Live from Peoria it’s Saturday Night with this week’s host, Famous City Bistro and featuring The Ready For Prime Beef Player, Marty Wombacher. Now, please welcome this week’s host, Famous City Bistro!
We’re approaching the corner of Sheridan and Glen, just about time to start yet another Saturday Night here on MBIP!
And here we are at tonight's destination, Famous City Bistro. For some reason I've always thought that this place was a chain restaurant, but I got an email from Ashley Fornoff, the manager, inviting me to try it out and she told me it's locally owned. So let's go check this place out and try one of their signature Famous City sandwiches!
Here's the dining section of the restaurant, very nice in here! As usual, I'm cutting it close to closing time and the place is fairly empty.
There's where I plan on dining, the bar! Let's see if there's still time to order dinner in here or we may have to whip something up back at MBIP World Headquarters!
Okay, we're all settled in at the bar and here's Kyle, the friendly bartender for the evening serving up an ice-cold bottle of Budweiser. And he said there was still time to order, so I quickly put the order in and we're all set! I love it when things work out like this!
They speak my language in here!
On the left of the bar is an impressive lit up display of some of the liquor inventory.
And over here on the let hand side are glasses and two frozen margarita machines.
And smack dab in the middle are tonight's drink specials.
They have an impressive selection of beers on tap, including...
Moody Cow from the local brewery, Peoria Brewing Company. I'll have to try this out, maybe for dessert!
Here's a shot from the back of the dining room.
A streetlamp stands in the middle of the dining room and it's quite impressive!
These tables line the front wall and you can watch the world go by on Sheridan Road.
The paintings on the wall are original hand-painted works by artist, Ross Stovall.
This looks like a painting of Peoria's riverfront.
There's two more in the corner over here and that looks like the St. Louis arch over there.
Meanwhile, back at the bar...
The appetizer for the evening has arrived! It's the Famous City Cheese Skirt. It's a pretty simple dish, just fried cheddar cheese and I've topped it with some hot sauce and pepper. And yes, it was Frank's Hot Sauce, what else?
It's really good, but then it's fried cheese, so what did you expect?
The kitchen is just beyond this brick archway.
Ding, ding, ding...looks like our order is up!
And here's Kyle serving it up at the bar!
As you can read in the review below, there's lots of choices on the menu here at Famous City Bistro, but since this was my first time, I had to try one of their Famous City signature sandwiches. I decided to go with the Memphis Pulled Pork and a side order of coleslaw.
They have four homemade barbecue sauces to top off your sandwich in here...
I decided to go with the Louisiana Hot and Spicy for my sandwich.
I put a healthy dollop of the sauce on both sides of the sandwich, it looks fantastic and the smoky aroma wafting from the pulled pork smells wonderful, let's dig in!
This is such a great sandwich! The pulled pork is juicy and smoky, the bun is bakery fresh and the Louisiana hot sauce tops it off perfectly! You can read more about it in the review below. It certainly helped to erase the menu of the last pork sandwich we had here on MBIP!
The coleslaw worked well as a side dish for the pulled pork sandwich. The cool and crisp slaw played nicely with the smokey and savory tastes of the sandwich.
Well that didn't take long to devour!
After dinner I met the owner of this fine establishment, Ken Humphrey. He told me the secret to my sandwich is the way they smoke the meats for hours at a time back in the kitchen in their custom-made smoker. I can't argue with that!
Here's Kyle serving up that dessert from the Peoria Brewing Company I spoke of earlier! Cheers and we'll see you all tomorrow!
My Meal
For an appetizer I ordered the Famous City Cheese Skirt, something I’d never seen on a menu in my life. Bartender Kyle explained it to me and it’s a pretty simple, yet intriguing appetizer. It’s fried cheese. That’s it, take some cheddar cheese and fry it up. It was good, but I could only eat half of it because after a while it got a little rich and somewhat greasy. But what do you expect? It’s fried cheese after all! This would be ideal for two people to share, just a little much for a solo diner.
There’s a lot of choices for a main course in here, everything from burgers to broasted chicken to two varieties of steak—Ribeye and Kansas City Strip. But I decided to try one of the many sandwiches offered up in here. It’s called Famous City Bistro, because they have sandwiches related to different regions of the country such as: NY Pastrami, Iowa City Pork Loin, Dallas Brisket and they even go local with a Peoria Pork Tenderloin, but I’m a little burned out on those right now! With some help from Kyle, I decided on the Memphis Pulled Pork with a side of coleslaw.
I’m very glad I decided to take the trip to Memphis via this meaty vehicle! The pulled pork was juicy, smoky and succulent. They smoke the meat for over 12 hours in a smoker burning cherry and hickory wood and the result is one delicious sandwich. They have four house-made barbecue sauces to add to the sandwich and I went with the hot and spicy and it topped the sandwich off very nicely. And the crowning touch was a bakery fresh grilled bun, really a wonderful sandwich. And the coleslaw was crispy with a hint of sweetness. It was a delightful side dish and mixed wonderfully with the smoky, porky sandwich.
SN Rating
Three and a half Galloping Gourmets—A wonderful and tasty sandwich in a fun and friendly place. I’m definitely coming back to sample more!
Famous City Bistro
629 W. Glen Avenue (@Sheridan Road)
Peoria
309-691-9800
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Related posts: Saturday Night @ Salt, Alexander’s Steakhouse and The Jukebox Comedy Club Starring Charlie Murphy!
Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!
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Happy Birthday To Nancy!
We all met one of my best friends, Nancy, last week when we went to Haynes on Main in Mackinaw. Well, yesterday there was a surprise birthday party for her at Joe’s Sports Grille in Pioneer Park. I didn’t want to bug people by taking photos for a full-fledged blog, but I did take four pictures and here they are!
Nancy's family reserved the back room and it was packed with family and friends. There's Nancy sitting in the birthday chair of honor in the corner!
There's Nancy with her mom opening up birthday presents!
Here they are opening my present to Nancy...
I got her three copies of vintage Nancy comic books! Big thanks to MBIP pal and Contributor, Bob Gordon for finding those copies at his store, Acme Comics and Collectibles! Happy birthday, Nancy!
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Bonus Sid and Nancy Illustration From Jaws The Cabbie!
Jaws the Cabbie found this illustration online and sent it in in honor of Nancy's birthday. Ha, thanks Jaws!
