sujormik wrote: Zorba's is still there

I'm glad to hear that!

no Murphy's fish sandwiches (I knew it was gone).

I'm confused. Murphy's, on Green between 5th and 6th? It was still there (spiffed up some) last year. Wasn't that a different place a few blocks farther down, now closed, that served those fish sandwiches? It had pool tables too, like Murphy's. I remember that if you went there to eat the smell of fried fish would permeate your clothes so thoroughly that everyone you saw for the rest of the day knew where you'd had lunch.

Katie,

That sounds like Legends, which still serves a tasty fish sandwich on Fridays.

Legend's is where the Delux used to be, and they do have the good fish sandwiches. and pretty decent burgers, etc.

Murphy's is over closer to campus, across Green St. from where Mabel's was. Still has good burgers. Now that the students are gone, for a little while, I need to get over there. I tend to avoid campus while school is in session.

The Deluxe is the one I was trying to remember. Thanks, SmallTown. Legends arrived on the scene later.

I left Carmon's Creperie extremely disappointed after a Mother's Day visit.

Prices were $2-4 dollars higher than on the menu PDF at the restaurant's Web site. A side salad was $7. A bacon and mushroom crepe was $12. Steak frites was $19 -- $5 more than the online menu shows. I suspect they raised the prices for the holiday weekend. The food was fine, but not authentically French, as the Web site indicates. There was a curried-chicken crepe, for example. As the restaurant acknowledges, the crepes are not freshly made.

Our total, for 3 crepes, 2 salads, 1 bowl of onion soup, and 1 child's cheese crepe, was over $75, including soft drinks and 1 glass of cider. With tax and tip, it was over $90. The portions were reasonable but not generous, and all of the adults in my party left hungry.

I let the manager know, politely, that we felt it was a poor value, and he said, "If you come back, we'll give you a free dessert."

No thanks.

There's a new Korean restaurant in town: Good Fella Korean Bistro.
(A friend tells me that the symbols on the sign are Korean for "friend.")

i've only been once so far, but i know i'll be back! We arrived for a late lunch on a cool, rainy day in early May.

There are pictures of the interior in the above blog entry - it's very plain, and there are two large televisions playing subtitled Korean shows. They brought a good variety of banchan. The kimchi was pretty mild, but the marinated daikon had a good kick; they also gave us sesame bean sprouts, sweet/hot potatoes, marinated spicy tofu, and fish cake.

We ordered too much food & ended up stuffed (as well as with leftovers). Both of us had cravings for kimbop, so i ordered the vegetable kimbop, and my companion ordered the "traditional" kimbop (hers had meat and krab in it). She also took a beef kimbop home with her. The rolls were large (almost too large - i had to take two bites to eat some of the slices). Overall, they had great flavor, although i missed the presence of omelet in my roll. i think for some reason they had mixed egg into the rice, as it had a strange yellowish cast to it & the familiar richness of egg. Anyway, next time i'll ask & make sure that i get omelet in my kimbop.

For the main course, we both chose soups - i went with an old favorite, the bean paste tofu stew. My companion ordered spicy seafood stew. Both bowls were served steaming hot, with rice on the side. The flavors were good - lots of vegetables in the stews to provide a variety of textures. Big chunks of tofu and (for my companion) seafood. We left oversatisfied.

In comparison to B-won, B-won has some advantages, but they don't serve kimbop, which is a dish i still crave often.

Cathy2 wrote:My favorite way to occupy my time there is to read the Thrifty Nickel.

Normally not one to talk in emoticons, but

I spent the weekend in Champaign with my college roomates telling lies, playing golf and eating. I make it to Champaign for business, but some of the guys hadnt been back in more than 15 years. Champaign and Campustown have really changed since I left school in the early 90s.

Our all-time favorite Champaign restaurant, Arnie Yarber's Po-Boys, closed last year after a 50 year run serving pork, beef & polish sausage on bunny bread every friday and sat night during the school year, so we didnt have a lot of places that we had to visit other then Papa Dels. The area around champaign, including Tuscola, has a couple of nice golf courses so we figured we would work some food in when we could, hope for the best and try to stay away from fast food on Green St.

We arrived early on Friday and had a quick breakfast at the Courier Cafe on Race St in Urbana. I used to eat at the Courier a lot while I was a student and frequently eat there now because of its close proximity to the courthouse in Urbana. They serve a solid breakfast. I usually go with either Huevos Rancheros Rarebit or a Breakfast Burrito. This day I had the healthy protein scramble which was basically egg whites and grilled turkey along with some very nice buckwheat pancakes. We all agreed the Courier has not changed much since we were in school and that is a good thing.

We played golf in Tuscola which is a good half hour drive from Champaign. After we finished our round we hit Flesor's Candy Kitchen hoping for a late lunch/snack. They stop making food at 3pm but they were still hand dipping shakes and sundaes and I had an absolutely fantastic chocolate malt prepared properly with vanilla ice cream and lots and lots of malt. I was suprised that this place was not on my radar while in school until one of the Flesor sisters told me they recently reopened the family business after a more than 30 year hiatus. We sampled some of the very tasty candy including a really nice Divinity. A very worthwhile stop if you are in the area, although I dont know why you would be unless you were playing golf at Ironhorse. Reminded me of the old soda fountain, now closed, in downtown Champaign, name escapes me, that graces the cover of an Reo Speedwagon album, name also escapes me.

Dinner that evening was at Bacaro in what can only be described as an incredibly revitalized downtown champaign. There are now more then 25 restaurants and bars within a short radius of each other on walnut/neil st and its environs. This is incredible considering that downtown Champaign was little more then dead 15 years ago. The area is rounded out by coffee shops, sundry stores, gourmet food shops and newsstands. An art theater and cute shops also make the area a destination. Bacaro has been described by my friends who live in the area as the best, and only, real fine dining in the twin cities. The food was good, not great, with no real stand outs, other than the absolute bargains on the reserve wine list. High end wines were selling at about 1/3 of Chicago prices. The food was good, not great, risotto was made with an inferior rice and pork was under, way under, cooked. Produce and non seafood proteins were sourced from several local farms and the deserts were nice and made in house. The atmosphere is very urban, Bacaro is a nice addition to Champaign but needs some work to justify the prices. We spent the rest of the evening drinking our way back to campus with a 2 am trip to LaBamba for a burritto. Just like college!

Sat morning we got up super early and hit the Urbana Farmers market for breakfast before 36 holes at Stone Creek in Urbana. The Urbana Farmers market is held in the Lincoln Square Mall parking lot and is just incredible. We just grabbed coffee, pastry and some fruit and ran but I have been before and can attest to the wide variety of beatiful food available at the market. It is a must hit if you are in champaign during the summer.

We had lunch at Kennedy's at Stone Creek where I have also dined for dinner in the past. Kennedy's is probably Champaigns best steakhouse. This time we didnt have steak, but they did serve us a delicious gazpacho along with a fine burger and turkey club sandwiches between our morning and afternoon rounds.

Dinner was at Papa Dels, our favorite campus pizza joint. We know service has been an issue at Dels for 30 years so we smartly ordered our pizzas an hour before we planned to arrive at the restaurant by phone. We were not dissapointed, the pizza has not changed since we left college in 1992. The sauce might be a little sweet, but they still make an excellent pan pizza and a very very good thin crust pizza with meatball sized sausage pieces.

Campustown really looks great these days. Unfortunately, a lot of the local restaurants have been replaced by the quiznos, chipotle, nooles & Co and flat top grills of the world. There is even a starbucks on Green St. We miss De Luxe, Superdog, Poboys, the Campustown Steak & Shake, De-lites, etc. Murphys is still there in greatly expanded form--they still serve a mushroom megaburger, we checked. It seems the overall quality of the bars and food options has been ratcheted up a notch on campus. Even though the aforementioned are missing, so are the wendys, burger king, mcdonalds and arbys that formerly blighted green street. Progress

The Art Mart in Lincoln Square Mall in downtown Urbana is now carrying Rubens chocolates. Tomorrow (Sept. 6) from 9 to 1 they'll have free samples.

Cafe Luna has moved to the corner of University and Chestnut in downtown Champaign (where Tracks used to be) and is now just called Luna. Apparently they were having some trouble adjusting to the new location, especially as regards service. I don't know whether the kinks have been ironed out yet.

Eastern Taste has been replaced by a Vietnamese restaurant.

Adam Stephanides wrote:The Art Mart in Lincoln Square Mall in downtown Urbana is now carrying Rubens chocolates. Tomorrow (Sept. 6) from 9 to 1 they'll have free samples.

Cafe Luna has moved to the corner of University and Chestnut in downtown Champaign (where Tracks used to be) and is now just called Luna. Apparently they were having some trouble adjusting to the new location, especially as regards service. I don't know whether the kinks have been ironed out yet.

Eastern Taste has been replaced by a Vietnamese restaurant.

And the Vietnamese place is quite excellent.

Adam Stephanides wrote:Cafe Luna has moved to the corner of University and Chestnut in downtown Champaign (where Tracks used to be) and is now just called Luna. Apparently they were having some trouble adjusting to the new location, especially as regards service. I don't know whether the kinks have been ironed out yet.

Cafe Luna has never had good service. I love Cafe Luna and am happy to take the service issues in stride.

Thing1 (#1 son at UIUC) had discovered Bo Bo China recently, so we stopped there today for a late lunch, after delivering a spare computer (his laptop was on the fritz).

An online menu can be found here.

For those above asking about the buffet, it's $6.95, not a bad price for a two-steam-table selection. A few things off the beaten path like pork braised with cabbage, that you wouldn't see on a typical americanized buffet. Veggie spring rolls and pork egg rolls were visible, but I didn't pay a lot of attention, because we wanted off-buffet dishes.

The Crispy Chicken with Three Chiles, while not the wonder of LSC, still makes a pretty good Chicken Cracksimile. Its breading is a little heavier (but still loads lighter than your typical General Tso kind of stuff), more of a sweet glaze than an oily sheen (but still very nicely flavored). Remember to order it extra spicy, and you'll get something closer to Lao Sze Chuan.

The Yen Jing Pork was also outstanding, very much pork, noodle-free version of Mongolian Beef, basically just pork and green onions in sesame oil and spices. Very, very nice. The fried rice served with the dishes is pretty lightweight: yellow rice with a few peas and carrots, but still nice. Pot stickers were typical, but nothing special.

I will go back again, the food was all enjoyable and reasonably priced.

Bo Bo China
404 E Green
Champaign IL 61820
217-352-2272
217-352-2292 (FAX)

Went to EbertFest this year, and finally ate dinner at Sam's Cafe. It's a little hole-in-the-wall kind of place that's usually just open for breakfast and lunch. On Thursday and Friday nights they serve Lebanese food.

Our table had the special: a huge boneless chicken breast cooked in yogurt, accompanied by a big mound of almond-topped rice. The chicken was extremely tender and had a slightly tangy flavor from the yogurt. It also came with 2 sides: yogurt soup, which was redolent with spices, and then you had your choice. Most had hummus, which was very tasty. The dolmas, stuffed with rice and vegetables, were really garlicky and just great. I had the kafta, a ground sirloin patty with yogurt sauce on top, which was also good. Everything was served with grilled pita. One non-adventurous eater had a cheeseburger, which he said was great. And it did look good.

I think the special was maybe $10 or $11, and my kafta was $9. The cheeseburger was $3.50. So all in all, good value for some really good food in an unexpected spot.

The on-line reviews I've read have been very complimentary about their breakfast offerings. And the people were as friendly as could be. Thumbs up!

Sam's Cafe
115 N Walnut St
Champaign, IL
(217) 352-7102

Going down to CU in 2 weeks to check out the University- me, hubby and the upcoming senior (pescatarian). Will be there for a breakfast, lunch and a dinner. Cruising around online so far Ive seen: Courier, Apple Dum;ling and Sams Cafe for possible breakfasts, Courier, Radio Maria and Sea Boat for possible lunches and Timone, Ko Fusion, Silver Creek, Milos, Radio Maria for possible dinners. I know thats alot thrown out there, but any other ideas or thoughts on those places?

aviva5675 wrote:Going down to CU in 2 weeks to check out the University- me, hubby and the upcoming senior (pescatarian). Will be there for a breakfast, lunch and a dinner. Cruising around online so far Ive seen: Courier, Apple Dum;ling and Sams Cafe for possible breakfasts, Courier, Radio Maria and Sea Boat for possible lunches and Timone, Ko Fusion, Silver Creek, Milos, Radio Maria for possible dinners. I know thats alot thrown out there, but any other ideas or thoughts on those places?

Radio Maria is still good, but it seemed to have declined some a year ago (but still highly recommended).
If you've got a pescatarian, you should check to see if the Red Herring has summer hours this year. It's a vegetarian joint on the campus, preparing great food at a great price. I'm not a vegetarian of any sort, but I ate there as frequently as I could.
I like Sea Boat, but it is heavy fried foods.
People will make strong recommendations about Courier, but I never could see why it gained such a cult following. It's sort of mediocre, but who knows, maybe I just had an unlucky streak the times I went there.
Sam's is good greasy spoon for breakfast; Merry-Ann's is better.
For Tex-Mex, Fiesta Cafe is a fun place, and they don't skimp on the food.
Y'know, what, I'm struggling to remember some of the places we frequented while living down there. Let me give it some thought. In the meantime, I found this blog extremely helpful when we first moved down there. The pictures and descriptions are very helpful, and after going to many of these places personally, I found her reviews to be pretty damn spot-on. Here's the link...
http://champaign-taste.blogspot.com/

Good luck. And if I think of more, I'll chime in again.

Chicago Expat wrote:

Sam's is good greasy spoon for breakfast; Merry-Ann's is better.

I like Merry-Ann's a lot, and I've never tried the breakfast at Sam's. BUT on Thursday and Friday nights Sam's serves Middle Eastern food which I highly recommend. Next year at film festival, we're having breakfast at Sam's ... As an aside, may I say that I love being able to discuss where to have breakfast NEXT YEAR, and not be considered weird....

I also recommend Jupiter's pizza. In fact, I've been jonesing all day for a salami pizza....

Another good option is Thara Thai on Bloomington Road.

The farmers' market is incredible and is one of the highlights of visiting Champaign. And for a nice round-up, visit Champaign Taste to get the lowdown on what's up.

Apple Dumpling rocks. big helpings of good smalltown America food. I think Courier is still very solid, maybe not outstanding, but I've never had a bad feeding there. good sweet potato fries. MerryAnn's is good, as is Sam's. Legend's on Green St has a good fish sandwich, as does the Esquire (but only on Friday's). I'll also back the recommendation on Fiesta Cafe. for the fancier stuff, I like Silver Creek

TIMPONE'S on Goodwin St. across from the Quad. Hands down one of the best thin crust pizzas anywhere. My brother's band with 7 members in it had to stop there everytime they went on tour (and this band included 3 vegans!). Everytime I went to Nashville my friends and I stop there on the way down and back home. All my friends and family all agree that this is one of the best around and many of us are big time pizza eaters of all types.

It's actually an upscale Italian restaurant, but I only get one thing there. That pizza. It's paper thin, with minimal cheese, a mild flavor to it, and they cut it in strips! We always eat downstairs in the bar. I remember when I was at school there in 1990 having a 14" pizza for $6.00. Now they only have one size and I could easily eat two of them at once. I might take a special roadtrip this Friday to get it... maybe. My friend is coming in from Los Angeles and he's dying to try it.

Went to school down there.

I always ate at Silver Creek. It's cute, I don't think the food is exceptional, I used to get take out there.

However, donuts to rival Old Fashioned can be found at Carmello's. Wow! These are great. They used to be sold in most of the BP Amoco gas stations as well. Shop was generally closed/sold out by noon. If you live in the city, please feel free to grab a few glazed yeast donuts & apple fritters for me. They are delicious.

I will also support Jarling's. Fantastic custard in an array of flavors, get the lemon.

Enjoy,

pairs4life wrote:
I will also support Jarling's. Fantastic custard in an array of flavors, get the lemon.

Enjoy,

I gotta go with Junior's, over on Springfield out near the Schnucks and IGA. How can you not love a place where you can get custard, burgers, and fried pickles all at the same place?

Chicago Expat wrote:People will make strong recommendations about Courier, but I never could see why it gained such a cult following. It's sort of mediocre, but who knows, maybe I just had an unlucky streak the times I went there.

.

My memory did not fail me. The Courier and Silvercreek are owned by the same folks http://www.couriersilvercreek.com/. They are different settings. The Courier is more everyday lunch & breakfast while the Silvercreek is more fancy, but you can dress how you like. I think I recall the Courier having a great milkshake, but it is not The Brown Sack's milkshake http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=206581#p206581. Silvercreek does have a lovely atrium as well. It should be nice this time of year.

pairs4life wrote:

Chicago Expat wrote:People will make strong recommendations about Courier, but I never could see why it gained such a cult following. It's sort of mediocre, but who knows, maybe I just had an unlucky streak the times I went there.

.

My memory did not fail me. The Courier and Silvercreek are owned by the same folks http://www.couriersilvercreek.com/. They are different settings. The Courier is more everyday lunch & breakfast while the Silvercreek is more fancy, but you can dress how you like. I think I recall the Courier having a great milkshake, but it is not The Brown Sack's milkshake http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=206581#p206581. Silvercreek does have a lovely atrium as well. It should be nice this time of year.

I have to say that I was happily surprised by the culinary choices in Champaign. I hadn't been there since I was a kid, and that was more passing through than anything substantial in terms of a visit. And while going into a situation with lowered expectations can have the enviable result of contented happiness, we lived down there nearly two years, and we kept finding reasons to strain our budget by eating out. I dreaded moving down there, and wound up falling in love with the place. I never would've thought, now that we've moved yet again, that I'd one day be dreamily reminiscing on a forum of all the wonderful places I ate in Champaign. Unreal.
Cheers.

I haven't seen Escobar's mentioned, but IMHO it's the best restaurant in Champaign. An interesting place for breakfast may be Flat Top Grill in Campustown. It's a "create your own" breakfast place (and lunch/dinner as well). Bombay Grill on First St between Springfield and University has a great Indian buffet for lunch with ample veggie choices.

So our trip finally came up, and it turned out to be just my daughter and I. We had alot of fun. Ended up eating dinner at Silver Creek. We went early, about 5:30, the place as empty except for one elderly couple. And by elderly I mean that when the man went to the washroom and didn't come back for awhile I was starting to get worried about his health.

Service first of all, was good. Our particular waiter was not all that friendly. I can't make a specific complaint but he was not as friendly seeming as one or two others that were working around our table. The food came fairly quickly. I had the duck breast and my daughter had the crab cakes. She asked for all the accoutrement (sp?) on the side. The 2 crab cakes came on separate plates, with everything on top. For some reason the kitchen thought we were splitting it. One thing I just thought of: when our waiter saw that on pick up why didn't he tell the kitchen 1/ not to split and 2/ to put the stuff on the side? Instead he brought them out that way (so she had 2 large plates in front of her). She did like them alot tho. Came with a nice mango type salad. Which she ignored

My duck breast was quite good--very tender and nicely cooked. Came with a vinaigrette dressed butter type lettuce with dressed walnuts. I'm usually leery about that kind of thing, but everything went very well with each other. I was impressed.

We split a chocolate creme brulee, which was standard but good.

Not overly expensive, I would definitely return.

Breakfast was at Merry-Annes'-- a little diner south of campus. Lightning fast food service and very competent waitresses. Standard, well prepared, breakfast fare == I had eggs with country fried steak, daughter had the short stack. She inhaled it...Very cheap--highly recommend.

Wish I had more time to eat down there. Our lunch ended up at Noodles on Green-- been there, done that, but was good. Sat outside and people watched.

Curse the street meters in that town!!

Darren72 wrote:13. Pizza: the most popular place in town is probably Papa Dels on Green street. They make excellent thin, deep dish, and stuffed. I like them a lot.

yes! I actually once drove there from Peoria and bought a frozen one to take back with me. Just on a whim.

I agree about Papa Del's, though I realize it could be part sentimentality on my part. On second thought... no, I REALLY like the thin crust sausage with extra cheese. I was never as big a fan of their thick pizzas as some other people just because I didn't like the wait (and couldn't be bothered to call ahead).

Thanks for the reminder to have a cooler in the car on my next trip down to Shampoo Banana so I can bring a frozen one home.

Pardon me if I mentioned this before* - Anyone else remember Papa Del's little yellow delivery truck that said on it "stop me and I'll sell you a pizza"? I remember catching it once at a red light at Wright and Green right by the Alma Mater and getting a fantastic hot pizza to take home for dinner. That was a great day.


*I said to Sweet Baboo, we're getting old, and don't realize when we're retelling the same stories ... He said, no, you're getting old, and don't realize when you're retelling the same stories!

- CRANE ALLEY: I'm torn about Crane Alley. The food used to be really good and the beer list is always swell, but the service the past few times I've been there has been really awful — including asking my party to move THREE times.

- RADIO MARIA: Have the brunch here if you have the time! I've always preferred coming here for brunch as opposed to dinner. Dinner is quite good, but tapas can add up. The masa boat is fantastic and the cocktails are pretty reasonable as well.

-ESCOBAR'S: This place is wonderful. I didn't even notice it for years because it's kind of a place you have to be intending on going to in order to find it. I hope I remember to eat here again next time I'm down there.

- BREAD CO.: The food here is good, though kind of pricey for the campus area. I guess this is relative when you're from Chicago.

- RED HERRING: The food here is pretty bland, but that said, it's an earnest attempt at making something interesting and it runs fairly cheap. I like the lunches here over the Krishna dinners.

- SIAM TERRACE: I shed tears missing this place. If you don't want to venture into Urbana (it's really not far from campus at all), DO NOT go to the Basil Thai on Green Street. Stick to the one near the Krannert center, which is fairly decent.

- PEKARA: This is a cute cafe and has really tasty and affordable food, mostly crepes, sandwiches and pastries.

- CAFE KOPI: Great coffee and nice street seating. Baristas are nice and the pastries here are swell.

- BOMBAY GRILL: This is controversial, as I always enjoyed this place and so did my friends, but then again, we were isolated in the CU for 4 years and didn't have the convenience of Devon. It's kind of greasy, but it's good.

-KENNEDY'S AT STONE CREEK: This is apparently very good. I never ate there because I was totally destitute.

- JIM GOULD'S: Another expensive chophouse I never ate at, but would have been nice if I could have afforded it at the time.

- BLIND PIG: Go here for drinks in the evening. The beer selection is awesome and it's typically filled with a more respectful crowd than your typical Green street patrons.

Basil Thai on Green is gone. It's now called Ziggey's. It's Indian street food. Some folks like it. I wasn't overly impressed.

Kennedy's is a posh place with a ho-hum menu. Every now and then they have a good special, like ostrich, which makes the trip worthwhile.

I had a great (day old) apple fritter and a quite good pulled pork sandwich today from Derald's Diner. Derald's took over the little spot at the corner of Green and 1st in Champaign formerly called Ye Olde Doughnut Shoppe and Noe's BBQ. Apparently the donuts at Derald's are based on the recipes from Ye Olde. The rest of the food is similar to that served in Derald's food truck on campus.

The pulled pork was flavorful and had nice crispy bits mixed in (though I don't think the meat is smoked).

They have a nice mixture of breakfast items, burgers, and a variety of other sandwiches.

More here: http://champaign-taste.blogspot.com/201 ... ampus.html

Based on these pictures, the fish sandwich just jumped to the top of my must-try list.

Derald's Diner
Corner of First and Green Streets
Champaign, IL
217-359-3311
Open 6 a.m. to 3 a.m. daily; orders may be phoned in.
Parking is available in a small, private lot out front.

Hi,

When it was simply Ye Olde Donut Shop, it had idiosyncratic hours: closing when the last donut was sold. The better part of a day Ye Olde Donuts was closed. When the BBQ folks moved in, I thought it was a best-use since they didn't overlap and it allowed the property to be fully utilized.

I look forward to trying Deralds when I am there next. Thanks for the tip!

Regards,