There are a lot of middle European places to eat in northern Illinois. You can't throw a pierogi without hitting one in most neighborhoods. But this one bears the distinction of not only being consistently awesome, it's a reasonably equal driving distance for a group of friends.
Angie's Warsaw Inn in Lynwood, Illinois.We've met here before for a quick lunch -
Today Partner and I went for an early dinner, joined by friends that live in Northern Hoosierland and surrounding vicinity,
Midwest Chick and
Mr. B.,
Og, Mrs. Og and the Oglette, who invited me over to try out her fencing weapon (which is NOT one of those little wimpy rapiers) and M., our engineer friend and big brother to
Rich. It's a buffet, all you can eat of fresh, made from scratch salads, soups, bread, potato pancakes like Grandmas (well, mine was Norwegian, her potato pancakes were more like lutefisk), carved meats, duck, kielbasa sausage, turkey and dressing, pork chops and ribs on certain days, and always, their wonderful peppery fried chicken. It's not a place to eat if you're afraid of carbs or butter, but oh, what a selection there is.
There's mashed potatoes and gravies, golabki (stuffed cabbage), cheese or apple nalesniki (blintzes) cheese, meat, potato and sauerkraut-filled pierogis
, veggies, and pastries like kolaczki, jablecznik (apple cake) and chrusciki (if it's your lucky day).
There's also a soft serve ice cream to augment your pastries if you wish. We will definitely come back again for dinner. Their soups, homemade bread with honey butter and desserts are as good as anyone's Mom ever made, but when you get all the way down past all of the wonderful Polish creations, to the carving station, you wonder just how you can fit a slice of juicy roast beef on that already full plate (and the plates and the drinks just keep coming, if you wish, by a friendly and attentive waitress).
When you can get food like this as well as lots of laughter and stories (so tell me again how Og fended off a charging groundhog with a pair of barbecue tongs?) it's worth every calorie. Thank you Og, for treating us, and thank you everyone, for talking the time to share a little slice of your weekend with us.
