Why Was ‘Babe’s Jumbo Hot Dogs Sign’ Replaced? Owner Reveals Answer

JOLIET — It’s been one week since the biggest change in decades took place at Tim Reilly’s long-time Joliet restaurant. The business sign proclaiming “Babe’s Jumbo Hot Dogs” is no more. It’s gone. It’s history. From now on, tens of thousands of Joliet motorists traveling along the busy West Jefferson Street corridor are greeted by a new sign that reads “Babe’s Home Cookin’.”

“We took the word hot dogs out and put wraps and salad, wraps and salad is a huge part of our business,” Reilly told Joliet Patch during Thursday’s interview.

“Don’t get me wrong. I still think we have the best hot dogs in town, but we have so much more. Everything is fresh every day, and we just can’t stress that enough.

“Hot dogs, that’s what made us what we are today. We still sell a lot of hot dogs, 300 to 400 a day. Hot dogs is what we started with, we’re not bringing in the filet mignon just yet,” he said.

Babe’s is also one of Joliet’s most popular destinations for senior citizens, Reilly pointed out. Babe’s offers a 10 percent discount for all seniors — anyone 55 years old and above.

“We love the seniors,” he said. “We try to remember our customers and say goodbye to them. We just hired five new people this week, and one thing I emphasize is customer service. That’s the one thing I teach. We have an older crowd here, and I think it’s because of our customer service.”

Reilly said one lady recently approached him inside his Joliet restaurant and said, “I love your food, but I come here because of your staff.”

Babe’s has been one of Jefferson Street’s staple restaurants that has remained here for decades. “We’ve been in business 35 years,” Reilly remarked.

Babe’s has been at 2600 W. Jefferson St. since 2001. Before that, Babe’s was at the corner of Jefferson Street and Springfield Avenue.

Many customers are probably unaware that Babe’s employees its own butcher on site, according to Reilly. It’s been that way for the past decade. The butcher came from Joliet’s iconic neighborhood grocery store, Mitchell’s Food Mart on North Raynor Avenue.

“We hired a butcher to do everything,” Reilly pointed out. “We grind our own burgers every day, poor boys. He does our chicken, our Italian beef.”

St. Patrick’s Day is always the busiest day of the year for Babe’s. For the past couple of years, Babe’s has sold 2,000 lbs of corned beef.

But corned beef is not a once a year delicacy. It has a permanent place on the Babe’s menu.

“Corned beef, we sell that year-round, and Reuben sandwiches,” Reilly said.

After being in Joliet for 35 years, Reilly is pleased with Babe’s place in Joliet, and he said the replacement of the catchy business sign on West Jefferson Street was due.

“We changed our whole game plan from Babe’s Jumbo Hot Dogs, so we are Babe’s Home Cookin’. Salads and wraps have gone up big-time,” Reilly said, referring to volume of sales. “I think people are watching their health more than 20 years ago. We want everyone to know that we have high quality, fresh good.”

This week, Reilly cooked for the Joliet firefighters’ annual golf outing at Inwood Golf Course, an event attended by 150 people. “I wanted to show off our burgers,” Reilly said.

“Our burgers, I’m telling you, right now, they’re the best burgers in town. They’re really that good, and we put a cut of sirloin in there that makes it tastier.”

There are about eight different burgers on the menu at Babe’s. “And we’ll make them every way you want them,” he said.

What would Reilly recommend for a new customer?

“I always ask what you’re in the mood for. I like the poor boys, corned beef and burgers,” he remarked. “We’ve got the best burgers in town, or the poor boys, and we make them fresh every day. That’s probably one of our most sellers.”

When it comes to Wednesday evenings in Joliet in the summer and fall, the Babe’s parking lot has hundreds of people and classic cars. Depending on the weather, Babe’s cruise nights start in April and last through the end of October.

Babe’s is famous for its Wednesday night cruise nights that go from 5 to 9 p.m. “And you don’t have to own a car to come,” Reilly stressed. “It’s always busy and these are $100,000 cars.

Babe’s is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and closes at 8 p.m. on Sunday. “Weather makes a big difference,” Reilly said. “If it’s raining, our drive-thru is a lot busier.”

Fridays are another big draw for Babe’s. How many other bars and restaurants are offering $1 beers every Friday, all 16 ounce cans and 12 ounce bottles?

Babe’s carries a wide variety of beers including Budweiser, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Bud Light, Miller Lite, Michelob Ultra and Modelo. Babe’s also has a gaming video in the back of the restaurant with five video gaming devices that were added back in 2013.

Reilly said he has no plans to move Babe’s anywhere else in Joliet.

“We have a really busy corner here, there’s so much traffic,” he said.

Babe’s is not a restaurant chain. There’s only one and Reilly has owned and operated it since 1989, 35 years and counting.