Bitchin' in the Kitchen with Rosie: So where have I been?

It's that time of year folks! You all know what I mean - vacation time!! If I haven't been out of town, I've been working crazy hours so that I can get the time off to be out of town - so as usual my blogging has suffered.

For those of you who haven't gleaned this info from my writings - my hubby is into magic. Not wiccan magic, but the "Is this your card?" type of magic. His work - and yes, he is a pro - makes it possible for us to travel and eat all over this fine country of ours.

Tim Felix - owner of Midwest Magic

and legend in the making.

This is his sexy "mysterious" pose.

Max Maven eat your heart out.

Earlier this month Tony lectured in Chicago. One of my favorite places to go is Chicago...and Tim Felix of Midwest Magic plays a big part in making me feel like that... Tim knows how to make a magic wife happy while her man is busy playing with his toys - hey! Enough of that filthy stuff right there! I am talking about food here - it is a food blog!

Tim took us out to dinner before the lecture. He has been telling us about Jay's Beef for years and I finally got to visit this trip. (For those who have never heard of an Italian beef - here's a description.) Actually we got a beef and sausage with peppers - no cheese. Damn. Soooooooooooooo good. The right bread, the right meat, the peppers and giardiniera. If you are in Chicago, please stop in and try Jay's. Your tastebuds will be sooooooooo happy!

Here's the beef - now shut the hell up Clara Peller!

The rest of the evening went swimmingly. We had a nice turnout for the lecture. The Chicago magic scene is always welcoming and there is a lot of fine, fine talent in the Windy City.

We headed home the next day and about 4 hours outside of Chicago I had a serious beef craving, but Tony wouldn't turn around. Bastard.

Vintage!

One of the best things about driving places is the little gems you find hidden along some of the byways. One tiny place, in Churubusco, IN, is Magic Wand Burger. It's a family owned ice cream and burger shop off of Route 33. We had driven past it several different times, choosing to eat at our favorite pork tenderloin place instead. This time we opted to give them a try - and damned glad we did.

This was staring at me as I came out of the ladies' room.

Scared the hell outta me too...

and I am not afraid of clowns...at least I wasn't....

I will warn you - if you have coulrophobia, then this is not the place for you. The whole interior is coated in clown pictures and statues... At least there were no pictures of weeping clowns in the bathroom.

More clowns to watch you eat...

Tony ordered the Magic Burger, a double decker cheeseburger made from fresh ground meat. The restaurant has the local grocer grind it for them every morning - a benefit of living in a small town. The fries were food service, but fried correctly. I took the plunge and ordered the deep fried cheese burger. Yes -I said deep fried cheeseburger. Essentially, they took a partially cooked meat patty, put a slice of cheese on it, breaded it and then deep fried it. It was pretty good - not as good as the Magic burger, but an interesting novelty filled with molten cheese. Onion Rings were food service, but once again acceptably cooked. It might seem that I am belaboring the "cooked properly" part, but considering none of the staff was over 18, I found it kind of impressive. We also ordered the homemade apple raspberry cobbler, which was pretty darn good too. They also offer all your favorite soft serve ice cream treats as well.

The legendary Magic Burger - two layers of meaty cheesey goodness.

Deep fried cheeseburger - as if a fried meat patty wasn't enough....

Next time we go, I am going to try the pork tenderloin sandwich which they make themselves (according to our waitress).

Part of my love for this little place was the fact that they have been around forever. In my head, I can see people meeting there for dates after the high school football game, getting married, taking the kids there, then those kids meeting their dates after the football game. It has that feel - and I think that's a really nice thing to have in this age of fast food burger places.

So after all the foodie goodness, I worked seven days in a row in preparation for my next out -of -state adventure: St. Louis and Kansas City.

While Tony slaved away in the dealer's room at the Midwest Magic Jubilee, Tate (you remember him from last year!) and I ran around St. Louis, eating and visiting the St. Louis Art Museum. You didn't have me pegged for an art lover did you? Just a food lover... *sniff*

Tate and I also went to a concert at the Pageant, a concert venue down on the Loop. The headliner was Reel Big Fish, a ska punk band that has been around since the 90's. If you get a chance to see Reel Big Fish - it is worth the time and effort. This Youtube video shows the final song from their encore - See them jumping around? They did that for 90 minutes. And the mosh pit was amazing. 'nuff said.

Of course we ate in both St. Louis and KC, and I'll be posting all about those foods up coming posts...

Jay's Beef

9732 Irving Park Rd
Schiller Park, IL 60176