Train Restaurant Deals and Activities in November

Eating a burger at 2 Toots 

Facebookians, the train restaurants of Chicagoland are sweetening the dinner pot to encourage you to bring in the kids this month. Just yesterday, posts from three railroad restaurants popped up in my Facebook feed with enticing deals. Boxcar Train Restaurant in Geneva is offering a 15 percent discount to guests who mention their Facebook post this weekend. In Forest Park, the Junction Diner will be celebrating their first anniversary on Nov. 9 with a party from 12 until 3 pm., including menu specials, kids' games, face painting and a special guest. All Aboard Diner on the south side of Downers Grove is holding a coloring contest until Nov. 15. The winner will receive a 15-guest pizza party at Pro Martial Arts, also in Downers Grove. 

As long as you're getting hungry liking train restaurants on Facebook, try these, too:

• 2 Toots Train Whistle Grill in Glen Ellyn and Bartlett 
• The Choo Choo Restaurant in Des Plaines 
• Choo Choo Johnny's in Naperville 

So log on and like your favorite spots. It will make planning your next family dinner out a little easier and a lot more fun.

Train-lovers: Vote for favorite places

Entrance to
The DuPage Children's Museum

This business of entertaining young train lovers is a serious thing. Serious enough that "Best place for train-watching" is one of the categories parent-types can vote for in the first Chicago Parent Best of the Best Awards. Here are the contenders (selected by reader nominations):

• 2 Toots Cafe (Bartlett and Glen Ellyn)
• DuPage Children's Museum, second floor (Naperville)
• Riding the 'L' around the loop
• Illinois Railway Museum (Union)
• Ogilvie Transportation Center 

If being an informed voter inspires you to try visit those in the running, one more place deserves your attention. The very next category offers Forest Park's Junction Diner restaurant as a choice for "Best spot for playdate lunches." Yes, this is Chicago, but only one vote per email address will be accepted. Results will be available online in late December.

As a nice incentive, Chicago Parent is offering a chance to win $100 for casting a ballot. Go to their website and make your choices known by Friday, Oct. 18.

Some of the artwork displayed on the second-floor Trains exhibit
at the DuPage Children's Museum

More Wheaton (and Glen Ellen): Cosley Zoo and 2 Toots

We just can't get enough Wheaton this week. Earlier in the week we visited the DuPage County Historical Society for a peek at their model railroad. Wednesday night found us in the area again in need of dinner, so we stopped at the ever popular 2 Toots in nearby Glen Ellyn. Today, in an effort to prove to my daughter that kids can have other interests, we went to see the animals at Wheaton's Cosley Zoo. Turns out her favorite part there was the caboose. Just can't fight the train love.

A past meal at 2 Toots during Christmastime

 2 Toots is probably the favorite restaurant of most small railroad aficionados in the area. The concept is simple but well executed: food is delivered via model train. Guests can sit at the counter or at booths -- all seats are along the track. While waiting for the meal to come out of the kitchen and around the bend, there is plenty of railroad decor to study, a Thomas video to watch, and Metra trains passing just outside. It's impossible to have a conversation with kids at 2 Toots beyond, "Look at that!" but it's one of the few places that manages to keep busy bodies in their seats until the end of the meal. The joy of this place for Mom and Dad (and other grownups) is that the food isn't an afterthought. 2 Toots knows how to make a good meal. It's standard dinner fair, but very satisfactory.

Cosley Zoo's caboose 

Just a few miles away, Wheaton's Cosley Zoo offers a very manageable outing for families with preschoolers. It's a small zoo with a duck pond, farm animals and wildlife native to the area. Within the zoo's bright red caboose is an exhibit about Illinois' natural world. The gift shop, cafe and restrooms are located "across the tracks" in a what was once Wheaton's first train station. It's just a cute place to visit.