Radio Maria

Over mom's weekend last year I had the chance to visit Radio Maria with several friends and our mothers. The wait was long even though we had reservations so we spent the first 45 minutes getting drinks at the bar. Once we were seated, the waitress was very well-dressed and professional. We ordered a bottle of red wine. I don't know anything about wine so I shouldn't comment on it. The menu is small and limited, with only about 5 entrees on it. However it is constantly changing. For my entree, I ordered a coffee-crusted salmon with fried plantains. The plantains were crispy and perfectly caramelized. I enjoyed both of them. They made a good combination. The prices were too high for me to eat there on my own, but when the tab is on mom, it is a good restaurant. They play a variety of Spanish music inside the restaurant. Here is a song that I have heard there before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSCi0yvkjOM. Overall, Radio Maria is a good restaurant that has trendy and delicious food, but is too expensive for me.

Jim Gould (Champaign)

Jim Gould's Sunday brunch is perhaps the best breakfast I have ever had, even though it may have been the most expensive. Actually, it makes sense that it would be the best with how much I ended up paying for it. At $25 a person, the price of entrance is steep, though you are given access to a full breakfast/ brunch buffet. On its surface, this may sound like a rip-off, but the quality and variety of food made it worthwhile (at least worth doing once).

Jim Gould is a relatively expensive restaurant in downtown Champaign. That just helps it to fit in with all the other relatively expensive restaurants in downtown Champaign. Having somewhat of a dress-up atmosphere, Jim Gould is relatively classy, with live jazz music and excellent service.

For the brunch, the drinks were complimentary. The coffee was excellent, on par with any of the coffee joints in the area, and my girlfriend got tea, which had perhaps the most attractive teabag I have ever seen.

There were two different tables set up in the main dining room, and patrons were at liberty to go and help themselves to food at their leisure. There was also a line of chefs who were making eggs to order, with whatever toppings one wanted to choose. This reminded me a bit of the university dining hall breakfast, even though most of the audience probably didn't have the experiences necessary to make this comparison.

The two buffet tables had such a wide variety of food, it would be difficult to go over all of it. There was cold salmon (lox), creme puffs, french toast, pasta salad... the list goes on and on. Everything that was available was incredibly high-quality and delicious, though there was too much for any one person to sample. There was also a small dessert table off to the side of the two main buffet tables, which had a variety of small bite-size desserts to try.

Overall, the meal was worth having. The high price of entry could serve as a barrier to some, though I feel like that might be the point. The food was delicious, and it was a good experience to have at least once. I might not be going back again any time soon, or at least until I get a signing bonus for my full-time position after school, but I would highly recommend it to anyone who has the discretionary income to spend on such things.

Courier Cafe (Urbana)

Tonight, my girlfriend and I went out to the Courier Cafe in downtown Urbana. Having been there before, I knew that it was a good place to go for a relatively cheap meal (which is why I capitulated rather quickly). Courier Cafe is one of the older restaurants in downtown Urbana, having been open since 1980. As such, it has outlasted many other downtown Urbana businesses, and enshrined their memory in the names of its burgers.

Speaking of burgers, they are the primary reason I go to the Courier Cafe. Burgers are around $5-6, and are 1/3 of a pound. The burgers also tend to be higher quality than the standard pub fare, considering people go there for food, instead of ordering a burger as an afterthought.

On this night I opted for the Darcy's burger, which is a burger with mushrooms and bleu cheese. The burger comes on a plate with all of the other assorted toppings, including onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and pickles, off to the side, so you can add them to taste. The burger comes well done unless you specify otherwise. The meat itself is relatively juicy for being a grilled burger, and the bun tastes more like it came from a genuine bakery, instead of a store-brand 8 pack of buns, which often ends up being the case in burger restaurants.

Another thing Courier is known for is its old-style sweet drinks, such as its phosphates and New York egg creme drinks. These are sugary soda-type drinks with flavored syrup, with the egg creme being a phosphate with an egg cracked into it and creme added. Courier also has a variety of ice cream desserts.

Courier's wine and beer menu is not very extensive, but they have had Rogue Dead Guy on draft for $4 the last few times I have gone, which is cheaper than most bars in the area. In addition, their bottled beers are relatively cheap, and the wine by the glass is inexpensive as well. Though the menu is not extensive, there is a good enough variety to please most individuals.

For two people with burgers, drinks, and one order of fries, the total bill ended up being $18.84. This is much lower than one would pay for an equivalent meal anywhere else, even a place like Murphy's (which has a similar food menu, though lower quality food). Courier is a perfect spot for a cheap date, where your date won't know you're being cheap unless you let her see the check.

Blind Pig Bar (Champaign)

Blind Pig Co. (not to be confused with the Brewery, also in downtown Champaign, which just opened recently) is a full-service bar in downtown Champaign, located at 120 N. Walnut St. The Blind Pig (as I will refer to it for the rest of this entry) differentiates itself from other local bars by offering a HUGE selection of microbrews on tap (well over 20 at any one time) , as well as a large selection of beer by the bottle. This huge selection is one of the reasons this is my favorite bar in Champaign, as well as the fact that you can get a five beer sampler (of any draft beer) for just $8.

The Blind Pig changes its menu weekly, with different beers entering and leaving each time. Another thing I like about the Pig is the fact that it is one of the few places I know of where you can get beer in a cask, which is just for unfiltered beer, and lets the beer continue to age and ferment while it is being stored. Considering the rarity of cask beer, at least in my experience, this alone is a good enough reason to stop by the Bling Pig. There is a different Cask every week.

The Blind Pig also has special events at different times, depending on when the event takes place. These events usually involve some sort of drink special or giveaways. As an example, I attended the Blind Pig's 5th anniversary party just a few weeks ago. A representative from Rogue Ales, one of the first microbreweries in America, was present, and giving away t-shirts. I was lucky enough to get one when I got a Rogue Old Crustacean Barleywine (which was delicious). In addition, there was a selection of 6 Rogue drafts and a Rogue cask, with all pints being $5 each (a rather good deal for Rogue at the Blind Pig).

The Pig tends to draw an older, off-campus crowd. As such, it is usually less crowded and rowdy than on-campus bars, though it gets busier on weekends. One of the reasons I like to go to the Blind Pig is that it offers a different kind of atmosphere that one cannot find in other bars (especially those on campus), as well as the superior beer selection.

The Blind Pig Brewery opened recently in downtown Champaign, and just started serving its own in-house beers (the first brewed in the Champaign-Urbana area since Joe's stopped making its own beer). I haven't gotten a chance to go yet, but I plan on going soon. Look forward to a post about that.

Firehaus

I spend my Sundays finishing homework early in the afternoon because I know that I will be going to Firehaus in the evening. I go because the food is great and there is a great selection of drinks. Firehaus has true $2 you-call-its on Sundays which means you can get any drink you want for $2. I usually start out with a Blue Moon which is one of the many beers they have on tap. After that I will move on to Tanqueray and tonic with a slice of lime. By this time I am ready to order food. My favorite thing on the menu is the Hazmat Wrap. It is a buffalo chicken wrap that comes with a choice of homemade chips, fries, or pasta salad. I usually get the homemade chips because they are always fresh and are unlike any chips I have tried before. They are very hearty and have the perfect amount of dill and salt on them. The wrap is grilled after it is made so the outside is crispy and warm. After I eat, I will move on to the scotch. Firehaus has several scotches: Johnny Walker Red, Johnny Walker Black, Dewar's, The Glenlivet, and Cuddysark which are all $2 on Sundays. My favorite is the Johnny Walker Black. It has very complex flavors that release into a woody, smoky taste once the ice is added. Firehaus is the cleanest bar on campus and its student staff works very hard to keep it that way. Waitresses are very casual and friendly. There is plenty of seating especially in the summer when the beer garden is open and the garage doors are opened to Sixth Street. They have huge televisions throughout the bar and even beer garden making it the perfect place to watch sports. Overall, Firehaus is a very clean, casual, and affordable bar that is right on campus.

Crane Alley (Urbana)

Since this is the first post on this blog, which will be about restaurants (and bars) in the Urbana-Champaign area, I thought it would be good to start out with an entry on what is my favorite food and drink establishment in Urbana.

Crane Alley, located at 115 West Main Street in Urbana, is a bar and restaurant, though most of the floor space is devoted to the bar and pool tables. When I was there just last week, it was only my second chance to sit down and have a meal (the first being my 21st birthday).

My girlfriend and myself got there about 15 minutes early, and we elected to start off with an appetizer: Crane Alley's signature beet chips. Every table around us got this appetizer, since it is one of the dishes that Crane Alley is most known for. The beet chips come with a bowl of a goat cheese dip (which has cream cheese mixed in). The dip is somewhat rich and heavy, and helps to bulk up what might otherwise be a rather light appetizer.

The sandwiches at Crane Alley run up to around $10, and the main courses a bit higher than that. My girlfriend got a portabella mushroom burger, which was one of the daily specials, and of course had no meat. However, it was bulky enough to offset that and not be as light and unfilling as a lot of vegetarian food ends up being. I got a beer-battered fish sandwich, which was crispy and fairly large (way too much fish for the bun), along with the sweet potato fries (another thing Crane Alley is known for). One of the complaints I usually have about fried fish sandwiches is how greasy they are, but luckily this sandwich didn't fall into that trap.

As one would expect from a bar, there is a pretty good drink selection. However, Crane Alley goes beyond the call of duty, and has more than ten beers on draft at any one time, with the majority of them coming from different microbreweries (the selection is constantly being rotated). In addition, there is an obscenely large selection of bottled beers (more than what the Blind Pig offers), and a wide selection of hard liquor and mixed drinks. Of my total bill of $50, around $20 of that was from drinks.

The primary lure that Crane Alley has is its wide selection of beers and drinks, which can be ordered alongside a selection of appetizers or food (something some local competitors do not offer). In addition, it has weekly special dishes and daily specials, and special beer and food pairings on set dates (tickets must usually be purchased). I would highly recommend anyone in the area or at the university make the effort to stop here at least once.

[Image courtesy of http://www.crane-alley.com/]