Sbarro (South Holland)
700 East Tri-State Toll RoadI know I’ve said it before. I don’t get back home much.
I moved away from my hometown right after high school. I went to college in the Chicago suburbs (about an hour and a half away) then moved to Peoria for my first job (about two hours away). I met J in Peoria then we moved to Lansing (about four hours away) then sixteen years ago, we settled in Kalamazoo (about three hours away).
Before kids, we would get back to Illinois quite often. J’s parents still lived in the Chicago suburbs so we would go back for a weekend and see both sets of parents.
Then we had kids, schedules got in the way, J’s parents moved to Michigan and as much as I want to make time, it’s hard.
My parents come up here every couple of months but my mom works weekends a lot of times so it’s hard for them to find the time too.
J and L went to Dallas this weekend for a figure skating camp like they have the last three years. B was going to go but we decided he’s just not quite ready for this camp yet. Maybe next year.
My mom’s birthday happened to fall on the Saturday they were gone. My brother and I had talked about meeting somewhere for dinner but it was also Valentine’s Day so we figured it would be hard to find a restaurant for 10 people on a Saturday night. He suggested we just hang at his house. His girls had a high school basketball game in the afternoon then we could all do dinner at his place. Oh, and we weren’t telling my mom I was coming home.
B actually stayed at J’s parents Friday night because J and L had to catch a flight and I didn’t know when I would get off work. I got up Saturday morning then headed south to St. Joseph County to pick him up then start the trek to Iroquois County, Illinois.
We were running quite a bit early for the 2:00 PM basketball game at my old high school. I figured I should probably feed B before we got to the game. He doesn’t really like sports anyway (other than figure skating) so I knew he wasn’t going to be totally in to watching a game and it’d be worse for everyone if he was hungry.
We took the Indiana Toll Road across to get to I-294. There are plenty of options along the toll road including some rest stops along the route. I kind of had another idea in mind and waited until we got back to Illinois before stopping to eat.
I pulled off the highway at the Chicago Southland Lincoln Oasis Travel Plaza in South Holland, IL. The only way to get to this travel plaza is from I-80. It actually sits across the highway. There are parking lots on either side of the road and you get off like you would any other off ramp. The Illinois Tollway Oasis used to be the highlight of traveling on I-294 for my family. We stopped at this one when heading to Michigan City to shop and we stopped at the Hinsdale or O’Hare (both demolished now due to road widening on that part of I-294) when we went to Wisconsin or Rosemont. There used to be seven of these Oasis travel plazas in the tollway system but there are now just four. Three of the others have been converted to separate travel plazas on each side of the highway instead of the building spanning the highway.
The travel plazas have the usual gas and food options. The gas station part is separate from the parking lot for the food building. We didn’t need gas so we parking in the parking lot then headed inside.
We hit the bathroom first then started walking around. We’ve stopped at this Travel Plazas many, many times over the years but we don’t often grab food. There are seven different food options and the building is pretty much set up like a mall food court.
We headed to the other side of the building because there was a Dunkin’. B noticed that and asked for a couple of Bacon Wake Up Wraps. I told him I was going to get pizza but he wanted Dunkin’ so we did that first. There’s also a Subway and a Panda Express on this side of the building.
We then walked back to the entrance we came in at. There is a McDonalds and a Sbarro. We usually stop at the McDonalds because it’s quick and everyone likes McDonalds. I offered that to B too but he really wanted Dunkin.
The Sbarro is right next to that McDonalds. If you’ve ever been to a mall food court, and if you have, you’re old, you’ve seen this exact same set up.
The pizzas are all on display in a case at the front of the counter. Sbarro is the kind of place that makes everything ahead of time then throws it back in the oven to warm up when you order it. They have a number of pizzas to choose from a number of styles of pizza. They also have pasta options, salads, and stromboli’s.
My intention when I walked up was to get a slice of pizza and a garlic breadstick but something else caught my eye. They had Italian beef stromboli’s. I passed on the breadstick and ordered a slice of NY Style Pepperoni Pizza and one of those stromboli’s. The cost was right around $17.
The slice of pizza was put back in to a small conveyor type oven to warm up. They still have the large pizza ovens behind the counter which I assume is where they cook the whole pizzas? But instead of throwing the slices back in that oven like they used to, it goes through a much smaller conveyor pizza oven.
The pizza from Sbarro has always been good. It’s food court pizza so yes, there is better pizza out there but for what it is, it’s actually really pretty tasty. The crust has a good snap to it so you can fold it over like a real New York slice. I mean it is Michael Scott’s favorite New York pizza joint.
Like I said earlier, I wasn’t planning on getting a stromboli but when I saw the Italian beef stromboli, I had to try it.
The dough is wrapped around a thick layer of thinly sliced Italian beef and giardiniera. I strive to get an Italian beef every time I go to Illinois. I wasn’t planning on it this time just because I had B with me and I didn’t think I was going to have a lot of time to venture out. This satisfied that craving in a pretty tasty way that was much less messier than a traditional Italian beef sandwich.
I used to eat Sbarro all the time at the Northfield Square Mall in Bradley, IL. My favorite thing to do when we were hanging out was grab a slice of pizza then hit the nearby arcade. It really doesn’t get more 90’s than that.
The mall food court doesn’t really exist today and most Sbarro’s have left the malls for travel plazas and airports. I’m not Michael Scott. I’m not going to stop at a Sbarro in New York City, but when I’m outside of New York City and need a quick slice, Sbarro does a pretty good job of offering up a quick, tasty meal.
SW Michigan Dining 