Choose Wisely: Soup and Salad bar at Shrine Restaurant, Belleville, Illinois

Connie Food & Drink, Illinois December 21, 2014March 20, 2016lady of snows, lady of snows shrine, lady of the snow, lady of the snows shrine, National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows, our lady of snow, our lady of snow shrine, our lady of snows, our lady of snows belleville, our lady of snows shrine, our lady of the snow, our lady of the snow shrine, our lady of the snows, our lady of the snows belleville, our lady of the snows shrine, shrine of our lady of snows, shrine of our lady of the snows, shrine restaurant, the national shrine of our lady of the snows, the shrine belleville, Waistline Watching Traveler 0 Comment

I once had a coworker who ate almost nothing besides soups and salads for lunch and dinner. Her breakfast was always a banana and yogurt. She never ate a donut or indulged in birthday cakes. I never once saw her eat a hamburger. Yet she always seemed to struggle somewhat with her weight. Then one day she discovered that the salad she’d occasionally order from Taco Bell had over 700 calories and more than 30 grams of fat! Read more

Lino’s Restaurant of Rockford: Old World Charm and Flavor

Connie Food & Drink, Illinois December 15, 2014Lino's, Lino's Italian Restaurant, Lino's Pizza, Restaurants in Rockford, Rockford, Rockford Illinois restaurants 0 Comment

Restaurants that serve food made from Mom’s recipes are the best. That’s what you get at Lino’s Restaurant in Rockford, Illinois: Italian cooking made the way the family’s ancestors did it in Italy. Served with friendly conversation in a setting reminiscent of Italy, I felt like family or a good friend being welcomed into a home.

Lino’s is a Rockford staple, open since 1972, with three major expansions since then. Each of the rooms in the restaurant is decorated after a slice of Italy, including a Leaning Tower of Pisa in one room. According to a couple of customers I spoke with, Lino’s is the go-to place for family celebrations. Some dine there weekly.

Each day of the week Lino’s offers a different dine-in special. Although I was tempted by the baked lasagna, which another customer raved about, I went with the Friday cod special, which you can get either deep fried or baked.

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True to Italian mom cooking, you don’t leave the table hungry. The meal includes pasta or a potato, a salad, fresh warm bread, beverage and ice cream. I chose Lino’s Special Salad, greens topped with egg, Italian sausage and tomato and tossed with house-made Italian dressing.

I also tried the minestrone soup, chock full of ditalini pasta and veggies and not overpowered with garlic.

Since I didn’t order an Italian entrée, I had mostaccioli as my side dish. Again, the rich tomato flavor was enhanced, not overpowered by garlic. (Can you tell I’m not a huge fan of garlic overuse?)

The fish was extraordinary. Both the deep-fried and the baked versions were tender and flaky, and the batter on the deep-fried was light. Lino’s doesn’t have a specific recipe for the batter, they just toss the ingredients together, the way you do when you’ve prepared a dish over and over again.

When it came time for dessert, one of the servers mentioned she likes the combination of spumoni and rainbow sherbet, so I asked if I could have it that way, a half scoop of each. They were happy to comply, and I found that it’s true, you get a sort of Creamsicle taste, but with a variance on the flavors.

I couldn’t possibly eat all of the food that was served to me, but that’s what take-home boxes are for. I understand that Lino’s has been awarded the Readers’ Choice Award by the local newspaper for favorite Italian restaurant multiple times, as well as the award for favorite pizza. On my next visit I’ll have to try the pizza.

Lino’s Restaurant is open for dinner seven days a week and offers both dine-in and carry-out service. Check the web site for hours and menu.

Disclosure: My visit to Lino’s was hosted by the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and Lino’s. However, opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Thank you for reading Midwest Wanderer. Don’t miss a post. Enter your e-mail address below and click Subscribe to be notified whenever I publish another post. Subscription is FREE. After subscribing, be sure to click the link when you get the e-mail asking you to confirm. – Connie

Exploring the Durham Museum in Omaha’s Old Union Station

Connie Attractions & Events, Nebraska December 8, 2014November 1, 2017durham heritage museum, Durham Museum, durham museum omaha, durham omaha, durham western museum, omaha attractions, things to do in Omaha, western heritage museum 0 Comment

Omaha’s Union Station, the first art-deco style train terminal in the country, was completed in 1931. After Amtrak took over all passenger rail service in 1971, the train station closed. It was almost demolished, but the railroad donated the station to the City of Omaha instead. Today the building is home to the Durham Museum. The museum’s permanent exhibits highlight Omaha area history, as well as temporary, traveling exhibits from sources like the Smithsonian. Read more

Chicago Helicopter Experience: View City Lights by Air

Connie Attractions & Events, Illinois December 3, 2014July 5, 2018activiites in chicago, attractions in chicago, chicago atrarctions, chicago city tour, chicago helicopter, Chicago Helicopter Experience, chicago helicopter experience reviews, chicago helicopter rides, chicago helicopter tour, Chicago helicopter tours, chicago sightseeing, chicago things to do, chicago tour, chicago tourist attractions, chicago tours, chicago travel, chicago trips, helicopter chicago, helicopter experience chicago, helicopter ride chicago, helicopter ride in chicago, helicopter rides, helicopter rides chicago, helicopter rides in chicago, helicopter tour chicago, helicopter tours chicago, Helicopter tours in Chicago, places to visit in chicago, sightseeing chicago, sightseeing in chicago, things to do in chicago, tours in chicago, tours of chicago, visit chicago, what to do in chicago 1 Comment

Anyone who has traveled to and from Chicago by airplane at night has sampled a bit of the beautiful city lights. However, you are high up in the air in a matter of seconds and see little, if any, of the downtown area through your tiny window before you are out of city range. On the night-time Chicago Helicopter Experience tour I took, the stunning panoramic view of Chicago lights lasted a full half hour. Read more

Exploring Native American Heritage in South Dakota

Connie Attractions & Events, South Dakota November 28, 2014November 30, 2015Lakota Ways, Native Americans in South Dakota, Oglala Lakota, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, Wounded Knee Massacre 0 Comment

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, over 82,000 people, 12.5% of South Dakota’s population, are of Native American descent, either fully or in combination with other nationalities or ethnicity. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota, at 2.8 million acres, is larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined. Not surprising, several of the places I visited during my September South Dakota trip emphasized Native American heritage, including Lakota Ways in Wall and several stops on the reservation. Read more

Studebaker Museum, South Bend: From Carriages to Automobiles

Connie Attractions & Events, Indiana November 24, 2014June 3, 2022Indiana museums, Museums in Indiana, National Studebaker Museum, South Bend, South Bend attractions, South Bend IN, Studebaker Museum, Studebaker Museum Indiana 0 Comment

Few transportation companies successfully transitioned from manufacturing wagons and carriages to automobiles. Studebaker was one of the exceptions. In the early 1900s, the company moved from carriages to battery-powered cars. A few years later they transitioned to gasoline engines. The Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana, traces the history of the company from wagon to the last cars Studebaker manufactured, in the mid-1960s.

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