MVC cities - what to do/see/eat

[SalukiWorld]

Carbondale, IL has lost a lot since I've been there but still some places worth checking out:

Pizza: Quatros, Paglia's, Italian Village, Primo's. For a small town Carbondale has some really good pizza places, better than some larger cities I've lived in. SIU fans always argue about what's the best. The most popular is Quatro's and the place I go whenever I'm back in Carbondale. I think every SIU alum has an iconic Quatro's yellow cup somewhere.

Steak: Haven't been there but have heard good things about Flame Bar and Grill

Burgers: Nothing much here unfortunately, Fat Patties was the best but shut down a few years ago. Maybe others can add something

Breakfast: Harbaugh's and Mary Lou's. Like pizza, Carbondale has some really good breakfast spots too. I love Harbaugh's and their ranch potatoes.

Mexican/Late Night: Don Taco. Their steak nachos were my favorite late night food living there and still unfortunately haven't found anything like it in other places I've lived.

[Kyle_Saluki_17]

Murray

Steak- The Alley Steakhouse
Pizza- Matt B’s Main St Pizza- by the slice, NY style. Really good. For Chicago style, Mugsy’s.
Unsung heroes- the Meat and Three. Not fancy at all. Rudy’s
Burger- Off The Hoof,
Ethnic- Los Portales (Mexican), Jasmine (Thai/Sushi), Willow Bistro (Mediterranean, eclectic)

Regional fare- not in Murray but nearby.

Doe’s Eat Place- steaks, Mississippi tamales- Paducah
Freight House- farm to table, fantastic- Paducah
Pattis- the pork chops are fantastic but lots of good stuff to be had. -Grand Rivers
Moustos- Italian Paris, TN

Bars- the Big Apple- Mexican food and drinks. Tap 216- bar and grill. The Keg- dive bar with food.

Paducah is almost as close to Carbondale as it is Murray! Okay not quite, but I think 40 minutes to Murray, 60 to Carbondale?

I believe Mister B's Pizza is down in Murray. I do love that place!

And like SalukiWorld suggested, in Carbondale, get pizza. Several wonderful places there. Quatros is my favorite! Primos is another solid choice.

[RacerJoeD]

Mister Bs is about a 4 minute walk to the CFSB center.

[SalukiBand]

I can vouch for the pizza in Carbondale. It's quintessential college town pizza.

If you are in Carbondale at breakfast time, you should go to Mary Lou's and get biscuits and gravy. And make sure and get there early. They do run out.

One thing I do have to say, though. I've been going to Carbondale for at least 40 years. I can't remember if I have ever ordered a steak there.

If you want BBQ, you should probably go to 17th St. in Murphysboro. They've won many awards in competitions in Memphis each year.

[Greg]

You had me at good BBQ SalukiBand but biscuits and gravy seal the deal for me. Looking forward to joining the MVC next year

[E-Villan]

I used to go to Carbondale quite a bit, and always enjoyed Mississippi Flyway. I believe it may be closed now. If so, that sucks. Is that Root Beer Saloon down in Alto Pass still operating?

In Murray, there is a breakfast joint on the north side of town by the super large skating rink. Can't think of the name, but have never had a bad meal there. I would like to try the Hungry Bear or the Hamburger stand across the street, but I don't seem to ever catch them open. Any good? As for Patti's and the pork chop. simply none better.

So we can contribute something positive, here are some of my Evansville picks. The Murray and Belmont fans may find it helpful in a couple of weeks.

Pizza - You will hear Turoni's over and over, and yes, it is very good and a local icon. However, my favorite pizza in town is the double-decker pizzas at the Deerhead Tavern on Columbia Street.

Burgers - Don't laugh, but my favorite is at Franklin Lanes. Their regular cheeseburgers are very good, but the 11th Frame Burger is fantastic. Patty stuffed with cheese and onions on the inside. You SIU fans can check that with Rodney Watson, I know he ate there quite regularly. For chains, there is a place called Wayback Burgers with a couple of locations in town. The Cheesy Cheeseburger is top-notch.

Steaks - If you want good steaks with a nice atmosphere, I would head to Cork N Cleaver on the east side. Been around for years and never disappoints. The best steak may be found at a place called House of Como. The place looks like a dive on the outside, and frankly, isn't a hell of a lot better on the inside, however, the steaks are fantastic, and you are likely to find local mover and shakers eating there. Just bring cash.

Mexican - Too many to name, there are family owned places all over town, and almost all of them are good.

Chinese - Yen Ching on Green River Road. Not a buffet, although they do have one on Sundays for lunch. Hands down the best crab ragoons and egg rolls you can find. If you like a little spice, I would highly recommend the Hot Braised Chicken.

Micro-Brewery - If you end up at Turoni's, they also make their own beers, and they are good. My favorite place for a micro though is Myriad located downtown. Great atmosphere and really good beers. They usually have food trucks on weekends as well.

Breakfast - Nellies in suburban Newburgh is fantastic, and very reasonable. If you like artisan donuts, I would suggest one of the Parlor Donuts locations.

[SalukiWorld]

If you want BBQ, you should probably go to 17th St. in Murphysboro. They've won many awards in competitions in Memphis each year.

Can't believe I forgot 17th Street. Not in Carbondale but well worth the 15 minute trip to Murphysboro (original) or Marion. Probably the best BBQ I've had anywhere.

[Roberts Stadium]

I'm glad this thread was created. A few weeks ago I completed all of my visits to Missouri Valley gyms/arenas with Drake and Northern Iowa games. I started with Northern Iowa @ Evansville and ended with Bradley @ Northern Iowa (was hoping to get the game ball but unfortunately they didn't have enough extra balls for me to do that) and in between I did Purdue @ Iowa, Xavier @ Creighton, Rutgers @ Nebraska, UMKC @ UNO, Loyola @ Drake, and Kansas @ Iowa State. 2900 miles over 9 days. I'm not the best advisor for food in each area because I'm always running 100 mph to get to other games but I definitely know of things to do in the areas...

Evansville- Turonis Pizza
LST, Evansville Wartime Museum, Reitz Hill/Bowl overlooking the city

Southern Illinois- The Vault Cafe (Marion), World's Oldest Saloon
There's a ton of things to do in the Shawnee National Forest if you get there in the real early or real late parts of basketball season. Beyond that you're driving for a while. One interesting thing is Marion/Ray Fosse Park which has an interesting and ironic connection with Ray Fosse and Pete Rose.

Indiana State- I miss the old Pizza Hut in Terre Haute so now I just go with generic places off of the 41 strip
- The Holocaust Museum, Larry Bird statue (soon to be museum), the birthplace of the coca-cola bottle statue tour, and if you stay back off the grounds you can see the historic federal prison.

Illinois State- The first Steak N Shake is now a Monical's pizza and not too far from Redbird Arena.
- The McLean County Courthouse has a lot of great stuff on Lincoln and Route 66. The Evergreen Memorial Cemetery has the person who was the inspiration for Dorothy on the Wizard of Oz. You can also see State Farm's HQs from the outside in downtown Bloomington.

Bradley- I just ate at a Perkins and Taco Bell outside my hotel.
- The Peoria Riverfront Museum and Caterpillar Visitors Center, Spirit of Peoria Riverboat, and if it's the right time of the season there's an observatory in Donovan Park and the Heights Tower observation deck in a random neighborhood north of downtown.

Valpo- I stopped at the Monon Railroad Museum diner in Monon on the way up.
- Not a lot in Valpo other than some interesting buildings on campus. I went on in to Chicago after that. Although you could pair Michael Jackson's birthplace in Gary with it or the John Dillinger museum in Crown Point.

Loyola- I got sick after the game so I stumbled back on to the subway and went to my hotel in the suburbs but there are plenty of restaurants just across the street from Gentile Arena. With UIC taking their place next year, I'd add all of Chicago to this. Certainly a deep dish pizza on Michigan Street is number 1.
There are a ton of things to do in Chicago obviously so I'll add the smaller things I've visited there- The graves of Al Capone and Jack Ruby, the site where the Chicago Fire allegedly started, the World's Largest Laundry Mat, the Leaning Tower of Niles, and the Home Alone House just to name a few. I also visited the first Ray Kroc McDonald's before it was torn down.

Missouri State- Red's Giant Hamburg (worlds first drive thru) in Springfield and you can't go wrong with any of the tourist trap buffets down the road in Branson.
The birthplace of Route 66, the World's Largest Fork outside the Food Channel, and Bass Pro Shops' HQs in Springfield. I think Payne Stewart is buried there but that could be Orlando. I did the Ozarks in Missouri and then the Ozarks in Arkansas before and after the game in addition to all of the tourist sites in Branson. On a side note, I visited the Clinton Whitewater scandal site the day after in Flippin, AR.

Drake- There's a ton of options in Des Moines. I enjoyed Fong's Pizza although I hated that they discontinued the infamous fruit loop pizza.
The Iowa Capitol, the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates, the Iowa Gold Star museum, the Val Air Ballroom site of Howard Dean's famous I Have A Scream Speech, and there's a lot of tributes to Merle Hay who was one of three first Americans to die in WWI (Evansville's James Bethel Gresham was one of the others) are all in Des Moines but definitely visit Winterset, Pella, Knoxville, Van Meter, and Newtown Iowa among many other places just outside the city plus the high trestle bridge in Madrid at night and the famous Route 6.

Northern Iowa- I went over to Dyersville to go back to the Field of Dreams movie where I ate lunch in town before going to Dubuque and back so I have no restaurant recommendations.
In Cedar Falls/Waterloo, there's the John Deere museum and just down the road from Northern Iowa is the Hyvee where Kurt Warner worked. I also drove up to Clear Lake, IA and back to see the Surf Ballroom where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Booper played last before their plane crash. Don McLean put on a concert to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his song American Pie. It's only a couple of hours from Cedar Falls as is Cedar Rapids where a city hall on an island and North America's oldest Mosque is.

I've also already been to Murray State several times and recommend Dippin Dots and Land Between the Lakes plus the Patsy Cline plane crash site and the Eiffel Tower of Paris, TN depending on which direction you're coming from as well as Belmont where you should tour the Belmont Mansion before the game in Nashville.

And then lastly, I went to former Missouri Valley cities. I was lucky enough catch a Creighton game in Omaha during my visit to Iowa a few weeks ago where there's a lot in Omaha/Council Bluffs like the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, Golden Spike, Union Pacific Museum, Rosenblatt Stadium memorial, and Malcolm X's homesite. I didn't get to go to a Wichita State game but their campus has the first Pizza Hut building and there's 2 silos that claim to be the world's longest outside of town.

I love traveling through the Valley during basketball season. It's an amazing time of the year despite the weather. A lot of great gyms and arenas in a great historic conference.

[Mikovio]

Peoria restaurants--
Irish pub - Kennys (1 block from PCC)
Horseshoe - Obed & Isaacs Microbrewery (4 blocks from PCC)
Pizza - Hoops is a couple blocks from Carver and it's fine but Agatucci's a few miles away is the best. Use the tiger sauce and shake it up.
BBQ - Blue Duck (4 blocks from PCC). Dac's in Campustown is a cheaper option and also very good.
Steak - Jim's downtown (1 block from PCC). Alexander's a few miles north is a cheaper option and also very good.
Yea if you want to sightsee go to the Heights. Observation tower, world's most beautiful drive (per Teddy Roosevelt) overlooks the river valley. Prospect road

[Kyle_Saluki_17]

Chinese - Yen Ching on Green River Road. Not a buffet, although they do have one on Sundays for lunch. Hands down the best crab ragoons and egg rolls you can find. If you like a little spice, I would highly recommend the Hot Braised Chicken.

I own the China Palace in Cape Girardeau and I'd put my crab rangoons up against anyone's.
Ditto on the buffet. We match them in only Sundays for lunch.