Blue Fox reopens in Tinley Park

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

The Blue Fox at 6820 W. 179th St. in Tinley Park reopened today after being closed for a few days last week to make some repairs to the restaurant. The bar reopened today and the kitchen is reopening tomorrow. The restaurant is celebrating its second anniversary on St. Patrick's Day next week.

South Suburban Memorials consolidates new offices in South Holland

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Brian Tennis said his decision to move his monument businesses into South Holland could not have worked out better.

Tennis, 53, moved South Suburban Memorials, a retail outlet for cemetery monuments, grave markers and plaques, and DOH Services, a memorial production company, into a single operation at 16525 Van Dam Road at the end of last year.

“We have the store on the lower level and the production facility on the upper level,” Tennis said.

A stonecutter since 1974, Tennis started DOH Services in Blue Island in 1995. He acquired South Suburban Memorials in Glenwood in 1999.

Tennis, who lives in Blue Island, said he tried for two years to find a suitable location in that city but was eventually told by officials they could not help him.

That’s a far cry from the reception he said he received from South Holland officials.

“Everyone in the village hierarchy welcomed us with open arms,” Tennis said. “We bought an eyesore in October 2008 and converted it into a beautiful showroom and production facility.”

Though now open, Tennis said there are a few unfinished items. “We still have to put in the landscaping,” he said.

Tennis has 17 employees at the two companies that make and sell everything you find in a cemetery. He said he makes monuments for all faiths including Christian, Muslim and Jewish. He said his customer base reaches as far as Iowa and Indiana.

The South Suburban Memorials showroom is open to the public. For more information, call 708-331-4450 or visit their Web site, http://www.southsuburbanmemorialsinc.net/

Cafe Closed
Cafe on Cedar has closed after being open just over a year at 398 N. Cedar Road in New Lenox.

Get your culture on
The Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra and guest conductor Victor Yampolsky are presenting Mozart Light and Dark at the Lincoln-Way North Performing Arts Center on Saturday. Tickets are $30, $40 and $50
for adults; $15 for students (18 and under. Tickets available at (708) 481-7774, and  http://www.ipomusic.org/
 
Calumet College Job Fair
 
Calumet College of St. Joseph is hosting its Spring 2010 Career Fair from 3 to 6 p.m. March 18 on the second floor of the main campus, 2400 New York Ave. in Whiting. Students, alumni and the public are invited to attend and admission is free. Parking is available in the rear of the building.

There will be recruiters in the areas of education, human services, health care, business, management, sales and marketing, accounting and finance, computer science and information technology, and law enforcement. Employer profiles and contact information will be available on the college Web site after March 10.

Job seekers should bring resumes and wear business attire. http://www.ccsj.edu/.
 
Deal of the Week
 
It's March Madness at Piazza's Pizza, 19608 S. LaGrange Road in Mokena, which is offering a half-price pizzas every Monday in March. For more information, call 708-479-9400. http://www.piazzaspizza.com/.

Piazza's Pizza is a family affair

By Dennis Robaugh
Southland Savvy

When I bit into my Piazza's meatball sandwich, lathered in red sauce, smothered in cheese, I tasted a memory.

Piazza's sauce reminds me of my grandmother's tomato sauce. A first-generation Italian-American who cooked with a timeworn set of pots and pans, Christmas Eve dinner was a much-anticipated event in my youth. Meatballs and pasta sauce loomed as large in our minds as the dancing visions of mythical Christmas sugar plums.

And so, if I wasn't already hooked on Piazza's for the pizza, the red sauce sealed my infatuation.

From their little Mokena strip-mall storefront, Piazza's has been serving up Italian specialties for less than a year. An unlikely neighbor to a yoga center and a nail spa, Piazza's is the kind of place that would seem more at home in an old red-brick storefront on a South Side neighborhood corner. In Mokena, they do business on busy LaGrange Road.

But large family portraits hang from the walls, dominating the decor of the small shop. Here, family and food are intertwined. The Piazzas have been in business since 1976, and in the pizzeria game since 1985. And it's always been a family affair.

Every other occasion I've had to stop by and pick up a pie, there've been Piazzas hanging around, eating dinner. Once, I even came across a Piazza family birthday party.

But back to the food. That big meatball sandwich was meaty and saucy, a meal all by itself. And throw out your low-carb diets. The beer nuggets, little fried dough coated with parmesan cheese, are a tasty treat you can't avoid. (The owner likes to sprinkle a little sugar on them, too.)

The pan pizza here comes in hefty slices. One slice weighs as much as two or three of those tasteless Pizza Hut imitations, and offers four times the taste.

And Piazza's knows how to save you a buck. Sign up for the Internet specials, and you'll get e-mails touting half-price pizza nights and other specials. Sign up on their web site.

Hungry for something other than pizza or pasta? Their chicken parmigiana sandwich offers a hefty breaded chicken breast, layered with sauce and cheese. This is a satisfying meal unto itself.

And the perch dinner, featuring four tasty filets and a side of fries, is delectable Lenten goodness. On a recent visit, fellow diners ogled our perch and wished they had ordered the same. The breaded isn't too crunchy, nor is it overbreaded, and the plentiful portion doesn't come to your table dripping in frying oil.

Piazza's Pizza
4 out of 4 stars
19608 N. LaGrange Road
Mokena
(708) 479-9400

See more reviews via Google.

You can reach Dennis at dennis@southlandsavvy.com