The title of this blog is in all caps for a reason.  As everyone starts to trickle back to campus in the next few weeks, and as those here enjoy the time before classes, I wanted to stress to eat local!  This week, the local news aired that Melange is closed.  Melange was freaking awesome.  Pricey but worth it.  Sunday brunch with champagne.  Nice.  And now it is closed.  Why?  Because too many students/members of the community eat McDonald’s and Applebee’s!  Boo!  Now don’t get me wrong, we all have our favorite restaurant, or a craving for a hamburger and fries, but with so many local options I can’t describe how mad I am when one of the local places shuts down. So check out the list below, and get going!  Note- list in no particular order, other than what I am craving at the moment….

1- Mary Lou’s:  Grandma style breakfast, done better than most grandmas.  Also lunch.  Super cheap, everything comes with biscuits and gravy (homemade!, take that McD’s!).  NOTE:  Open only till 2 pm, but serve breakfast all day- also CASH only!

2- Giant City Lodge:  Drive outside of town, take a hike, and then eat here.  The line is worth it, and they have checkers while you wait.  Go for the fried chicken dinner; you get ALL YOU CAN EAT fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans, biscuits, dumplings for ten dollars a person.

3- El Greco:  Their shirts say it all “The Greeciest Food it Town”.  Good gyros and the mushrooms can’t be beat.

4- Don Taco:  They say you have to be starving or drunk to really appreciate this.  However, the sight of all of that melted cheese and chorizo usually makes me not care about my physical state.

5- Thai Taste:  Go for the curry, but be careful on the spice meter- if you pick ten you either have superhuman tastebuds or are crazy.  Or both  Also best sweet and sour sauce I’ve ever had, and it comes on the table.

6- Kaya:  Korean/Japanese cuisine, and excellent sushi.  You definitely will end up with leftovers to take home.

8- Longbranch:  Vegetarian food, but so good that you won’t care if your breakfast pork is bacon or fakin’

9- Global Gourmet:  The food costs money, but is worth every last cent.  Menu changes every night, and features food from all over the world.  Spinach artichoke dip makes Applebee’s look like a kindergartener made it.  Great drinks as well.

10- Blue Martin:  Okay, you can only get appetizers and dessert here, it is a martini bar. Drinks are SPECTACULAR. But serves way more than just martinis, and has Manicure Mondays (manicure, two martinis, appetizers, and chair massage for $20- and if your man doesn’t want to go, send him to local Hot Heads salon for Man Monday- 10 bucks for haircut and beer)

11- Mexican Food Category:  Here you have Tres Hombres ( the best chips and salsa), El Bajio (good food and jumbo margaritas for $3.99), and Tequila’s, the Carbondale branch (for Tequila’s experts, way better than Marion in my opinion).

12- Chinese Food Category:  Several options, but my favorites are:  For nice, sit-down food definitely Hunan’s (duck!  yay!), buffet my favorite is Great Wall (with the pink Christmas lights, this one is debatable I’m sure), and for take-out by far New Kahala, where you get your money’s worth.  Again, these are debatable, and every Chinese place in town is a) local, and b) tastes pretty darn good.

13- Pizza:  Quattro’s  is the most successful pizza joint in Carbondale, but my favorite thing there is actually their lasagna. My favorite pizza by far is Italian Village (write your name on the wall, and know that anything you order there is excellent.  Even the salad).  I’ve also had Pagliai’s (pretty good too), and liked Whiffle Boy’s take-out pizza.

14-Places I haven’t yet been:  Fat Patties, Bubble Tea, Underground Bar and Grill, all of the new Indian places (mini drive through and buffet).  I hope to try these all soon enough!

15- Out of Town Shout Outs:  Taqueria Pequena in Cobden (real Mexican food, no “tortada”, whatever that is Taco Bell), Blue Moon in Cobden, Cummare’s in Murphysboro (so freaking good Italian food), 17th Street in Murphysboro (the original one, the Marion one is also good but something seems a little better in Murphy…), Tom’s Cabin in Desoto, farther away Peking Palace in Harrisburg (the cheapest Chinese food, seriously two people can eat lunch for under 10 bucks!) and Mackie’s Pizza, Red Onion in Equality………..

16- Harbaugh’s:  Also great homemade breakfast with a little bit of a twist.  Hours similar to Mary Lou’s.  Under construction right now but still open, so check it out!

17- Mississippi Flyway:  Only had the breakfast there, but it was very good!

And….I’m sure I’m missing some.  Again, I definitely go to chain restaurants.  I crave Taco Bell like crazy at least three times a year (or more).  Yet there seems something silly about only relying on the chains rather than the local places, when the local food in Carbondale and the surrounding area is sooooo good and so different!  If we want to keep Carbondale unique and let it grow, we have to support our local places!  Hope to run into you at a local joint soon  And if I left anything off, let me know!