The Winner of the Mokena/Frankfort Pizza Poll Is...

We asked readers to review their favorite pizza spots to say who would face off in the next round of the all-Southland Pizza Playoffs competition. Here's what they said (and who won).

To find the most-loved pizza in Mokena and Frankfort for Patch's Pizza Playoffs competition, we relied on the highest available level of polling technology, proprietary software to count the influx of votes we received on our über-fancy, super-tech poll. Of course, it messed up completely during a site update, devouring thousands of votes and randomly resetting other businesses' tallies. So we turned the vote over to something machine error can't touch—the words and opinions of our readers. Every new review written between 5:50 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. yesterday on a pizza place's Patch Places directory listing counted as a vote for our representative in the battle royale for most-loved south suburban pizza. With 15 new reviews filed yesterday …

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Chowdown Showdown

Would You Like Vegetables With Your Sodium? We Seek the Best Fried Rice

This week our taster tries fried rice from three Lincoln-Way Chinese takeout places.

See next week's food challenge at the bottom of this column, comment below and you could receive a $50 gift card to a local restaurant in a random drawing. For more rules and details, see the Chowdown Showdown Giveaway guidelines. Fried rice is a staple in the U.S., and not just among college students looking for cheap takeout—it's great for anyone looking for cheap takeout! Fried rice, like the egg roll, can make or break my opinion of a Chinese restaurant. Because this is serious business, I judge fried rice differently than most foods and rate it based on four categories:  At Dragon Palace, I go with the vegetable fried rice. I am optimistic; we've ordered from here several times before and have liked everything we've tried except the …

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Who Has the Best Food: Frankfort, Mokena or New Lenox?

Through 18 weeks of Chowdown Showdown, we enter summer surprisingly even.

Every Sunday, we give you a twist on the traditional restaurant review (with prizes included!). Chowdown Showdown takes one food and decides who among three restaurants, one each in Frankfort, Mokena and New Lenox, has the best of that dish. The column has developed over time. It started just in New Lenox. But 18 weeks ago, we expanded it to the three Lincoln-Way Patch towns, and more recently we added the possibility of getting a gift card to a local restaurant just for reading the article. So as we enter summer, I was curious which town had pulled ahead to claim the ongoing title of Best Food in the Area. Turns out, at least according to our reviews, that we're dead even. 6-6-6. Of course, it depends on the foods and drinks we've tried …

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Chowdown Showdown

You've Got to Break a Few Eggs: Where is the Best Omelette in Lincoln-Way?

With all the great breakfast places in Lincoln-Way, it was hard to limit this Showdown to just three.

See next week's food challenge at the bottom of this column, comment below and you could receive a $50 gift card to a local restaurant in a random drawing. For more rules and details, see the Chowdown Showdown Giveaway guidelines. In English, most of us rather arbitrarily use the French spelling for omelette (it probably has to do with the Norman Conquest). This tends to make us think that omelettes are a French invention, but actually, the omelette as a concept gained popularity all over Western Europe at pretty much the same time. Most European languages use a cognate of the word "omelette" to describe their version with a few exceptions, such as tortilla (Spanish) and frittata (Italian). In the U.S., three main types of omelettes are …

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Michael Sewall

4:15 pm on Sunday, June 19, 2011

Hi Christina, Congrats! You won our monthly gift card giveaway in a random drawing today. I will email you with more details. To everyone else who commented, thank you for reading Patch, and keep reading Chowdown Showdown for more chances to win a gift card!   more ›

Chowdown Showdown

A Blender, Some Beans and Ice: Who Makes the Best Frozen Coffee Drinks in Lincoln-Way?

To prepare for summer, our taster tried blended coffee drinks from three area shops this week.

See next week's food challenge at the bottom of this column, comment below and you could receive a $50 gift card to a local restaurant in a random drawing. For more rules and details, see the Chowdown Showdown Giveaway guidelines. In summer, we often want our caffeine fix cold, but sometimes Coke just isn't going to cut it. For times like this, a blended, icy coffee drink does just the trick. But where should you go? Behind the counter at Front Porch is a wide array of flavored coffee powders that are mixed with ice and milk to make blended coffee drinks (you can add an actual shot of espresso for an upcharge). It's kind of like paying $3 for the General Foods International Coffee drink that you could make at home. Still, the drink has a …

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Michael Sewall

6:49 pm on Sunday, June 5, 2011

Hi Sandra, you were picked as a finalist in a random drawing today to be entered in our $50 gift card giveaway! At the end of the month, we'll conduct another random drawing to determine who gets the card. Thanks for reading Patch!   more ›

Chowdown Showdown

Have Your Cake and Improve Your Eyesight, Too: Who Has the Best Carrot Cake?

This week, our taster took one for the team and tried carrot cake at three Lincoln-Way places.

See next week's food challenge at the bottom of this column, comment below and you could receive a $50 gift card to a local restaurant in a random drawing. For more rules and details, see the Chowdown Showdown Giveaway guidelines. Carrots are one of the sweetest vegetables on earth. It only makes sense, then, that they be used to sweeten baked goods. Not only do carrots add natural sweetness, but they offer texture and color, too. I adore carrot cake; I like mine with walnuts, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, raisins and, of course, cream cheese icing, although some recipes might include pineapple, ginger or even coconut. Carrot cake comes in many forms: sheet cake, layer cake, cupcake, and, as I found at Pickwick, even as mini cupcakes.  …

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Michael Sewall

4:32 pm on Sunday, May 29, 2011

Kathy, you won a random drawing today to become a finalist for our monthly gift card giveaway! Toward the end of June, we'll conduct another random drawing among four finalists and the winner will get a $50 gift card to a featured local restaurant. Thank you for reading Patch!   more ›