Tacos El Norte - Palatine IL

I have driven past Tacos El Norte many times, but never stopped in until today with my wife for dinner.  I ordered an Al Pastor Burrito and my wife had three tamales with refried beans.

Overall, I thought the burrito was decent for the price of $6.99 and my wife said the $2.00 tamales were good too.  The restaurant is bigger than I thought... and it is a "sit-down" restaurant but you can also order to go.

I'll be back...

Nancy's Pizza and Italian Beef & Fries

My wife and I have been going to Nancy's Pizza in Niles for years.  But we moved a bit further away and haven't been there in a while.

Going back in on Sunday, we were greeted by our regular waitress and bus boy as well as the owner.  It's alway fun when people recognize you, but they were surprised that I came in with a walker.  My knee replacement has not gone well and so I'm still walking with a walker.

We were surprised to see that the restaurant added gaming machines in the back of the restaurant.  It is near the washrooms and is "roped" off for guests over 21 only.  We were also informed that they had an electrical fire in September and were closed until November to fix it.

This time around, we did not order our usual "dinner specials" that the restaurant usually has daily.  Instead, I ordered a Cheese Stuffed Pizza (Medium) and my wife ordered and Italian Beef with Fries.

I had been going to Nancy's Pizza since my senior year in high school.  My friend Steve drove me there since he had a car and we always ordered a pizza.  But, since going back as an adult, I have been ordering their dinner specials.  So, it was good to have a pizza again.  Very good... just as I remembered.

My wife ordered  the Italian Beef & Fries since she does not eat cheese.  She said the fries were very good.  Nice and crispy.  But the Italian Beef was a bit dry for her as it did not come with au jus.

Overall, give Nancy's a try if you haven't already.  The regulars like us (although not as much lately since we don't live as close anymore) usually end up ordering the dinner specials (good value), but the pizzas are still their claim to fame.

Home Made Pizzas!

My wife, daughter and son-in-law made pizzas again!

Since I am still having knee replacement issues, I just sat by and watched the fun.

We all had different pizzas... my son-in-law made a pepperoni pizza, my daughter made me a pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, shrimp and spinach pizza, my wife had a pepperoni, shrimp, mushroom and spinach pizza (no cheese) and my daughter had a sausage, mushroom and spinach pizza.

Yum!

Instant Pot Beef Stew

Check out my Instant Pot Beef Stew by clicking here.

70th Birthday Dinner at Lee Wing Wah Restaurant - Chinatown - Chicago

Last night, our family celebrated the 70th Birthday of my "Aunt-in-law" (is that the real way to say it?) at Lee Wing Wah Restaurant in Chicago's Chinatown Square.

In my haste to get the shots quickly so that others at our table could get to the food and eat it, several photos came out a bit more blurred than I preferred.  But, I think you can still get an idea of what we had for dinner.

We started out with a cold plate of Char Siu, Jelly Fish, Pork Belly, and Pigs Knuckles.  Next, there was a Corn Chowder Soup, Mushrooms and Sea Cucumbers, Honey Walnut Shrimp, Chicken (my sister-in-law insisted that I take a photo of the chicken head for you to see...), Lobsters, Fried Tofu medallions, Fish (Sole) - the server broke it open before I had a chance to shoot it, Seafood and Vegetables on Pan Fried Noodles, Beef, Gai Lan on Rice Noodles and finally Orange.  And let's not forget, Birthday Cake!

The food was great as always.  We've been to Lee Wing Wah for countless dinners and banquets.  It's one of the better restaurants (and better values) in Chinatown... so make note the next time you go to Chinatown!

Happy Birthday Aunt Ruth!  Wishing you many more to come!

Pepe's Mexican Restaurant - Rolling Meadows, IL

My wife and I went to Pepe's Mexican Restaurant in Rolling Meadows, IL for dinner tonight.

I've driven past this restaurant for years, but had never been inside, but a Local Flavors coupon for 50% off ($10 for $20) and an additional 25% off of that got us to go there for dinner.

The decor of the restaurant was definitely Mexican.  The color scheme, archways and overall feel was no doubt, Mexican.  That's what I expected and that's what we got.

We both ordered burritos, but different versions.  My wife had a chicken burrito (not a dinner plate, just the burrito) and I ordered the beef burritos suizo dinner (which has cheese and sauce on top).  The dinner plate has refried beans and Mexican rice.

My wife's version had a lot of refried beans in the burrito and my burrito had ground beef and beans in it.  My wife could have ordered it with only chicken in there, but she didn't realize that until after thinking about what she saw on the menu which said that you could get "all meat".  It wasn't very clear that this meant no beans in the burrito.

Anyway, my burrito had ground beef, whereas I thought it would have been more like steak slices.  I think the menu should have called it a ground beef burrito rather than the generic name of beef burrito.  Apparently, there are other versions of the burrito that I could have ordered that had steak pieces, but like my wife, I didn't know any better.  It's on the menu though as I re-read it while writing this review.

My meal at Los Arcos Mexican Grill (see my blog post on this restaurant by clicking here) had actual steak pieces.  So overall, I thought Los Arcos' burrito was better.  But, it was $3 more than the one here at Pepe's.

Still, we both thought the meals were good.  My wife thought the chicken burrito was a bit salty, but overall tasty.  My burrito was tasty, but again, I had hoped it was actual steak pieces.  The second photo above shows the ground beef pouring out after cutting into the burrito.

My wife ordered a churro for dessert.

Our waiter was good and brought out tortilla chips and salsa twice for us.  Another waitress brought out a third basket of chips and salsa after we were done eating too!  The chips were not as light as perhaps Uncle Julio's, but still light enough for me!  Because the service was so good, we gave a generous tip.  My wife noticed that the waiter seemed very surprised at the nice tip.  I suppose many who use coupons don't tip as well or not on the actual cost of the meal.  But we always make sure that the wait staff gets tipped the amount the full value of the meal should be BEFORE coupon discounts.  They should not have to suffer a discounted tip even if the meal is discounted by a coupon.  Anyway, he got a good tip... even more than it should have been before discount.  I'm sure he was happy.

Would we go back?  Sure, but if we do,  it we will order "all meat" options instead.

Cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada on the Carnival Imagination

Fine dining and also buffets on the ship!

My sister invited me to join her and her son on a 4 day trip to Catalina Island and Ensenada onboard the Carnival Imagination!  This was my second cruise, having gone on an Alaska cruise years ago on Princess Cruises.

I decided to document all that I ate in photos, both at the buffet and the fine dining that was included in the price of the trip.  Most noted was the Alligator Fritters... I never had that before!  Interestingly, I could not taste the alligator at all.  Tasted mostly like breading.  I also had a rabbit too... but again, could not taste much of it.  I've had rabbit before.

Overall, I felt the food offerings on Princess Cruises was better, but this still was very good as well for the fine dining meals.  The buffets... well, typical.  Sorry for the photo of the half eaten Reuben sandwich.  By the time I remembered to take a photo, it was too late!  :)

Here are some photos from the fine dining onboard the Ruby Princess ship to Alaska back in 2015...