Project: LOOP

Just on Chicago’s South Side rests a 24-hour diner that gets more attention for its unique collectibles, then the food. Located on the corner of Canal Street, White Palace Grill offers a full breakfast menu, including, “Chicago’s Best Omelets,” and grits for only $2.50. After hearing rumors on how inexpensive this comfortable diner was, I decided to pay a visit with my roommate, Bethany.

Just right over the bridge past Target, the diner sits on the corner of Canal with an enormous white sign with red lettering that reads, “SINCE 1939.” The outside is welcoming, and for anyone who drives, there’s plenty of parking.* Bethany and I went around dinner time, (6:30), and surprisingly, it wasn’t too crowded. Even though I was disappointed to hear it was a non-smoking establishment, as a result, the air was clean.

The inside is bigger than you would think, with one half of the diner by the counter with barstools, and the remainder of the diner in the back, by the Chicago memorabilia. Bethany and I sat right near the Palace’s famous mural, (picture included at a later date). The mural, which takes up a large percentage of the wall, features some of Chicago’s most prominent figures, including, Michael Jordan, the Blues Brothers, Bozo the clown, and Ms. O’Leary’s cow. Most of the items the diner features are sports related, including, newspaper headlines featuring Michael Jordon.  After a while, our waitress, whose appearance made her seem as if she was stuck in the 80’s, asked us what we wanted to drink. Since the diner does not offer cherry coke, our waitress was happy to make my roommate one, which happened to, “hit the spot,” says Bethany.

The menu contained a lot of items, most of which were not “cheap.” We decided to start out with an artery clogging sample platter: mozzarella sticks, jalapeno poppers, onion rings and breaded mushrooms. Once the fried platter made its way to our table, most of the finger food didn’t taste good, and definitely wasn’t worth the $7.00. My roommate decided to get the chili mac, which was over a bed of spaghetti, and came with a cup of soup and garlic bread. The only thing that she really enjoyed was the warm potato soup. I ordered something that I knew couldn’t taste too bad, grilled cheese, which came with a tablespoon of coleslaw. Our waitress never came back to ask us if everything was okay, instead, she eventually threw the bill on our table. Despite being dissatisfied with the service, we decided to order a banana split. Our sundae came with Neapolitan ice cream, engulfed in whipped cream, cherries, chocolate sauce and nuts. By the end of our meal, the only thing we truly enjoyed was the mountain high sundae. Overall, the inside décor was interesting; it’s diner food, so don’t expect much.