Top Chambana Eats
I've been a resident for the greater Champaign-Urbana area for almost 7 years. I have calculated that I've eaten over 4,000 meals in this town. I'd estimate that I've eaten out almost 1000 times. With that said, here's my top 5 meals from the local** Chambana restaurants I have eaten at:
1. Yellow Curry, Thara Thai -- a delicious blend of carrots, potatoes, and beef mixed in a spicy curry; all over a bed of rice.
2. General Tso's Chicken, Empire Chinese -- rice and spicy chicken and lots of it; that's all you need to know.
3. Burrito Bravo, Dos Reales -- chicken/steak, beans, cheese, rice, sour cream, all mixed inside a huge burrito.
4. Beef Brisket, Hickory River Smokehouse -- comes with their special barbecue sauce, plus some fixin's (mac and cheese, baked beans, cornbread) on the side.
5. Peanut butter chocolate shake, The Courier --not a meal in itself, but it deserves to be on this list.
** Note: restaurants not unique to Chambana (Monical's, Ruby Tuesday's, etc.) not included in consideration for this ranking.
posted by matt @ 3:09 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Wow, #5 makes my mouth water. The Courier shakes are something I really miss about C-U.
>>Peanut butter chocolate shake, The Courier<<
that is one very very very special treat. can you fedex it on some dry ice? i will share with westy.
i'll be sending two shakes this week to you gentlemen. no dry ice, so they'll probably melt before they get to you. just refreeze them and enjoy!
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Hey guys. If you're ever interested, check out: http://kitchenchairman.blogspot.com for my Foodgeek site. Anyway, here are 5 other excellent choices unique to C-U, in no particular order:
1) Spicy sauteed shrimp over polenta appetizer at The Great Impasta - this thing could be a meal for most people, and at $8, one of the best values in town.
2) Chili at Crane Alley - easily the best bowl of chili in this town that doesn't come from someone's personal kitchen. Great mix of ground meat and finely chopped sirloin put it on a different level. Also noteworthy are the chicken wings - expensive, but huge wings.
3) Summer Rolls (though, they're called spring rolls on the menu) at Golden Wok - the little place on University and 5th that you always drive by but never stop into. This is essentially a salad in a rice-pasta wrapper, served cold with this nutty, slightly sweet, sort of soy dipping sauce. The rest of the menu is good, as well - try the huge bowls of noodles in broth.
4) Ribeye steak over at Jim Gould's. It's pricey, but it's a huge (28 oz.) cut that is always cooked perfectly. It's hard to pick up true prime beef, much less stuff that's been aged. This is one excellent steak.
5) The nachos at Rock's. You get a huge plate, which starts with refried beans at the bottom, then topped with a layer of fried pita. Then, the tortilla chips, cheese sauce, and just about everything else in the kitchen gets put on top. Excellent tasting, huge plate of food that will fully feed 2 normal humans, or give 5 people enough to graze on.
-Chairman
For a snack, the combination of the peanut butter chocolate shake and potato wedges is one of the greatest food duos of all time. I don't even care that it doesn't have meat in it, it's just that good.
Teresa
bensheets, you're my guy, but you should know where I'm going with this comment. Mandarin Wok is better than Empire. My evidence is irrefutable: Mandarin is always full of Asians. They know where it's at.
Other than that, good post, my friend.
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