The Joliet Route 66 Diner in downtown Joliet is a throwback diner on our Mother Road that already serves up decent portions and prices.
During Joliet Area Restaurant Week Feb. 18 to 25, all food orders will be discounted 20 percent.
“Our French toast and skillets are popular and our cheeseburgers are good here as well,” co-owner Claudia Salez said.
Located within walking distance of the Joliet Area Historical Museum and Route 66 Welcome Center, the diner draws visitors from around the world.
“We get a lot of travelers from Spain, Australia, France …,” she said. “They ask about museums and maps.”
On the menu: Practically everything. Breakfast boasts eggs with potatoes or grits; Mexican, crab, Florentine or country benedicts; Italian, spicy chicken, Polish, chicken or meat lovers’ skillets; omelets with corned beef hash, chorizo, feta, spinach or more; almond crunch or stuffed French toast; steak and eggs; and cheese blintzes, fruit crepes and pecan rolls.
On the lunch side, there are burgers, sandwiches and salads galore, “gigante quesadillas” and hot beef or turkey sandwiches served with mashed potatoes, vegetables and soup or salad.
The menu also has dinner-type entrees such as breaded pork tenderloin or veal cutlet, fried shrimp, broiled scrod and deep-fried cod.
About the owners: The diner is the first for owners Tony Salez, who has managed other restaurants, and wife Claudia, also a waitress. The couple purchased the restaurant about three years ago. John and Valentina Georgouses had owned it for 20-plus years.
Décor: It’s clean, comfortable and nostalgic with wood paneling and wallpaper, metal signs of cool cars and Coca-Cola, Route 66 memorabilia and James Dean and Johnny Cash posters. Sit at the counter, a table or booth.
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The exterior signage and neon lighting dates to 2012 when the restaurant was renamed the Joliet Route 66 Diner as part of a city marketing initiative.
Prices: Go as low as $1 for an egg or $2 for a hot dog up to $13.95 for the skirt steak dinner or skirt steak with three eggs.
How about a dozen silver dollar pancakes for $5? Three-egg omelets with potatoes or grits start at $5.75 and short and tall orders of French toast or pancakes at $4.50 or $5.50.
Sandwiches range from a $4.50 grilled cheese and $5 hamburger to an $8 Reuben or chicken avocado melt. Also on the menu are a Greek salad ($9), tomato stuffed with tuna or chicken salad ($8.50), grilled liver with onions ($8.50), roast beef croissant ($7.50) and pizza burger ($6).
“Blue Plate Specials” include stuffed cabbage on Mondays for $6, meat loaf with mashed potatoes and gravy on Wednesdays for $7 and fish and chips on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for $8.
Logistics: Joliet Route 66 Diner is located at 22 W. Clinton St. in downtown Joliet; Hours are 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday; 815-723-3875 or 815-723-3865.
Vickie Snow Jurkowski is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.