Cathy2 wrote:HI,

I go to Champaign from time to time, this is the first I heard of buying meat directly from the AG school. Where do you go for this? Do you have to make any special arrangements?

Thanks!

Regards,

We found the Meat science butcher serendipitously.
We were having a meeting with a UI colleague (in which we ended up discussing nothing but beer). I noticed on his wall he had a price list for the Butcher. He said he had never actually been there. I made note of the address, but didn't think we would have time to make it there.
Then the next morning we missed a turn on our way to another meeting and drove right passed it. After the meeting we went back.

Their hours are limited, 1-5:30 on Tuesday, Thurs, Fri.
The great thing about it is that being tied to the University and Meat science, the meat is probably as fresh and safe as you could hope for.

Maryland Ave is a very short street (or at least non-continuous).
It starts at Pennsylvania and goes south for just a block. Parking is easy as they have meters.

gleam wrote:Those fries look great, but was the raisin bread a positive or negative attribute?

I thought is was a very positive attribute. The sweetness was the yin to the sauerkraut's yang.

The cook is actually one of the Floyd brothers (the small one who doesn't look as much like a defensive lineman).

He is very creative and usually executes well. We had tried his food before at Maproom's free food Tuesday, and the Chicago Beer Society's annual Brewpub Shootout food and beer pairing competition.

A couple weeks ago at Maproom he served a "not normal breakfast".
A bratwurst waffle dog (dipped in waffle batter) with chipotle maple syrup, hash, and a Count Chocula Crispy square. The syrup was great. Not much of the smokiness came through, just a tinge of pleasant heat. I think they serve the waffle-wurst at the brewpub.

For those who don't know, Three Floyd's is the brewery that makes Alpha King IPA that you might have seen in many chicago bars.

The pub is very small, in a Wearhouse district, and caters to Blue collar locals and people whose livers guide them far and wide for a good pint.

Could someone who has had Po' Boys BBQ please comment on it?

Although only 2 blocks from our friends house, he had been curious but had not gone. We almost went, then opted for something else.
When I drove by the next day, I regretted that decision.
It is truely a 20X30 wooden shack among wearhouses. We missed our chance to go because it is open only 5:30-? on Fridays and Saturdays.

I guess others comments won't matter to whether I go there next chance I get, because a place that looks like that warrants a direct experience.

griffin wrote:It is truely a 20X30 wooden shack among wearhouses. We missed our chance to go because it is open only 5:30-? on Fridays and Saturdays.

It should be noted, according to locals we met, this place is not always open every Friday and Saturday. They have a reputation of being erratic.

Last April, Adam Stephanides, Trixie-Pea, Pigmon, GAF and I invaded the sacred territory known as Po'Boy's BBQ. This is a small place with a long curved bar and a few booths to the side. We initially went to a booth, then waited for someone to recognize us and take our order. After a spell of people watching it occured to us we were going to receive nothing unless we came up to the bar.

At the bar were all the regulars who could spot a new comer simply because it wasn't one of them. They were helpful in a boisterous roudy way regulars can be when they are maybe a bit too comfortable. GAF and I ordered their ribs and two brisket sandwiches. I saw them pulling ribs out of foil wrappers, which already told me something about the ribs. The sandwiches came from a steam table. Everything was handed to us without any money exchanged.

The ribs, while smoked, had that steamed falling off the bone quality from the foil wrap. I had heard Gary describe this type of rib though I had not been concious of experiencing it until Po'Boy's:



My impression of the brisket sandwich is not as firmly fixed as my thoughts on the ribs. I hope those who joined me might recall.



While the whole package of ambiance, local color and food taken together, then a visit to Po Boy's is worthwhile. If it were just for the food, then it is at best a one time experience.

Oh yes I did remember to pay, though it took a while to get their attention again and remind them of our order for tallying.

I look forward to your comments after your visit.

PO Boy's Bar-B-Que
58 East Columbia Avenue
Champaign, IL 61820
217-352-5521

Cathy,

It's not surprising that you are having a hard time remembering the brisket sandwich, as it was inoffensive at best. The only thing I remember about it was that the meat was shaved so thin, that the individual strata tended to refuse back into a brisket meatloaf of sorts. Not good. I think I took one bite, considered the multi-course dinner we had ahead of us, and opted out of taking another bite. Po' Boys does have the ambience of a true roadhouse joint, with a large local fanbase.

The two other BBQ joints that we went to that day though fared much better. Lil' Porgy's being the stand out for me. Not world-class, but certainly if I were in the area again, I would go back.

trixie-pea

I love the thin-crust pizza at Jupiter's and I dream of Chicago one day offering a crisp crust that is as satisfying. Absolutely amazing pizza. I daresay that I believe Monicals also serves up a better thin crust than Pat's, Candlelite's, John's on Western, Pequod's, Father and Son's, and all the other Chicago places I've gone to in search of something as good as a U-C pizza. And I've never lived there, never gone to school there, just drove through several times to visit some colleagues and fish at Clinton Lake. Love the thin crust pizza and I have massive weekly cravings that will not be satisfied by a Chicago pizzaria.

Trotsky,

Last year Adam Stephanides suggested doing a pizza tour of Champaign, which may be of interest to you.

Regards,

Just want to second that recommendation by Thomas.Archer of Peking Garden. They have a Stuffed Bean Curd dish that was one of the best things I've ever eaten in Chinese cuisine. They took cubes of tofu, stuffed them with shrimp and ground beef, fried them, and then added them to a stir-fry mix of green onions, garlic, napa cabbage and several types of mushrooms in a broth. It was a bit piquant, and all the flavors were just singing together harmoniously. It was such a simple dish, humble even, but elevated to a higher plane by its balance and honesty. I loved it, and every time I was there I ordered it.

It's been a few years since I've been back, so I can't truly vouch for the quality today, but some adventurous soul out there should take a chance and try it. It may become your favorite too!


Peking Garden
206 N Randolph St, #1
Champaign
(217) 355-8888

Edit: If someone does go there & tries this dish, I would welcome an email telling how you liked it.

Mandarin Wok (on Green St. in Campustown between 4th and 5th) is now serving "Hong Kong style dim sum" for lunch seven days a week (along with their regular menu), and a few days ago I decided to try it out. I'm not really a dim sum aficionado, but I thought it was good. Of the four dishes I had, the best was stuffed eggplant, which was large chunks of eggplant stuffed with (I'm guessing) minced pork.

When I was there I noticed that they now had an English translation available at the counter of the extensive Chinese list of dishes on the wall as you come in. (At least I assume it's a translation of that.) So tonight I went back to order something off this menu. I ordered the "dry spice intestine," and when I placed the order the woman at the counter repeated it to me, but when the waitress brought the dish she told me it was salt and pepper pork intestine, so I'm not sure what I ate. In any case, I didn't like it very much. It wasn't particularly bad, just uninteresting. Perhaps I'd have had better luck ordering a more Cantonese-style dish.

For the 6th straight year, I attended Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival in Champaign last week. It is held in downtown Champaign, so that is mostly where we ate.

The festival starts on Wednesday evening. That night, we ate at Jupiter, a bar/pizza place on Main Street in Champaign. It has thin crust pizza, and we had a proscuitto/artichoke pizza. It was very good. The crust wasn't as good as the first time I had it, but it was thin and crispy. Lots of proscuitto, and the artichokes were good.

For dinner on Thursday, we ate at Bacaro, which has a write-up in this month's Bon Apetit. We've eaten here many times. It's essentially a wine bar (albeit with relatively few available by the glass), with a limited menu. We started with shrimp bruschetta, which was nice, but I'm not a shrimp person. The others liked it. I had risotto with bacon and eggs. The dish turned out to be a very cheesey, creamy risotto with nice crunchy bacon (Moore's, a local producer who sells at the farmer's market). Others in the party had pasta carbonara, which I don't think was a traditional rendition, but it did include the yummy Moore's bacon. Someone also had the lobster salad, which looked very good. For dessert we had the cheese plate, which consisted of 6 cheeses with fresh bread. Lovely.

Thanks for the recommendation of Thara Thai, where we had lunch on Friday. It was excellent. We all had the lunch special -- I had pad thai with chicken, which was very flavorful and filled with chicken. Others in the party had green curry with eggplant, which was wonderful -- very spicy as ordered, and cashew chicken, which was also very good. For appetizers we had chicken satay, which consisted of very large pieces of chicken, as well as pot stickers, which were deep fried and too well done for my taste. Lunch specials include white rice, and are $6.29 for a lot of food.

On Friday evening we went "townie", and ate at Jolly Roger in Urbana. It is a hole in the wall owned by the Timpone family, which also owns the upscale Timpone restaurant. JR's a family restaurant with a decor that hasn't changed in decades -- faux pirates, fish nets, etc. The draw is the pizza, which is also thin crust. This time, the pizza tasted a little flat, but it was thin and crispy. We had a meatball pizza, which is not easy to find outside of NYC, so I get it when I see it. We also had the "special", sausage and mushrooms, as well as an Italian beef pizza, which was quite tasty.

On Saturday we were back downtown, and had a sandwich at Guido's . Not so great. The food is lackuster, and the place just doesn't appear all that clean -- the menus are sticky and so are the tables!

We went back to Bacaro for a drink and some dessert. It was lovely. We had milk chocolate tapioca brulee. Yep, it's just what it sounds like, but had a really chocolately flavor. The brulee crust was a nice contrast. It was served with grilled pineapple and puffed ginger, which was very good. One of the party had a specialty drink of Prosecco, lemonade, and cucumber juice with basil (I think) salt. It wasn't really sweet, and was surprisingly refreshing. Great for a summer night on the patio.

Sunday brunch was at Silver Creek in Urbana. Brunch buffets are not my favorite thing, mostly because I prefer food to be served piping hot. This was a good brunch -- scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes, biscuits and gravy, sausage and bacon on the prepared side. Also nice fresh fruit. The chef made omelettes to order, and fresh Belgian waffles, which had butter, syrup, strawberries, blueberries, whipped cream and other toppings. The lunch side offered stuffed cabbage, beef tips and rice, creamy chicken, beef brisket which was so tender and beefy, sauteed squash and zucchini, as well as sweet potatoes with pecans and maple syrup (very sweet). Mixed salad and deviled eggs were also available. The food was good, but suffered from not being really hot.

Desserts are prepared at the restaurant, included pina colada balls, rum balls, tiny cupcakes, mint brownies (which were too sweet), german chocolate cake, margarita pie, and several others that I can't remember. The brunch was less than $15 per person, and included juice and coffee/tea. The owners also own Courier Cafe, which is up the street.

I also made a stop at ArtMart for Walker's popcorn. It is great -- tastes buttery without the addition of butter. The store has cheeses and meats, fresh pastries, lots of gourmet ingredients, and an eclectic mix of housewares, kitchen wares, and more. It's a cool store.

And of course we had to hit Ruben's for chocolates. Unfortunately, the store in downtown Champaign is closed, and they now have a bigger place nearly in Savoy (south on Rte 45 - Neil Street - near Biaggi's). The chocolates are still sublime, and they also serve home-made ice cream with their home-made toppings.

While we didn't make a stop there this year, Urbana also has a great french bakery called Mirabelle that I heartily recommend for pastries and sandwiches.

The point of the trip, of course, is the films. It was a good festival, and I would recommend that you look for a film called "Somebodies", if it gets a distributor. It is hilarious. We also saw the director's cut of "Bad Santa". It was filthy, but screamingly funny.

Jupiter
39 E Main Street
217-398-5988

Bacaro
113 N Walnut
217-398-6982

Thara Thai
912 W Bloomington Road
217-378-1986

Jolly Roger
118 W Water, Urbana
217-367-8366

Guido's
2 E Main
217-359-3148

Silver Creek
402 N Race, Urbana
217-328-3402

Art Mart
Lincoln Square Mall, Urbana
217-344-7979

Ruben's Chocolates
2209 S Neil (next to Le Peep)

Mirabelle
124 W Main Street, Urbana
217-384-6460

I have never spent any significant amount of time in or around Illinois' largest "college town". My earlier impressions of Champaign-Urbana are of cheap beer, burritos overstuffed with questionable ingredients, and copious amounts of fast food. Culinary commerce in college towns is generally focused on feeding the lowest common denominator at the lowest possible price. While that element is prevalent, I'm glad to see that my pre-conceived notions are not completely correct. Our tastings on a recent short trip to C-U ran from places that have long histories to once place that is clearly raising the bar. Here are the highlights of our brief trip:

Chapter One: Sticks to Your Ribs

Traditional "corn belt" cooking started off the trip with a lunch of local comfort food at The Apple Dumplin'. There's no roadside advertising, no signs pointing the way, and you certainly can't see it from any major road; this is just one of those places that is woven into the rural Urbana community.

There are a few daily specials, which happily included the fried chicken of petit pois' memory:



This is good fried chicken of the lightly-breaded variety. Perhaps slightly under-seasoned, but fresh, juicy, and satisfying. I also enjoyed the green beans with their big, visible chunks of pork.

We also tucked into the chicken-fried steak...



...which I enjoyed even more. It was salty-in-a-good-way and very tender with a hearty gravy.

While the food is good here, it certainly is not a paragon of country cooking. It's probably a couple notches above a Cracker Barrel in quality, and it does have a few odd quirks: they don't serve real butter with their rolls or real cream with their coffee. If you want something other than Country Crock, you have to ask. But, the Apple Dumplin' is long on charm. It's the kinda place that local retirees eat multiple nights a week, and all the kids for miles around are welcomed by name. In fact, they serve on the board of directors:



Here's an exterior shot of The Apple Dumplin', along with a shot of their immediate neighbor to give you some idea of the neighborhood:





Chapter Two: The Soda Fountain

About 30 miles south of Champaign-Urbana is Tuscola, Illinois, home of Flesor's Candy Kitchen. Flesor's originally opened in 1901 and is currently being run by two granddaughters of the original owner. They restored and renovated the quaint corner shop and offer the family's original hand-dipped chocolates, house-made ice cream concoctions at the 1940's era soda fountain. Flesor's is also a diner that has daily specials as well as a Greek special on Saturdays (the Flesor family emigrated from Greece shortly before opening their business).


Main Street Tuscola, Flesor's is unmarked on the left corner


Inside Flesor's

We tasted two flavors of their ice cream unadorned: mint chocolate chip and red raspberry. Both of them were very creamy and clearly well handled, but severely under-flavored. The raspberry is a seasonal flavor and clearly uses fresh berries (an expensive ingredient), but it needed to triple the berry input to get this ice cream anywhere near the flavor profile needed (the same goes for the mint).

The candy, on the other hand, is fantastic. We filled a bag of dark chocolate mint patties, chocolate caramels, dark chocolate toffee, and dark chocolate vanilla creams (my all-time favorite old-timey candy). All of these have a strong taste of chocolate and a well flavored interior. There was a slight grittiness to the insides of the creams, which I found quite pleasing texturally. I'm not sure if this was their normal state or a result of them being kept in our cold cooler.

Flesor's is charming and a real throwback. Well worth the drive.

Chapter Three: This Ain't Flyover Country

Thad Morrow is one of the main reasons we made the trip to C-U. Thad is the chef-owner of two businesses in downtown Champaign: Persimmon Grocery and Bacaro (wine bar and restaurant)--the latter of the two businesses being my main focus.

Persimmon Grocery is a carbon copy of one of the many upscale, storefront groceries that we have in Chicago. It has a nice selection of wines, cheeses, meats, and packaged items along with a small menu of cafe fare and creative gelatos. I've seen a ton of these places and they don't hold my interest for very long.

Bacaro is an Italian-influenced restaurant that focuses on seasonal, local ingredients. Yes, we've all heard the words "seasonal" and "local" hundreds of times before, but when a chef takes it seriously, I take it seriously in return. It's a good trend in dining and we're all better off for it.

You do not need to drive two-and-a-half hours south of Chicago to taste seasonal Italian cooking, but you should. Chef Morrow is a man who knows how to choose, highlight, and prepare ingredients with a skill that is rarely found. If this restaurant were in Chicago, they'd be packed to the gills, year-round. Fortunately for us, they were busy, but not full on Saturday night, and we had an excellent meal. A recap:

We started with two items. First, a green tomato frittata with horseradish vinaigrette. While the horseradish didn't come through as strongly as I would have preferred, the frittata was beautifully layered with tomatoes and egg and well-textured. It was like a savory piece of cake with just the slightest sweetness.

Our other starter was a plate that sealed the dinner for me. The rest of the meal could have gone downhill and I would have left happy. The "quattro contorni" is a regular item on the menu but the contents change with ingredient availability (as they should). On this night, they were (pictured below, clockwise from the top-left): marinated button mushrooms with oregano, golden cherry tomatoes with olive oil and Thai basil, purple cauliflower with pine nuts, and watermelon with balsamic vinegar and smoked feta. The watermelon was the highlight for me: a bursting balance of sweetness, acidity, smokiness, and creaminess.


Quattro contorni at Bacaro

We moved onto a pasta course. I chose the risotto al giorno which was made with beets and beet greens. The bowl of risotto was an almost shocking color (as expected), and delicate sweet flavor with hidden strains of greens:


Beet and beet green risotto at Bacaro

The other plate was orecchiette with "first fruit" cauliflower, sultanas, anchovy, and bread crumbs. Another success of excellent ingredients, balance, and flavor.


Orecchiette, Bacaro

We had originally intended on ending our meal here, but decided to share a fish course: arctic char with frisse, almond cream, and rhubarb vinaigrette. (Our waiter presented it to us with the question: "What is a pirate's favorite fish?" Answer: "Arrrrctic Charrrrr". All this good food, and jokes too!)


Arctic Char, Bacaro

The fish was pristine and perfectly cooked. Petit pois considered the plate to be slightly under-done (it needed a bean side or some starch), but in hindsight I grew to appreciate Chef Morrow's restraint with his dishes. It is a clear style choice and reflects almost a fanatical devotion to ingredients as the star.

We ended our meal with a silky mascarpone cheesecake with coriander gastrique and strawberries.

Bacaro is something special.



More photos here

Best,
Michael

The Apple Dumplin'
2014 High Cross Rd
Urbana, IL
(217) 344-0076

Flessor's Candy Kitchen
101 West Sale Street
Tuscola, Illinois
(217) 253-3753
http://www.flesorscandy.com/

Persimmon Grocery
111 N Walnut St
Champaign, IL
(217) 355-0896

Bacaro
113 N Walnut St
Champaign, IL
(217) 398-6982

Flesor's Chocolates are also available in C-U itself. They have a kiosk in Lincoln Square Village (the former Lincoln Square Mall) in downtown Urbana (between Elm, Illinois, Race and Vine Sts.), and iirc they're also sold at Pages for All Ages bookstore (on Curtis Ave. just west of Rt. 45 (Neil/Dunlap)). Rubens Chocolates are much better, though, imo.

I've recommended Ye Olde Hickory Bar-B-Q, aka Ye Olde Donut Shop (at First and Green) here before. In fact, on the C-U B-B-Q-athon last (?) year, the rib tips there were my favorite out of all the dishes we tried (though everyone else preferred Li'l Porgy's). But the last couple of times I ate there, I was disappointed. I had lunch there yesterday, and the rib tips had virtually no barbecue flavor. The doughnuts are still good, though.

Adam Stephanides wrote:Flesor's Chocolates are also available in C-U itself. They have a kiosk in Lincoln Square Village (the former Lincoln Square Mall) in downtown Urbana (between Elm, Illinois, Race and Vine Sts.), and iirc they're also sold at Pages for All Ages bookstore (on Curtis Ave. just west of Rt. 45 (Neil/Dunlap)). Rubens Chocolates are much better, though, imo.

We noticed the C-U Felsor's kiosk when doing our trip research, but decided that we wanted the full experience of visiting the old-timey location.

Is it worth a special trip to Tuscola just for Flesor's chocolate? Probably not.

Is it worth a special trip to Tuscola just to experience Flesor's? Definitely.

Best,
Michael

Here is a recent thread on chowhound, where I posted some of my favorite places in Champaign: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/125563

Cathy2 wrote:While the whole package of ambiance, local color and food taken together, then a visit to Po Boy's is worthwhile. If it were just for the food, then it is at best a one time experience.

Oh yes I did remember to pay, though it took a while to get their attention again and remind them of our order for tallying.

This is a good summary. The lack of any customer service can be extruciating at times. Sometimes I feel that the guy behind the counter is actively trying to avoid me!

The food can be hit or miss. The first time I ate there, I wondered how I'd make it another week without them. Since then, though, the ribs have ranged from extremely tough to decent. I've basically stopped going, and tend to go to Lil Porgy's (haven't tried Jackson's yet).

One more note about Bacaro, which others have discussed above.

It started out as a wine bar with a few very small dishes. Slowly it added more dishes, so you could have a meal there. Now it has a standard menu. the upshot, though, is that they haven't changed the wine menu at all since their days as a wine bar. They have an incredible selection of Italian wines, covering all regions and most price points. A large number are available by the glass.

Plus, I seem to recall that on Sundays (correct me if I'm wrong about this), wine is half price.

A new Korean restaurant recently opened in Champaign, called B-Won. Ths one isn't in Campustown, as most of the others are, but at 2006 S. Neil St. Yesterday I decided to try it out for lunch.

The menu is pretty extensive, with a lot of dishes that were new to me (not that I'm an expert on Korean food). I decided to try one of these, the Boo-Dae Jji-Gae (listed under the heading "Popular Cuisine"), which the menu described as a spicy kim-chi stew iirc. It turned out to be more of an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink stew, with several kinds of meats (mostly of the preserved variety), vegetables (including kimchi), tofu, yam noodles and rice cakes. I didn't find it particularly spicy, though perhaps it was toned down for Westerners. But it was tasty, and the accompanying side dishes were very good.

My entree was eight dollars; most entrees are between eight and twelve dollars, iirc. The ambience is pleasant: it feels like a restaurant, not a fast food place. As I say, I'm no expert on Korean food, but this is one Korean restaurant I wouldn't mind returning to.

I also had dinner at Bacaro a few days ago. It was a good meal, but the standout was my appetizer, truffled popcorn. This was just what it says: a small bowl of popcorn, flavored with (I presume) truffle oil. Simple, but delicious, and only three bucks.

B-Won
2006 S. Neil St. (in Hillcrest Center, across the street from Worden-Martin)
(217) 352-2966
Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun.; closed Mon.

Adam,

Are there any Korean BBQ's in your area where you cook the food at your table over gas or charcoal?

Best regards,

Not that I know of. Woori Jib, on Sixth St. south of Green, advertises Korean B-B-Q, but it appears that they cook the meat, not you. But as I say, I'm not a real Korean food aficianado. It's possible that some place offers it and I just haven't noticed it.

I had dinner at B-Won on Tuesday (again, a good meal) and it appears that they do have Korean BBQ where you cook it yourself on a metal hot plate, for dinner only. Iirc, there's a minimum order of two for this.

Adam,

Bu-dae jigae is definitely a kitchen sink dish -- usually has spam, hot dogs (or vienna sausages), a package of ramen noodles thrown in with the little flat rice cakes, kimchi, and whatever vegetables are around. I think of it as a GI dish -- something that emerged after the Korean war with the influx of canned and otherwise preserved meat items from the West. I know a lot of Korean guys who eat this after a long bout of drinking as it usually comes in a very large portion and is inexpensive.

It's the kind of dish that would make my mother faint if she knew this is what I was ordering in Korean restaurants.... My boyfriend really likes it and it reminds him of when he was living/teaching in Korea.

Spam and hot dogs, eh? That sounds right.

I am making arrangements for a nice dinner in C-U for a large group. Bacaro sounds great, but will it work for a group of 15 or so? Are there any other spots I should consider? We've done Timpones in the past, and KoFusion has also been recommended. Thanks for any advice.

shyne

HI,

This threadon wedding rehearsal dinner recommendations in Champaign/Urbana might have some ideas.

Regards,

shyne wrote:I am making arrangements for a nice dinner in C-U for a large group. Bacaro sounds great, but will it work for a group of 15 or so?

I'd definitely call Bacaro and ask. It's not a large restaurant (it began life as a wine bar) and probably not the type of place I'd choose to bring a large group.

Best,
Michael

I would always recommend Timpone's for dinner - it's one of my absolute favorites in C-U. (I live in Champaign.) There is a private room you can reserve for 15 that is very nice. I have not tried Ko-Fusion yet but it is a very nice looking restaurant. I would also recommend Jim Gould's. My office recently had a private dinner for 20 and they did a superb job for us. Very accommodating. Silvercreek is also one of our local favorites.

I would also recommend Kennedy's for a larger group - they have nice sized private rooms and excellent catering menu.

We ate at Za's on Green after delivering Thing1 and his worldly posessions to his dorm at UIUC today.

Pretty good cracker-crust pizza produced in under 5 minutes. Choice of about 7 sauces (including pesto, ranch, bbq, tomato, and mixes), about as many choices of cheese (mozz, mozz-parm, mozz-cheddar, mozz-gouda, etc.), and 4 ingredients for, depending on the sauce type, $5 plus or minus around a buck. Salads, sandwiches and pastas similarly priced.

Lots of cheap eats on Green... have to explore further on future parental visits.

A couple more recommendations for sweet things:

Toffee by Audra is excellent locally-made toffee. It's fairly expensive (4 oz. is about $5, though you can save a bit by buying larger quantities), but it's worth it: I don't remember having had better toffee anywhere. It's seasonally available: my impression is that she makes one batch in the spring and another in the fall. Right now you can buy it at the Walnut Street Tea Co. in downtown Champaign (115 S. Walnut), the Art Mart in the Lincoln Square Mall in downtown Urbana (now called Lincoln Village iirc), and, more expensively, at Rubens Chocolatier.

Cafe Verde, in downtown Champaign, sells various bakery-type items handmade on the premises, and some of them are very good. The selection changes constantly, so there's not much point recommending specific items. They also serve good coffee, though I'm not a coffee connoisseur. It's a pleasant space: there's an art gallery attached, which also has live music, comedy or tango lessons on some evenings. It's at 17 Taylor, north of University between Neil and Walnut. (It's a bit difficult to find; it's across the street from the Cowboy Monkey.)

On a sadder note, Persimmon Grocery has shut its doors for good. I hope this doesn't mean that Bacaro, which has the same ownership, is in trouble: I had dinner there a couple weeks ago, and it was the best meal I've eaten there so far.

Adam Stephanides wrote:They also serve good coffee, though I'm not a coffee connoisseur.

Correction: When the coffee's hot, it's good. When it's lukewarm, it can be pretty bad.