Regional Cuisine with a Gourmet Twist

Harvest Restaurant
Pheasant Run Resort, 4051 East Main St., St. Charles, Illinois
Cuisine Type: Regional/American/French
Price: $$-$$$

For our VDay dinner, I decided on Harvest at St Charles' Pheasant Run Resort. Specializing in local American cuisine, it was a nice way to end the day and check out a bit of what Pheasant Run had to offer. I used to work a horrible job a short distance from the resort, so I was eager to dispel my smolderingly volcanic dislike for the area with something more enjoyable.

ATMOSPHERE: The restaurant is part of the main building, and a small walkway linking different resort areas leads directly into Harvest; $6 valet parking is available. Plenty of people going here & there inside. You first walk into the lounge/bar (which was already busy), and the hostess' counter is at the back. I was a little underwhelmed by the atmosphere for two reasons: first, the look of the restaurant as some of the walls were elementary school-style glazed brick and the booths an old, dark wood that made the place seem a little outdated. Second, it was louder than I expected a nice restaurant to be, like everyone had made this their second stop for the night. Not major enough issues to be disappointed though, because we were having a later dinner than usual and the restaurant location may have been used as another resort business in the past.

DRINKS: Having met our beer quota earlier in the day at Barley House we were only interested in the wine list, which contained plenty of choices both affordable (our pick was Stone Cellar Merlot, $26) and refined (Snooty Top Hat & Monocle Guy Vineyards, $94). Ok I made that last one up but there's a lot to pick from, served in large wine glasses that help to open up the flavor - the Stone Cellar was very good, warm and slightly fruity without being too sweet or dry.

FOOD: All the food easily made up for the lesser atmosphere. Theresa chose the leading entree of the chef's seasonal selection, the pan seared veal medallions, and I chose the house specialty of pan-roasted pheasant w/ juniper berry sauce, caramelized onions, wild mushrooms, green beans and fingerling potatoes. Both were outstanding; the pheasant (a bigger one than I expected) was roasted perfectly and paired very well with the mushrooms and sauce, and the small cornbread dumpling was a great addition to the flavors. It was also a nice surprise to see a full plate of food for each dish - I have no problem with restaurants that serve minimal food for the sake of presentation or flavor, but these had the best of both worlds - excellent flavors, presentation, plating, and plenty left to take home. Also, kudos for having delicious herbal wheat bread and spiced butter before the meal. Nothing here was short of delicious.

Pan roasted Pheasant w/juniper Berry Sauce

Pan-seared veal medallions w/garlic mashed poatoes

SERVICE: Friendly and confident, the waitress raved about the chef's talent in the kitchen, stating "If he goes, I go." Apparently I reminded her of someone who had been there before, so at least I know my evil twin is getting out to eat well, too. Minor mix-up as we left when Theresa's leftovers she wanted boxed were thrown out, but replaced with a fresh dish.

OVERALL: Absolutely recommended for the food and wine, slightly less so for the atmosphere. Try to sidestep the valet if you can, as it's not worth $6 for the attendant to pull your car up when it's only parked 2 feet away.

WOULD WE GO BACK? Jon - Probably not, Theresa - Maybe if it was less like a Frat house crowd in a shopping mall and more like an elegant restaurant like it's supposed to be

- Review by Jon

220 Microbrews... and Irish food to boot!

Barley House Restaurant
1520 Randall Road, Algonquin, Illinois
Cuisine Type: Irish/American
Price: $$

After attending a great Valentine's Day wine tasting & massive chocolate fountain spread at Village Vintner in Carpentersville, the new Barley House just down the street sounded like a good idea for lunch. We had tried once before to stop there for a drink on a Friday night just after it opened, but the long wait (27 hours for a bar seat) and heavy crowds drove us away; this time we were seated immediately after walking in, no waiting.

ATMOSPHERE: Built from the stony leprechaun carcass of The Claddagh (another Irish-themed restaurant) after it closed, Barley House has an upscale Irish pub look & feel inside: Celtic knots, thick wood furniture, exposed stone, black/green/brown colors, back lit stained glass windows set into the walls and plenty of Guinness paraphernalia (but points off for misspelling GUINNESS on the menu!) The dining area and bar were open enough when we arrived around 3:45, but when we left at 5 the place was filling up quicker than a line of emerald isle tourists to kiss the blarney stone.

DRINKS: The beer selection is itself a good reason to visit as they feature an extensive list of stouts, lagers, ales, IPAs and more. Unless you're going to a clandestine beer fanatic bar, it'll be hard to find a better selection than this. I ordered a Dark Horse Crooked Tree, a rich and flavorful IPA that doesn't punch you too hard in the face with hops, and Theresa ordered the Great Lakes Eliot Ness, a spicy amber/red ale that comfortably warms on a cold day.

FOOD: We ordered the frog legs appetizer, 6 lightly breaded & fried legs - if you've never had frog legs before, they taste like 90% chicken and 10% fish, a very light & tender meat. This is a good place to try them out. Theresa ordered the corned beef & cabbage plate and I went for the shepherd's pie, which was served "open" instead of in pie form - two cuts of roasted lamb with pastry dough biscuits, mashed potatoes, vegetables and stout beer gravy. Uniquely prepared and delicious, I highly recommend it, although it's a dish two people can easily split. Theresa's dish contained about the same amount of food as well, so keep in mind that the higher prices for entrees means that roughly half the dish can be taken home or shared. That said, the food itself was fantastic.

Shepherd's Pie

Corned Beef & Cabbage

SERVICE: Table service was quick & friendly, no complaints. Our table did feel a little sequestered since it was located behind a row of booths, but us being seated there may have had something to do with me wearing my inflatable purple pimp suit.

OVERALL: Definitely recommended, one of several nicer-than-a-typical-chain-restaurants in the area (Biaggi's next door is in the same vein) - just make sure to get there before the happy hour crowd overwhelms the place.

WOULD WE GO BACK? Probably for a casual lunch or dinner on an off night, wouldn't want to wait in the hour long line for dinner on a weekend night though.

- Review by Jon

An American Revolution in Dining

1776 Restaurant
397 Virginia Street, Crystal Lake, Illinois
Cuisine Type: American
Price: $$$

1776 was a restaurant that appealed to me because of their claim to have "different" kinds of food. Specifically, different Daily Specials of wild game and their wild game chili and Indian wild game sticks.

Upon arriving, the outward appearance was a bit daunting. It looked like a "family restaurant" that served greasy spoon dishes and attracted the older crowd. Apprehensively, we started towards the door, trying to peek in to see what the overall crowd looked like. It seemed to be a mixed crowd, from the mid 20's to the 60's. On the inside, the restaurant was decorated with all kinds of United States patriotic paraphernalia. They had pictures of Lincoln, the American Flag, a large painted wall with the route of the pony express and some other random nick-knacks. The inside decor matched the outside, which seemed to scream "family restaurant" or a former Denny's with a resemblance to a patriotic version of T.G.I. Fridays.


We were seated rather quickly for a Friday evening, although most seats seemed to be filled. We were pleasantly suprised to see they had quite a nice wine list. Because I was indecisive, I ordered a glass of their house Chardonnay, and it was amazing! It was chilled to the right temperature and had a nice, smooth finish. Jon ordered a beer, and we were quite impressed that they had several microbrews available such as Bell's, Sierra Nevada and more! It was a great start to the meal.

The waiter was a tad slow at getting back to us after we requested only a minute to decide our final choices, but he was also waiting on all of the other tables in the restaurant as well. The prices on the menu seemed fairly high for the entrees and didn't seem to match the environment we were eating in. However, the descriptions of each entree suggested that the chef knew what he/she was doing and was worth the price. Since I was eating with healthy choices in mind, I started with a bowl of Vegetable beef soup. The sourdough bread rolls were also very fresh and warm.

I am an avid soup lover and I will say that this soup was incredible! For such a simple soup, it had an array of flavors in addition to the most tender beef i've ever tasted in a beef soup. I ate every last drop. The entree came with a dinner salad, so I opted for the oil & red wine vinegar dressing, since they did not have any other low fat choices. The salad consisted of romaine lettuce, julienned carrots, freshly cracked pepper and oil and vinegar. Again, for the simplicity of the salad, the flavor was simply amazing! For my entree, I ordered the Vegetarian Feast to stick with my healthy eating choices, which consisted of grilled seasonal vegetables and warm quinoa. The vegetables (squash, peppers,mushrooms,onions,carrots) were extremely packed with flavor, almost tasting as if they had been boiled, roasted and charbroiled. My only complaint about the dish was that the veggies came in a broth/water which was about 1/4" high which left the little bit of quinoa swimming so that I couldn't get a fork full. Aside from that, it was very pleasantly flavored and filling. I don't definately don't think that the price of $16 was reasonable. For just having grilled veggies on a plate, I would expect to pay no more than $8-10 for the entree, so that was a tad high for what it was.

Jon went for the Daily special which was a Wild Game platter with samplings of Ostrich steak, Elk Steak and Wild Boar. To go with, they served it with a potato/goat cheese dumpling and some seasonal veggies. I will just say off the bat that this dish was AMAZING! Each one of the cuts of meat was lightly drizzled with a dark sauce that seemed to be a mix between au jus and gravy. The Ostrich was a darker meat that had a steak texture and helped to dismiss any preconceived notions we had about Ostrich; it was fantastic! The Elk was also extremely tender and didn't have any gamey flavor or aftertaste. The best by far was the wild boar. Probably one of the best cuts of meat i've ever had the pleasure of trying. Paired with a bit of the goat cheese/potato mixture together, It had the power to make you close your eyes and let out a huge "mmmmm". It was a winning combination. At the price of $39 for the entree, you're paying for the rare cuts of meat and a succulent tasting of wild game meats. If you've never tried any of these meats, I would be sure to definately splurge on this dish.

Overall, I would say that the food was amazing and well worth checking out. Even though the visual appeal of this restaurant screamed "family restaurant", the food definately was remniscint of a French Fine dining establishment. It was quite a strange combination of aesthetics and cuisine, but the food definately made up for what the decor was lacking.

Overall Rating:
Food - A
Atmosphere - C
Service - B

- Review by Theresa