Eating Breakfast with the Chickens at Egg Harbor Cafe

Lobster for breakfast? Yep. Lobster Scrambler is on the menu at Egg Harbor Café. So is Joe’s Healthy Scrambler with fresh veggies, no-cholesterol eggs and low-fat cheese, served with fresh fruit and a wheat English muffin. Egg Harbor offers lots of other healthy options, too. What did I order? Meat, meat and more meat—Matt’s Meaty Skillet, loaded with bacon, ham and sausage and topped with melted jack and cheddar cheese. That’s besides the two eggs, potatoes and an English muffin. Sheesh! I’m almost embarrassed to admit it. That was before I went on my much needed calorie-counting kick. I didn’t eat the whole thing, but I’ll tell you what. It sure was yummy.

I’d seen Egg Harbor restaurants scattered around the Chicago area for some time but had never eaten at one until I was in Rockford. I had assumed they were a national chain. Not so. There are only 18 Egg Harbor Cafes: fourteen in Chicago’s west and north suburbs, one in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and three in the Bucktown area of Atlanta.

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The Rockford restaurant is located in a non-descript strip mall, but the inside is decorated in rustic country a la chicken. Decorative chicken statuary is everywhere in the restaurant. I could almost feel chicken eyes on me as I ate their unborn.

The company is family owned, and talking with the managers of the Rockford restaurant, I found out that turnover in management is almost non-existent; the company is that good to work for. The company’s mission statement, “Improving service in every sense,” is based on food, service and atmosphere. Judging from my visit, they live their mission statement. The atmosphere is casual fun, our service was top-notch and the food tasty and plentiful with a range of breakfast options from sweet pancakes to savory Benedicts. Soups, salads and sandwiches are available at lunch.

I’m looking at the Egg Harbor Café menu as I’m writing this, and I see lots of choices that would fit my new eating plan, like a fruit cup and whole wheat pancakes. And then my eyes rest on a new item: Boston Cream Pancakes, layered with vanilla custard and thick dark chocolate sauce. Dark chocolate. If I were eating there right now, I don’t know if my will power would be strong enough to stay away from such a temptation. I do know, however, that the next time I’m in an area of an Egg Harbor Café at breakfast time, I’m going in.

Egg Harbor Café, located at 1603 North Alpine Road in Rockford, Illinois, is open from 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. Check the web site for the menu and additional locations.

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

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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.

Octane InterLounge, Rockford, Illinois: Food Prepared with Passion

Connie Food & Drink, Illinois September 28, 2014January 8, 2018Octane, Octane InterLounge, Restaurants in Rockford, Rockford, Rockford Illinois restaurants 0 Comment

The feature of the day at Octane InterLounge, Shrimp and Corn, came highly recommended by our server. One taste and I understood why. Succulent sautéed shrimp and crisp-tender yellow wax beans, combined with deep-fried sweet corn, created a harmony of taste on my tongue. Lemon beurre blanc sauce prepared with reduced white wine enhanced the dish to an orchestra of flavor. The Shrimp and Corn was the creation of head chef Patrick Alberto, who started out as a dishwasher at Octane.