for me!

We ended up a place called New York Deli at 2921 N. Clark St. in Lakeview. The sandwich was Monte-licious!! I got a sandwich called the RJ that had pastrami, and turkey on it. It comes with a little olive oil and herbs on top the bun that has been lightly toasted, I loved the bread!

The place was great, and I learned some neat suff about Kevin. I learned that Kevin had owned a few hot dog carts in St. Louis, which has been a dream of mine since I was a child. But I wanna own em in Chicago. I also learned he went to Harvard on a full scholarship for one semester, it was what was free, and after that he returned to St. Louis and went somewhere local he could afford. Super cool!!

So to sum it up, the sandwich at New York Deli was great, and worth checkin out. My only gripe, the kid who took our order was kind of a dick, but Kevin said he wasn't familiar with that kid, and that the other guy who showed up later was cool, and made a bigger sandwich. So next time, I am expecting bigger and better, and will leave if I see the kid that was there my first time.

Sick Steak Tacos!! Sick!!

Sol De Mexico at 3018 N. Cicero Ave. in Chicago's Cragin neighborhood has some of the absolute tastiest, most Monte-licious steak tacos I have eatin in a loooong time!! Plus they come with this amazing sauce of sour cream and stewed/grilled onions. I had it on the side due to my freakin lactose intolerance, but I ate it all, and I paid for it later trust me.

They also make their own tortilla shells, this to me is top notch. So check it out, but be prepared for a more inflated tab vs. most other places. You are gonna pay for the quality here, believe me. Oh, don't keep anything visible in yer car that has any value. It's not the worst eighborhood, but I have my car broken into before in the area, but not at the restaurant itself. Just watch yer belongings over there is all I'm sayin.