Magpie's Joy Of Eating To Feature Meals From Past Joliet Restaurants

JOLIET, IL — It only took two months, but the word is already out: Margaret "Meg" Gillespie's sit-down restaurant, Magpie's Joy of Eating, has become a popular destination for food lovers in the Joliet area.

Magpie's opened Jan. 10, taking over the old Thayer Bros. Deli at 753 Ruby Street.

"I can't say enough about how the city of Joliet helped me through all the red tape. The support has just been phenomenal," Gillespie said.

Magpie's Joy of Eating has stayed busy for both lunch and dinner.

"It's exceeded what I thought," she said. "I love how Joliet people thank me for opening the restaurant and moving here."

The grouper Reuben and the grouper dinner remain extremely popular on the menu.

"It's crazy how much grouper we go through," Gillespie explained during this week's interview with Joliet Patch. "We get that from the Gulf of Mexico, and it's caught fresh and frozen on the boat, and it's flown here in two days, 48 hours."

Other popular dinner entrées?

"Our chicken piccata and veal piccata, and our risotto as well," Gillespie remarked.

There is one item on the Saturday dinner menu that has turned into a staple.

"Saturday night, it's like pork chop night," Gillespie said. "That's what we call it."

Gillespie said there are a lot of people in the Cathedral Area who walk to Magpie's for dinner. "And I wanted to be part of this area, and it's way cool that the Thayer's (Deli) people, they've come back, and they say I do a good job with Ma Thayer's recipes."

On Jan. 18, Magpie's introduced its dinner menu, and one of Gillespie's next big events will be unveiling her new spring seasonal menu.

"April 1st, I'll introduce my side dishes. We'll freshen up the sides, and we're going to introduce the spring menu. The rib eye and the steaks will stay. Our steaks are fantastic, so we will keep the filet. We've got a 6 ounce and a 12 ounce. We started doing daily specials about three weeks ago," Gillespie continued. "For the Feast of St. Joseph's Day, we did an Italian special, traditional red meat lasagna. I made white lasagna with zucchini, spinach and mushrooms. It's really amazing."

Magpie's had an overflow crowd last Sunday for Saint Patrick's Day, featuring the Joliet Firefighters Pipes and Drums.

"We had a great St. Paddy's Day. It was just fantastic," she said.

Easter Sunday will mark the first time that Magpie's will offer a Sunday brunch.

"I'm going to close at 3 p.m. on Holy Saturday and open for brunch on Easter Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It will be a plated meal, not a buffet," she explained. "I will have Eggs Benedict, chicken and waffles, country biscuits and gravy, steak and eggs."

Reservations are required for the Easter Sunday brunch. To make reservations, you can call the restaurant at 815-726-8990.

As for Magpie's, the kitchen hours for the Ruby Street restaurant are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Beginning around mid-April, Magpie's plans to offer a rotating feature of former legendary Joliet area restaurants, starting with "Stefanich's Night," featuring the recipe for the legendary fried chicken.

Gillespie said she worked at Stefanich's many years ago.

She plans to have Stefanich's Night, on Saturday, April 13, featuring fried chicken, chicken livers, sautéed shrimp, sautéed cod and the Galli salad.

The previous day, Friday, April 12, will mark Magpie's Joy of Eating's first live music event.

From 6 to 8 p.m., Magpie's will feature Grace B and company. The live music event will feature 1990s and 2000s alternative pop as well as country and contemporary rock.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

New Joliet Restaurant Opened By Gordie Gillespie's Daughter Meg