Slow Cooker Recipes: Italian-Style Pork Roast and BBQ Ribs

Sometimes the slow cooker just saves the day, doesn't it? And especially since I found out that you don't even have to thaw the thing you're going to put in it! (I've done variations on that Italian beef a few times now.) Recently the Crock-Pot came in handy for a pork roast and baby back ribs.

I did thaw the pork roast, because I wanted to brown it before putting it in the cooker. I know—the browning takes time and makes a mess and almost defeats the purpose of using the slow cooker. I wouldn't usually do that on a week day, but this was a Saturday so I had time to get into it. It still freed me up for the rest of the day to do other things.

I had a small (2 1/2 pounds or a little more) pork loin roast from Triple S. I first browned it in a little olive oil on all sides.

While that was going on, I peeled the cloves from a whole head of garlic and put them into the mini-processor along with a teaspoon or so of salt, the same amount of black pepper, and the leaves from a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary. Whiz, whiz, whiz, and I ended up with a paste I could spread all over the browned roast.

Once the roast was nice and golden, I removed it from the pot and deglazed the pot with about a half-cup of dry white wine. I cut some slits in the roast and pushed some of the garlic paste into them, then rubbed the rest of the paste all over the outside. Put that into the Crock-Pot, poured the wine and browned bits from the pot over the roast, set the cooker on low and let 'er rip all day, and that was that. Gotta tell you, it was succulent.

A funny note about the Crock-Pot: I wanted to use our old one, which is a small size just right for this roast. However, its plastic lid had shattered in three places the last time I'd used the cooker, and a lid for a million-year-old Crock-Pot is not something you can just run down to the store and buy. I found that the pieces fit together perfectly—no bits were missing—and then Keith had a brainstorm.

Yep, it wasn't pretty, but it did get the job done.

Now for the ribs. A friend shared this recipe with me (thanks, Carly!), so I ordered baby back ribs from Stan immediately. The recipe involves liquid smoke, something I don't use very often at all but had bought for some reason a couple of years ago (I don't think that stuff ever goes bad, do you?!). Interestingly, there's Coke in the mix, too, which reminds me that last year I saw a recipe for ribs cooked with Dr. Pepper on the Homesick Texan's blog—want to try that one next.

Crock-Pot Barbecued Ribs
From Buzzle.com

3 1/2 pounds pork loin back ribs
1 1/2 cups BBQ sauce (Our bottled sauce of choice is Gates original flavor.)
1 medium onion, sliced
1/2 cup Coca Cola
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tablespoons liquid smoke (hickory flavor)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon salt

Separate the inner skin from the ribs. In a bowl, mix together pepper, brown sugar, liquid smoke, garlic, and salt. Marinate the ribs with this mixture and cut them into 4-inch pieces.

Spray the inside of the slow cooker with cooking spray (I wiped it with oil instead, as I didn't have any cooking spray around) and layer the ribs and onion slices in it. Pour cola over all and cover the cooker. Cook on low for 8 to 9 hours.

Take the ribs out of the slow cooker and drain the liquid. Pour your favorite BBQ sauce into a bowl and dip the ribs in it. Then put the ribs back into the cooker and pour the rest of the sauce over it. (I didn't bother with the bowl and all that, I just put the ribs back into the cooker and poured some sauce over them.) Cover the cooker with a lid and cook the ribs for 1 hour on low heat.

The rib meat fell off of the bones and it was quite tasty. I served the ribs with kale I'd gotten from Blue Moon Farm and some macaroni and cheese (Stouffer's, thank you very much).

Fresh, Local Vegetables Now Available

Craving a bunch of sweet and snappy carrots? A bag full of tender, just-picked spinach? A handful of turnips? If you live in Champaign-Urbana this winter, you're in luck.

Impossible though it may seem, Jon Cherniss of Blue Moon Farm—along with his dedicated and hard-working associates Lorien, Sarah, and Abad—are braving the frigid temperatures, the snow and the ice, and the winter blues just for YOU. You veggie lover, you. Something about unheated high tunnels, cold frames, hothouses, and cold storage—it's all Greek to me, but it's how they work their magic to bring us locally grown produce in January.

If you want to support Blue Moon Farm during the winter and get yourself some great vegetable matter, here's the deal: Contact Jon by e-mailing him at bluemoonfarmurbana AT gmail DOT com, or go to the farm's Web site and send him a little message like "I want to order your veggies!" Then he'll e-mail you an order form. You fill it out online, then show up at Lincoln Square in Urbana on the designated Saturday morning (if all goes well, the next one will be in two weeks), pick up your order, pay cash for it, and away you go.

Let's examine my haul from Saturday: There's spinach, carrots, kale, fingerling potatoes, cilantro, and turnips. (Lurking in there also is a tub of Prairie Fruits Farm mouton frais—fresh sheep's milk cheese similar to chevre but a bit sharper. When they're available, you can get PFF cheeses at the same time and place that you pick up your veggies; Blue Moon and PFF have teamed up, so you can order both veggies and cheese via the same e-mail form.)

Let me make it clear that this is not a farmers' market per se. That is, you can't just show up at Lincoln Square on a Saturday and buy vegetables and cheese. To become a part of Blue Moon Farm's devoted and fiercely loyal following, contact Jon at bluemoonfarmurbana AT gmail DOT com or go to the farm's Web site and fill out the form.

As I chew on my fresh spinach and drizzle my mouton frais with honey, suddenly winter doesn't seem so bleak. "Neither snow nor rain nor ice nor gloom of day . . . after day . . . after day stays these farm workers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" (with apologies to Herodotus). Thanks to Lorien, Sarah, Abad, Jon, and the cheese makers par excellence at Prairie Fruits Farm for all you do.

P.S. Jon would also like to ask that we all dance for sun.

Gifts for the Small Foodie in Your Life

What's the one essential toy that no budding epicurean should be without? Why, a sushi play set, of course. One that offers "realistic chopping sounds," to be sure.

On the other hand, if your tot is not into sushi, he might enjoy a sandwich-making play set. Is that whole-wheat bread I spy? I rather think so. You can put lettuce and tomato on your sandwich, and then you can slice it! (It's all about the slicing with these sets.)

We're not done yet. Your future gastronome might be more interested in having a pizza party, and there's a play set for that, too (with 54 mix-and-match toppings!). I see pepperoni, mushrooms, and bell peppers— I'll take one of those as soon as it comes out of the oven, thanks. Be sure to slice it for me!

Everyone needs dessert, obviously, and you can help a child satisfy her sweet tooth with a set containing ice cream, cones, and scoops (note that the ice cream is stackable—she can make a triple-scoop cone!).

The pastry-chef-in-training can decorate and slice a cake for a birthday celebration (get a load of those "candles," will you?).

If your little gourmet is in a more casual mood, s/he might just want to fool around with foods from the fridge (complete with organic frozen veggies!). Heavens.

And then, of course, there's the set that pulls it all together: the deluxe chef set. Rolling pin, please! (Think there's a toque in there?)

A friend had alerted me to the existence of the Melissa & Doug line (thanks, Angie!), which includes the all of the above-mentioned sets except the chef one. And she'd told me that the Art Mart in Urbana carries Melissa & Doug toys. When I went over there recently to buy the sushi set, I found that Art Mart Toys carries other lines of  fun, food-related toys as well.

You can, of course, buy these foodie play sets online. But here's the thing: The sushi set was the same price at Art Mart as it was online, I didn't have to pay for shipping, I supported a local business—and I got my present beautifully wrapped for free. Can't beat that.

Bon appétit, babies!

Art Mart Toys
Lincoln Square Village
Urbana, IL
217-344-7979

Share Your Secret Shame, Win Great Prizes!

Blame it on the the lack of sunlight, the recent punishing cold, or just my general perversity: I'm giving away prizes, but in return you must reveal a food you're ashamed of liking, and compose a haiku about it. It might be that you're filled with guilt because the food is highly caloric and you're supposed to be losing weight. Or maybe it's shame inducing because everyone thinks you're a gourmet and yet you like X. Or maybe you mostly eat organic and free-range, yet sometimes you devour Y. Maybe it's not even you; perhaps there's a food someone in your family ate that you found disgusting and strange and that you never wanted any of your friends to know about (say, for instance, my mom and pickled pig's feet).

Since the National Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided to mess up our traditional Oscar contest this year, by allowing TEN movies to be nominated for Best Picture instead of five (can't handle getting the food together for 10 movies, not to mention seeing all those movies—5 was hard enough), I'd been thinking about what we could do instead for some dead-of-winter fun. And so my diabolical plan was hatched.

You write a haiku about a food you love to eat but wish you didn't, and, if your poem is a winner, you'll receive one of three fabulous prizes:

• Gift certificate for the cooking class of your choice at the Mettler Center in Champaign (a $25 value)
  
• $10 gift certificate for Vinny's East Coast Pizzeria in Champaign
• $10 gift card for Xinh Xinh Cafe in Urbana

Now, obviously, the prizes are local in nature, so you must reside in C-U or the surrounding area in order to be eligible to win one. That said—if you don't live around here and you just want to unburden yourself, please feel free! Confession is good for the soul.

Should you falter as you prepare to leave your secret in a comment, just remember the sage words of a high-school friend of mine: Everyone's got something weird about them.

The rules:

1. Write a haiku (you can enter more than one if you need to) about a food you love but wish you didn't. The first and last lines of the haiku must be five syllables; the middle line must be seven syllables. Check a dictionary if you're not sure how many syllables your words contain, as we're going to be sticklers.
   
2. Use the name of the food as the title of your haiku.
3. Leave the haiku in the comments on this post, along with your name.
4. Leave your entry (or entries) between now and February 3.
   

After February 3, I'll close the comments so that no more entries may be made. A panel of judges will read all the haikus and will pick their top three, and the winners will be announced soon after the contest ends. The first-place winner will get to choose her/his prize from among the three; the second-place winner will choose between the remaining two prizes, and the third-place winner will have no choice whatsoever but will still be winning a fabulous prize.

The panel of judges:

• Yours truly, former slave to the food industry, now chronicler of the food scene in C-U and champion of local food establishments.
• Laura Weisskopf Bleill, a long-time journalist and communications consultant who recently launched chambanamoms.com and is also chef, chauffeur, scheduler, maid, personal shopper, teacher, and mother to two small children.
• Meg Thilmony, a News-Gazette features reporter who loves junk food—and just about every other kind of food—and contributes to the N-G's Food section on Wednesdays.

Here's a haiku from me to get your creative juices flowing.

Nacho Cheese Doritos
I crunch thoughtfully
contemplating white snow and
orange fingerprints

And here you thought I only ate organic beef and farmers' market vegetables.

We're looking forward to reading your haikus!

P.S. If you're contributing a poem for fun, and you don't live in this area (and thus aren't eligible to win a prize), please note that for us in your comment. If you do live in C-U and you want to be in the prize drawing, please remember to leave your name with your poem.

P.P.S. The judges' family members may not enter this contest. Family members, thanks for your understanding.

Sneak Preview: Buttitta's Famiglia Ristorante

UPDATE 6/8/2011: In a sad turn of events, Buttitta's closed this week. I'll leave this post up for a while for history's sake, but the restaurant is no more. -Lisa

As reported in the News-Gazette today, Buttitta's Italian restaurant is set to open this week. (The owner mentioned Tuesday to us, but I'd call to be sure. Also note that, at first, the restaurant will be open only for dinner.) In the photo above you're looking into the main dining room from the street. Elegantly cozy, wouldn't you say? The photo below shows the view into the bar and dining areas from the reception area.

Keith and I attended a practice dinner on Saturday evening. I'd been stopping by the place on a regular basis in recent months, so I knew something about what was going on with the decor. Now 99% finished, it looks beautiful, with murals all over the place (done by local artists Glen Davies and another fellow whose name escapes me at the moment), wood floors, white tablecloths, and chandeliers.

Chef Jake Sanders, formerly of Montgomery's in Monticello, helped to develop the menu and oversees kitchen operations. The tastes offered at the practice dinner included appetizers like steamed mussels, seared scallops, and pizzas; interesting salads; and, in the entree category, pappardelle Bolognese, veal Parmigiana, and a New York strip steak (this is not the regular menu, by any means; it was a very limited one offering samples of some of the menu items).

We started with the sopressata pizza, which was topped, as you might have guessed, with thin slices of the Italian salami of the same name plus pepperoncini, carmelized onions, and cheeses. Buttitta's put in a special, built-into-the-wall, gas-and-wood hybrid pizza oven, which you can see from the main dining room.

Following the pizza, we both opted for the romaine salad. As you can see, wedges of whole lettuce were sprinkled with Asiago cheese and vinaigrette and set atop a criss-cross pattern of a balsamic vinegar reduction.

For our entrees, Keith had the steak and I the pasta Bolognese. The steak, which he'd ordered medium-rare, was instead very rare. It may be that the cooks need to work on cooking meat to temperature, or it may have been a practice-night fluke. The steak was accompanied by grilled asparagus and cheese-filled ravioli.

My entree was delicioso. Wide ribbons of pasta were coated with a creamy tomato-and-meat sauce and topped with whipped ricotta cheese. The sauce was pretty heavy on the nutmeg, and I liked that about it.

The restaurant has a separate bar area where you'll be able to lounge around comfortably and order from a special bar food menu (still in the works). I loved the fact that they've got the old Dom's sign hanging in that area.

And speaking of the old Dom's (that is, Dom's Patio Villa, a much-loved family restaurant near downtown Champaign that the Buttitta family ran for many years): Some of the items from that menu, including Chicken à la Dom, will be served at this new restaurant, but I don't yet know what they all are.

This is not meant to be a review of Buttitta's, just a preview of what you can expect when you go. Note that I have no info about pricing as yet (I didn't see the full menu), and also note that portion sizes and so forth at the practice dinner may not reflect what you'll get when you order from the regular menu.

Congratulations to the Buttitta family on their return to the Champaign restaurant scene, and best wishes for a successful new venture.

Buttitta's
1201 South Neil Street (in the building that used to house Jillian's bar)
Champaign, IL
217-355-8656
Open daily for dinner starting Tuesday, January 19 (but call first to make sure they do get open on Tuesday). The restaurant will also serve lunch on weekdays and brunch on weekends, but that will come later.

Parking is available in the newly re-asphalted lot behind the restaurant and also across the street (in the new lot where the Collins gas station used to be).

From the Pantry: Minute Khana Dinners

Stopped by Annapoorna the other night on my way home from work intending to pick up curry leaves (with which to make this dish—hopefully a delicious post for another time), and what did I spy but these packaged entrees. There are numerous dishes to choose from, including dal makhani, mutter paneer, kadhai paneer, chana dal, etc.

The pav bhaji (pictured above), which I've made at home numerous times now, was really rather good. OK, it didn't look as beautiful as the photo on the box would have you believe, but these are packaged dinners, after all. I added a pat of butter, a squeeze of lemon juice, and some chopped red onion; I had no cilantro but that would've been great on it, too. Toasted a couple of slices of bread to go with it, and it was a satisfying 2-minute meal. And there are no weird ingredients, just the mashed vegetables along with spices like ginger, garlic, chili powder, coriander, and so on.

The spinach and paneer dinner was also tasty. I'd been afraid that the paneer would be rubbery, but it was soft and creamy, and the spinach sauce was mildly spicy. I actually had it for breakfast along with leftover rice. Perfect quick breakfast or dinner with absolutely no cooking involved whatsoever.

The dinners come in those vacuum-sealed foil pouches that you can either put into boiling water for a few minutes or empty into a bowl and microwave for a minute or two (I took the latter route). Very simple for those nights when putting any kind of dinner together just feels like too much work. And, at 3 packages for $5.00 (it's buy 2, get 1 free) and 10.5 ounces each, inexpensive and pretty filling to boot.

P.S. While you're at Annapoorna, do yourself a favor and pick up a bag of the crispy, crunchy fried chickpeas called chana. Sure, you can roast your own, but when you want a quick snack with absolutely no cooking involved whatsoever, this is the thing. The chickpeas are roasted with corn oil, salt, and spices, and they were SO good. The brand is Mirch Masala, and you'll find the bags of chickpeas, along with other MM snack foods, on a rack just behind where the cash register is, on the right.

P.P.S. Annapoorna is now on Twitter, if you want to follow them to hear about specials and such: http://twitter.com/annapoorna_cu.

Omakase Dinners at Ko-Fusion Let Sushi Chef Get Creative

If you say "omakase" to a sushi chef, it means that rather than ordering from the menu, you're leaving it up to the chef to decide what to serve you. Omakase literally means entrust, and it can be translated as "It's up to you."

I've wanted to try ordering omakase style for a long time but have not been bold enough. (Well—that's not entirely true. I'm bold enough, but fear of what the omakase experience might do to my wallet was the main reason I've balked). So I was excited to see that Ko-Fusion is introducing the concept in a way that makes it more approachable. Starting this week, the restaurant will offer five-course "omakase dinners" every Tuesday evening. Some friends and I went last night to the inaugural dinner and had a great time. We sat at the sushi bar to be close to the action.

First off came the soup or salad course (your choice, but get the soup). Owner Janet's family recipe dumpling soup, it was, and wow. Beef, pork, chives, and other delicious ingredients were encased in a delicate, homemade wrapper, and the dumplings floated in a tasty miso broth with mushrooms. The seaweed salad was also good, but get the soup. It's not on the regular menu, because of its delicate nature (it doesn't hold up for long), so you can only enjoy this treat at the omakase dinner.

Next up was a plate of sashimi. Look how pretty. In the center was a very fresh-tasting, sweet and salty Japanese oyster, surrounded by mounds of grated daikon and slices of yellowtail, escolar, red tuna, and salmon. The ponzu (citrusy soy sauce) dipping sauce was light and perfect as an accompaniment. This course was paired with a tiny cup of Ozeki dry sake.

Following that, we were treated to platefuls of nigiri, which were paired with a creamy white Sayuri sake.

Then came a selection of Ko-Fusion's special rolls. It was a taster's choice here: One slice each of Red Dragon, California, Crunch, Lava, and Solomon. You can read descriptions of each of the rolls on the Ko-Fusion Web site. The sake served with the rolls was a sweet Moonstone pear.

The dessert course consisted of five pieces of ice-cream mochi—sweet and sticky rice-based shells filled with vanilla, mango, red bean, and green tea ice cream. This course came with a small flute of Ozeki Hana-Awaka, a light sparkling sake.

The dinner (with sake pairings) was priced at $42, a pretty good value, I thought, for the soup, eight slices of sashimi (plus the oyster), five slices of nigiri, five slices of maki, and four mochi ice cream bombs with the four sake pairings and matcha tea. (You can have the five courses without the sake pairings for $35.)

I would advise you to call now to make reservations for next Tuesday's dinner, if you want in on this. There is just one seating, at 6:30 p.m. Oh, and if you want to taste those Japanese oysters (and I'm telling you, you do), those are available on Tuesdays as well. So even if you don't go for the five-course dinner, you could toddle in for a plateful of oysters and sips of sparkling sake. Your table is waiting . . .

Ko-Fusion
One East Main Street (corner of Main and Neil)
Champaign, IL
217-531-1166
www.kofusion.com

Midwestern Meals: Rice Corned Beef Casserole

I dare you to have ever heard of this hot dish before. Tater tots, cheese, cream soup, and meat, yes. But canned corned beef, Rice-a-Roni, water chestnuts, mayonnaise, and cream soup? Really? As I was rooting around for something to make for this installment of Midwestern Meals, a friend mentioned this dish, a holiday staple in her family. It was definitely a new one to me.

Intrepid cook-reporter that I am, I decided to give it a whirl. The recipe follows, but here's the blow-by-blow, with photos! First off, I assembled the ingredients, which you can see below (minus the celery and mushrooms):

Then I cooked up the beef Rice-a-Roni, as directed, and let it cool.

While the Rice-a-Roni cooled, I sautéed the celery and mushrooms (I got a little crazy and used shiitakes) in a small amount of peanut oil, and seasoned them with salt and pepper.

So far, so good. Love Rice-a-Roni, love sautéed veggies. Next, I started opening cans and jars. The corned beef, mushroom soup, water chestnuts, and mayo went into a large bowl and were mixed together. At this point I banished Keith from looking on (he's not a fan of either mayo or cream soups).

I added the celery-mushroom mixture to the bowl, along with the cooled Rice-a-Roni, and spread the whole shootin' match in the baking dish.

I baked the casserole for 40 minutes, topping it, as directed, with canned chow mein noodles during the final 15 minutes of baking.

And there you have it! Rice corned beef casserole. I'm thinking of this dish as the Midwesterner's take on chop suey, and you can't stop me.

I repeat: I dare you to tell me that you've ever heard of, let alone eaten, this dish. Is it common, and I'm just totally uninformed? My mother never made a single casserole that I can think of, unless you count lasagne, so that may be the case. On the other hand, I've lived among Midwesterners for close to 30 years now, and I've never before come across it.

I found the flavor . . . interesting. It reminded me a little bit of the canned corned beef hash that my dad used to make for us often when I was a kid, and that's not surprising, given that the plain corned beef is also a Hormel product. The crunchiness of the water chestnuts throughout was great.

Rice Corned Beef Casserole
Family recipe from a Midwestern grandmother (Northwest Illinois)

1 12-ounce can corned beef
1 pkg beef Rice-A-Roni, prepared as directed
1 can cream of mushroom soup
3/4 cup mayonnaise (Grandma used Miracle Whip)
1 8-ounce can sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms, sautéed (optional)
1 1/2 cups finely chopped celery, sautéed
1 can crispy chow mein noodles (e.g., La Choy)

Prepare Rice-A-Roni as directed and cool. Sauté the celery and mushrooms in a little oil.

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together. Turn into a shallow casserole dish and bake at 350 °F for 30-40 minutes. Top with chow mein noodles for the last 15 minutes of cooking.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Many thanks to my friend for sharing her grandma's recipe.  Anyone else have a suggestion for a Midwestern dish I can feature in this column? Let me know!

Quick Bite: Soup and Sandwich at Holy Land Mediterranean Grill

It seems that the Quick Bite feature is threatening to take over this blog. Well, sometimes it's like that. I eat something at a restaurant around town that I want to tell you about right away—and there's another Quick Bite. I'm thinking you won't mind. And besides, I did a bigger review of Holy Land when they opened in November.

This week I had lentil soup at C-U's newest Middle-Eastern cafe, and it was delicious: A thinnish red-lentil soup garnished with sumac and parsley and accompanied by a lemon wedge ($2.99). Nice and hot, and just right on a frigid day. The cook told this reporter that they'll have soup daily now, and it will change from week to week. They're going to put up a specials board soon noting what the soup of the day is.

I ordered a falafel sandwich, as well, and it was (as usual) so good. At Holy Land they roll up the sandwich like a burrito and then grill it lightly ($3.99). And it comes with crunchy pickled vegetables that are the perfect side. I squeezed what was left of my lemon wedge on the sandwich as I ate it—mmm.

While I ate I was fascinated by a Middle Eastern music video called Candy Land, in which a small boy is taken to a fantasy land of pink ice cream and cake by an extremely attractive "fairy"—it had me craving dessert, ho ho. Couldn't find it online or I would have linked to it. You'll just have to go in and try to catch it.

Oh—and it was warm in the restaurant. Yes, there was a bit of a blast of cold air when the door opened, but I think they'd turned the heat up to compensate, because I was comfortable on that very cold day.

Holy Land Mediterranean Grill
705 North Neil Street
Champaign, IL
217-355-0599
Open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily
Credit/debit cards accepted

Illini Grill and Pancakes: Chilaquiles Are Back!

Update 2010: Illini Grill and Pancakes is no more. The owners closed it, but the same owners also run El Toro Bravo, located just a bit west of where Illini Grill was on Springfield Avenue, and they offer virtually the same breakfast menu there. So go to El Toro Bravo for these chilaquiles and other breakfast items. 

Yes, those crazy little breakfast tortilla chips covered with sauce and cheese are back (accompanied by eggs scrambled with bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes, plus rice, beans, and warm tortillas), and I couldn't be happier.

In the fall of 2008 I did a rather exhaustive review of the breakfast offerings at what was then El Torero Mexican restaurant. Soon afterward, the owners of El Torero opened a new Mexican place (El Toro Bravo) and re-made El Torero into a breakfast-and-lunch-only spot called Illini Grill and Pancakes. And for a time, my beloved chilaquiles were unavailable; we were told that the dish would no longer be on the menu. I was crushed.

The transformation of the restaurant is now complete (see the review and photo of "totally Illini" exterior, which looks great, on chambanamoms.com). A few months ago, a friend told me she was pretty darned sure that chilaquiles were on Illini Grill's menu again. We went to check during the holidays, and sure enough! They're back, along with the other Mexican breakfasts like eggs with chorizo, huevos rancheros, and the breakfast burrito. Boy, was I happy to see that.

The menu, while redesigned, seems to contain most, if not all, of the same items as before: skillets, pancakes and French toast, croissant sandwiches, biscuits and gravy, etc., etc., etc. Plus there's a different special every weekday, and notice that two dishes—the breakfast quesadilla and the choritacos—are specially priced every day.

So, three cheers for Illini Grill and Pancakes, and thanks to the owners for putting chilaquiles back on the menu! (And, to my dear readers: Don't forget to ask for the homemade hot or mild sauce to spoon over your eggs, if you're inclined that way.)

Illini Grill and Pancakes
2312 W. Springfield Avenue
Champaign, IL
217-351-3110
Serving breakfast and lunch 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily
Full menu available on the Web site