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MY SUN DAY NEWS

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August 10, 2023

Jim & Nancy Eggers

‘REAL’ onion soup

Every once in a while, the food gods smile down on the Dining Duo. Such was the case at our last neighborhood Christmas party where we won a $65 gift card to a local restaurant. We checked the menu prices online, and after seven short months, we finally saved up enough additional money to use our gift card. We put on our Sunday best, and headed off to Montarra Grill in Algonquin.

Caution, construction ahead

June is busting out all over. The weather went directly from a freeze warning to a heat warning. The flowers are in full bloom which means those orange cones are also in full bloom along all of our roadways. You can’t escape construction, not even in restaurants. This is the case with Jiang’s Mongolian Grill in Algonquin.

A stone’s throw away

Since we are retired and have the word “sucker” tattooed across our foreheads, we volunteer for everything and have absolutely no free time. We checked our calendar and to our amazement, we found a day with no appointments. With this new found free time, what is the number one choice for a senior mental health day? Going for lunch and to a casino!!! Some of you may not realize that there is a new Hard Rock Casino being built a stone’s throw away in Rockford at the site of the Old Clock Tower Inn. While this in under construction, a temporary location is open in a strip mall right down the street. Upon further investigation, we discovered a restaurant which caught our attention while Googling restaurants near the casino and found the Stone Eagle Tavern.

What?!?!

Nothing screams “date night” like an evening out with your significant other at a nice romantic Italian restaurant. “Screams,” being the operative word, will be explained later. Please read on…

Jim had a taste for his favorite Italian dish, Veal Saltimbocca, and the restaurant that made it the best years ago was Cucina Bella in Algonquin.

A hint of springtime

Mother Nature has been teasing us with hints of sunshine and warm weather to come. Because of that, our thoughts immediately went to outdoor grilling. However, we waited too long and a couple of hours later we were back to winter. Don’t you just love the Chicago weather???

A vine-covered hacienda

A restaurant’s life is a very complicated one. It has its ups and downs, highs and lows, with new owners or management in control. Years ago, we loved a nearby Mexican restaurant, but as time went by, it fell out of favor. We recently received a letter bragging how good it was, so we decided after 26 years to give it a visit once again. We are referring to El Molino Mexican Restaurant in Carpentersville.

Family Memories

Once upon a time, the Dining Duo received a recommendation from one of their loyal readers requesting us to review a specific restaurant. Honestly, we have never heard of the restaurant he requested. Nancy added it to our long list of potential articles. Not being in the mood for anything ethnic, we decided to give this good old fashioned family restaurant a try.

Be careful what you wish for

For years, and years, and even more years, Panera Bread has teased us with a location supposedly opening in the famed restaurant row on Route 47 in Huntley. The paint on the sign announcing this new location is rapidly fading, but our hopes have not. We just could not wait any longer, the suspense was killing us. If Panera Bread will not come to us, the Dining Duo will go to Panera Bread, and that’s just what we did. We jumped into the Mini-Mobile and headed out to the Panera Bread in Algonquin.

Hidden in plain sight

The Dining Duo is getting old, and like the commercial says, we are starting to become our parents. We must admit, we now eat our main meal at 1:00 in the afternoon and try to be back in the safe confines of our beloved Del Webb before dark.

A valentine nightmare

The holiday feared by most red-blooded American men is rapidly approaching. I’m not talking about anniversaries, the wife’s birthday, or Sweetest Day. I’m talking about the holiday with the most pressure and angst of all: Valentine’s Day. Nancy does not appreciate flowers, she will not allow me to cook in her kitchen since I burned up the microwave handle, and chocolates are a “no-no” in keeping with her New Year’s resolution. After much contemplation, I thought of a relatively new restaurant where I can get a good steak, save a few bucks, and have a Valentine’s dinner with my better half. I whisked my sweetie off to the Longhorn Steakhouse in Algonquin. Cupid’s got nothing on me.

A breakfast bullseye

January is such a wonderful month. You wake up, open your blinds, and you think you are looking at an old black and white television screen. This is punctuated by fits of snow, freezing rain, and dense fog all in the same day. So far, 2023 isn’t looking very “bright.”

And the B.E.L.C.H. Awards go to…

Hollywood has the Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards. Broadway has their Tony Awards and music has the Grammy Awards. The food industry has the James Beard Awards and the Michelin Stars. All of these pale in comparison to the most prestigious, most sought after, and coveted award ever. Of course, we are referring to the annual Dining Duo’s B.E.L.C.H. Award (Best Eating Location Close to Huntley).

Giacomo’s favorite restaurant

If you are a regular reader of this column, you know that we sometimes have a habit of overdoing things. Since we live on a corner lot, we feel it’s our duty to honor Chevy Chase in the movie “Christmas Vacation” by filling up our yard with every imaginable blinking, flashing, and twinkling light decorations. They can take the shape of snowmen, Santa Claus, or elf figures. This is a four-day process which includes taking anti-inflammatory medications, drinking a half bottle of Fireball Whiskey, and smoking several Cuban cigars by our fireplace.

Cooked sushi

Old habits and recipes die hard, especially with Nancy. Truth be told, she is actually an excellent cook. This was evident when we were younger and had a houseful of people over for holiday dining. Now our family is dwindling and the kids and grandkids have all moved away, but the recipes stayed the same. As a result, Nancy always cooks for the holidays a meal that would easily feed 12 people even though it is just the two of us. I made the mistake of mentioning that maybe she could cut down the recipes, but to her, change is evil. The recipes have been handed down from generation to generation, and must not be tampered with. Such was the case during the recent Thanksgiving holiday.

Maple, no hash

Anytime a new restaurant opens up in our area, it causes quite a stir, especially when it’s not the usual fast food. We have been receiving a lot of questions and comments concerning a new breakfast/lunch venue that recently opened in Pingree Grove. To see what all the fuss was about, we headed out one morning to get the lowdown.

Let’s make a deal

October is such a wonderful month. It is a month that has jack-o-lanterns, witches, and appropriately, Nancy’s birthday. Since she signs up online with every restaurant possible, she is inevitably inundated with offers for birthday “freebies.” With her purse bulging with gift cards, and her phone’s email inbox full, she was armed to celebrate her birthday at the Crimson Crustacean, aka, Red Lobster Seafood Restaurant in West Dundee.

An ice cream ‘break’

The golden years are so much fun. Every day is an adventure, you never know what aches and pains the day will bring. Nancy woke up one morning with a sore ankle, which grew worse as time went on. This prompted her to call our orthopedic doctor. Getting a doctor’s appointment is no easy task since you never know which branch office within a 50-mile radius they will be in.

What’s in a name

When planning a day out with friends, they invariably ask us “where’s a good place to go for lunch.” We are trained professionals, after all. This time, however, one of our friends, Barb, remembered a sandwich that she loved from days gone by. She then suggested a restaurant that once seemed to be everywhere, but suddenly vanished off the face of the earth.

‘Berry’ difficult to find

Jim and I wanted to have a big breakfast one morning since our best friends were coming in from California and we were planning on a late dinner.

A friend of Nancy’s recommended an establishment in Crystal Lake for breakfast/brunch, and since we are always looking for new places to eat, we decided to try it out.

Now is where the fun begins.

Gators and mudbugs

One dull rainy day we were sitting around the Dining Duo palatial estate bored out of our minds. Our lives are so hectic that we cannot stay at home for a couple of hours and do nothing but relax. How screwed up are we?

Under new management

Bocce ball is one of the most strenuous sports in the world. You have to pick up a little white ball, roll it about 15 feet making sure it goes over a designated line. After this, you then have to pick up an even bigger and heavier ball and roll it as close to the little white ball as possible. It is a very complicated game.

Even though Jim and I are trained athletes, after three rounds of this exhausting activity, we work up quite an appetite. Because of this, every Friday we go out with a group of our fellow bocce athletes to refuel at a designated restaurant. The latest post game oasis was Pub 47 in Huntley, which is under new management.

A Trio-course dinner

A friend of ours, Mike, was performing a blues show one Wednesday evening and invited us to come and listen to some blues trivia and music. Truth be told, it was also his birthday and the audience was to be peppered with a lot of his friends. This was all happening at the Trio Grille in Marengo.

When we arrived, we were looking for an entrance to the restaurant and discovered the restaurant was inside the Glo-Bowl bowling alley. We didn’t bring our bowling shirts or shoes, but we went in anyway and were escorted to our table.

Winging it

Whenever Nancy and I have a day dedicated to running errands, we always like to plan out our itinerary in the morning while sucking down coffee and watching cartoons. Our travels that day would take us to Schaumburg where Nancy had to get the obligatory COVID test before having a medical procedure in a few days. As a reward for Nancy having to bear the horrific ordeal of having a cotton swab jammed up her nose, she requested to have lunch at Heng Wing Restaurant in Palatine.

The BIG chicken

As you go north on Route 47 things seem to get bigger. You approach the town of Hebron, and immediately you see a giant basketball cleverly disguised as a water tower. This undoubtedly was the game ball when the Hebron High School won the IHSA championship in 1952. Drive past the downtown area, look on your left, and there stands as Henery Hawk, the cartoon character would say, “that is the biggest chicken ever I see.” It must be a monument to Foghorn Leghorn. He is standing guard in front of Crandall’s Restaurant in Hebron.

40 Years and counting…

People use a lot of adjectives to describe Nancy and I, some are even complimentary. The adjective smart is not one of them, let me explain why. We headed out at 5 p.m. one Friday night to review a restaurant. We said to ourselves, it’s pretty early, we don’t need no “stinking reservations.” We proudly walked in and were asked if we had reservations. Since we had none, we were informed that the next open table was at 8:30. Of course this was my fault judging from the explicit phrases coming from the mouth of my loving bride. We returned to our car and started searching our restaurant “hit list” for something nearby. We picked a restaurant and called for a reservation at Al’s Café in Elgin. I told you we were smart.

Jur-’in’, Jur-’out’

We had a very enjoyable New Year’s Eve celebration partying with new friends Rich and Melody. At that time, we agreed to go out to dinner in the new year. Five short months later, we finally got together and met them at Jurin Sushi-Teppan in South Elgin.

Sweet and savory

Normal people celebrate holidays on their appointed day and for one day only. Not so in the Dining Duo’s household. Any holiday that is in tribute to Nancy, such as, Grandparent’s Day, her birthday, Mother-in-Law’s Day, Groundhog Day, April Fool’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Chinese New Year, and especially Mother’s Day, always turns into a weeklong gala celebration extravaganza.

In the ‘tiki, tiki, tiki, room’

Isn’t it true that everyone is a kid at heart? It’s safe to say that at one time or another, most people have been to Disney World, either by themselves, with their children, or possibly with their grandchildren. There are a few classic attractions that everyone remembers, either good or bad. One is that boat ride with those cute little dolls from all over the world incessantly singing, “It’s a Small World.” It took us several years to get that nauseating song out of our heads. Another is the Haunted Mansion where a holographic ghost suddenly appears sitting next to you. Our grandson is now in therapy.

Once in a blue moon

Once in a blue moon, Nancy and I get a taste for some good old fashioned tangy, smoky barbeque. Luckily, we did get a recommendation from someone, but because we’re old, we can’t remember who it was from or the name of the restaurant. We knew it was “Moon” something.