7-11-2020 - National French Fry Day is July 13. I did not hesitate to jump on this holiday and stretch it out for a week. This year we are not able to celebrate the way we would like to with lasers and bubbles and such, but we are trying to by adding some out door seating and a new special for the week that I think you’ll like:
FRIED CHICKEN & WAFFLE FRYS w/ SPICY MAPLE SYRUP
Our chicken is deliciously breaded in bite size pieces. Our waffle frys are the best of waffle frys you’ve ever had in your entire life. I can almost guarantee that. Almost. We toss the waffle frys in a powdered sugar mix and we add in a cup of our home made spicy maple syrup. This stuff is addictive.
We use real maple syrup and organic spices for the spicy maple syrup. I found that the organic spices, for this in particular, brought out better flavor profiles.
Today I will be testing out a Maple Glaze. If successful, in both making and serving, I will be tossing the waffle frys in this glaze or just adding a side of it for dunking.
6-29-2020 - One of the main themes I have in the restaurant is brand loyalty. When I come to learn and love a brand or a source for something specific, I cherish it.
Some things have been hard to source, like fresh healthy hogs for pig roasts, spices, and some other ingredients. Then you have brands like Coca-Cola.
I Love Coca-Cola. If I’m drinking soda - and I try not to - I’m drinking Coca-Cola.
Back in the genesis of I❤️🍟 I saw the Coca-Cola Freestyle Machine. It was big. It was red. It was shiny. That pretty much ticks all of the criteria I look for when I buy anything. On top of it, the machine was designed by the same company that designs Ferrari’s.
Woah! Two things: 1.) I now basically have a Ferrari (prove me wrong)
2.) Ferrari doesn’t design its own cars? (a discussion for another day perhaps)
The Freestyle machine is a machine that combines technology and soda machines in way that I think is just so cool.
Why am I telling you about this? Because it’s no longer available. Really.
We are going to break down the machine and I’m going to do some tinkering around to make the user experience as cool as possible. How cool can using a soda fountain be? In 2020 waking up everyday has been a trip so just wait and see what we have in store for you. Coca-Cola made such a cool machine and I plan on using it to its full potential in the coming months.
In the meantime, we have some refreshing replacements available.
Made with real sugar cane Coca-Cola Classic in a glass bottle. This is my fav! We also have IBC Root Beer available. Also made with real sugar. When I was a kid it was really cool to drink root beer out of a brown glass bottle. I’m a fan.
I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid there was some sugar concoction that came in a plastic barrel. Well they still make it and I’ve come to find that there is only 1gram of sugar in each bottle?!!? Why you can fit at least 30grams in that sucker, but they chose to only use 1gram!! I drink it a lot. You should try some, but you probably don’t want to drink it as much as I do. We priced it at 90 cents so a kid with a buck can buy something to drink and get some change back. Kinda reminds me of penny candy, after being adjusted for proper inflation of course. -mj
6-19-2020 - I have an injury to my cooking arm, no seriously though, I cannot do much with my arm. This lead to my wife taking over the kitchen. It’s my wife and Chef Melva’s kitchen now and I feel comfortable knowing that the restaurant is in the proper hands. I kid when I act like this was a choice, but in all reality she told me to go home and get the kids.
There are a few other things for me to do while I am on the injury report. Sidelined with what I’m sure my doctor will call a “bummed arm” when I finally get to that appointment.
I will now focus on another dream of mine (I’m a dreamer) and that is opening up an I Love Pizza (I❤️🍕). At its current stages there are two ways we can go with I Love Pizza
I❤️🍕.
One is that we have an outdoor pizza cafe with music pumping through the speakers from open to close, serving coffee (and/or alcoholic) beverages. Another is that we have a mad dash of local delivery people and run a take out/delivery pizza place. Either way I really thing you’ll enjoy our pizza. And of course we will have some sandwiches available.
The pizza is the focus. It the authenticity of food is where I find the most pleasure in food. I think this pizza we will serve is something you will enjoy immensley. More about that at a later time.
So what are we talking about here? It took me two years to open I Love Frys. Is I Love Pizza coming this decade? I will arbitrarily declare a 75% chance of success. Success being opening up day one. -mj
6-18-2020 - As of today we are open DAILY 11-8pm. We really appreciate the community for bieng so supportive during this COVID-19 mess.
COVID-19 has definitely brought us all hardships. So I won’t talk about any of those.
What I will talk about is the Silver-Lining of this darkest of clouds. And it is in that silver lining we have been able to bring on Chef Melva and a team of local kids to greet you at the door.
The day I met Chef Melva I knew she was going to be a great member of the team. And everyday since then she has been proving me right.
Every I Love Frys location will feature an Executive Chef to bring you meals you will surely enjoy. Our July specials will include a Hawaiian Pork and Pineapple Fry that is out of this world.
You can expect some more amazing specials for National French Fry Day this JULY 13 where we will have a Fried Chicken Waffle Fry with a lightly spiced maple syrup, and of course normal maple syrup is always available.
Chef Melva has been on the Food Channel as well as a feature on Channel 9’s local news segments more than once.
I Love Frys Villa Park is just the first of what I hope to be a different breed of Quick Service Restaurants different from the rest. -mj
6-05-2020 - Starting this summer, JUNE 20, we will be returning to a 7 day schedule. We are very excited to get back to a normal schedule!
We also have some really awesome specials coming every month. So make sure you check us out every first of the month for the news! -mj
5-29-2020 - We are a week into the Villa Park Grub Crawl, and tho we are still only open Thurs - Sun we are still participating in the community event.
Yesterday we successfully sold out of our spit roasted pig roast and were not able to get another one today. So instead we have CHICKEN POT PIE FRYS! They are just absolutely delicious. -mj
5-9-2020 - What a month it’s been. One of the nicest things about where we live is the experience of the changing of seasons. With that we changed up the menu and introduced a new recipe MEATBALLS & RED SAUCE FRYS. Our meatballs are a new recipe all beef meatball made with Romano cheese. The red sauce is our signature I Love Frys red sauce. When I say it’s the best sauce I’ve tasted I’m not just exaggerating, I really believe it. The Maxwell Street Polish Sausages are no longer available due to supply chain issues. I can’t say its a meat shortage issue because the meatballs were easy to make happen. I’m sure corporate America will figure it out! -mj
4-17-2020 - There have been a couple changes. I know too many changes. Can’t help it. Yesterday we introduced MAXWELL STREET POLISH SAUSAGE & FRYS and serve it with mustard. However, last night I had a dream about grilled onions. So now we’re serving grilled onions with that Polish. In true Chicago/Illinois fashion.
Starting today we’re also adding grilled onions to everything else on the menu. Joking. Grilled onions will also come on the VILLA CHEESESTEAK & FRYS PITA. I’m sure no one will mind the improvement. -mj
4-10-2020 - This has been a challenging month for us to say the least. Like many of us we’re trying to deal with it.
There are some things that will be disappearing from the menu. There are many reasons so we can just chalk it up to “the vicissitudes of current life.”
Breakfast Frys are no longer available. Unfortunately Michael my grit delivery guy told me “Northern whites don’t know about grits” and I think he may be right.
We’ve added RIBBIES & FRYS with a Chicago style mild hot sauce. I put a little more kick than normal mild sauce, there’s room to play with! I think you will love our Ribbies and Frys.
We will be posting updates to our menu when we have something to announce. Today we ran out of mac & cheese, but we will have more tomorrow. -mj
3-10-2020 - Today on our off day we were getting some equipment installed. We are ramping up for a big summer!
We have also created a way to accept cryptocurrencies Bitcoin & Dash Coin. For the time being we will stick to those to currencies until we have a better way to do commerce with these types of currencies. -mj
3-6-2020 - A hand full of years ago I rented a car and drove to Philadelphia to buy a 1985 Renault Alliance convertible manual transmission coupe. It was a thing of beauty and to this day was the best twelve hundred bucks I’ve ever spent (rental car included.) While in Philadelphia I had to try one of their lauded cheesesteak sandwiches from the two famously competitive cheesesteak joints, Gino’s and Pat’s. Though the Renault is no longer in my possession, the memory of disappointment in regards to the cheesesteak sandwiches still burns fresh. If the country can get talking about to mediocre sandwiches, then just wait until the country gets their hands on VILLA CHEESESTEAK FRYS available this weekend!! -mj
3-4-2020 - Today FIRE FRYS have arrived! Try our homemade hot sauce tossed with frys. We have been waiting for this moment and I think it was well worth the wait! -mj
3-3-2020 - We’ve been busy at ILF over the past week or so. We’ve stopped tinkering with the menu for now and have scheduled our specials to come out seasonally or until we run out and replace it with something new. So if anything new comes along you will see it there. Winter is winding down and we are gearing up for spring. Our plans are to have roof-top concerts throughout the summer so we will be focusing on that. There are many hurdles to this, but I think we can get it done. In the meantime if you have a band, play an instrument and want to perform solo, do stand up comedy, or any type of artistic performance that you would like to possibly perform on top of our restaurant please contact us at mail@ilovefrys.com… if we don’t respond in a timely manner please come in and let us know or drop us a note. -mj
2/27/2020 - I’ve been eating GYRO FRYS for lunch for the last week and I’ve finally decided to put it on the menu. These Gyro’s do not have any meat. Similar to what you would find in local corner shops in Europe; these gyros are freshly fried frys wrapped with a pita, tzatziki, and tomatoes. Supes Delish. -mj
2/22/2020 - We sold all out of our Steak & Lager Chowder Special and replaced it with PORK BELLY FRYS! Our pork belly is seasoned with an in house sweet spice that makes you smile. You wont want to share this one. -mj
2/17/2020 - Today we are closed in observance of President’s Day. Remember when our presidents birthdays used to have holidays? I sure do. We used to get 2 days off of school and now its only a single day to commemorate all of our presidents.
And just so you know: we will be taking all cold-weather holidays off. I don’t like the cold weather.
We have another food announcement to make: Our CHICKEN POT PIE FRYS will be available starting Wednesday! Whoop whoop! -mj
2/14/2020 - Today I’ve decided to keep the updates at the top of the page!
We had a great Grand Opening this Valentine’s Day! We introduced our Pèice de résistance: BEEF BURGUNDY. It took 41 ingredients & 16 hours to make this dish so we hope you like it. If you do not, we will gladly eat it all. (update 2/17/2020: we’re eating it)
This Valentine’s Day Grand Opening we also introduced another organic option in a VEGETARIAN CHILI version of our popular chunky meat chili.
Some things come in 3’s… today we had a 3rd new item on our menu: STEAK & LAGER CHOWDER accented with a MōRE Brewery Lager. -mj
1/18/2020 - Today we started putting together our menu in real time in the kitchen.
We love our menu so far and we think you’ll love it too.
Sloppy Joe Frys - French Frys, Cheese, and in-house made Sloppy Joe with our favorite in-house made Red Sauce
Frys Masala - Frys served in vegan fashion tossed in a unique blend of herbs and spices
Red Sauce & Frys (Meatballs optional) - Frys topped with some great in-house made Red Sauce and optional in-house made Meatballs. One of my sons called this Fry-ghetti.
Pie Frys - Freshly fried Frys topped with Strawberry Pie Filling, Whipped Cream, and Graham Cracker Crumbs. A surprise marriage of things we already love! -mj
1/24/2020 - Today I feel like we tried 1,000,000 different cheeses and I think we finally settled on one. -mj
1/25/2020 - Today is MEATBALLS day at ILF! We are making meatballs all day.
We will be adding more menu items as we create them and we’re so excited to have you try them all!! Just a little bit longer. -mj
1/26/2020 - Today we had a SECRET OPENING. Hope you didn’t tell anyone.
We were cooking up some sloppy joe and we had some things warmed up so why not treat someone who just wanders in! Thank you to those that did wander on in and to those that missed us…
We will see you tomorrow 11-7pm for our soft open where we will have a somewhat limited menu.
Our GRAND OPENING will be Valentine’s Day! -mj
1/31/2020 - We bought all of our vendors chili in the Chicago-land region and they didn’t believe me when I said I’d be back for more. WE ARE OUT OF CHILI :(
The chili was so good I chose to buy it instead of making it in-house. We will see if they come through.
Today we are introducing Louisiana Gumbo Frys. I love Louisiana. Most people think of New Orleans, and rightfully so, but I can assure you that the entire state is full of great eats from Baton Rouge to Rayne, LA… This gumbo reminds me of the great Mississippi Delta.
Mac & Cheese Frys is also available starting today, and why not!
Can’t wait to see you! -mj
2/1/2020 - Today a funny thing happened. We were working on a Garlic & Butter Frys when a food scientist came in. It just so happened we asked him to try some of what we were working on when he made a suggestion we took!
Today we have GARLIC & BUTTER Frys available and THEY ARE DELICIOUS! Made with fresh & real ingredients then topped & tossed with fresh Parmesan cheese. -mj
2/3/2020 - Today we created a BREAKFAST FRYS! Fries, Grits, Gravy, & Bacon!
We also made up something called TURTLE FRYS which is basically a chocolate turtle in french fry form. Frys, chocolate, honey, caramel, & pecans! Its real good! -mj
2/4/2020 - We are running out of room on our menu! Our mac & cheese was good at first, but we got tired of it quick. It was too bland so today we came up with CHILI MAC & CHEESE FRYS.
While tinkering in the ‘ol kitchen today we also put NACHO FRYS on the menu. I mean we already have the ingredients, why not just put ‘em together, right.
2/7/2020 - Today we are introducing some light heat. HOT HONEY FRYS are drizzled in a chili-pepper infused honey. Its glorious! -mj
2/9/2020 - We are adding our food notes. Personally speaking, I would eat a brick if it tasted good so please feel free to let me know if I’ve made a mistake about certain dietary restrictions. We cannot certify or guarantee that our products are made in facilities following dietary guidelines, but we are working diligently on contacting our suppliers to find out for our customers. Its a bear of a task, but give us time and we’ll get it all down.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that we introduced FRY S’MORES today! They too, are glorious! We’ll have them in a limited amount for a few days. The s’mores trucks don’t run on Sundays. -mj
2/10/2020 - Our IRISH CURRY came in today and it tastes as good as I remember it being! It took a while to get here and its here for a limited time, hurry and try it today!
2/12/2020 - Today we finally got in some really good Ancient Grain Minestrone that pairs well with our featured frys. The minestrone is VEGAN & ORGANIC, but the frys are not organic. If we ever become a dominant player in the fast food industry we will demand that someone provide us with a quality organic french fry and our entire menu will be certified organic. Until that time comes, we will do our best to have these options available.
-mj, 2020