Great place to visit and enjoy the natural scenery down here in the Illinois Valley. Highly recommend it for a great weekend getaway. Anybody ever been?

http://www.starvedrockstatepark.org/

However, several times a year, alcohol and hiking never mix... Kid broke both of his legs after a 90 foot fall.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... story.html

https://wlponews.wordpress.com/2015/03/ ... fter-fall/

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Yeah, we go every couple two tree years or so.
Very nice. Rafting, climbing, hiking... plenty of fishing spots.

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Breakfast at the truck stop in Morris (the one with the R Place Restaurant). Nice day running through Starved Rock. Dinner in Ladd (Lanuti's or Rip's) or Wedron (Wedron Office). Makes for a wonderful day.

6th grade, almost got the whole class sent home early for repeatedly throwing rocks in the water. "disturbing the wildlife."

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Lanuti's chicken parmesan & spaghetti is very good. Rip's is a local legend.

Ever try Verruchi's in Spring Valley? Great family style chicken and homemade Italian delicacies.

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Are you an Illinois Valley man, Godfella?

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You know me like that.

Indeed, I am, Doc.

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

I rate dining options -

1. Rip's



2. Ziggie's double breaded cheeseburger
3. Ron's Cajun Connection
4. Uptown

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Rip's is definitely the big draw - no matter how long the wait in line is.
Never been to Ziggie's but have heard a lot about it. Sip n Snack was the go to in Mendota back in the day.
Last time we went to Ron's, the other couple grew restless after a 45 minute wait so we went to Hank's in Ottawa (great food and a mini White Fence Farm vibe)
Mrs. Godfella and I had a bad experience at Uptown over 25 years ago and she still ain't over it !
Do you remember the best Chinese in the area back in the day?.. Ho's?
BTW- what do you think of Lou's La Grotto?

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Hank's Farm on rt 71 near Ottawa is my recommendation if your heading west on I 80. Great fried chicken and salad bar. Kind of a like a Wisconsin Supper Club. Good place if you have kids along as well...peacocks and other animals.

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+1 definitely. They used to have a big seafood buffet on Friday nights and a great brunch on Sunday mornings. Not sure if they still do the seafood thing?

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Ho's was good as I remember it but I had very little exposure to Chinese food back in the day. My girlfriend at the time enjoyed it though.

LaGrotto's was great but I haven't been there in years.

I only hit the couple places I know I love these days. Lot of the old places are gone - Bogarts in Dalzell, Curl Inn, Red Door, The 101 Club...

Hell, maybe some of those are still open.

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I always liked Lanuti's because you could drink $0.25 Schlitz's there when you were 16.

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Ha! I went to Red Door for prom... remember the dining caboose? I'm pretty sure 101 is still open. Bogart's had great posters on the wall back in the day. Ever get a tenderloin as big as a man hole cover from The Igloo in Peru? Or fried lobster at Yuvan's?

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

We used to go to Hondu's for that!

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I went to the Red Door for prom too. Are you Tiffany?

Never hit those other places.

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Debbie?!?

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Sorry, no.

Maybe we should get Tiffany and Debbie together and see what happens.

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We did this thread, what.......2 weeks ago?
Matheison State Park is just as good as Starved Rock, IMO. Only a couple miles apart.

Ron's is legit.

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Probably a lot more than what happened in 1983.

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

Matthiessen is a better state park.

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I'm glad that you are still here Panther.

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Verucchi's in Spring Valley is awesome. Amazing those Illinois Valley restaurants have the longevity they do. 101 years for Verucchi's now - and isn't Lanuti's 107 or 108?

Will say this about Verucchi's though - avoid the desserts. They do not fill their own cannoli from what the waitress told me. Best cannoli are at Capone's in Lombard.

+1. Love this place. Never had a bad meal here and their fried chicken is very good as well. Lots of history down here with those places. Here is a great 2 minute video about Verucchi's history with Les Buzz Ballroom and some big name acts including Buddy Holly...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XRvpaF4kNiQ

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I am an illinois Valley man as well, Godfella

Huge fan of all the places mentioned. Cajun Connectionis is my favorite. Cajun Ron is a trip. If you have never been there. It's an experience.

Sadly, Monari's 101 Club is closing their doors on April 1st.

http://www.mywebtimes.com/news/local/th ... l?mode=jqm

Starved Rock is pretty awesome. Great hiking and scenery. Nice little pub in Utica called Duffy's. Good burger and decent beer prices. Every fall they have Burgoo Festival right down the road. Awesome time.

Yes, I'm a hill-rod, white-trash buffoon...

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That sucks about Monari's, kissrules. Thanks for the info.

I came down here from the southwest suburbs when CF closed most of its operations in Aurora years ago.

Then, couple years later, they moved everything back up to to the city by Midway.

We stayed down here with intentions of getting back closer to the city some day.

Illinois Valley is a good place to raise kids. Then, push them out of the nest for more opportunity and culture in Chicagoland.

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

Oddly enough, before there was San Pedro de Macoris there was central Illinois, home to Hall of Famers, Sunny Jim Bottomley, Red Ruffing, and Ray Schalk. There used to be a little place called the B-R-S Museum in Nokomis that had a bunch of memorabilia from those guys. I don't know if it's still there or not.

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Lanuti's in Ladd currently closed and up for sale.

Anybody got deep pockets to keep this legendary place afloat?

I can help you out with the food menu & old school Italian recipes.

http://m.pjstar.com/article/20150502/NE ... /1994/NEWS

http://newstrib.com/main.asp?SectionID= ... leID=43470

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