Cindy, Cousin Carrie and Champaign!

It’s a C sequence! My Cousin Carrie Steinweg and I met up in Champaign/Urbana to check our dining spots for our upcoming publication, Unique Eats and Eateries of Illinois. Thank you to Cristy Gillispie of Experience Champaign for helping us out. We loved meeting you, and I was amazed that she and I are both from the same neck of the woods and even have family in common. It is truly a small world after all.

Literary Cafe

After finding parking in the busy downtown area, Carrie and I began our day at the cool Literary Cafe, a bookstore/restaurant/coffee shop. The call themselves a Bookbar. Because they say, “Books and wine (and coffee and tasty plates) pair perfectly). I love the fact that this is a place for people to meet, in what they refer to as Chambana!

It was here we met Cristy. Carrie and I walked around this fun place with students cramming for classes at the tables with laptops ready. We sat in front so our jabbering wouldn’t get us shushed. This place so has my literature loving granddaughter’s name on it!

Neil Street Blues

Neil Street Blues Cafe

After conferring for a while we headed out to the Neil Street Blues where we met Gayle Starks and her son Michael. This family owned and operated restaurant filled a void and is located in downtown Champaign. Neil Street Blues serves as the local home for southern cooking and soul food.

I had my favorite food of the day there; the Sweet Corn & Crab Bisque soup served with fresh cornbread. The fried green tomatoes and shrimp poor boy was pretty darn good too! Gayle said she learned how to identify great soul food from her grandmother who was a head cook at the U of I dorms where she said she got preferential treatment during her school days.

This is a great dining spot with entertainment, awesome food and good service.

Beautiful Champaign

After consuming copious amounts of food, we thought we’d best walk a bit and let it shake down so we’d have room for more! We were blessed with a balmy almost 70 degree day. As I entered Champaign, I noted like on previous visits the sculpture and art around town.

We enjoyed a quick drive past the University of Illinois campus and to fill my farm roots, I had to take a gander at one of the three round barns located there. How beautiful.

In a park like setting Carrie and I walked and admired the beautiful Japan House Gardens which include a tea garden, a dry rock garden, and grove of cherry trees.

Cristy said are amazingly beautiful when in bloom. The walk helped us make room for our next stop.

Martinelli’s Market Bakery and Deli

We loved our visit to Martinelli’s. The market was filled with an amazing array of products, many local, and a selection of bakery and deli items that rivaled none. Our server Paris helped direct us to their best sellers, the black and whites, and the lovely fresh baked pecan rugelach, and a focaccia pizza.

We also had to pick up some chocolate to sample later in the day. Great food, great service, and a fun environment in this business that was first established by Frank Martinelli after WWII.

Caprae Restaurant at Prairie Farm Fruits & Creamery

This was my 2nd visit to Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery, but now it is under new ownership of Jeffrey Brokish and his wife, Lauren. They also under the umbrella of Salt Fork Food Works own Martinelli’s Market as well. Jeffery is the grandson of the founder Frank.

Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery is an amazing farm transformed from a traditional farm into a goat farm, dairy, and restaurant all set on 30 acres. Focusing on ecofriendly practices, we had a chance to dine at Caprae, and try some of the farm to table style food. Our server Christy helped us with the menu and provided us with insight into the menu. She provided us with fun Boudin Balls, a mixture of Kilgus pork, rice and served with a spicy remoulade. We had to try the Chevre En Croute (cheese inside a puff pastry). Besides being tasty, it was beautiful.

We also had an amazing pasta and porkchop dinner that we split. We tried a fun mocktail, and love, loved the Pumpkin Pot De Creme dessert, not a crumb remained. After a quick glance at the farm store, we said our goodbyes, reminisced about our lovely day and headed home.

I want to go back to Caprae and try their 5-course Chef dinner for an anniversary treat. So much to see and do in this college town. Fighting Illini fans have it right when heading this way. Even without the top ten basketball team, the art, the gardens, the food, and sculptures are enough to pull me back again and again. This time it was extra special experiencing it with Cousin Carrie!