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I feel a little bit sorry for all the people who speed through the intersection of McCormick Boulevard and Main Street, hungry and clueless, just a block from Patty's Diner. I was one of those people for years, sadder and thinner, but no more.

Patty's is the genuine article: a breakfast and lunch only diner that serves quality classics. Patty herself does all the cooking, while her sisters wait tables. When was the last time you had corned beef hash made to order? Home fries deep-fried to crisp? Creamed turkey and mashed potatoes like the kind you were served as a kid? If you can't answer these questions, you owe it to yourself to read this thread:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=9661

Then head over to Patty's for some comfort food with a side of common sense, served up with plenty of pepper. In no time, you will become a regular and be offered the Sun Times to read with your breakfast. I'm not sure what Patty will have to say about it, but her place deserves GNR recognition, and I hereby make the nomination.

Patty’s Diner
3358 Main St. (just West of McCormick)
Skokie, IL 60076
(847) 675-4274
Open Mon-Sat until 2PM, Sunday until 1PM (but try to arrive earlier)

I think of Patty's as my most treasured Evanston restaurant, even though it is in Skokie.

Great hash and charming service. Let Patty's last forever.

I'll pile on for Patty's. "Neighborhood" to a 't', and I've never had a bad meal there.

I am amused to imagine a presentation meal at Patty's, should the award come to be granted. They're a pretty no-nonsense crowd over there.

I agree whole-heartedly with this nomination. Patty's is certainly deserving. I'd never hesitate to recommend it to anyone and the food I've had there has been remarkably delicious and consistent.

=R=

mmmmm...Old Potatoes.

For all who are interested in a visit to Patty's: Her vacation is planned (and posted) for August 30-September 5th, reopening Sept. 6th. Don't be shut out!

So it took two passes back and forth from Dengeo's to finally spot Patty's in its scarcely-marked space.

What a dive! I have a high tolerance for ramshackle restaurants but Patty's looks like it moved into the space around midnight last night, and depending on how things go, may yet throw all its possessions in the truck and light out for the state line tonight. If it gets a GNR it'll mark a momentous occasion in the history of the restaurant-- the first time anything was hung on the wall.

But enough flattery about the delicately conceived ambience. That ham hash, depicted above, harmonizes manly chunks of bone-in ham and crisply fried potatoes and fresh-cooked eggs into a perfect example of the classic American breakfast, the sort of thing that can almost never be screwed up yet still manages to surprise you, one out of a hundred times in one out of a hundred roadside joints, with how well it can be made.

Younger son had a perfectly rendered pancake topped with whipped cream; older son had biscuits and gravy, which weren't my style, a savory brown gravy too Thanksgivingy for me, but he ate 'em up just fine. I think Josephine does the place only one disservice in her nomination, suggesting that after a couple of visits the sisters of Patty will treat you like a regular. I'd say it's more like after about a minute and a half.

I was starting to worry that the Great Neighborhood Restaurant awards were turning a bit posh, what with two Food & Wine Best New Chefs up for it this time. Patty's restores my faith that at bottom the award is mostly about joints where fantastic food is served with change back from a ten.

At the bottom it is about our recognition is that there is but one culinary community: a community in which Patty and Homero and Norky and Grant are all honored members. A community in which delight is not correlated with dollar signs, but in love for one's craft.

For those of you who want to investigate further among friends, the Evanston Lunch Group will be meeting at Patty's this month.

Free handmade doughnut with breakfast purchase. 'Nuff said.

Patty's is an absolute, no-brainer GNR and that should be the standard. If you have to think about a place for more than 2 seconds, it should not be a GNR.

Down home, rustic, Old School Skokie damned good freshly sliced from the bone Ham Hash and wonderful fresh homemade Corned Beef Hash. $16 for two last time I was there.

Need I say more? Remarkable.

Bster

This restaurant is currently up for GNR renewal. Please post your comments below.

Thanks,

=R=
for the GNRs

I fully support the renewal of Patty's Diner as a GNR. I think the recent chatter on the thread "Save This GNR - Patty's Diner" confirms that Patty's continues to serve excellent food at reasonable prices. Patty's to me is the quintessential GNR.

What she said. Love the ham and old potatoes.

I agree that this renewal should be a slam dunk. Patty's Diner is, simply put, glorious!

=R=

In my view Patty's is the archetypal GNR. It is the essence of GNR-hood. I dream of Patty's and only wish that calories didn't count.

Patty's Diner has earned its GNR renewal because of all the reasons that posters have cited in the main Patty's thread and the Save-This-Restaurant thread. No need to repeat them here.

The outpouring of forum affection for this restaurant, in response to the threat of closing, speaks volumes. I certainly have not been going there for all of the nineteen years that Patty has been doing this, but I'd put my money where my mouth is to keep the place open through these financially difficult times. Of course, that's what we all do each time that we pay for the food that we stuff into our face.

Let's renew the Patty's Diner GNR and encourage people to keep coming.

My first breakfast back in Chicago: Patty's corned beef hash and eggs over easy. GWiv and stevez were nice enough to share their old potatoes with me. My enthusiasm for Patty's has not waned one iota. GNR renewal? Yes, please.