J. J. Kelley's: Lansing, IL

I'm just back from a big, filling meal at a local restaurant and bar called J.J. Kelley's. I forgot my camera this time, but it is nice once in a while to take off my food blogger hat and just eat and enjoy. :) I did that tonight.

I love that when I've been in there for dinner on a Friday evening, there is a soup and salad bar. Tonight there were two kinds of soup. I had a small cup of French Onion, which was quite good, especially when soaked up with a piece of garlic bread. :) And the salad bar isn't huge, but has just enough - especially when you still have a full meal ahead of you. I passed over the cole slaw and macaroni salad, but had a scoop of the pasta salad with broccoli (very tasty) and a nice crisp salad with croutons and ranch. Give me a salad with dark greens and red lettuces and spinach and I could really make a meal out of that. But...I didn't stop there.

The soup and salad bar came with any dinner you ordered. I opted for the fried shrimp dinner (I was torn between that, the chicken piccata and the tilapia vesuvio), which I've had before with a baked potato and an ultra fresh veggie mix of carrots, broccoli and spinach.

The waitress returned to let us know that a scoop of sherbet was included, but by then I was beyond stuffed. Prices are reasonable, especially when you consider that the soup and salad bar and a dessert were included. My shrimp dinner (which had about a dozen large shrimp) was $11. 95. The chicken piccata I'd been contemplating was just $8.95. Several other pasta and chicken dishes are as low as $7.95. I've also heard that the lake perch ($12.95) is outstanding. There are also daily specials and a variety of sandwiches, salads, flatbread, seafood and more. Most of the generous appetizer platters are in the $4.50 - $6.95 range.

I've written a few other blog posts on J.J. Kelley's:

http://chicagofoodiesisters.blogspot.com/2012/10/so-last-weekend-we-had-this-big-first.html

http://chicagofoodiesisters.blogspot.com/2012/11/i-love-restaurants-that-love-our-vets.html

http://chicagofoodiesisters.blogspot.com/2012/11/jj-kelleys.html

The owners are huge military supporters, which I think is awesome! If you're in the Lansing area, give them a try.

Although I forgot my camera tonight, here are a few photos from a previous visit.