{"id":14860,"date":"2019-01-23T10:00:34","date_gmt":"2019-01-23T10:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/?p=14860"},"modified":"2019-01-26T14:30:37","modified_gmt":"2019-01-26T14:30:37","slug":"pinspotting-here-and-there-january-2019-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/2019\/01\/23\/pinspotting-here-and-there-january-2019-2\/","title":{"rendered":"EPIC DELI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Please Note – Epic Deli has moved to a new location in the last year and this review is based on that new location.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Epic Deli in the far-north Chicago suburbs is much more than a ‘deli’. As a matter of fact, ‘deli’ in this case is probably misleading. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Epic is better described as an eclectic restaurant serving American-style sandwiches, Tex-Mex meals, desserts and the occasional Asian specialty dish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Epic
Epic Deli in McHenry, Illinois<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The interior of the new location struck me by how it is decorated; it is a style that perhaps is best described as a late 1960s vision of the 21st century. It\u2019s not contemporary, it\u2019s not retro, but it is an interesting combination of both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The interior of Epic Deli in McHenry, Illinois<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of the things that took me aback on Epic\u2019s regular menu is the Deadpool Changa<\/em> which is a burrito stu\ufb00ed with Bu\ufb00alo-style chicken and pepper-jack cheese, that is then battered and crusted in Flamin\u2019 Hot Cheeto<\/em> crumbs before being deep-fried! This creation is served with a side dipping sauce of ghost pepper ranch dressing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Can
Can you survive the Deadpool Changa at Epic Deli?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Surely one must have accelerated healing to be able to survive eating such a creation! But a warning, \u201cNo one escapes the wrath of the Changa.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The regular menu lists submarine sandwiches with names such as aPORKalypse<\/em>, The Skiba<\/em> (Matthew Skiba is a guitarist for the band Blink-182), The Leo Stotch<\/em> (the given name of the character ‘Butters’ in South Park), The Viking Quest<\/em>, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are also Chicago-style (and other) hotdogs, four di\ufb00erent kinds of Reuben sandwiches, a huge selection of specialty wraps, Poutine (origin: the Canadian province of Quebec; French-fried potatoes topped with brown gravy and white cheddar cheese curds), loaded mashed-potato balls, deep-fried pickle chips, and both conventional and ‘adult’ milkshakes in \ufb02avors such as Dark Chocolate<\/em>, Boo Berry<\/em> and Oreo Carrot Cake<\/em> (to name but a few).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mosaic
Mosaic Gummy shake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The dessert menu sports a selection of deep-fried candy bars and deep-fried Cherry Kool-Aid balls (whatever that might be) for those adventurous enough to order and try them. A recent Epic Deli weekly specials menu had a delicious sounding Orange Chicken Ramen<\/em> dish on o\ufb00er. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Deep-fried
Deep-fried candy bars<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There is a separate vegan menu too. On the vegan menu one \ufb01nds such things as the Napoleon Dynamite Burger<\/em> (smothered in nacho ‘cheese’, of course), The High Priests ‘Beyond Meat’ Burger<\/em>, and Vegan Steak Tacos<\/em> available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Vegan,
Vegan, subs, appetizers and weekly specials menus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It would seem that there is something for everyone on Epic\u2019s menu although I am quite sure that the majority of it will increase your cholesterol numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tasty,
Tasty, but not too healthy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the previously mentioned ‘adult’ shakes, Epic has a well-stocked bar with local micro-brewed beer on tap and in bottles. I must admit that about half of the names on the taps seemed foreign to me, and I like to think of myself as being at least somewhat hip to the local beer scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tap
Tap beers at Epic Deli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As you would expect since I am doing a site review, Epic has a well-equipped games area with three pinballs, Super Chexx Bubble Hockey, Air Hockey, driving games and stand-up video games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pinball games are serviced by Star Worlds<\/em> arcade in DeKalb, IL. They are all in quite good condition although I found the free game and free ball thresholds set a bit stingy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pinballs
Pinballs and videos in the games area<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is the \ufb01rst time that I have seen a Ghostbusters<\/em> Premium in the wild; the Pro model being much more prevalent in my area.

I included the Fast Track Racing<\/em> interactive vending machine among the pinballs because it has a plunger to send the gumball onto a spiral track to score in one of the out-holes. I didn\u2019t play it so I don\u2019t know any more details, but apparently this is a rare machine because I could only find one reference to it on the Internet with little to say about it other than the on-o\ufb00er price if anyone is interested in purchasing one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gaming area has some nifty Atari logo step stools for the vertically-challenged among us. They look cool and at the same time look quite retro, being cast in a teal color plastic with the instantly recognizable George Opperman-created Fuji and the bold Atari lettering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also appreciated that they have a change machine nearby for those games that do not have dollar acceptors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Epic also have a good-sized stage space for live entertainment and they host up-and-coming local rock bands most weekends. Epic charges a ‘cover’ on nights when there is live music; 100 percent of the cover charge goes back to the bands who perform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the summer months Epic hosts classic car cruise-ins and I understand, because the new location is located away from residential areas, there may be some outdoor music performances o\ufb00ered in Epic\u2019s spacious parking lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I enjoy visiting Epic because of the laid-back atmosphere (on weekdays at least) that reminded me of the small college town vibe, and the vast array of food and drink choices (did I mention that they have Kool Aid in a bubbler? Shades of Jonestown).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The large games area is of course a bonus, but one that I certainly appreciate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Please Note – Epic Deli has moved to a new location in the last year and this review is based on that new location. Epic Deli in the far-north Chicago suburbs is much more than a ‘deli’. As a matter of fact, ‘deli’ in this case is probably misleading. Epic is better described as an …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":14877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[845,848,97,849,850,720,847,846],"class_list":["post-14860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sites","tag-epic-cafe","tag-ghostbusters","tag-illinois","tag-junkyard","tag-mchenry","tag-pinspotting","tag-sandwiches","tag-subs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14860"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14910,"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14860\/revisions\/14910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}