Tell me about your 'hood!

A little further afield are us suburban types. LAZ is a just a few blocks to the north of me, so she may add more Prospect Heights and Wheeling.

The northeast corner of Mount Prospect, a stone's throw from Prospect Heights, Northbrook, Glenview and some odd corners of Des Plaines, is called River Trails -- it has its own school and park districts that include bits of Prospect Heights and a smidgen of Des Plaines, running basically from River Road to Elmhurst, from around Willow to around Central.

It's hardly a mecca for good or cheap eats. There's a couple standouts, though: Giaccamo's on Wolf Road just north of Central is a nice family place, with a couple outstanding sauces: picky-packy is full of onion and garlic, and a soft, rich bolognese. Definitely a place to keep going back to.

Mugavero's pizza, right around the corner on Central, does an outstanding thin-crust. Their ribs are advertised as award-winning, but I've never gotten around to it.

At Wolf and Kensington is a fast-food strip that survives on the nearby industrial park: Photo's serves good, not great, and rather expensive hot-dog-stand stuff; Arnie Salerno's does casual Italian pretty good; Rico's Tacos is serviceable (but not as good as Monica's a couple miles north); Peetie's does sandwiches (haven't eaten there myself lately), plus a Subway (feh).

The busiest place in the neighborhood is Dick's River Roadhouse, on River just south of Kensington -- its parking lot overflows every weekend. They serve very cheap food my contractor is enamored of: $1 burgers at lunch time, for instance, with $1 beers (it may explain why I don't see him much after lunch). I haven't been yet, but I keep meaning to.