thegamesafoot's Profile
Looking for any unturned stones in or near Gurnee
Sorry, but you're in Gurnee and "authentic places" can't seem to exist in a place that loves Big Chains. Even restaurants that start authentic get watered down according to population. You'd have go into the city for real stuff. But here's the best I can do. Big Ed's BBQ and Hillery's. You want great Southside cookin', go to North Chicago. You want authentic Mexican food (sorry, it's almost all Durango-style) you'll have to go into grittier places. In other words, if you see too many white hipsters, chances are it's not authentic. Supermercados and smaller Mexican grocers usually have the little cafe in the corner run by a vendor who rents the space. Brush up on your Spanish because he/she doesn't speak much English and the signs may not have an English expanation. If you want authentic "Chinese", you'll have to settle for Korean. Vernon Hills has a handful of decent Korean and Korean-owned "Japanese" restaurants that serve Korean, Sushi and standard Asian dishes similar to Chinese. Otherwise, even the Chinese restaurant owners go to Chinatown for food (I've seen them). Many of the sushi restaurants in VH are Korean owned and have a Korean menu. There's a small Filipino grocery store in Round Lake and Gurnee (around Greenleaf, if they're still there) that has a little cafe. There is no set menu. Sometimes they'll cook fish. Sometimes they'll cook lumpia. There are a few Indian restaurants that just opened. Reflections in Lake Villa is Polish owned and they have a small home-cooked Polish menu. On Grand ave. In Lindenhurst, there's the Swedish Cafe. Small menu, but good salted pork, omlettes and potato pancakes. Similar to the Mexican store vendors, ANY ethnic grocers usually has a little guy making food in the corner. Mundelein, Rt. 60 has a Russian deli that sells made food. Diana's/Orlando's in Round Lake - food is standard fare, but they have a quaint retro-styl soda shop with ice-cream and shakes. There's a Greekfest anually off of O'Plaine in Gurnee. Go there and buy a load of homemade Greek food. Same with Serbo-Croatian fest off Grand in Lindenhurst. In fact, look for ANY fests, Taste-OFs at schools and churches - better than the large fests that only has pizza vendors. Otherwise, you'll have to either go into the city or befriend ethnic friends and eat at their homes.
