Best Chambana restaurants and bars

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#151      
Dan
Always meant to stop by there.
 
#152      
JW
Dan said:
Always meant to stop by there.
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I did right after I graduated. Everyone was looking at me. It was like I had stumbled onto some secret club that I couldn't put my finger on. Something was awry...
 
#153      
Dan
You were probably the establishment's first first-time visitor that year :)

Hubers on Church St, another out-of-the-way neighborhood bar, is a good spot.
 
#154      
mdeming
Dan said:
You were probably the establishment's first first-time visitor that year :)

Hubers on Church St, another out-of-the-way neighborhood bar, is a good spot.
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never been there in the evening. had a nice lunch there though. seemed like a very friendly place.

edit: talkin about hubers. always assumed the place on prospect required some sort of secret knock.
 
#155      
jgreen87
mdeming said:
Food
- Jupiters (pizza)
- Farrens (burgers)
- 7 saints (more of a bar, but I dig the wide variety of sliders)

Bars
- Senators
- Wild Wings (no bad seat for watching an Illini game)
- Murphy's
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Thats pretty much what my list looks like. I may be the only one to say this, but Kam's does not make my list because it smells like concentrated puke and looks even worse (when its busy that is). Fix the place up and it will definitely move up.
 
#156      
illini4everjp
jgreen87 said:
Thats pretty much what my list looks like. I may be the only one to say this, but Kam's does not make my list because it smells like concentrated puke and looks even worse (when its busy that is). Fix the place up and it will definitely move up.
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Does anyone remember was it was like BEFORE the current renovations, before the paint and nice tv's and stools? Those were the days.
 
#157      
jgreen87
illini4everjp said:
Does anyone remember was it was like BEFORE the current renovations, before the paint and nice tv's and stools? Those were the days.
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So, they are renovating it? Thats good, maybe I will stop by in two weeks to celebrated an old high school buddy's bday. Since, my sis graduated, I haven't been able to drink there for a while. I am eager to go back.
 
#158      
mdeming
if JP is referring to when the TVs came in, it's been "renovated" for three or four years now.
 
#160      
illini4everjp
jgreen87 said:
So, they are renovating it? Thats good, maybe I will stop by in two weeks to celebrated an old high school buddy's bday. Since, my sis graduated, I haven't been able to drink there for a while. I am eager to go back.
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Doubt it

mdeming said:
if JP is referring to when the TVs came in, it's been "renovated" for three or four years now.
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Yes, thats what I'm talking about. The place was a bat cave before then, O' Glorious Days.
 
#161      
jgreen87
illini4everjp said:
Doubt it

Yes, thats what I'm talking about. The place was a bat cave before then, O' Glorious Days.
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Oh, I thought you meant that they had renovated it in the last year or so.
 
#162      
Prairie Fire
wow

no love for Crane Alley... great downtown Urbana bar... great food, great pool tables, excellent beer selection... just doesn't carry over the atmosphere of the Blind Pig


no love for Bombay? that place is incredible... one on green street, another on 1st near Fiesta Cafe... great Indian food...


Campus bars are for campus kids. They'll grow out of them once they realize they're crap. But until then, it's what they know. If you're an adult, I recommend downtown Urbana or Champaign.

In Urbana, there a few nice bars to hit: Crane Alley, Embassy, and Iron Post. For food, there is Crane Alley and Siam Terrace. Siam Terrace is great Thai food, fancier & pricier than Thara Thai (although both are great).

In Champaign the bars to hit:

-Blind Pig... best beer selection you will see outside of a couple of places in Chicago. Atmosphere is unmatched Sunday through Thursday. On Friday and Saturday it has become too jammed and plays crap music. No tv's, which is perfect.
-Esquire... you gotta love the peanuts everywhere. Decent beer selection, great local vibe and atmosphere. Always friendly. Get the Asian dumplings next time.
-Mike and Molly's... Great in the summer (awesome beer garden). Great regulars. Great bottle selection. Good live music when they have it. A little bit tucked away, but they like it that way.
-Boltini... not my thing, but it's got supposedly a nice lounge with DJ's and such. Solid mixed drinks (martini's). A bit pretentious and a staff that gets rolled a little bit too much in my book.
-Guido's... this is campus off campus. It's for the college kids that think they are going somewhere adults go. For adults, it's where they go because it's like campus. But they don't want to go to campus.
-Cowboy Monkey... pretty much just a summer bar. They use to have a lot of live music, but I honestly couldn't tell you if that is still occurring.
-High Dive... not sure how much this place is open. Seen a number of great shows there. Best one would have been Flaming Lips about ten years ago.
-Radio Maria... you pretty much just go there for Salsa on Fridays. No one really goes to their bar othewise.
-Soma... attempt at a club. Not fun.
-Brass Rail... a dive that's great for a good time with friends.
-Bentley's... Really not to bad of a place. Most people miss out on it though. And unfortunately it's kinda empty a fair amount of the time.
-Seven Saints... I'm not really sure this bar knows what it is or wants to be

Food
-Radio Maria... Tapas. Great place.
-Kofusion... solid sushi
-Jim Gould's... not really sure why people go there. Seriously, it's not worth the price.
-Jupiter's... great pizza (I think of it as food, not as a bar)
-Cafe Luna... best restaurant in area, tapas
-Escobar... sister to Milo's... awesome
-Sam's Cafe... great cheap greasy spoon breakfast food (during breakfast hours, not post bar)... try their french toast (amazing)


I'm missing out on plenty. But there's a lot there to explore in this town. Most people miss out on a great deal of stuff. If you live between Lincoln, University and Neil... you won't grow much. Then again, it is helpful to find the nice things in campus (Luna was there, Bread Company, Aroma, etc.).

Look around. This town is amazing for it's size.
 
#163      
uigrad
Prairie Fire said:
no love for Crane Alley...
no love for Bombay?
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I thought someone had already mentioned Crane Alley. Their burgers are overrated in my opinion (I'd take a lonestar burger over Crane Alley any day). I haven't ever had anything bad from Crane Alley, but nothing terribly good either. Their innovations on the standard fare are not justified IMO. I understand why others like it though.

Bombay is the best (only) Indian food in town, but it's not the best in central Illinois, at least according to my Indian friends.. Many of them still make regular trips to Bloomington for food (I think they like the Taj Mahal Restaurant the most). Mumbai Masala (sp?) (the place on Wright St. that closed about 6 years ago) was my favorite Indian food in town. Basmati was good but started going downhill when they moved into the old "Little Italy" building. I was not saddened when it finally closed.

The first Bombay (Green St) had great food, but I always felt their portion size was lacking, and so was the atmosphere (you were lucky to get a seat, and would always feel rushed eating there). I've only tried the new one (in the old "Little Italy" building) once, and it was for lunch. I was really happy to see that they had a buffet, even if it was small. It is pretty much the same dishes that Basmati had for their lunch buffet, but much better quality. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is unsure what they like in Indian food. I still am planning to go there some evening to try their dinners.

------------------------------------------------

I just went to the new BBQ place in Urbana yesterday (Black Dog Smoke & Ale House), and was rather impressed. It certainly isn't Hickory River (I think that my brisket sandwich had kale on it!), but I found pretty much everything there delicious, even if it was a bit different. There's a really good blog posting about it here:
http://champaign-taste.blogspot.com/2009/02/black-dog-smoke-and-ale-house-serves-up.html
 
#164      
illinois_hustle
Coming to this thread very late ... but in MY day (circa 1980-84):

Cochrane's on Wright (always here ... only went to Daniels if I got really desperate)

Papa Del's on Wright next to Cochrane's

Garcia's (the two story place on Wright; now a coffee shop??)
... also remember a takeout place on Lincoln where I once ordered a full pie and sat under a bush by the hospital and ate it all

Willie's Thick & Cheesy Pizza (only place you could get a pie at 3AM)

Trito's for grinders & fries; nothing better on a Sunday after partying

Taco John's on Green for late night cheap food

White Horse for all-you-can-eat spaghetti

We even ordered Pizza World to the dorms !!! Pre-Domino's ... Not bad when you're young and broke and hungry. :thumb:
 
#165      
illini4everjp
illinois_hustle said:
Papa Del's on Wright next to Cochrane's
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Papa Del's used to be next to Cochrane's (which became Orchid, which became Tonic, which is now closed)?! Never knew that.



White Horse for all-you-can-eat spaghetti
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___GASP_by_Dokuro.jpg


I don't know whats more surprised - 1) that White Horse had the ability to make spaghetti, 2) that people ate it and 3) they didn't die.
 
#166      
illinois_hustle
illini4everjp said:
Papa Del's used to be next to Cochrane's (which became Orchid, which became Tonic, which is now closed)?! Never knew that.

I don't know whats more surprised - 1) that White Horse had the ability to make spaghetti, 2) that people ate it and 3) they didn't die.
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Yep; the Papa Dels was just a small place with about 10-12 tables but a great place to chill just outside the engineering campus.

I did eat the spaghetti; in hindsight it was not good, but when you're young, broke, and hungry, you'd skip meals in order to load up on the stuff. All you can eat pancake contests too at the IHOP (or was it the Steak n Shake?). Saw more than a few people lose it all into big white buckets there; fun times...

The Garcia's demise is the saddest for me. I remember the big "flying tomato" hot air balloon at the football home games; they were THE place back then. The slices restaurant on Wright was great for lunch; eating on the 2nd floor gave you a great view of Altgeld and the Alma Mater.
 
#167      
uigrad
illinois_hustle said:
The Garcia's demise is the saddest for me. I remember the big "flying tomato" hot air balloon at the football home games; they were THE place back then. The slices restaurant on Wright was great for lunch; eating on the 2nd floor gave you a great view of Altgeld and the Alma Mater.
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I'd like to know more of the history of the chain, if anyone can fill in the details. I'm pretty sure that when I came to townin '97, I seem to remember that there were 4 Garcia's in town. They were:
1. 709 S. Wright St., across from Altgeld (the very first dining experience I had in this town)
2. Green and Second intersection
3. On the east side of Mattis, a little south of Springfield
4. Someplace in Urbana.... for some reason I seem to think it was Lincoln and Nevada, where Caffe Paradiso is today

The business on Mattis was the first to close. Actually, it moved north to 313 N. Mattis, up near County Market. I think there may have been a short period of time that both Mattis locations were open at the same time.

Around the same time, the Urbana location closed. I never actually at there, and I can't figure out where it was located now.

Later, the flagship location on Wright closed. The Green St. location became the main at this point, which was probably fine, since it was the largest anyway.

In December? 2008, the Green St. location closed, leaving only the Mattis location open. A new location was announced -- the old Baskin Robins in Urbana on Philo.

Now, I read that the Philo location has been canned. Instead, they'll start selling slices to County Market shoppers:
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/business/2009/02/06/county_market_to_sell_garcias_pizzas

I think that there are still a number of Garcia's in other cities. It's a shame that they haven't been to keep open the ones in C-U, since this is their original market.
 
#168      
illynifan34
I went to Garcia's a few times, the Green St. Location, between 2004-2008, and I call myself a pizza fanatic, and I wasn't not impressed with the pizza, I didn't think the product was that good.
 
#169      
JW
illynifan34 said:
I went to Garcia's a few times, the Green St. Location, between 2004-2008, and I call myself a pizza fanatic, and I wasn't not impressed with the pizza, I didn't think the product was that good.
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Gumby's was better.
 
#171      
ilphotog
Anyone remember "The Bombay Bicycle Club"?
 
#172      
NV Illini 74
Goin' way back (Late 70's) anyone remember Bubby & Zadies? I think on Green, between 6th & Wright, across from McD's. In the basement. Great deli sandwiches.

Edit: OOPS! Just mapquested an aerial shot and the McD's on Green between 6th & Wright is now some enormous building. Duh'oh!

Glad to hear Papa Del's is still there after all the years.

There was a great restaurant (on the expensive side) N of Champaign just S of the 74, maybe on Prospect or Neil. Made my folks take me there when they came down to visit - had to make them pay for showing up, you know? Can't remember the name, but the whole menu was good, IIRC.

Now I am hungry...
 
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#174      
Champaignillini
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#175      
zoggle101
I stopped by campus on my way back from Lansing, IL on Thursday with my gf. We went by follets and got her an unofficial shirt along with a hot pink joint. We stopped by one of her favorite spots as a freshman, Murphy's and ate dinner. Well, actually I ate and she had a drink. The burger and fries were good. A couple places we used to eat when she was a freshman were fazzoli's on Green and Panera which was a block from Kams. I know fazzoli's shut down while she was still in school but is panera still on campus? Anyway it was a fun and we almost stayed just to go out like old times.
 
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