Weisun "go for it" C.'s Profile

Johnny T. is probably the only Yelp Community Manager many recent Chicago Yelpers have ever known. Today, many were in attendance to bid him farewell. So a lot of familiar faces. The whole joint was ours for the evening - Yelp chotskies were spread all around and serve-yourself buttered popcorn was in a handy theater-style warming case in one corner. The amplified music was pretty low-key early in the evening. Good thing too. At one of the bar's 4 sub-woofers they had set up a small table with a giant sized stack of Jenga blocks. Some took the challenge (see my photos), but as the music volume (and bass notes) increased, it became less of a fair challenge. Another great event, Johnny! Keep up the great work wherever you wind up (check his new location).

I came to pick up a couple of pies (the Middle Eastern version of empanadas), the perfect eat-in-the-car, non-drip lunch. This is Andersonville's outpost for Middle Eastern grocery shopping far away from the city's epicenter for that in Albany Park. Plus, there is the constantly baking deli and bakery. I chose a torpedo-shaped pie filled with marinated broccoli, sliced mushroom, and slices of white cheese. Its mate was a rectangular pie filled with chicken, mushroom, and red & green bell peppers. Both were delicious!

While in the grocery part of the store, I picked up a 16-oz. tub of hummus, which the shop has freshly ground from chickpeas and spices. I still prefer the hummus at Salam in Albany Park, where for a similar price, you get almost twice as much hummus, but nicely dressed with olive oil, a few whole chickpeas, and herbs & spices (they know that eating is partly with the eyes). Plus, Salam includes two pitas (just to get you started) with what they call a small order to go.

To compliment the hummus from here, I picked up a warm, freshly baked sack of what I thought was pita bread paddies. But when I got in the car, I realized that these were NOT pitas at all. It was a bag of six of their Lahma Bil Ajeen, or Middle Eastern style pizzas, topped with ground beef, tomatoes, parsley, onion, and spices. They are on round paddies which only resemble pitas. These were later microwaved and enjoyed hot, folded in half like a taco. Fresh pitas were later bought from the Sanabel Bakery store on Kedzie. The hummus was good.

Always dependable, but tends to get crowded on weekends. For some reason, we thought going here on Passover weekend was a good idea. Despite the big crowd in the restaurant and in the waiting area, we got in after less than 30 minutes. We were gifted with the greatest waitress and John, the manager, also took good care of us.

One of us had the thinly sliced corned beef, piled high on fresh slices of rye bread. Another had their corned beef hash, sunny-side-up eggs, and fresh bagels. I had their excellent French toast, scrambled eggs, and chicken sausages (see photo) with a freshly toasted bialy. Also got a tall glass of freshly squeezed O.J.

We left sated with empty plates at our table.

I don't know their reliability for car repairs at all. But the other reviews are promising. My review is about Daddio's bringing back something every other gas station and garage has abandoned: free air for your tires or sports equipment. They may be the last place on the roadways to offer that (see my photo).

The Butterburger joint with frozen custard is finally in the northern outskirts of Chicago. If you have experienced a Culvers before it was probably in Wisconsin or probably on the road somewhere. On a visit by your lonesome, it's pretty much like going to a "big name" burger joint. You walk in and up to their order counter. Here the differences between a Culvers and other burger places are jarring, especially if you are eating your meal on site and not "to go."

Culvers is what I call a "half table service" restaurant. They don't take orders at your table. They only deliver your finished order there. What happens after you order at the counter is that you are given a "crime scene incident marker number" for your table. These look just like those plastic inverted "V's" the police use to mark where they found bullets or other evidence at an active crime scene, except at Culvers they are blue instead of yellow. The number matches your order and someone delivers your food accordingly.

Where this process fails is when you (and many others) arrive at Culvers as a party of four or more. On the night we were there, that's what happened. Since there are no menus or order takers at the tables, all arriving groups wind up standing in the space in front of the order counter (this also includes "to go" customers). Mainly because that is where the only menu is shown. Contrast this with something like a Steak & Shake, where they offer "full table service," with printed menus and order takers/wait staff for every table. At a Steak & Shake, there is no crowd of people waiting to give their orders and no crime scene numbers on the tables.

The burgers here were delicious and the crinkle fries were just fine too. Keep in mind though that all other things (cold beverages, condiments, paper napkins, etc.) for your meal are self service as well. Culver's "half table service" is not a winner idea. If they have personnel for wait staff, let them give me full table service and I'll tip them. At Culvers tipping is not necessary (which I guess is their plan).

Their product is butcherblock, that slab of maple (usually) assembled from solid 1.5" linear blocks of clear wood to the width that you need. Butcherblock has been the natural option that predates the current trend to have granite or faux stone for kitchen countertops. It can be used as tabletops or the tops of other pieces of furniture, even stools and chairs. Butcherblock has been popular because of its beauty, strength, and ease of care. Most pieces are sealed with a food-safe polyurethane finish that can stand up to  repeated use.

O'Neill Products is located in the eastern border of Pilsen, in the shadow of the massive overpass of 90/94 where the Dan Ryan splits into the Kennedy and the Eisenhower expressways. Just to the north are the rail yards that bisect the city. From here and the overpass you get a spectacular vista of the city's downtown core.

Most likely you will be ordering custom cut and finished pieces from O'Neill. Our order was personally handled by manager, Pete Grossmann, who saw to it that our piece met our specifications. Read the helpful information at their Web site before ordering: http://www.oneillprodu... . A visit to their small and cluttered showroom might spark some other furnishing ideas.

This store, the first local bricks-and-mortar representation of the long-running mail order, catalog, and online retailer, just opened (March 11, 2012), so not enough experience with them so far to form much of an opinion. But on visiting them on opening week (display setup still going on), when there were yet few walk-in customers, I was warmly greeted and attended to by a sales staffer. Unlike other non-Apple shops that offer Macintosh products and accessories plus knowledgeable staff (Micro Center on Elston Ave. comes to mind), this shop is all Macintosh, all the time. If you are not of that persuasion, the store does hold many accessory items that will still work with other platforms. They also have a service/repair counter, should your Mac need attention.

Most Web-savvy Mac owners will probably do their actual buying online. But for impulse or gotta-have-it-now shoppers looking for Apple and Macintosh related products, this is an excellent option to have. Lots of considerations to weigh in your purchase decision. There is usually meter parking at the curb outside the shop. Stay tuned for their official "Grand Opening" on March 31.

Since this Japanese chain has only this one shop for now (more planned), you'd be right in assuming that it's a commuter-oriented small business. But their signature product, the cream puff, is not really a travel-friendly food for people on the go. It is much better to eat the cream puff at one of the handful of small café tables in this small shop (good people watching spot). First, you then experience the cream puff at its freshest, and more importantly, as you bite into it, especially after the half-way point, these generously overstuffed pastries will want to spill out. This is much easier to handle at a table than while walking. And if you are walking with a beverage also, forget it!

While their Web site holds the promise of future shops around the area to come, so far, this one little place in Chicago's downtown Pedway (http://www.yelp.com/bi...), is the sole place to get these wonderful pastries. Besides the cream puffs (with lots of permutations of that), they also offer elairs, the century-old Paris-Brest, fruit-topped cups of shaved ice treats, and thin, stick-shaped slices of cheesecake. Yes. A veritable snack heaven, especially when you can optionally add in the  Häagen-Dazs brand of ice creams, and Blender smoothies.

I enjoyed a strawberry filled cream puff with a cup of Illy brewed coffee (there are a good variety of café au lait and expresso brews as well). I will be back to get a box of six cream puffs, where that sixth one is essentially free.

Yes. It's a traffic and weather-free way to get across the Loop and even to the business areas north of Millennium Park. But don't forget there are many small shops along the way and back, many are places for various fast foods. For some of these, it's their only location. One such shop is a Yelp favorite - Beard Papa, the cream puffs and eclair bakery plus coffee shop: http://www.yelp.com/bi... .

The best opportunity to check out the Pedway might be if you are called for jury duty at any of the court rooms in Daley Center (there is a direct entry from one to the other, and to the CTA Blue Line subway station). Use it to make the best of your lunch break time.

We were upstairs at Sullivan's -- turn to the right (as the news camera guys did) and you'd be with a meeting of the Chicago Young Republicans (CYR), gathered to watch the "Super Tuesday" results coming in from Ohio. But our by-invitation-only dinner was to the left, in a special cozy corner room where the TV was thankfully off all evening. The restaurant had assigned a team of wait staff to our group of two dozen, assuring we'd be royally treated and served.

The bar on this floor was in the CYR's room, so that's where our cocktails came from. Many at my table had Sullivan's signature martini, the Knockout, Smirnoff Orange Vodka infused with Hawaiian gold pineapple, topped with an orange twist (http://tinyurl.com/7ab...). A lovely drink, which, according to tablemate, Kyle B., after a few could lead to a foggy tour of the wine cellar here. We also ordered our wine choices, many opting for a glass of red. Our waitress was ready to serve me the wine then. I deferred to have it later with the entree.

Our appetizers were their delightful "cheesesteak eggrolls," ahi tuna tartare with peeled orange wedges and diced avocado, eaten with slices of toasted baquette (http://tinyurl.com/7xa...), and "crispy Shanghai calamari" in a sweet chili glaze with bean sprouts, crushed peanut, sliced cherry peppers and scallion. All were yummy and completely consumed at our end of the table. All was accompanied by warm-from-the-oven freshly baked bread. The salads were good. But who remembers a side salad?

At Sullivan's it's about the beef. Almost everyone at my table ordered a steak (mainly rib eyes and filet mignons, with a couple of NY strips - http://tinyurl.com/7kf...). But if the one example was any indication, Sullivan's can broil a great (and huge) salmon steak as well (http://tinyurl.com/7mb...). OK. Everyone eventually nitpicks about how they ordered their steak in comparison to how it arrived on their plate. Getting this right is an art, done by touch since direct inspection ain't possible. Mine was to be "medium-rare" and it arrived just so, plus a bit more towards the rare. I can't say I heard any complaints at my table about their steaks, and anyone who didn't finish theirs did so because of meat volume mismatch with their tummy rather than how it was cooked. Texture-wise, my steak was done to perfection, the outside seared to a touch of crustiness with a light coating of pebbly salt. Inside, the rareness at the heart of the 2-inch thick filet was definitely beyond the pink, reminiscent of the finest tuna sashimi.

We all liked the horseradish mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, and mac & cheese side dishes (http://tinyurl.com/76b...), but with the generous portions of appetizers and entree, everyone was starting to run out of capacity (http://tinyurl.com/7sb...). Throughout this, I was the only one without wine in my glass, having to remind our waitress to serve me some towards the end of the meal.

Our desserts of key lime pie with raspberry sauce and cheesecake with strawberry garnish (http://tinyurl.com/7bh...) were nicely presented. Strange though that our table was offered neither coffee nor tea to accompany this. Still, a fabulous and satisfying meal that I'm sure we will all remember and want to return to sample more of.

Outside I spotted in a news truck, veteran CBS-2 correspondent, Mike Parker finishing up his notes for his on-air stand-up about the CYR meeting. I'm certainly glad I turned left instead of right at the top of Sullivan's stairs this night!