More Eatin’ and Drinkin’ in the Land of Lincoln (Phase 4 Edition)

June 27, 2020December 11, 2020 - Scott 1 Comment

Something significant happened in Illinois this weekend.

This means one thing for the Low-Rent Foodies in the Springfield area. Time to take off your masks and EAT!

So, with that, here are five local establishments that are open and ready for your hungries!

Finley’s Tap House

I first heard about Finley’s from a friend of mine at church, who is a fellow craft beer enthusiast. One day, whilst we were discussing the merits of particular brands of stout, he mentioned that the fish and chips at Finley’s were legendary.

My 49th birthday was coming up, so I chose Finley’s as my celebration destination. I was not surprised by the drink selection and the elevated bar food.

Finley's Tap House — Beer Battered Wisconsin Cheese Curds with Sriracha Aioli

What did surprise me was what else the chef had up his sleeve. Living in the 217, I don’t have much experience with gastropubs, as that’s more of a big city thing. The easiest way to describe the experience is, instead of a bar that also has food, this is a restaurant that also has a bar.

Because it was my birthday, I decided to splurge on the braised pork shank.

Finley's Tap House Springfield Illinois — Sadly, this is no longer on the menu.

Oh. My. Dog. I have never had piggy melt in my mouth like this. At $21.99, I don’t know if it quite qualified as Low-Rent, but this Foodie regrets nothing!

Finley’s is also a nice place to stop in for lunch. My daughter (Low-Rent Foodie, Jr.) recommends the Crunchy Asian Chicken Salad.

Of course, this is Springfield, so you gotta have horseshoes on the menu.

Lake Pointe Grill

I have mentioned this place before. It’s still one of my favorites, conveniently located near my wife’s office (or at least what used to be her office before the Branch Covidians took over Lincoln Land with their hysteria).

I have always appreciated the diversity of the menu at Lake Pointe, with its Midwestern take on southern classics such as BBQ, shrimp and grits and gumbo.

Lake Pointe Grill Springfield Illinois — Not on the regular menu, but this is a frequent special.

I have a feeling, though, that I’m going to be eating a lot more of their wood-fired pizzas, since owners Chris Hanken and Vic Lanzotti were forced to close the branch of Pie’s the Limit nearest to where I live due to COVID fallout. (The location on South Macarthur remains open.)

You can build your own pizza, but some of the combos they have come up with make it not worth the stress of making your own decision. My favorites are the pulled pork pizza with gouda cheese, jalapenos, and sautéed onions; the Creole pizza with shrimp and andouille sausage, and the Michigan Avenue pizza (shown below).

This pie bears much more of a resemblance to New York Pizza than Chicago, but that’s another post for another day.

La Fiesta

La Fiesta currently has three locations. It began its life as Omar’s Latin Fusion Cuisine in the former location of Xochimilco Grande at Piper Glen. Owner Omar Hernandez kept the highlights of the Xochimilco menu, made some improvements to the recipes, then added a few concoctions of his own. The “Latin Fusion” label might have thrown some people off though, so they eventually reverted to a primarily Mexican menu.

In 2017, Omar bought the La Fiesta restaurant on Stevenson Drive, rechristening it La Fiesta Grande. About that time, the Piper Glen location changed its name to La Fiesta Chatham (even though it’s technically in Springfield).

Not long after that came a very happy day when Omar opened the third location within walking distance from Low-Rent Foodie headquarters! There’s something about being able to sit on your front porch and smell fresh burritos! Speaking of which…

I love all Mexican food, but I CRAVE burritos! La Fiesta currently has seven different burritos on their menu. My favorite is the chipotle burrito (pictured above). I prefer this one with steak. It comes stuffed (and I do mean STUFFED) with black beans, rice, onions, and green peppers, and topped with that magnificent chipotle cheese dip and Pico de mango.

Two more that I order regularly are the Southwest Burrito…

La Fiesta Chatham Springfield Illinois — Loads of shredded pork inside, tomatillo sauce outside. I like it with a drizzle of Yucateca green habanero sauce. $11.99

…and the Tricolor Burrito, which is topped with ranchera sauce, cheese dip and tomatillo sauce to represent the colors on the Mexican Flag.

Lulu’s Diner

Lulu’s originally opened as an international buffet with an emphasis on Middle Eastern cuisine.

In 2017, however, it reopened under the management of Landi and Klorida Skenderi with a focus on made-from scratch American diner food.

Lulu’s in known for their friendly service, inexpensive breakfast and lunch specials and HUGE portions. I have been known to throw down some hearty breakfasts in my time, but I couldn’t even finish this corned beef skillet.

Lulu's Diner Springfield Illinois — $8.29. It’s OK to ask for a box. Don’t be a hero.

Lulu’s is one of those places where the staff knows the regulars and has their orders started before they even sit down. I can’t help but feel comfortable in a place like that, even as a first timer.

Scoop du Jour

After all that legal chowing down, you’re going to need dessert, right? So let your food settle, then head on down to Chatham and cool off at Scoop du Jour.

Shannon McCauley and Fran Abbott have been serving up coffee, fresh-made pastries, sandwiches, wraps and soups since 2015. Oh yeah, and ice cream.

Lots of ice cream.

About 30 flavors of ice cream, some of which vary from time to time.

And not just any ice cream, but Cedar Crest ice cream, from Cedarburg, Wisconsin, which is the greatest ice cream on earth. (I stand by that statement. If there is any that is better, I haven’t tried it.)

I usually get a waffle cone (made fresh daily), but sometimes, you just need a sundae.

Scoop du Jour Chatham Illinois — One scoop for $3.95. You can add another scoop for another dollar, but be advised that the scoops are generous!

These are just a few of the establishments that opened up this weekend. Many more are opening soon. This lockdown has been absolutely brutal for mom and pop places like this, so please do what you can to help them keep their doors open. One way you can do that is to share this post on social media with the hashtag #supportsmallbusiness.

Now go GETCHA SOME!

Eatin’ and Drinkin’ in the Land of Lincoln

September 19, 2018June 27, 2020 - Scott Leave a comment

By my count, there are 421 restaurants in the greater Springfield, IL area, though a few of them may have closed while I was counting. Here are four of my favorites.

Little Saigon

Just about every town has some kind of Chinese restaurant, either a buffet or a hole in the wall carryout place. Some are better than others, but they all pretty much taste the same.

I have found that Thai and Vietnamese food is much more interesting. One of the best places to get it around here is Little Saigon on Wabash. It’s not fancy, but oh is it delicious!

One of my favorite drinks to cool off with in the summer is a Thai Iced Tea ($4.95). Imagine a sweet tea with condensed milk added and you’re getting the idea. They also have 20 different flavors of freezes (also $4.95), which you can get with black pearl tapioca at no extra charge.

Thai Iced Tea Little Saigon Springfield Illinois — Thai Iced Tea

Their menu has a wide variety of Thai and Vietnamese dishes, plus a few Chinese standards for the somewhat less adventurous. The Crab Rangoon appetizer is some of the best around.

Little Saigon has 11 different soups, including variations Hu Tieu (a clear bean noodle), Mi (egg noodle) and Pho (rice noodle). If you really want an authentic pho experience, try the Pho Saigon ($9.95). The roast beef, meatballs, onions and cilantro are recognizable enough, but there are other cow parts involved that I could not quite identify. Definitely an Andrew Zimmern moment for a Midwestern white guy such as myself.

via GIPHY

Let me pause for a moment and address the word “authentic.” I’ve never been to Vietnam. Or Thailand. Or India (more on that in a minute). I really have no way of knowing if the pho I’m eating in Springfield, IL tastes the same as what you would find the locals eating in Southeast Asia. So when I say “authentic,” I am judging by how many people eating in the restaurant look like the people working in the restaurant. Or if they are speaking a language native to the ethnicity of the food being served. If it’s home cooking to them, then as far as I am concerned, it’s authentic.

Now back to this menu. As is common in East Asian restaurants, some of the entrees have a picture of a chile next to them, indicating that these are spicy dishes. Some Thai and Vietnamese restaurants are known for really cranking up the heat. Little Saigon is not one of those. Depending on who’s in the kitchen, you might get a little more curry on some days than others, but there’s nothing really outlandish. You can always ask them to dial it down too. They will make any dish just the way you want it.

Curry Noodle Little Saigon Springfield Illinois — Curry Noodle ($9.95) Normally comes with onion and green onion, but my wife doesn’t like onions.

Curry Fried Rice Little Saigon Springfield Illinois — Curry Fried Rice. This one has chicken, but you can order it with any meat that you want. **LRF PRO TIP:** If you order something other than a fried rice dish, get a side of fried rice for only $3 extra. You’ll be very glad you did.

Gateway to India

I have been a fan of Indian food for quite some time. I like to try things that are different, and from my point of view, Indian is about as different as it gets. The colors, fragrances and spice combinations are unlike anything else I have ever encountered.

I have yet to meet an Indian restaurant that I haven’t liked (St. Louis has some REALLY good ones), but the one that started it all for me is Gateway to India on Chatham Road just south of Wabash.

I must confess; I have never actually ordered off the menu here. The first time I came was for the Sunday lunch buffet, so I could try a little bit of everything. And that’s all I’ve ever done since. I guess I just don’t want to limit myself to one thing.

Before I even get to the food, I want to mention the service. My wife and I eat out a lot (probably more than we should). As a result, there are several places in the area where we definitely qualify as regulars. There’s just something about being known in a place when you walk in. It makes a restaurant feel like an extension of your home, or at least the home of a family member you enjoy visiting. I love that. My wife is sick of hearing me say how much I love that.

So how cool is it then, when you can walk into a place where the people look nothing like you, have a different primary language, cook food that’s like nothing anyone in your family tree would have ever made, and you STILL feel like you’re at your sister’s place? Where they know your drink order, and your favorite table? Where they notice if one of your family members didn’t come this time, and ask how they’re doing? Where they know what your favorite menu item is, and make it special for you if it’s not on the buffet that day—before you even ask—even if it’s been two months since you were there last?

That’s what we get at Gateway to India. Every single time. The Patel’s absolutely spoil us. It’s the best!

So what’s good at Gateway? Honestly, I recommend you go for a lunch buffet and just try everything. This cuisine, as I said, is so different from anything else you’ll eat, that you probably ought to sample until you find something you like.

Some of this food can get really spicy though (again, it depends on who’s in the kitchen that day). So if hot is not your thing, here are some relatively safe bets:

Naan—a buttery, fried bread, kind of like a pita. This goes with everything. In fact, I have seen several Indian customers use it as a utensil. It’s certainly good for mopping up sauces.
Tandoori Chicken—smoky leg quarters cooked with onions and peppers and gosh knows what else. Very craveable.
Vegetable Korma—a vegetarian dish in a bright yellow sauce. I think coconut milk is involved. Quite mild.
Chicken Makhani—this one can scooch up to medium heat some days, but it’s a good entry-level Indian dish. The red sauce has a creamy, nutty flavor. People I have taken to Gateway that weren’t fans overall usually still like this.

Gateway to India Springfield Illinois — (Clockwise from top left) Naan, Chicken Makhani, Saag Paneer (spinach and homemade cheese over Jeera, which is lightly spiced Basmati rice)

Pie’s the Limit

Pie’s the Limit has an absolutely genius concept. They take the build-your-own system used by sandwich shops and fast-casual Mexican restaurants like Chipotle and Qdoba and apply it to pizza. For $8.99, you can custom design your own 11-inch pizza with ANY combination of seven sauces, eight cheeses, nine meats and/or 16 veggies. Anything you want, and as much of it as you want for the same price. The Pie’s the Limit! (See what they did there?)

Our go-to used to be the one on Freedom Drive off of Lindbergh because it was the closest to us. However, this location has unfortunately become a COVID casualty. There is another location closer to downtown on MacArthur, and now there’s even one in Champaign!

With a 750-degree revolving deck oven, your pizza is usually ready in about five minutes. They stay busy, but they also move things along. There’s usually a fairly steady stream of people coming in, but I’ve never had to wait for a table.

It’s hard to make specific recommendations in a place like this, since you are essentially designing your meal yourself. I’m not even about to try to do the math to figure out how many potential combinations of ingredients there are. Suffice it to say you’ll never run out of options. Here are a few we’ve tried:

Pie's the Limit Springfield Illinois — Chicken and Spinach with Cheddar Jack Cheese and Spicy Sriracha Marinara.

Bella Milano

A lot of people think that because I’m Italian on my mother’s side that I would be an Italian food snob. That’s actually not the case. I’ll eat at Olive Garden. Or the Spaghetti Shop. Or a Lean Cuisine chicken Alfredo fresh out the microwave. I don’t care. With my family background, Italian food isn’t ethnic to me. It’s just food.

That having been said though, I really do appreciate places that do it well. Around these parts, the legendary place to go for Italian food is The Hill in St. Louis, a small neighborhood that was settled by northern Italians in the late 19th century and stayed that way. Lots of family-owned restaurants on The Hill, from casual to fine dining, but they all have a certain distinct flavor that is immediately recognizable to anyone who has ever been there.

One of the best tastes reminiscent of The Hill in Springfield is Bella Milano on far West Wabash. They started about 15 years ago in Edwardsville, on the Illinois side of the Mississippi. From the toasted ravioli to the Milano salad with provel cheese and crispy prosciutto, Bella Milano definitely brings the St. Louis vibe to Springfield.

At Bella Milano, you can go family style starting at $35 with a salad for four and two pizzas or entrees to share. Or you can order off the menu. There’s always a special or three as well, so make sure to ask about that.

LRF Pro tip—the dinner prices are significantly higher than the lunch prices. HOWEVER, if you go to lunch on Sunday, you get the lunch price, not the dinner price as is common in most establishments. Needless to say, we go on Sunday a lot. Going tomorrow in fact.

Lots to enjoy on this menu. I recommend just about anything labeled as Bella Signature, particularly the Tortellini, the Spaghetti Carbonara and the Pasta Three Way (pictured below).

Bella Milano Pasta Three Way Springfield Illinois — Spaghetti, ravioli and penne in meat sauce, topped with lots of provel cheese and a meatball, and baked. $13.99 on the lunch menu.

Hungry yet? My work here is done. Now go GETCHA SOME!

Catholic Fish

March 7, 2018March 14, 2019 - Scott Leave a comment

I grew up Catholic in Central Illinois. One of my childhood memories is that during Lent (the church season we are now in, which comprises the 40 days before Easter, not counting Sundays), we would always have to eat fish on Friday. When I asked why, I was told that we were abstaining from meat as a sign of sacrifice to remember Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross. Apparently fish isn’t meat.

The best reason, such as it is, for this distinction is found in St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica, which is actually a much more amusing read than it sounds. There’s a bit more to it than this, but basically it boils down to “meat is more pleasurable to eat than fish.” With Lent being a solemn season, the Church didn’t want people going out of their way to make merry.

There’s nothing about this in the Bible, of course, because Lent didn’t exist yet when the Bible was written. And St. Thomas Aquinas wasn’t writing down his discourse until the 13th century, so obviously, we’re dealing with a lot of tradition that evolved through the centuries.

The problem with made-up rules is that you’re always. . .

Looking for loopholes.

By my teen years, I had come up with several. Our local Godfather’s Pizza had shrimp available as a topping. That was legal. (I know, veggies would have also been legal, but HELLO, TEENAGER! And don’t get me started on cheese pizza. That’s like kissing your sister.) Once I got tired of shrimp on a pizza, I learned to time the arrival of a Domino’s pizza precisely at 12:01 AM on Saturday. Also legal.

Basically, being a rebellious teenager, I was looking to do ANYTHING but fish. When I officially broke from the Church as an adult, I would deliberately eat cheeseburgers and such on Friday as an act of rebellion.

After a while though, I came to a realization. Catholics have been eating fish on Fridays for centuries. When you do something for a really long time, you tend to get really good at it. One day, one of my fellow Protestant friends said, “I’m craving Catholic fish. Where can I go to get Catholic fish this Friday?” Lightbulb moment. Churches all over our area were hosting Lenten fish frys. And youthful rebellion aside, I really actually like a good piece of fried fish.

So we started making the rounds in Sangamon County. We learned the subtleties of each venue, so by now when we crave “Catholic fish,” it’s a very specific craving as to WHOSE Catholic fish we are craving. Knights of Columbus #4179 on Lake Springfield has the Cajun flavor. Holy Cross Parish in Auburn has fried AND baked fish as well as shrimp, and is all-you-can-eat with fast lines.

One of my favorites now, though, is the Little Flower Men’s Club fish fry in Springfield. These folks have been serving up 800 pounds of fish every Friday in Lent for over 20 years now. They also have grilled cheese, mini cheese pizzas and corn dogs (meat is apparently still legal if you’re below a certain age) for the kids who don’t like fish. They also have ice cream and fresh-made mini donuts for dessert.

The main draw for me, however, is two words–TACO BAR! It’s such a simple thing, but it’s SO GOOD! They have tortillas, lettuce, cheese and salsa like you might expect. But they also have these three sauces that are out of this world. They have a Baja sauce, with flavors of onion, garlic and spicy jalapeno. They have a mild Lime Crema (on top in the picture above) and my favorite, the Cranberry Chipotle.

Chipotle, which is essentially a dried, smoked jalapeno, is one of my favorite flavors in the whole wide everything. It should have a strong smoke flavor and a bite that makes you sit up straight and say, “Oh!” One of my biggest pet peeves is when restaurants or other products use the C-word and don’t deliver on that flavor. This sauce has it.

I crave these Catholic fish tacos so hard that last year, we actually got in line on the first Friday in Lent 45 minutes before the doors opened. The tacos in the picture at the top of this post were the very first ones served that year.

Yes, they’re that good. Go getcha some!
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