Highway Tacos

Sooooo... during the summer I drive to Michigan a lot.  I believe in the Ballad of Lilly and Lola I regaled you with tales of an idiot eating their way north.  Their are many ways to northern Michigan but the fastest way, "as the crow flies" is to buzz up 55 to Joliet, shoot on 80 across the remainder of Illinois (South Chicago), zip across the northern most portion of Indiana (from Gary to Michigan City and then hit Michigan and head up Highway 31.

The problem is the first part.  That first stretch from the river in St. Louis to where it hits 80 in Joliet.  It is at best a wasteland of corn and wind and that it only during the time when the corn is growing.  The rest of the time it is wind and soybeans or wind and dirt.  It is a miserable 4 hours plus no matter how you cut it.  Last weekend when traveling home from #Beckerwedding (more on that later) I decided that since I was driving home by myself, I had gotten a late start and because I wanted to ruin another shirt that I should find every taco place on that strip of road or thereabouts.

I think it is pretty well established that I give too much.  I do too much for other people.  I extend myself in really unbelievable ways to do tremendous acts of savage kindness which are too many to be listed and frankly I would be embarrassed by their sheer volume but there is no question that no one gets more of this unbelievable sacrifice.... than you people.  So as i am driving and ignoring calls from work, emails from work, cried of help from work, injured people on the highway, monsoon warnings, deadly heat and the sad fact that I left my Ray-Bans up in Michigan I am typing in Google searches of "Street Tacos" along with a city name.

I have come to think of "street tacos" as two corn tortillas, overlapping with any meat (other than ground beef which is verboten) along with some onion, cilantro and a lime wedge.  That is the street taco.  Sadly there is no Wikipedia definition of "street taco" but I am going to stand by my definition.  A lot of interesting things come up but when traveling at high speed along the highway and avoiding deer and occasionally people you cannot read too closely.  Hy the way... this is another way I give too much.  DO NOT TEXT AND DRIVE.

Even when you have the whole day it is difficult to eat tacos too many times.  It wears you out.  They burn.  They got processed (sometimes unhappily by your body.  They can kill you.  There, I said it.  When booming over highway 80 and stiffing the toll booth lady for a dime I came across a place in Joliet called Ricos.  All i read was "it is in a silver trailer behind the SuperMercado.  What could possibly go wrong.  With the iPhone I got my directions and off I went!  The Google Maps gave me a stupid way to get there but that happens.  I got there and BOY did I get there.  I arrived around 11:30 to a full parking lot and had to jockey.  there were anglos around but not too many and I spotted the trailer and knew I had done well.

It was... beautiful.  I watched the two gentlemen in front of me order their lunches and tried to gain my bearings.  There were tubs of sodas from other countries and the menu was half in Spanish, half in english.  Everyone around me was speaking Spanish and I had read about their pork tacos and I ordered them and stood around,  pretending to stare at my phone as life teemed around on the parking lot.

My tacos came up and she put them in a styrofoam container and put them in a plastic grocery bag and I hopped in my car and was on my way.  Twisting out of Joliet and back onto 80 I sampled my first one and it was chewy, spicy perfection.  I had an iced tea which I needed to gulp and I got my big allergic sweat on as I got on 55 and headed south.  This place is about 3 minutes off the highway in Joliet.  I will be back.

Then I decided to double down.  I tried to find something in Springfield and if anyone has a place for street tacos in Springfield, I want to know about it.  Striking out on "the Google" I then tried Bloomington which was just a little too close but.... what the hell.  There were a couple of places but ultimately I chose La Carniceria.  It too was awesome.  Three more tacos Pastor that looked like this.  

Not Everyone is crazy about tomatoes on their street tacos.  These were good and they were served with a green (verde) and a red sauce.  I have found generally that the green sauces are  milder.  These too were OUTSTANDING!  One of the sad casualties of the outing was my WEATON T-Shirt but there prices a man has to pay for this type of searching and eating for the benefit of other people.  Trying to find highway tacos... my white whale... my quest.... as I said... I give too much.  Google map these things.  You dont need me to do it.  When you head north on 55 to Chicago or points further north... think tacos... this delicious and enjoy and thank you hard working diner reviewer.

Diner Review V: Korner Kafe

Diner Review
Korner Kafe
Cahokia, Illinois

3295 Mississippi Ave
Cahokia, IL 62206
(618) 332-8711
Hours 6:00 A.M.-1:00 P.M.



So in my ongoing quest to discover better, older, crappier, possibly diseased diners....I have discovered the State of Illinois. Land of Dan Fogelberg... and that Lincoln fella... and judical hell holes. Of course they know their greasy food. The other day on my way home from Gruchalas heading up route 3 I stumbled upon the Korner Kafe. Just south of the border of the great and powerful city of Sauget lies the Korner Kafe... and creamery. It is approximately two miles from the St. Louis side of the Mississippi it is very accessable to downtown. Head over, get off on Route 3 south and drive past the strip clubs and Big River Zinc and Monsanto and...you there.


It is...at best an unpretentious building with a big gravel parking lot. It looks dirty but it is an easy place to get The St. Louis Post Dispatch and The Belleville News Democrat at the same time in the dirty machines in front of the dirty restaraunt. It has a somewhat busted screen door on the front. There were cops eating there and the inevitable...smokers. Why does smoking go with Diner breakfasts? Is it because all the health conscious people do not eat greasy food and if they deign to have breakfast that they eat at places like “First Watch” (an abomination) where they “take meetings” with their business compatriots.


Not at the Korner Kafe. Other then the two cops and two elevator guys all of the tables were filled with people sitting by themselves...and smoking. The koffee (notice the alliteration) was good. They also brewed their own iced tea. They served it in what appeared to be old Macho Mugs (TM) which allowed plenty of volume. The waitresses were middle aged, over weight, blonds who were smoking themselves but were pleasant and reasonably attentive. It was not a perfect diner in that the food was cooked in back but the menu was very good, limited and typical. They did not have chile and as such did not have slingers.


They had both hash browns and the hated “american fries” but it was nice to have the choice for those sad individuals who want them. the sausage was a big old patty and had a nice spice. the sausage gravy was adequately good and had a slight spice to it. Over all the meal was very good and hot and I strongly reccomend it....other then the fact that it was populated by a group of people (including the cop) who appeared to be extra characters in the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” I might possibly have to rethink the whole “Illinois” Diner experience. Who are these people anyway? Once you get south of Chicago they are not really even people... are they? But, on the other hand, they know their grease and that is what needs to be treasured so...I will soldier on.

Diner Review IV: Gruchalas

Gruchalas
Columbia Illinois
Open 7 days a week 6 A.M. to Midnight

In the last week i have had the opportunity to travel to Edwardsville as well as Columbia Illinois and it occurred to me that I have engaged in an almost unforgivably snobbish ignoring of our friends on the east side. I will make an effort to not snub our friends and on a recent Saturday morning I had the opportunity to travel to Columbia for breakfast with my partner John Mc Collough and David Kowert. We were discussing the state of the union as well as the state of our law firm. We were doing it in a bar called Gruchalas which as you can see does not look diner like from the front...and although lacking some essential elements of diner-dom...is none the less worthy of note for any breakfast ambience person.

But first...a little about Columbia Illinois. What a gem of a town. I got there in 20 minutes from Webster. You just get on 270, head south, cross the Jefferson Barracks Bridge, take the first right on Route 3 and the second left on Main and drive 1/2 mile. That brings you to downtown Columbia but it was a pretty morning and I had time so I drove around. Lots of new houses built on tree stripped hills which are ugly but once you get past that it is charming and pastoral. It lacks the big old houses downtown that a lot of small towns have but you get the feeling that this is a nice town that us struggling NOT to become the next boom suburb. After i left I found that if you boogie up Route 3 and through Sauget you are 15 minutes from downtown on a slow Saturday morning. The views of the city and the river from the bluff are outstanding and I strongly reccomend the brief trip across the river.

To Gruchalas...what a great place. It is a bar restaurant that serves breakfast as well. Several interchangable waitresses, all with brunette pony tails and heavy eye make up give good and friendly service. The regulars are all...regulars. Lots of Carhart jackets, feed store caps and the like. An even mix of men and women and some families. Lots of people smoking but not over powering. If you are not a regular you park on the street but if you know you park in back and walk in the back door. If you walk in the front you come in to a large bar area with a lot of memorabilia (beer cans and the like) and they will serve you there or you can grab a table.

The food is out of the ordinary and definitely heartier and more “country” then the normal greasy fare I like to consume. Hash browns are shredded as God intended and can be served with onions (.25) or gravy (.25) and only slightly improved. They are good. The sausage must be locally made and as Kowert noted it tastes more like a bratwurst patty. It was good but primarily good because it was so different. The bacon was a thick cut maple cured sweet bacon which is not my style but is really good and perfectly cooked. The omlette looked servicable but a country fried steak came out as a chicken patty in the only disappointment of the trip. Ice tea was brewed and the coffee was hot. they had a “slinger” on the menu which included buns...it was not ordered but perhaps on another day.

On a side note...but important note...beer is available for breakfast. As we left there were three guys at the bar eating full breakfasts and with a draft beer in a classic 8 oz. pilsner glass. Though tears did not quite “well up” there was still an over whelming feeling that I had found my people.

http://www.biske.com/gruchalas/index.html