Cafe Borgia - Reviews
Cafe Borgia - Reviews
What they're saying about Cafe Borgia

 

 

 

Lake   LAKE - Lifestyle of Lake Michigan

Cafe Borgia's new outpost is a bold upgrade from it's original locale in Lansing, IL. But owners Mike Jess - he's also chef - and Karen Jess have kept the save attentive staff, charming.... read more - click here
 
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Cafe Borgia - Elite  

Elite

 

Longtime favoite Italian Bistro migrates to new location in Munster.
For loyal customers of Cafe Borgia, months of anticipation are finally over. Now it's time to eat!

The article - click here

 
   

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Cafe Borgia   Northwest Indiana Business

After more than 20 years just across the Illinois state line in Lansing, Cafe Borgia is drawing crowds at its new location in Northwest Indiana.
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Cafe Borgia Bon  

 

Bon Appetit

 

Our favorite restaurant is close to home, in the small town of Lansing, Illinois. It's called Cafe Borgia, and they offer an incredible polenta appetizer topped with a creamy goat cheese sauce. My husband and I were both raised in Italian households and never tasted polenta like this.

Marguerite Rebesco, Munster, Indiana

The recipes from Bon Appétit - click here.

 
   

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Cafe Borgia - BonAppetit  

Bon Appetit

Having relatives who live near Lansing, Illinois, gives us a reason to visit that part of the country---and after trying the Veal with Gorgonzola sauce and red cabbage at Cafe Borgia, we have one more reason to go.

Janice and Paul Abrinko, San Francisco, California

The recipes from Bon Appétit - click here

 
   

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Cafe Borgia - Chicago Magazine  

CHICAGO MAGAZINE
Café Borgia – 17923 Torrence, Lansing. Italian. This cozy café is well worth the trip for the delightfully colorful setting, the friendly staff, and especially for the innovative, reasonably priced food. Start with lively appetizers, such as squid stuffed with crumbled sausage and parmesan, grilled eggplant with marinara, or broccoli and roasted red peppers with a creamy garlic sauce. The simple house salad is a good one – romaine, onions, and mushrooms tossed with a spirited balsamic vinaigrette. Carefully prepared pastas, available as entrees or in small portions, include fieno paglia, a tangle of green and white angel hair pasta in cream sauce stuffed with prosciutto, tomato, mushrooms, and peas; aldente penne in a smooth procini cream; rigatoni dotted with smoked salmon; rich fettuccine carbonara; and special, such as fussili in a lemon cream sauce with rosemary. Among the main courses; robust osso bucco topped with squares of delicate polenta, crisp chicken breast stuffed with four cheeses, and sautéed pork tenderloin with black olives, eggplant and tomato. For dessert; good cannoli or zucotto, a lovely concoction of liqueur-soaked sponge cake and whipped cream laced with hazelnuts, almonds and chocolate. Fine cappuccino and even better choclacino. Open 7 days a week for Lunch and Dinner.

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Cafe Borgia - Chicago   Chicago

Murals of food and wines cover the walls at Café Borgia, a no-reservations postage stamp that has prospered for 14 years in an improbable location.  It could hold its own anywhere with such appetizers as barely crusted pan-fried scallops in tangy roasted-garlic mayonnaise and bresaola, thin slices of salt-cured beef mated with white-bean salad and black olives.

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Cafe Borgia - Gourmet  

Gourmet

 

Owners, Chef Mike Jesso and Hostess Karen Jesso, opened cozy, casual, cosmopolitan Café Borgia in 1986 with the philosophy, “The customer is king.”  In the open kitchen, innovative Northern Italian specialties are cooked to order at value prices—lively appetizers, tasty pastas, robust entrees, delicious desserts and a well-chosen wine list.  A main ingredient in Café Borgia’s success is the staff-family who have been with them for years.  After a recent visit, The New York Times said “Service was so good we didn’t want to leave.”

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Cafe Borgia  

Restaurant Hospitality

 

My husband was a cook, and I was a waitress for 15 years, and we vowed that when we opened our own place, we would not treat our staff in the negative ways we had been treated.  We just had our best year, and are opening our second and third units. We’ve had exceptional retention.  Our policy….read more!

 
   

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Cafe Borgia - Staru Up Book   The Restaurant Start-Up Guide - inside cover
Cornell University - letter
Karen Jesso - part one  -  part two
 
   

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Cafe Borgia - Purdue University   Purdue University "In The Italian Tradition"  
   

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Cafe Borgia - Zagat   Zagat Survey - write up

Zagat letter of Distinction for their Wine List
 
   

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Cafe Borgia - Times Review  

Review - The Chicago Sun Times

 

Review - The NWI Times

 

Review - The Times

 
   

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CAFE BORGIA
10018 Calumet Avenue | Munster, IN 46321 | 219.922.8889

OPEN 7 DAYS

11: am - 11: pm