#31 Vernon Hills Portillo's

It's the second to the last Portillo's and it's cold again.  See me in my winter coat with the snow in the background?  Notice the bags under my eyes?  Those are from Christmas shopping.  You know I'm kidding, right?  I rarely ever shop before Christmas Eve.  The bags are empty.  I really do wait until the last minute.  To me there's something about the crowds, the hazardous parking lots, crazy shoppers, screaming kids, etc. that I enjoy ... NOT.  On the other hand, messing with people that are in a hurry can be fun.  I'm supposed to be nice, but someone has to make these people understand that Christmas is more about personal interactions than gifts.  Even if those interactions are not always positive.  Someone needs to teach them patience.  Alright, I really am much nicer than that ... at least occasionally.  Well, in order to avoid the whole situation, I shop really early in the morning.  I'm talking really really early while everyone else is still sleeping.  One year I remember leaving just before 6am and hitting eleven stores by 10am.  There are many advantages to shopping on Christmas Eve.  First, I don't have a lot of time to agonize over my purchases.  For example, I used to buy stuff - see it somewhere else for a lower price - then feel like I got ripped off.  I would proceed to buy the second one and then return the first, even if that involved hours of running around and waiting in lines.  Second, and potentially worse, I would see something slightly better and then second-guess my first purchase.  In any case, both of these situations are eliminated if I wait until the last minute.  There's no lollygagging around, I'm forced to by the only item left that's not broken!

If you're inclined to shop, the Portillo's in Vernon Hills is directly across the street from a mall.  Fortunately we avoided the shopping, but not the crowd.  This Portillo's was busy, but it has to be one of the largest.  There's an enclosed atrium!  There was no problem finding seating.  I noticed something else here, and perhaps it was just timing, but the Barnelli's seemed busier than the Portillo's.  Also, and I can't seem to figure out why this always happens, but I must be a magnet for screaming babies, with deaf, and inconsiderate parents.  Josh may have inadvertently stumbled onto an ingenious idea ... wearing headphones all the time.
Jeff:
Chicken Caesar Salad
Caramel Pecan Cake (Interesting it says "Rum Cake" on the receipt - no wonder it was so good)

Joy:
Chopped Salad

#30 Streamwood Portillo's

You know how they call the Friday after Thanksgiving “Black Friday” and the following Monday “Cyber Monday.”  Well, I call the Saturday in between “Frostbite Saturday.”  It’s the official outside Christmas decoration and party day!  Yippee Ho Ho Ho!  This is one of Joy’s favorite days of the year, since it’s time to move the party outside.  Every year, for who knows how long (Joy would), I traipsed around the block goading people into buying a Christmas tree to put on their front lawn.  Perhaps, goading is too strong a term; I more or less cajoled them.  Well, at least I used to, but now one of our very nice neighbors (the new capo) has agreed to be the strong arm and the godfather (me) gets to chill - literally.  Don’t know where I was going there...  In any case, it’s really a site to see as most of the neighbors participate.   Check out the photo below (not posted yet).  What cool neighbors we have!  Thanks to all who helped and brang out the goodies.  Oh, and though I complain a lot, I enjoy letting the kids pick out their trees and drag them down the block.  It’s even better when those little imps, I mean elves, get all hopped up on sugar and have a marshmallow war.  Oh yeah, it happened.  Don't know how that started.

Back to our story, still in progress, eating at Portillo’s. This week we went to the Portillo’s in Streamwood.  I could swear we’ve eaten here before.  When Josh was small we used to take him out to the Chuck-E-Cheese next door.  Talk about fun times, you know, crawling through those ... hum ... a ... odiferous (politically correct description) ... tubes.

Check out what I had to eat, I’m getting down to some really interesting combinations. I had a chili dog and a Caesar salad.  Both were good, though not a combination that I would normally recommend.

P.S.   I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my nephew's wedding.  We had a nice drive down to the beautiful (eye of the beholder - or beerholder) state of Kansas to see our nephew get married.  Good luck Greg and Annie, the first 20 years are the hardest.

Jeff:
Chili Cheese Dog
Ceasar Salad

Joy:
Cheese Burger
Onion Rings (to heck with the diet)
Side Coleslaw

Josh:
Jumbo Hot Dog
French Fries

 

Annie and Greg - 11/20/10



Sunset in Manhattan Kansas



#29 Summit Portillo's

How early is too early to start playing Christmas music?  I think any time before Thanksgiving, but Joy thinks starting the first of November is fine.  But that’s the way she is, she’s the planner and I’m the procrastinator.  She’s so organized and efficient that a good portion of the Christmas decorations are already up.  What’s wrong with going straight from Halloween decorations to Christmas decorations?

The Summit Portillo's is on Harlem Avenue, just south of the Stevenson.  Don't you love it when highways have names, but those names do not appear on any maps?!  Anyway, despite this Portillo's having a bit of a parking problem - we had to park in an auxiliary lot - it was relatively easy to get to from our house.  And, this is the only Portillo's we've been to that serves custard.  Yes, you heard that right, custard, like the kind you find at Culver's.  Actually Joy thought it was better than Culver's!   Then again, she doesn't like things sickeningly sweet.  I thought it was good and I had an interesting combination of items today, check it out below.

P.S. Oldest kid next door, you know who you are. What’s the big deal if Joy wants her decorations up a couple weeks before Thanksgiving?!

Jeff:
Chicken Tenders (good - though I rarely get fried food so I'm no expert)
Green Pepper Soup  (liked it)
Turtle Sundae (good)
Joy:
Italian Beef
Hot Fudge Sundae (loved the custard, not the fudge)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

#28 Crestwood Portillo's

Boo … In my opinion it’s the second best holiday of the year.  Actually, now that I’m older I probably enjoy it more than Christmas.  What a great holiday!  It’s all candy, candy, candy.  If I told you I had a sweet tooth that would be an understatement.  In fact, the inside of my mouth is starting to hurt.  Fortunately I gave blood a couple of weeks ago.  If I tried this week they’d have a hard time getting it out of my veins since it’s probably as thick as maple syrup.  Some people if given the choice between a nice steak and a piece of cake would choose the steak, but not me.  The bad news is that stage two diabetes runs in my family so at some point I’m going to have to watch it.  That’s really depressing.

Time to change the subject.  Joy got a new car!  She’s really excited since she’s never had a new car.  What a pain in the butt it was shopping around, but you’ll see her picture below in front of her 2011 Honda Accord.  Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for Joy, I didn’t get to drive it down to St. Louis last week.  Last weekend was my nephew Greg’s bachelor party.  He’s getting married in November.  Since half the family lives in Kansas City and the other half in Chicago, we decided to meet in St. Louis.  We had a great time.  Rather than treat you all to the entire weekend, here are some quick highlights.  Eight of us met in St. Louis on Friday to see the Hawks play the Blues.  The Hawks lost 4 to 2, but no one in the group got into a fight - even though both nephews were wearing Hawks jerseys.  After the game we stayed in a house my nephew Chris rented on a lake in Innsbrook, Mo.  It was a beautiful location (picture below).  We went on a zip line tour Saturday.  After six lines my brother Doug said he had a pain in his chest.  No, he didn’t have a heart attack, thank goodness, we were out in the middle of nowhere!  He thinks he was just tense because the guy told him he might ram into a tree at 40mph.  Seriously, he didn’t even get close.  I mean, he cleared it my at least three or four inches.  Oh, now that I think of it, this is the same guy who Greg inadvertently kneed in the groin.  It was painfully obvious that he wasn’t wearing a cup.  In the evening we went to the play Evil Dead the Musical.  Ironically, it was in a repurposed church.  I don’t know about the other guys, but I enjoyed it.  The highlight of the evening was when Darrell (niece’s fiancee) goaded Joe (other niece’s boyfriend) into trying to eat a tablespoon of cinnamon.  In retrospect this was a really bad idea.  Do not attempt this! Joe survived, but for a while we weren’t so sure he would.  Check out the video here.  Don’t worry, the copious vomit scenes are not shown, but you can see he’s in a lot of distress.  The rest of the trip was enjoyable, but largely uneventful, other than a hot dog bun fight (take my word for it; it stings when you get hit with a balled up bun).  At one point I was heard screaming, “Look out, he’s got a bun!”  On the way home I made my brother Carl and Josh stop at Cahokia. If you enjoy history you should check out the earthen mounds in southern Illinois. They were built by the Indians over a thousand years ago, at least that’s what’s alleged. Both Carl and Josh thought that it should have been called, “Ca_hoax_ia”.

As for the Crestwood Portillo’s (I’m going to try to be delicate) it hasn’t been my favorite. The facility itself needs a little maintenance.  The first chair I chose was broken and the bathroom was antiquated.  On the other hand, and probably more important, these were likely the nicest employees I’ve encountered so far.  Since I’m on a mission to eat everything on the menu, I ordered the “Vegi Croissant.”  Apparently I’m the first person to ever have ordered this.  At least that’s what was implied.  When the first girl couldn’t figure out how to enter it into the computer, I offered to order something different.  A second girl stepped in and said, “really it’s no problem, you get what you want.”  She put the order through and everything came out perfect.  Now you’re really going to think I’m nuts, but the vegi croissant was really, and I’m not kidding, really good.  Go figure.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, it was Portillo’s after all.

Jeff:
Vegi Croissant (If I ever become a vegetarian, this is what I’m eating)
Gourmet Garden Salad

Joy:
Chopped Salad (crunchiest bacon she’s ever had)

#27 Crystal Lake Portillo's

Still writing this one.  Will post shortly.

Jeff:
Tuna Caesar Salad

Joy:
Chopped Salad (again)