Schuckman: Italian horseshoes and football chatter make for perfect corner market lunch

COLCHESTER, Ill. — A sense of nostalgia grabbed hold pulling up in front of the small corner market, even for those who had never been there before.

For Brigham John, it hit him with full force.

As he explained while sitting at a table of six waiting to eat a late lunch, he longed for the opportunity to order the Italian horseshoe as an 8-year-old eating with his family at Pagliai’s Pizza in Macomb. Once allowed, there was never a reason to order anything else.

Even now, as a 40-something father of two teenage girls, it still sits atop his menu of choice.

“It just feels like home,” John said.

Sure, if he scoured long enough and passionately enough, John could find another restaurant with an Italian horseshoe on its menu somewhere within driving distance of both where he grew up and where he lives now. But it wouldn’t taste the same. It wouldn’t smell the same. It wouldn’t feel cozy and comforting and just right in every single way.

The fries wouldn’t be as crisp. The meat sauce would taste different. The garlic bread wouldn’t be toasted just the way it always has been.

That’s what he wanted those seated around him to experience.

So with the Quincy High School football team playing at Galesburg on a Thursday night in Week 6 and part of the coaching staff driving an equipment truck on the Western Big 6 Conference road trip, John convinced them to hold off on lunch until they reached Colchester so he could deliver them a trip back to his roots.

A date with the Italian horseshoe at The Grill on Market Street beckoned.

I was blessed to be along for the ride.

Interspersed with other stories of our youth — the Blue Devils’ linebackers coach is a graduate of Macomb High School and Western Illinois University who I have been fortunate to call a friend since he moved to Quincy with his wife, Abbie, more than a decade ago — and conversations about his daughters, we talked about food and the Italian horseshoe on our hour-long drive.

The history buff in me found it entertaining to learn this exact menu item was on the docket at Pagliai’s Pizza in downtown Macomb for the better part of four decades before the restaurant closed for what was believed to be for good in 2010. However, in 2011, Todd and Charlotte Knox reopened it as Pag’s Pizza and Pasta and in the same location before eventually shuttering that business and reopening in Colchester in 2022.

It gave the Italian horseshoe new life.

And it is an interesting spin on a classic.

For those you don’t know, the original horseshoe came to be in the 1920s in Springfield at the Old Leland Hotel. The basic horseshoe is this — two slices of grilled Texas toast topped with a meat, traditionally ham or hamburger, and covered in french fries and cheese sauce. Almost anywhere you go where there is a horseshoe on the menu, you will find a variation of the original.

My favorite is the barbeque pork shoe with white queso at Mr. Bill’s in Quincy. Although the pork is not a traditional meat, the creamy cheese sauce puts it over the top.

That’s the first mental hurdle to clear with the Italian horseshoe. There is no cheese sauce.

The mozzarella cheese gives you some of the ooey, gooey you crave, but it’s different and it makes you do a double-take before the first bite. Here’s what an Italian horseshoe looks like — a platter of chicken strips covered with crinkle-cut fries, a meaty marinara sauce and shaved mozzarella cheese. Several healthy dashes of parmesan cheese make it cheesier. The side of garlic bread is a really nice touch.

How did it taste? Well, lunch ended with five clean plates, so you be the judge.

It’s a unique spin on the horseshoe and on chicken parmesan. It tickles your tastebuds and your brain at the same time.

At the end of the day, a tasty meal enjoyed with quality people leads to a great experience. The meal gets two thumbs up, but the football chatter and the banter were priceless.

As for John’s inevitable question of whether I will order it again, he will be disappointed in my response. I say no simply because I’m enthralled with the idea of returning to The Grill on Market and experiencing what else is on the menu, especially the tenderloin and the pizza. Maybe along the way I will find a signature dish worth sharing with friends.

That’s when we get to have a real debate over the best item on the menu.