Chipotle

Ontario. Lunch, DSL dine-in. Chicken fajita bol w/ extra rice and extra veggies: delicious.

J. Alexander

Clybourn. Dinner. Caesar salad: very good. Cheeseburger: good, not great, and forgot again to hold the mayo. Fries: delicious as usual. Roasted acorn squash w/ nuts and butter and brown sugar: good. Filet mignon medium-well: delicious, juicy, tender.

Another great meal, and free parking.

Noodles & Company

Touhy, in a big strip mall across from Babies R Us. Lunch. Pasta with white wine sauce, baby spinach, and some other stuff: very good. Rice Krispies Treat: very good.

Great lunch spot, great place for kids, nice variety of noodles.

Buona Terra

California, south of Logan. Dinner. Free bread: crazy hot and fresh, pretty good. Mediterranean salad, w/o feta: huge, and pretty good. Pasta arrabiata: pretty good, quite a kick. Rock shrimp spaghetti: very good.

Food came out crazy quick, we were only in there for less than an hour. Great place to take little kids. Service felt a bit rushed, but was good enough. Quite cheap too.

Fan Si Pan

Chicago Ave., just west of Ashland. Lunch. Chicken spring roll: not good, the chicken was dry and shredded and disgusting. Beef spring roll w/ chicken instead of beef: same. Fried green beans w/ wasabi dipping sauce: very good.

Decent food, pretty fresh ingredients, but the chicken meat is awful.

Maza

Lincoln, just south of Diversey. Dinner. Hummus w/ warm pitas: very good, and lots for $4. Falafel (4 for $4): not good alone, but good w/ pita and hummus. Hotter than hot free carrot soup: good, but very spicy, a kick of curry. Chicken schwarma w/ rice pilaf: good. Special broiled salmon in wine sauce w/ couscous and cold mango slices: very good. Free dessert, something similar to baklava: OK.

As always the owner was very warm and friendly. But strangely enough would only accept cash in conjunction with our coupon -- weird.

Hey Sushi

Michigan Ave. Pedway. Lunch. Spicy tuna rolls: OK. California rolls: OK.

Not bad, considering. But not great.

Edward's Orchard, Poplar Grove, IL

Northeast of Rockford. Hot apple donuts: delicious. Hot apple cider: fine. Apple caramel: good, nice to have the apple sliced open like a bloomin' onion.

Oceanique, Evanston, IL

Main St., just east of Chicago Ave. Dinner. Tuna tartare amuse bouche: delicious. Butternut squash ravioli: delicious! Seared bluefin tuna: very good. Side veggies (asparagus, corn, and much more): good, exciting variety. Napoleon: very good. Chocolate cake: very good.

Fabulous food, exceptional service from the staff, what a find.

Flattop Grill

Washington, West Loop. Dinner. Korean BBQ: bland, not authentic. An impromptu pad-thai: good.

No matter how many shrimp sticks you put in your bowl, they only give you one skewer of shrimp. Suckbomb! In general the food wasn't as good as at other Flattops. The white rice looked to be about 3 days old.

Never ever go to this location.

Bella Notte

Grand, east of Noble. Dinner. Free bread: good, but with butter not olive oil. House salad with Italian dressing: just OK. House salad with creamy garlic dressing: much better, kind of like Caesar salad. Chicken parmagiana (off-menu): very good, two huge white-meat chicken breast cutlets. Plus penne with marinara: fine but not special. Cavatelli: very good, like gnocchi.

Beware the "full" portion is big enough to feed 4-6 people, literally. Quite a bargain.

Penny's

Damen/Pierce. Lunch, carry out. Gyoza, Vietnamese spring rolls, lad nar with chicken, pad thai with chicken: all delicious.

J. Alexander's

Clybourn. Dinner. Caesar salad: good. Baby back ribs: delicious. Acorn squash with brown butter and brown sugar: delicious. Hamburger well done with cheddar: very good. French fries with no salt: perfectly fine (with ketchup).

Great place, free parking, lots of kids there early.

Pompei

Taylor Street. Lunch. Some salad with nuts: dressing was terrible. Pepperoni pizza: fine. Tomato and green pepper pizza: revolting.

Osteria Via Stato

State, near Ontario. Dinner. Beets: good (cold). Wide flat noodles with duck raghu: good. Wide flat noodles with plain marinara: good. Fried oily onion things: OK. Porterhouse with olive oil and sea salt: good, the filet portion was great, the prime rib portion had a big thing of nasty chewy fat running through it.

Another good meal at Osteria. Wasn't that crowded.

Amarind

Oak Park - North Ave., between Oak Park Ave. and Harlem Ave. Dinner. Shrimp bundles: delicious and really cute and really fancy-looking. Mini egg rolls: delicious. Pad thai w/ chicken: delicious. Basil chicken: not that good (weird chicken pieces ... ground up and reconstituted?), and not at all spicy as the waiter suggested.

Delicious food, decent prices, worth the trip.

Honey 1 BBQ

Western, 2200 block. Dinner. Full slab of ribs: dry and smoky, tough and chewy, sauce was slightly tangy and spicy ... overall not very good. French fries: fine, just frozen fries fried up on oil. Cole slaw: watery, nothing special.

The best thing about this place was the cute kid bussing tables.

Blue Cactus

Chicago, near Damen. Dinner. Free chips and salsa: pretty good, especially for thick-like-cardboard chips. Guacamole: delicious. Other stuff: pretty good.

Totally empty on a Monday night. Good food though, and a great price.

Chipotle

Clybourn/Cortland. Lunch. Chicken fajita bol: very spicy. Why did they arbitrarily charge 60 cents for extra salsa?

Romeo Romeo

Milwaukee, near Wood/Wolcott. Dinner. Free rosemary tuscan bread: too fluffy. Chicken minestrone: very good. House salad (mixed green, crouton crumbs, tomato slices with basil goop, with a basil vinaigrette): delicious. Beef roast risotto: just OK. Pork tenderloin: dry, cuz we asked for well done.

Good place, great starters, disappointing entrees.