Restaurants in Calumet City

Hearty homestyle cooking is the hallmark of the menu, with full slabs of smoked ribs arriving at tables paired with fries, bread, and coleslaw. The kitchen staff also grills catfish and piles plates with piping-hot wings, coated in a spicy sauce that's both flavorful and useful for temporarily blinding assailants. On Sundays, a soul-food menu tempts diners with hearty meals of pot roast or baked chicken with sides of greens, mashed potatoes, or candied yams.

Prior to arriving at tables, the wings at Brewski's Wings and Things bathe in one of 12 sauces, which range from Dijon honey to parmesan and pepper. It's fair to say the sauces have a kick since even the mild buffalo sauce is called "mild hot" and the hottest flavor goes by the name "hotter than super hot." Aside from wings, diners nosh on chicken tenders, half-pound steak burgers, and nachos loaded with beef, beans, jalapeños, and guacamole. A cartoon rooster named Roscoe, the eatery's brew-holding mascot, makes multiple appearances on the menu and in the dreams of children who want to grow up to be a chicken who drinks responsibly.

Al Ferreri, his sister Frances, and his brother-in-law Chris Pacelli Sr., developed their signature italian-beef sandwich out of necessity in 1938. The economic depression made meat harder to come by, so the trio of sandwich makers made their supplies last by cutting thinner slices of roast beef.

Their business started with them feeding guests at family weddings, delivering meals to local hospitals, and catering the country's first food fight, but they soon founded a more permanent curbside food stand in Chicago's Little Italy neighborhood. Despite their relatively humble beginnings, Al's Beef & Nancy's Pizzeria rapidly expanded and now boasts franchises throughout the Chicago area and across the country. The family business has garnered plentiful acclaim throughout the years, having been named Adam Richman's best sandwich in the Midwest on the Travel Channel show Best Sandwich in America in June 2012, appearing on Richman's Man v. Food and earning a place on Esquire's list of The Best Sandwiches in America in 2008.

The cooks begin every morning by roasting cuts of beef for the day, kneading fresh pizza dough, and cutting french fries with an industrial-strength laser pointer. The hearty italian-beef sandwiches can emerge from the kitchen with simple, unadorned meat or with blankets of melted cheese and spicy housemade giardiniera. The pizzas range from crispy thin-crust disks to deep-dish pies with 2.5-inch-thick crusts, supporting any combination of the 24 available toppings, which include oven-roasted garlic, baby spinach, and bacon.

At BC Osaka, the chefs aren’t merely makers of food. Instead, they’re ringmasters, orchestrating the lively chaos of a hibachi grill into a meal that’s one part entree and two parts performance. At the island hibachi stations, chefs show off their mastery of food prep and knife work as they elaborate on an ancient Japanese barbecue tradition, resulting in tasty meals of filet mignon, garlic lobster, and teriyaki chicken. Each showman-cook-in-training practices their craft in front of their veteran workmates⎯many of them with up to 25 years of experience⎯for at least six months before earning a spot behind the grill and the traditional steak-shaped epaulettes of a professional hibachi chef.

In addition to hibachi shows, BC Osaka also houses a sushi bar lined with red-leather barstools, where guests spin in anticipation of tempura-shrimp dragon rolls topped with creamy avocado fillets, or exotic morsels of sea urchin and giant clam. A buffet also sates any endless appetite that makes its way past the dining area’s dark polished wood and tasseled Japanese lanterns.

The brainchild of Lawanda—the restaurant’s president and manager—and CEO and head chef Shafeeq, Eclectic Soul Food makes it its mission to seamlessly fuse southern American, Caribbean, and Middle Eastern cuisines on a diverse menu. Delicate light fixtures illuminate deep mauve walls and tiled floors in the dining room, where customers enjoy barbecued meats, jerk chicken, and housemade desserts such as sweet-potato pie. Chefs use only halal meat and prepare meals with an eye toward health.

The kitchens at Bogart's Charhouse radiate tantalizing aromas of grilled meat as the walls grab guests' attention with black-and-white tributes to Bogie. The restaurant's meaty steaks range from 10 ounces to 4 pounds on dinner plates, and lunch guests can dig into a Bogie bacon cheeseburger, or a low-calorie plate of cold turkey. Sliced beef or lasagna catering plates can satisfy appetites at off-site events, such as office parties or a monthly tribute to the oppressive giants that rule one's neighborhood.