Santander wrote:I'll be coming east from Oak Park and can grab anyone in the west or near north vicinities.

I'm still 100% in for this processional. If we know numbers, cars, and the direction cars are coming from, then I'd suggest the carless folks can coordinate if/where it makes sense to congregate.

I'm coming from the north suburbs, so someone (or someones) are further north than near north, I'm happy to pick up.

That being said, a friend who lives in Streeterville might be a +1 so that is another potential stop/gathering place.

Looking forward to it!

Mike

Hi all -

I've had a chance to figure out travel times and directions and I'd like to propose meeting at Swim Cafe on Chicago Ave. because it's close to the Blue Line, not too far from the Brown Line as well as being very close to the expressway, and has decent parking possibilities. Here's what I'm thinking for the tentative schedule give or take a few minutes here and there depending on traffic and such (and I'll have Googlemap directions for the drivers):

9:45 am
Meet at Swim Café
1357 W. Chicago Ave.

10:00 – 10:30 Travel to Old Fashioned Donuts

10:30 – 11:00 am
Old Fashioned Donuts
11248 S. Michigan Ave.
773.995.7420

11:00 – 11:15 Travel to Baylor’s

11:15 – 11:45
Baylor’s Watermelons
10100 S. Halsted

11:45 – 12:00 Travel to Top Notch

12:00 – 1:00
Top Notch Beefburger
2116 W. 95th St.
773.445.7218

1:00 – 1:15 Travel to Jimmy Jamm’s

1:15 – 1:45
Jimmy Jamm’s
1844 W. 95th St.
773.779.9105

1:45 – 2:30 Travel to various points back home

If anyone who hasn't confirmed or signed up can do so by the end of the day on Tuesday so I can figure out the final number of drivers we need and so that I can call our hosts at each stop to give them a heads up of how many people to expect.

And I do love all of the other suggested stops and plan to get to them some time, but as I need to be back up north for a birthday, these are all the stops I can fit in on this trip. Thanks all for your help and enthusiasm. I am so looking forward to this.

Gee, Hellodali, you should go into business planning road trips...oh, wait. Nice to see a pro in her element...wish I could be there, I'll be thinking of you all from the beach at South Blvd...

So - our plans have changed a little. It will be a little less complicated - and just be me.

I will have our car, so I can offer transportation for 3 other people.

Looking forward to it.... Now just need to decide how many watermelons to buy....

10% chance of life has intervened, so I am ungracefully backing out of the grander plan. However, I'll be through with my appointments by noon, so may join you just for lunch at Top Notch. Thanks again for this great idea (which has already spawned one successful trip!)

I've managed my life around this and can attend. I will need to figure out a pickup/meet up place as I need a ride. I'm in west Lakeview, close to Roscoe Village.

ViewsAskew wrote:I've managed my life around this and can attend. I will need to figure out a pickup/meet up place as I need a ride. I'm in west Lakeview, close to Roscoe Village.

If you're near Ashland at all, you can take the Ashland bus to Chicago Ave. Then, if you're OK walking, Swim Cafe is less than 10 minutes from there.

I am now +2.

It sounds like we have 2 cars and 8 people - which works well.

So, Swim Cafe is the gathering point?

Yes, Swim Cafe is the meeting place. And we actually have three cars. We can leave one by Swim if there are only eight of us, but we may need them all depending on any final changes. Glad you have friends joining us and I've added them to our tally.

OK--I'm a definite now. Since I'm a hop-skip-jump from Swim, I thought of inviting folks over for breakfast. Then I remembered that this is the fritter-sweet potato-burger-watermelon caravan--coffee at Swim might be enough. See everyone tomorrow.

BTW, did we reserve apple fritters at Old-Fashioned? Turns out I'm going to need to pick up 5 tomorrow (noooo, not all for me), and I didn't want to eat into the caravan's order, so I just called now to reserve mine separately. I was going to ask if an order had been placed for the group, but a dying intercom phone got in the way.

happy_stomach wrote:BTW, did we reserve apple fritters at Old-Fashioned? Turns out I'm going to need to pick up 5 tomorrow (noooo, not all for me), and I didn't want to eat into the caravan's order, so I just called now to reserve mine separately. I was going to ask if an order had been placed for the group, but a dying intercom phone got in the way.

I called and spoke with Tina who told me that she had an order of 5 fritters for 10:30 (assuming these are for happy_stomach), but I don't think there was any larger group order.

I reserved 4 for myself.

This has been a fritter service announcement.

Edit: despite the time stamp on the post, it's currently 5:43, in case others find this to be useful information.

gastro gnome wrote:I called and spoke with Tina who told me that she had an order of 5 fritters for 10:30 (assuming these are for happy_stomach), but I don't think there was any larger group order.

Yes, those are mine, but I will share with the caravan if there turns out to be a shortage of fritters. I'll make the sacrifice and partake in a few doughnuts instead.

happy_stomach wrote:

gastro gnome wrote:I called and spoke with Tina who told me that she had an order of 5 fritters for 10:30 (assuming these are for happy_stomach), but I don't think there was any larger group order.

Yes, those are mine, but I will share with the caravan if there turns out to be a shortage of fritters. I'll make the sacrifice and partake in a few doughnuts instead.

I feel the same way about sharing. So we'll have at least 9 fresh fritters when we arrive. I imagine that should be just about enough for the survivors of the fritter cage match (or about 1/person for the nonviolent, benevolent folk).

I'm a first time friterer and am very excited.

gastro gnome wrote:I'm a first time friterer and am very excited.

Oh, my. You may want to take your first bite before you get all benevolent with everyone. I'll have my camera ready. One's first Old Fashioned apple fritter--that's an important moment.

Thanks Mike and Sharon for being quick on the fritter draw. I never thought to reserve any. I'll also call tomorrow morning and see if we can get 2-3 more just in case. It will be my first Old Fashioned fritter as well, so it will be a momentous morning many times over!

I know it's late and nobody may see this, but the family and I are considering joining you just for the Old-Fashioned Donuts stop. I know you're considering a potential fritter shortage but there's plenty of other stuff there and I think we'd be able to get by on just one fritter. Anyway maybe we'll see you there!

Hi,

The Blueberry donuts, which I have yet to try, are supposed to be very worthy.

Regards,

The blueberry donuts were loved by several in the group. Good call. Since many pictures were taken, I imagine a thorough post is forthcoming. The timing was impeccable, the company amiable, and the food delectable. All in all, a worthy outing.

Ditto from me on the blueberry donuts. They were incredibly moist and fragrant.

I was quite tickled with the day. I so enjoyed all of our stops and the terrific company we had and as full and tired as I was, I was sad to see the day end.

After meeting at Swim Café, we zipped down to Old Fashioned Donuts. Knowing how eager we were to get our fritters, the traffic gods were with us.

At Old Fashioned, we were happily surprised by Jim the Beer Guy and his lovely family. In addition to the apple fritters, we also tasted the aforementioned blueberry donuts, orange cake donut, regular glazed, crullers and glazed croissants. The donuts were all fantastic but the fritter was life-changing for me. It was my first taste of the legendary apple fritter and it far exceeded my expectations. I didn’t expect quite such an amazing combination of moist, crispy, gooey goodness. I love how in certain parts, the apple and fried dough and glaze caramelize into something otherworldly. I am already trying to figure out when I make my next trip.

After tearing into the treats, we sat in sugar-shocked silence for a few minutes before heading off to Baylor’s to load up on watermelons. We got a taste of the beautiful melons before making our selections. It really is a superior melon and the folks who enjoyed it at a party I went to last night thought so as well.

We had lunch at Top Notch Beefburger where even there, some of us managed to not avoid sugar by ordering malts and milkshakes. I enjoyed my burger and fries but I know some in our group thought they were just fine. It may be we were expecting life-changing burgers after having life-changing fritters and were thus disappointed. I enjoyed mine but encourage others to chime in on Top Notch.

As it was only a few blocks away on 95th, we waddled down to Jimmy Jamm’s. Jimmy Jamm’s is really a temple to the sweet potato and if you like sweet potatoes, you should definitely make a pilgrimage. Our host Harold was incredibly warm and gracious. He told us about the origins of the sweet potato pie recipe but I am embarrassed to admit that I was so distracted by the sweet potato bounty in front of me that I did not get all of the story. He generously gave us samples of non-dairy sweet potato ice cream which I loved and on my next visit, plan to bring something insulated to be able to take some back. It was very smooth and surprisingly light. Like a frozen spiced sweet potato cloud.

We ordered a slice of the regular sweet potato pie with honey cream icing and one with a praline topping. As others have written, you expect the pie with the frosting to be super sweet, but it really is just sweet enough and unexpectedly light. The filling is light and smooth and Harold explained to us how the “de-string” the mashed potatoes so they end up as smooth and light as they are. The pie with a praline topping was groan-and-fall-back wonderful. It was rich and sweet and even the best of us could only handle a bite or two (OK, maybe three). I’d like to try that one again when it isn’t following a day of donuts and burgers.

Harold also shared some sweet potato french fries sprinkled with salt and brown sugar. And there were so many treats we didn’t get to – sweet potato bread, cake, cupcakes and sweet potato bread pudding which looked especially delicious. And there were savory loaded sweet potatoes and sandwiches.

I can’t wait for my next trip to all of these places. Many thanks to my fellow road trippers and especially to gastro gnome and RomanticCynic for driving.

Some pictures here (I missed getting pics at Old Fashioned but I know others got some):

The group at Baylor's




Assembled beefburger at Top Notch



Beefburger, interior shot



Just part of the bounty of sweet potato delights at Jimmy Jamm's



Our wonderful hosts and hardworking crew at Jimmy Jamm's




The knock-you-back-in-your chair praline topped sweet potato pie




Some treats we missed that we'll have to get next time

It looks like a wonderful time was had.

What a great idea and I'm sorry I missed it. My scale is not sorry, but I am.

This was quite the food trip and I wanted to thank Hellodali and happy_stomach for organizing. I personally feel like I failed, my appetite performance was lackluster*, but regardless of the quantities I was able to consume, the food and the company were both incredible.

Hellodali wrote:I enjoyed my burger and fries but I know some in our group thought they were just fine. It may be we were expecting life-changing burgers after having life-changing fritters and were thus disappointed. I enjoyed mine but encourage others to chime in on Top Notch.

I fell in to the "it's a decent diner burger" camp. It was fine, but I didn't feel that it exemplified any of the particular style of burgers out there. The taste of the patty was definitely beefy, but not wildly so, and (most importantly to me) the patty lacked any sort of crust (as I would hope for in a great griddled burger).

Hellodali wrote:As it was only a few blocks away on 95th, we waddled down to Jimmy Jamm’s. Jimmy Jamm’s is really a temple to the sweet potato and if you like sweet potatoes, you should definitely make a pilgrimage. Our host Harold was incredibly warm and gracious. He told us about the origins of the sweet potato pie recipe but I am embarrassed to admit that I was so distracted by the sweet potato bounty in front of me that I did not get all of the story. He generously gave us samples of non-dairy sweet potato ice cream which I loved and on my next visit, plan to bring something insulated to be able to take some back. It was very smooth and surprisingly light. Like a frozen spiced sweet potato cloud.

If these aren't the nicest people in the world, I don't know who are. All of the sweet potato goodies that we tasted were great, but the highlight of this stop for me was Harold and his crew who were warm, passionate about their business, and truly excited to share that passion with us.

-Dan

* Which I blame on an incredibly delicious and exceedingly large meal at Spoon Thai the night before...

As I mentioned to Hellodalli, I was looking forward to this trip for weeks. When people asked me what my plans were for the holiday weekend, I relished the opportunity to discuss the amazing southside food caravan I would be a part of. Many were wide-eyed with envy, especially when I started slinging fritters around. The trip did not disappoint, so a great big thank you goes out to Hellodali for organizing.

Let's get right into it.

We started with a generous order of 7 fritters along with 2 each of croissants, crullers, plain, blueberry, and orange frosted donuts.



The whole mess 'o donuts. I think we left at least a fritter for jimswside and his family to enjoy. I hope so. I have no idea because my attention was arrested and things got hazy as I anticipated the looming fritter:



It was a moving experience. Crunchy, sweet, apple-y, sugary, soft and delicious. Or ooey, gooey and good (for short). I don't know if a thought was going through my mind at this point - just the realtimefritterexperience.



I don't want to short-change the other donuts. The cruller was flaky and yeasty. The blueberry was saturated with blueberry flavor but not overwhelming in the least. My favorite of these was the orange frosted which had the exactly right hint of orange-sugar. All were exceptionally light and airy. It almost made you forget the donut had ever been fried. Without a doubt, these are the best donuts I've had in Chicago.

Hepped up on sugar (and some on caffeine), we didn't want to overstay our welcome.



We probably cut it close. But this gentleman didn't seem to mind.



Off we went to Baylor's with our sugar-donut high. I offered to use my energy to move all manner of melons (though I wound up carrying nothing). Baylor's is an efficient operation. All melons marked with a price, samples at the ready and deals on multiple melons. The melon men load your car for you. There is extra theater watching them toss the melons between each other. I wound up taking home 45 lbs of melons for $20. While the sample I had was excellent, my plan of distributing them around town during 4th of July parties was foiled by the weather. I plan to keep them until a nice sunny day begs for their use. Perhaps as soon as today.

Having come all this way, we needed to take appropriate precautions in transport.



Next up was Top Notch which serves a stand-up strawberry (and vanilla) shake:



It was 1/4 lb burgers all around and we wasted no time tucking into them:



A cheeseless burger assembled:



In true LTH style, one of the group declared that the burger settled her stomach after all the donuts. So take note: hamburgers are the donut OD antidote.

This was definitely a more-than-the-sum-of-it's parts burger. Hot patty, cool toppings, pillowy bun. I found it satisfying, but like some others, wished it had been crisped a bit more on the griddle. I also thought the fries had good flavor, but could have been a bit crispier for my tastes. It seems this was more a question of fry-style than execution. Still, I would definitely stop back if a burger jones hit me in the area.

Jimmy Jamm's puts its warning right out front, so they seem adequately protected from a liability perspective:


To echo what others have said, I can't remember the last time I met as friendly, enthusiastic or proud a proprietor as Harold at Jimmy Jamm's. All the posters feature a picture of a pastor and the words "since 1933." This man taught Jimmy, Harold's wife, the secrets to perfecting the taste and consistency of sweet potato pie filling. They took that idea and ran with it to open up the store. The are now in their second year of operation (if I recall). All the while we were there, gentlemen in the back were peeling potatoes and icing pies. The place seemed to be in constant operation.

One thing that I wanted to mention was just how warm and comfortable a space this was. There is ample room for eating, comfortable chairs to relax in, and more than one table to sit at. They serve coffee and WiFi is available. I think they have successfully created a neighborhood coffee-shop style atmosphere. If I lived nearby, I would absolutely stop in for a slice, a beverage and a newspaper and enjoy all 3:



As mentioned, Harold offered small sample cups of their dairy-free sweet potato ice cream (it was velvety and custard-like soft-serve with distinct sweet potato flavor) as well as gratis sweet potato fries for us to try:



I have to admit that while the sweet/salt seasoning on the fries was excellent, I found the fries themselves to be a bit underdone for my taste. I can be very demanding of sweet potato fries because I love them so. In this case, I'm not sure if it was a style or execution thing. Given the care everything was given here, I'm willing to chalk it up to an aberration and would definitely try them again on another visit.

Our appetites were failing us at this point and I believe most of our purchases were to-go. We did get a slice of sweet potato pie with banana-rum cream cheese topping:



and praline & pecan topping:



As you can see from both photos, the toppings were generously layered. I only tried a couple of bites of the pie with cream cheese topping, but, like Hellodali, found it to have just the right intensity of sweet potato flavor (i.e. not overly sweet). The topping offset it nicely.

I also purchased an untopped slice to bring home and a couple of honey creem cheese topped cupcakes. The cupcake I had yesterday was excellent. Even with a to-go slice of pie, Harold offered to top it with (I believe) maple syrup and chopped nuts. Just another sign of the outstanding customer service he was dishing out along with the excellent sweet potatoes.

Before we left, Harold insisted that we take a picture with him. We were more than happy to oblige. Thanks Harold!



At this point, the crew waddled back to our vehicles, sated, tired and happy:



As always, the food was outshone by the camaraderie, the conversation, and on this day, the weather. This was a pitch-perfect way to spend a Friday off of work. I brought along two friends who had never before been to an LTH function and both commented on just how friendly and fun everyone was. So thanks to everyone who came out and those following along at home. This is a trip that I might just need to repeat this summer.

dansch wrote:This was quite the food trip and I wanted to thank Hellodali and happy_stomach for organizing.

The brilliance and energy behind this outing was 100% Hellodali. I just hogged apple fritters.

Thank you to everyone, especially Dimitra, for such a pleasant day. Like gastro gnome, I bragged to co-workers, friends and family about my holiday weekend South Side caravan plans and have continued to do so since Friday. I wouldn't have wanted to celebrate Canada Day week any other way.

Being an evening (more like late night) person, I am lucky I made it to the event at all, let alone missing my camera or bags for my melons or enough money. Luckily, in true LTH style, none of that mattered. Gastro gnome and Hellodali had cameras, Hellodali drove me and my melons home, and Romantic Cynic loaned me money to buy a piece of pie.

I just finished eating a quarter of my fritter (I cut it into quarters and froze it). They are delicious frozen! So, if there are other frozen sweet eaters out there, know that you do NOT have to eat your entire fritter in one sitting if you'd prefer not to. Or, that you can buy two; eat one now, save the other for later. As noted, the donuts were delicious. Not being a fan of all things blueberry unless I just made it from fresh blueberries in July, I preferred the orange donut. But, all of them were unbelievably light and soft. It's hard to imagine that they are fried.

The watermelons were delicious. I served it to my guests at a party yesterday and it was loved.

The burger reminded me of the burgers served at my grandfather's restaurant a few years back (like the 1960's, lol). Not my favorite style, but very nostalgic experience for me. Nothing against Top-Notch in the least - I just prefer a grilled burger, med rare to a griddled well done one. I thought the fries were good, but would also have preferred at least some with a bit more crusty crunch to them.

I couldn't add to what's been said about Jimmy Jamms. I was extolling the virtues of this find to friends at my party yesterday. These friends live just a few miles away; they left the party with the address in hand. I imagine they will love it as much as I did.

Just wanted to add my thoughts on this really enjoyable event.

I am perhaps biased - as this was my first occasion to play 'hooky' in a while - but it was such a great day. The weather cooperated, the company was exceptional... and I had two 'best-of' experiences in one day.

First - the fritter (and really also the blueberry donut - of which I am a convert). Really a great combination. Not much more that needs to be said, that hasn't already been. I (like Hellodali) am also trying to figure out when I can get my next one.

Second - the watermelon. While it didn't really hit me until that evening, when I served the watermelon at a party, but this has to be the best watermelon I have ever had. Juicy, flavorfull, exactly what you think a watermelon should be. The other guests at the party were also blown away, and all wanted the address. I am not sure I can buy a watermelon in this city again - without making the trek down to 101st. Why bother - when instead you can have the best?

Now - as for the other stops, I enjoyed them as well, but they were not as transcendental as the fritter or the watermelon. Perhaps trying anything after that fritter is too much of a handicap.

One thought that has continued to run through my head since Friday - is when can we arrange another such Caravan? We talked about some other locations/combinations... and my head is still coming up with some:
[*] Far North side: Capt. Porky's... (Is anything else up there?) Maybe in Kenosha?
[*] North Side: Al's Deli, Wiener & Still Champion, La Casa de Isaac,
[*] Cicero/Berwyn: Depot American Diner, La Quebrada,
[*] West Side: Katy's, LSC (DG)

Nice to contemplate combinations of restaurants to try...

RomanticCynic wrote:One thought that has continued to run through my head since Friday - is when can we arrange another such Caravan? We talked about some other locations/combinations... and my head is still coming up with some:
[*] Far North side: Capt. Porky's... (Is anything else up there?) Maybe in Kenosha?

If we'd be coming from the city, I've been meaning to get to Maria's Bakery in Highwood...

RomanticCynic wrote:[*] Cicero/Berwyn: Depot American Diner, La Quebrada,

If you're planning a trip to in Cicero/Berwyn, it should probably include Xni-Pec (which I've been meaning to re-try after my one uneven experience). Consider also Klas, Bodhi Thai and Zacatacos

Also, Casa de Isaac is a bit of a haul from Al's and Wiener & Still Champion. Not un-doable but with Bennison's Bakery, Kim's Kitchen, Patty's Diner, Hub's/Poochie's/Dengeo's, northern outpost of New York Bagel & Bialy's, and even Prairie Grass closer, a tighter geographical grouping might be easier to manage.

But I applaud the idea. More forays to the far-flung in search of food!

gastro gnome wrote:

RomanticCynic wrote:[*] Cicero/Berwyn: Depot American Diner, La Quebrada,

If you're planning a trip to in Cicero/Berwyn, it should probably include Xni-Pec (which I've been meaning to re-try after my one uneven experience). Consider also Klas, Bodhi Thai and Zacatacos

Also, Casa de Isaac is a bit of a haul from Al's and Wiener & Still Champion. Not un-doable but with Bennison's Bakery, Kim's Kitchen, Patty's Diner, Hub's/Poochie's/Dengeo's, northern outpost of New York Bagel & Bialy's, and even Prairie Grass closer, a tighter geographical grouping might be easier to manage.

But I applaud the idea. More forays to the far-flung in search of food!

I'm happy to help coordinate (or just support / eat) a Near West trip. We'd definitely need to contact Bodhi in advance letting them know we want real Thai. The La Quebrada location out here is nothing special (I'd swap in La Lupita if you wanted Mexican). Other worthy additions would be the Marion Street Cheese Market and Taste of Brazil. There is also a Five Guys and, of course, Johnnie's Beef, the essence of a Chicago summer evening.

So sorry to have missed the southern jaunt due to family business and tapas prep. These trip reports have been awesome (I've hit the other spots except JJ's, which is now a must-try).

Berwyn/Cicero would also be home to Freddies, Los Tamales, Flamingos Paleteria...