My folks and I are going to be meeting up in Springfield in late May to do some Lincoln history. I’d like to be eating dinner at someplace other than Bob Evans.
In their 70s, my parents are not as adventurous as they used to be, but a nice Italian or Mexican or French (or even meat and potatoes) place that offers good quality at a reasonable price (reasonable being probably $20-25 a person without drinks) would be good.
Also, the Sunday we split up and head for home is my birthday, and my mother was expressing interest in a nice breakfast/brunch place for that morning. (I’ll add that I dislike Sunday breakfast places where you have to wait an hour to be seated, so it won’t break my heart if nobody can help with this one. )
I don’t know if Chinese is too adventurous for them, but there is an awesome place called Tai Pan that has delicious, inexpensive food, great service, and lots of variety. I especially liked that they had a large selection of vegetarian dishes, so my husband and I were both able to find something scrumptious. We ate there on our way to Chicago in February.
Maldaner’s looks like it would work very well for my folks. Sebastian’s Hideout does not. (Plus, their website really, really stinks.) But either (or both) would also work for lunch one day. Thanks.
If you don’t mind spending a few bucks, check out the Gilded Truffle. The Rusty Barnacle is a local favorite, and don’t forget to get a dozen donuts at Lard Lad.
You’re mistaken. Springfield, Illinois does not have a glacier. Or a mountain. Or a seashore. Or a monorail. You’re thinking of some other Springfield.
I moved away several years ago, but Xochimilco was good. If y’all want to try the local specialty, the horsehoe sandwich (open faced burger or other meat, fries, all covered in cheese ),D’arcy’s Pint is awesome.
Saputo’s is fantastic for Italian, but it’s a bitch to get to. It’s at the intersection of a one-way street and a dead-end street, with limited parking.
I would also like to second the recommendation for Xochimilco’s for Mexican.
As far as I know, there is no French dining in Springfield.
I looked at the menu for Saputo’s (that HeyHomie recommended) and was highly amused by the picture of the bartender. I also think I like their menu. My folks like to eat early, so it might be easier to find it and to find parking at 5 or 5:30. (Then of course, I’ll have to go out for another meal at 10 or so. )
D’Arcy’s is great but also always busy, so we always head to the Dublin Pub when we’re in Springfield. Located in D’Arcy’s former location, the horseshoes are just as good if not better, and you can usually sit immediately. Plus, it has a Burlington Coat Factory next door, which always gets my mom geeked about going.
The Dublin Pub that used to be in Town & Country shopping center has moved—I think to the location of the old Ground Round, on Wabash, though I haven’t been to that new location. They’ve also had a second location for a year or two now, in Vinegar Hill (same building as The Pizza Machine).
Supposedly (according to last Sunday’s newspaper) a new restaurant is opening (in June?) where the Dublin Pub used to be. There’s also a new Mexican restaurant (La Loma) already open in Town & Country shopping center, and supposedly another (Chinese buffet?) coming to the building that used to be a CVS. I wouldn’t exactly call Town & Country a ghetto, though it has seen better days, and the big abandoned K-mart building nearby doesn’t help the way things look.
We did make it to Saputo’s, on my insistence that we do something local at least once, and quite enjoyed it. (Though I’ve yet to figure out if lasagna made with a bunch of skinny pasta dumped in a bowl with sauce and cheese ladled on top is a Midwestern thing, or a new restaurant trend. Whichever, it’s disappointing and a lazy way to make it.) But the sauce was delicious and so was the sausage.
I went to Xochimilco on my own Friday evening when my folks were exhausted from New Salem. Honestly, it’s nothing out of the ordinary of what passes for Mexican in the Midwest. That said, it was quite good for what it is.
Other than that, it was Perkins, Chili’s, and the like.
Lindsay’s no longer has the buffet. They stopped sometime late last year.
I spotted the Dublin Pub; it’s on Wabash just west of Chatham.
The visit was enjoyable though. We did New Salem, Lincoln’s tomb, Lincoln’s home, and the Lincoln Presidential Museum. All of it well worth visiting, except the mosquitoes at New Salem were omnipresent. We wandered around the historical downtown a bit, but there was some kind of art fair that interfered with playing tourist. Oh, and we went window-shopping at Menards, at my parents insistence.
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