This evening we opted for Chinese and stopped in to Empire Chinese Restaurant on Green St. in the Campustown area of Champaign, IL. Empire is like many places on Green where you order from a counter and eat with plastic utensils. The menu is virtually identical to most other Chinese places in the C-U area. The prices are very low, though. We were amazed at how much food $20 would buy. As you can see below, we went big knowing we’d have  plenty left over to take home. We started the steamed dumpling appetizers. Sarah ordered Kung Pao Chicken and I had Mongolian Beef and Beef Fried Rice.

The dumplings were excellent. They’d make a great lunch by themselves. Sarah thought her Kung Pao was very good. I tried some and thought it had a nice spicy bite to it. My Mongolian Beef was good, but heavy on the brown sauce and onions. It could have done with more scallions and a bit less sauce and onions. Still, better than most beef type dishes at similar restaurants. The fried rice was typical of this area and a bit bland, although the generous amount of beef in it was lean and tender. We’ll definitely return to Empire for different meals. They had some other meals that looked tasty.

Today we made our annual trek down to the Moonshine Store in Martinsville, IL. The immediate area around the store is actually called Moonshine, but the easiest way to locate it on a map is to look for the intersection of 300Rd and 600St in Martinsville, IL. As always, the burgers at Moonshine were very good. And the hard-to-find soda flavors, like birch beer, just add to the enjoyment. Pick a good day and leave early. The Moonshine Store stops selling burgers right at 12:30, although from our experience, I’d say the best time to get there is just after 12. The crowd thins considerably as 12:30 approaches. Check out some pics from our trip over on Randomography. 

As promised, we stopped by to check out Joe’s in the former Gunner Buc’s building on Lakeland Blvd. in Mattoon, IL.  Lots of changes. No more ordering at the counter. It is now traditional waitress service. The liquor store is also gone. That probably wasn’t the best idea in the first place. And the music volume is much more conducive to conversation now.

On the food side, there are still 50 cent tacos on Thursdays and they’re still very tasty. We were starving, so we had a couple as appetizers.  I went with a traditional cheeseburger and Sarah had a black-and-bleu burger with bleu cheese on it. Both came with fries.

The burgers arrived very quickly, although there was not a very big crowd. Still, great service. The burgers themselves weren’t bad at all, but not nearly as good as Gunner Buc’s burgers. Note to Joe: Find out where GB’s got their hamburger and buy the same stuff. Maybe it’s the fat content (which gives burgers their flavor), or maybe something they did in preparing them, but GB’s had super tasting burgers. Same deal with the fries. Joe’s fries just didn’t have that same “so good it’s bad for you” deliciousness. 

The menu at Joe’s had some other interesting looking things, so we’ll be back to try other stuff. Stay tuned.

Tonight we decided to try the pizza buffet at the new Villa Pizza shop in Charleston. Yes, I know it has the fancy name above, but a Villa Pizza by any other name….yada, yada.

The buffet menu includes a salad bar and the pizza. Drinks are extra. We also ordered a half loaf of garlic bread, although we were almost done eating pizza by the time it reached our table. And the “half loaf” is misleading. It’s really one side of a sub roll with butter and garlic. Sauces are 50 cents extra. We got a cheese sauce and a marinara sauce. Both were ok, as was the bread. The salad bar is very basic. Tonight the lettuce and tomato sections were almost empty. And we got caught behind another two groups at the pizza buffet, so the choices there were pretty slim as well. They did eventually bring out more pizza, though. The pizza itself is not the best I’ve every had, but it’s not bad. The comparison to Jerry’s Pub Tuesday and Thursday night buffet is unavoidable. The difference is that Jerry’s has better pizza (IMHO) and Jerry’s serves beer, which I prefer with my pizza. Jerry’s is also somewhat less expensive as the garlic bread is included in the price. We usually get out of Jerry’s for around $14, and that includes a beer for me. No beer tonight at Villa, but it still cost us a tad over $17.

I got home somewhat late this afternoon and trying to find a restaurant with no waiting line can be tough on Friday night. We tried Spanky’s in Mattoon, but we couldn’t even find a place to park. It appears that Taste of Italy is closed, too. So we ended up at D & W’s Restaurant on DeWitt Avenue in Mattoon. Sarah has had lunch there once, but I’d never been there. D & W’s is basic family-style comfort food. The menu is huge and there are daily specials. Prices range between Cheap Eats and Family, depending on what you order. 

Tonight we both ordered the special, which was Goulash. Now goulash is one of those dishes that could vary widely by restaurant. At D & W’s, it’s pretty much what I’ve always known goulash to be, which is ground beef, tomatoes, pepper, and tomato sauce over elbow macaroni. We both opted for a salad as one of our sides. Sarah also had some sweet potato fries while I went with corn for my other side. The salads were a decent size and quite good. The goulash was tasty and the sides were well prepared. Sarah’s sweet potato fries were delicious, but could have used a dipping sauce. We left quite full and our meal came to a whopping $13 before the tip. Not bad at all.

I don’t normally write up fast food places, but lately I’ve been really impressed with the subs at Silver Mine Subs on Daniel St. in Champaign. It’s located right next door to Subway and yet never seems to have the line that Subway does. Not sure I understand that either, as I feel Silver Mine’s subs and service are much better. For one thing, they offer medium size subs, not just the small or large you get at Subway. Subway’s 6″ sub is not always enough, yet their 12″ sub is almost always too much. Silver Mine offers a medium that is just about in the middle. I hate to sound like Goldilocks, but their medium is just right. I also like their variety. My favorite lately has been the Dodge City, which is Italian meats and all the fixins. The staff at Silver Mine are always friendly and work very quickly. They look like they enjoy what they’re doing. That’s a rare thing these days.

I’ll give Silver Mine Subs Three Spoons in keeping with my rating scheme explanation, “the food was quite good, but the atmosphere was more like a bar or fast food joint.” Quite good, indeed.

I was really in the mood for a good Reuben today, so we stopped in to the Courier Cafe on Race St in Urbana for lunch. The Courier really knows how to put a Reuben together. Mine was lean, hot, had just the right amount of sauerkraut, and came with 1000 Islands dressing on the side. I also had some of their excellent fries and they even made a great iced coffee for me (though it’s not on the menu). Sarah had a very tasty Grilled Swiss and Pesto sandwich with some of Courier’s signature sweet potato chips. It was the perfect lunch.  

Today we finally made it down to the Moonshine Store in Martinsville, IL for a couple of their famous Moonburgers. The Moonshine Store is literally out in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing around it for a mile. And finding the place proved to be no small feat. We had a Google map AND a GPS navigation system. Despite being well armed with such gizmos, we still had to follow some bikers to get there. It’s at the intersection of 300th Rd and 600th St in Martinsville. Both Google maps and my GPS map placed the address further east at the intersection of 300th Rd and 850th St.

The Moonshine Store is a general store with a huge grill in the back and a collection of hard to find sodas. I was hoping they had birch beer and was pleasantly surprised to actually find one there. This place is big with biker groups as the roads leading to it make for an interesting ride, but it’s also a favorite of the locals. And despite being very crowded today, it’s amazingly easy to get to the grill and place your order. Then it’s a short wait until they call your name and hand you your burgers. There’s a table with an assortment of add-ons and condiments, and I hear the best time to be there is when the garden fresh tomatoes are available. We’ll have to go back later in the summer for those. Today it was pickles, onions, and ketchup for me and just mayo for Sarah.

The burgers themselves were very, very tasty, although not quite up to the bar set by Gunner Buc’s. But the thing Moonshine has over Gunner Buc’s in spades is atmosphere. Moonshine is a very cool place. Loads of interesting folks, a history buff’s dream of a building, and the fact that Moonshine Store is a destination unto itself add up to atmosphere most places would die for.

If you plan on going, be aware that they close the grill promptly at 12:30. Go early, leave yourself plenty of time in case you get lost, and arrive hungry. 

The Moonshine Store

The best way to get there.

The Grill

The Atmosphere (grill smoke included)

We stopped in for lunch today at Shanghai 1938 in the Village at the Crossing complex at the corner of Duncan and Windsor in Champaign, IL. Champaign has loads of take-out Chinese places, so it’s nice to have a real sit-down place to visit. And it’s very nice to not have to eat Chinese food from styrofoam containers.

Shanghai 1938 has a lunch special where for $5.95 you get a choice of soup, eggroll, choice of white or fried rice, entree, and dessert. Sarah had the Hot and Sour soup and I had the Eggdrop. Sarah thought hers was a bit bland, but the eggdrop was tasty. We both went for the Pork Eggroll, although Sarah enjoyed it more than I. For entrees, Sarah had the Hunan Beef and white rice. I considered it, but it was listed as spicy and I was wary of having spicy in a new place, so I went for my favorite stand-by, Cashew Chicken with fried rice. The beef was a tad spicy, but not overwhelming. My chicken was similar to that found at most other Chinese places in this area.

So to sum it up, Shanghai 1938 is similar to Hot Wok or No 1 Wok or any of the other Chinese restaurants in the CU area except you get a nicer atmosphere and real plates. And I’ve classified it as Cheap Eats because the lunch menu items fall in that range. The dinner menu is in the Family range.

Today we stopped for lunch at Lai-Lai Wok on the corner of 4th and Green St. in Champaign. In my time at the university there have been many different restaurants in this location, but Lai-Lai has been around longer than most. One of my colleagues recommended it, so we decided to give it a shot. The first thing we noticed when we walked in was a large menu above the counter which was entirely in Chinese. We must have looked dumbfounded because the lady behind the counter quickly showed us a paper menu in both Chinese and English.

Sarah ordered Basil Chicken and I opted for Beef and Scallions. Both were served in minutes, piping hot. The lunch portions were generous, but not huge. Just enough. Sarah’s Basil Chicken was not as spicy as the same dish elsewhere, but it was still tasty. My Beef and Scallions was very much to my liking. The ingredients of both meals were very fresh and perfectly cooked. We’ll definitely eat there again. Maybe dinner next time.