Round up

I suppose it's high time I catch up on what's been going on.

Last week we hit the grand opening of Bernardi's North in Dunlap for my mom's birthday. They handled our pretty large group with typical Bernardi's style and grace, and we enjoyed a nice evening there.

The next day we dined at Sushigawa in Peoria for my friend's birthday. My bowl of tempura noodle soup was good, however StfRon's teriyaki beef won my rave reviews. They were out of green tea ice cream, but had a substitute ice cream in green tea flavor that I really enjoyed. It had a gummy coating on the outside and was cut into wedges, which made it great to just pick up with your fingers and pop the pieces into your mouth. The coating reminded me of the big tapioca balls that were in the tea that they used to have at the Monkey King at the Shoppes at Grand Prairie.
Oh, and when they delivered the bill for the meal, they brought some melon hard candies that were most excellent. I must check around at the ethnic markets here and see if I can find some.

Our next stop was the state fair in Springfield, where I sampled polenta with feta from the Romania booth at Ethnic Village. We shared a Pronto Pup dog and elephant ear, and on our way out were going to hit the "Deep Fried What?" booth for some deep fried Oreos, but there was quite a line, so we passed.
Didn't see any sign of chocolate covered bacon, or I'm sure we would have been up for that.

Friday night we met some friends and rode bikes to dinner at Basta O'Neill's in Washington. I tried the special o' the night, grouper Oscar, which was wonderful, and the plate presentation was quite nice, too.

This week brought the attack of the car problems. Tuesday, between the time that I drove to work and lunch, both of my turn signals stopped working. I was going to have StfRon meet me at the dealership that evening to drop it off until we met, and he said his transmission was acting up. He had made an appointment to drop his off at Kauth & Mauyer in Peoria, and since that problem trumped mine, we've been sharing the Jeep for a few days (turns out it wasn't a transmission leak, so we're on to the stage where they find out what the problem is and how much the repair will cost). I just figured out that we're averaging about $10 a day in gas using the Jeep, which would put a serious cramp in the ole budget if we did this permanently.
This morning the Jeep had a rough start, as it has from time-to-time, but evened out and got us out to bring home the bacon, and the turn signals are currently working, so I don't feel like such a jackass switching lanes and turning.

I had lunch with a friend at One World in Peoria and checked out the new menu. I was glad to see that my faves are still on there, and didn't branch out and try anything new. The place was hopping.

On the new biz front, I see that Emack & Bolio's is moving into Peoria Heights, near Basta Mangiare on Prospect. Not really local, but tasty nonetheless. I'll bet they do well there.
On the local front, Sullivan's, just down the street from the aforementioned businesses, should be opening in a week or two, and we're looking forward to that, and Davis Brothers Pizza is taking over the location vacated by Kkolors in Heritage Square, again in Peoria Heights.
And, in a depressing bit of news regarding the end of summer, Lou's Drive-In in Peoria is closing for the season August 30, so head on out for a burger and a root beer a.s.a.p.