Vernon's On Vernon

Great little place, casual and friendly. Something on the menu for all tastes, but I HIGHLY recommend the Italian Beef sandwich. If you've ever had a French Dip sandwich from Phillipe's in Los Angeles, this is even better!

I only go here when I attend a group meeting with The YAP group. it's a pretty decent dive to go to. I've enjoyed their chicken sandwich, cheeseburger and the chicken marinara, which was a little too meaty for my taste. but it's a pretty decent eatery.

Downtown Glencoe is cute... But it's definitely not one of the best suburbs for cute local lunch places.  And ever since Einstein's in Highland Park closed, I always go to Einstein's for lunch when I'm in Glencoe.  But I tried Vernon's the other day with my boyfriend, and had a great experience.

I ordered the Greek salad with the raspberry vinaigrette dressing (instead of the Greek dressing).  Although they brought it out incorrectly the first time, they were quick to rectify their mistake.  The key, though, was the breadsticks that came with the salad... warm and parmesan-y, with marinara sauce for dipping.  So good.  My boyfriend ordered the veggie burger, and was happy with his choice-- it was the kind of veggie burger where you can see the veggies cut up inside (which is the kind I like, personally)... He did say the fries were only so-so, however.

Our main criticism is that the place needs more vegetarian options.  Something as simple as a veggie sandwich (that's not the eggplant parmesan sandwich) and/or a veggie wrap would be nice.  Otherwise, vegetarians are stuck with only the salads, a quesadilla, cheese pizza, eggplant parmesan, or the veggie burger really.  We also got a little confused when the menu at the door didn't match the menu posted on the wall behind the register-- about a quarter of the menu items were missing!

The price is fairly reasonable but not cheap; I got the lunch special which was a half portion of the salad with the breadsticks for $7.  Oh, and it's a Coke establishment, not a Pepsi one, which is major points in my book.

In the Midwest, which does suffer from a decided lack of diner-y establishments, it really is difficult to find a lot to complain about with this classic diner-style place, especially given the other options available in downtown Glencoe.