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SUN-TIMES: BURRIS WON'T RUN IN 2010
A few weeks back a reader e-mailed Margaret asking where he could find good biscuits and gravy in town, the way he remembered it in the South. Being the boss, she forwarded over the e-mail and asked, "I'd like to know, too."
This set us to pondering. We certainly know how to whip up a good batch of biscuits and gravy from scratch. The problem with trying to find it out in town is the inevitable comparison to the recipe Mom shared with us. It's the gold standard by which we judge all others; naturally, everything else falls short.
Once upon a time, the closest we've come in town to biscuits and gravy we could genuinely appreciate came from Hilary's Urban Eatery. But they closed years ago. One would think that the soul food joints on the South and West sides would be doing brisk business with biscuits and gravy. Sadly, that isn't the case. In many of the more popular places like Army & Lou's, BJ's Market, Pearl's Place and Cathy's biscuits and gravy is served, but over whole chicken or roast dinners (the whole plate is smothered in gravy). Of course, Wishbone serves it, but it's Wishbone. Enough said.
So we did a bit of research and found a couple of places that you can try for yourselves.
- Big Jones (5347 N. Clark, 773-275-5725) classes up their weekend biscuits and gravy, serving it up with fresh buttermilk biscuits, niman ranch applewood smoked pit ham, spicy redeye gravy, and holy trinity hash.
- Hawkeye's Bar & Grill (1458 W. Taylor, 312-226-3951) is popular with UIC students regretting the kegger the night before. Hawkeye's serves biscuits and gravy on the weekend with either three eggs cooked your way ($6.95) or as a "Southern Benedict" (three poached eggs and sausage, $7.95).
- Flying Saucer Café (1123 N. California, 773-342-9076) serves biscuits and gravy in both leaded (with sausage) or unleaded ("vegetarian sausage;" we assume tofu or seitan) with two eggs for $6.25.
- Huddle House (4748 N. Kimball, 773-588-5363) was a family recommendation. Our stepfather used to take us there all the time when it was located in the space currently occupied by Hollywood Grill in Wicker Park. Having passed by it numerous times, we should have known that this diner that looks like the place where runaways go to permanently disappear would serve up some serious biscuits and gravy ($5.75). It's no frills, too. Just simple sausage gravy. Keep a close eye on your wallet or purse while you're there, though.
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I cannot say this enough:
Jeri's Grill. Jeri's Grill. Jeri's Grill.
^^ I was expecting that in the article as well ;-)
What's wrong with Wishbone?
CL: Wishbone just isn't all that.
For the others, the next time I find myself around Western and Montrose in the wee small hours, I'll check out Jeri's.
That picture is enough to make me swear off lardy biscuits and gravy for a lifetime. Double barf.
Sunrise Cafe, 2012 W. Chicago Ave., has the best biscuits and gravy that I've had outside of homemade. They also have this skillet that uses the same sausage gravy.
Not something you want to indulge in every day or even once a month, but something you can do a couple of times a year.
If my expanding waistline is any indication, I have to agree with CL here and say Wishbone is pretty good. At least the one on Lincoln, anyway. Stop drinking the haterade, Chuck!
i guess i can understand why a foodie would hate on wishbone. for the rest of us, their cream cheese omelette and irished hot chocolate is quite good enough. mm.
Your Southern credentials have just been pulled, Marcus.
My mom never really b&g, so my yard stick is Bob Evans. Golden Nugget makes some that are passable (plus they're in walking distance from me.) I wanted to try Jeri's, but got there ten minutes to late. He only serves them until 1 or 2pm. I will take your list and go on a quest!
btw, i think Beef & Brandy's biscuits & gravy is the only one i've had in the city.. wonder how they stack up. they did the trick for my worst hangover ever.
Davis Street Fishmarket in Evanston has phenomenal biscuits and gravy...
Ok, fine....Wishbone isn't all that, but that doesn't make it dismiss-worthy. The cornbread is quite exceptional and I can say that I haven't really had a bad meal there.
I have biscuits and gravy whilst on vacation usually.....and that means Cracker Barrel. Why? Because I want to play the golf-tee game damnit!
Sudo, you've gone too far!
Golden Nugget on Irving Park Between Kedzie and Kimball. Oh my, what amazing B&G they have! Chunks of sausage, thick base and most important, good biscuits. If the biscuit isn't sturdy it just becomes goop under goop.
Lorraines at Chicago and Damen does some very good B&G too. They only serve it 2am-11am but damn is it fine.
I don't care for wishbone. The food is all right but the service is utter crap. They give you the bum's rush when their weird closing times (the middle of the afternoon on a weekend?) comes close. You want real southern food? Get on a train and head south.
silver cloud on damen has pretty good biscuits and gravy, too.
Marcus, you'll get 'em back if you can score some homemade blackberry brandy for me, head to a Catholic parish carnival (St. Stan's on the Northwest side, preferably), steal a Tupac coke mirror won by an 12-year-old at the ring toss and collect enough change from under the Tilt-A-Whirl for a full day's worth of meals from McDonald's dollar menu.
Thanks for the other suggestions (even Wishbone, although we'll have to agree to disagree). That reader who sent Margaret the e-mail now has a slew of options to check out.
Wishbone's pretty weak IMHO. It's funny really, some Tennessee friends were up for the pitchfork fest and were like "We ate at some restaurant called Wishbone that was like supposed to be Southern cooking......".
I'm from down south as well, and I'll ditto the hate and say that Wishbone is a complete fraud. Plus, they use NO presentation on their plates, so what's the point? If I wanted a plain old plate and mediocre service, I'd just eat at home and grumble at myself.
And I've said it before- their tagline, "Southern food for thinking people" is completely ignorant.
And it's embarrassingly easy to make your own biscuits and gravy.
1. Make biscuits however you want. Scratch, can, bisquick, whatever.
2. Fry sausage as patties or as crumbles- depends on how you want to eat your biscuits and gravy.
3. Over moderate heat in the same pan you used to fry the sausage add flour spoon by spoon (letting each spoonful cook before you add another) until the gravy reaches a fairly thick consistency
4. Then pour in a few cups of milk and whisk it up.
"Keep a close eye on your wallet or purse while you're there, though."
this scares me. i'll take my chances with wishbone.
I thought that Flying Saucer's B&G was completely underwhelming. My entire table of six found the food underwhelming on the whole. That was almost a year ago; I suppose I could go back, though I doubt many from my group would be interested.
.....Overtired and dazed,we found the last two seats at the breakfast counter and debated whether the queasy feeling in our bellies was hunger or nausea. As we stared at the menu with glazed expressions a squadron of waitresses appeared to dispense to each and every trucker a plate of...what?
To our left, to our right and directly opposite were men lustily plunging their forks into plates filled with vomit or something that looked a lot like vomit. It was biscuits and gravy, of course, but the closest thing I'd seen to it, appearance-wise, was vomit. This was culture shock equivalent to a white-bread gentile friend's when she saw my family start the day by tearing into a whole smoked whitefish.
"You girls havin' biscuits?" the waitress chriped. "Yes, pelase," Nancy and I replied. "Butter and honey, or gravy?"
"Butter and honey!" we cried with relief.
-from "Going With The Grain"
That pretty much sums up my opinion of B&G. I've got to say though, that biscuits with honey and butter is pure heaven.
Schubas also has a respectable B&G offering. . . Although I agree with the comment that it's really tough to beat homemade.
"I have biscuits and gravy whilst on vacation usually.....and that means Cracker Barrel."
For what it's worth, Cracker Barrel gravy is actually called sawmill gravy. I'm pretty sure because the stuff hasn't seen an actual sausage ever - it's just salty and gloppy and pretty gross. Their apple butter is pretty damn good, though.
As far as Jeri's is concerned, it's not great. The gravy is far too sweet for its own good. I haven't found a good, spicy sausage gravy yet in town.
I hear the Depot Diner has some pretty good B&G, but that's a longer drive than I usually want to make for a Sunday breakfast.
Definitely SilverCloud on Damen...but get there early to avoid the crowds.
Chuck-
Randomly, Taste of Heaven's (in Andersonville) Silverland Special (featuring Biscuits and Gravy with scrambled eggs) is amazing.
I dunno how it compares to different stylings of the B and G but I'm a huge fan. Check it out!
"A few weeks back a reader e-mailed Margaret asking where he could find good biscuits and gravy in town, the way he remembered it in the South the way he remembered it in the South."
o.K. so what's wrong with this picture?
Having just had the Wishbone ones, I have to say, the problem with them is there's not actually much sausage in them.
Depot Diner has pretty good ones, but here's my best, to be found in, of all places, deeply un-Southern Wilmette. The couple who own Mrs. D's used to have Edgebrook Diner, a longtime LTHForum fave which was, indeed, just about the gold standard for classic American breakfast, no modern frills, just everything done right. They don't have that place any more but they serve up the same food at the old Wilmette diner they took over, worth a visit to snoozeburbia:
Mrs. D's Diner
415 4th. St.
Wilmette, IL 60091
847-256-2580
Tweet (Sheridan just north of Argyle) has amazing B & G - fluffy, flaky biscuits and creamy, not sweet gravy with big chunks of sausage. Best I've had outside of Kentucky - actually better than homemade, and I've been told I make a pretty good biscuit myself. Note: one order is enough to feed 2 people with some fruit on the side.