Tallgrass

Amuse Bouche - Crab cake

We went to dinner at Tallgrass in Lockport.  It has been featured on Check Please and is generally known as one of the few fine dining establishments in the southwest suburbs.  It is located in downtown Lockport, which is far away from us, so it would be way far away for those who live in Chicago.

Potato that accompanied steak dish

The menu is set up in that you have a fixed price course meal (you cannot order any items a la carte).  You can choose to have 3, 4, 5 or 7 courses.  We chose the 4 course meal.  Basically of all of the items listed on the menu you can choose what you want as part of your courses and in what order.  You also designate one of the items as your main course, and this course is a slightly larger size and the other courses are more appetizer size.

Before the official first course we had an amuse bouche of a small crab cake. It was buttery and sweet as crab was in season.

First Course:

Soup Trio

Soup Trio: Squash/ Leek, Red Pepper/ Eggplant, Parsnip / Apple - all three soups were combined in one bowl.  They are 3 different colors so it looks like strips in the bowl. You could taste the distinct flavor of each soup. The red pepper soup had a warmer flavor. The parsnip/apple had a sharp note to it.  The squash/leek soup was sweet.

Asparagus, Feta, Endirve Sweet Red Pepper Panna Cotta

Asparagus, Feta, Endive, Sweet Red Pepper Panna Cotta, Hazelnuts, Chive Oil - This dish was amazing.  We have never had savory panna cotta but it was delicious.  Everything tasted great together.



 

Second Course:

Three Cheese Ravioli, French Onion Soup, Buttered Crumbs and prosciutto.  We expected a bit more french onion soup, but it was perfect size for a coursed meal.  The onions were sweet and although the ravioli were in the soup it didn't make the pasta soggy. 

Three Cheese Ravioli

 

Wild Diver Scallops, Chorizo Pilaf, Crisp Garlic, Piperade Shot,Lemon Butter - The scallops and rice pilaf were a nice combination.  The rice was a bit spicy due to the chorizo, but it certainly made us like rice pilaf better than normal.

 Third Course (main course):

N.Y. Strip, Fresh Herbs, Capers, Roasted Garlic, Paprika Aioli - we were surprised to see it served already sliced, but this made the presentation much more beautiful.  The flavors were awesome - nice and juicy steak.

Scallops

NY Strip

Assortment plate

Assortment Plate:  Lobster Lasagna, Prawn/Chorizo Tostada, Crab Beignet, Smoked Salmon Gnocchi, Parmesan Deviled Egg. This was also presented quite beautifully, with small portion of all the items. The beignet was warm and gooey but in a good way.  All of the seafood was delicious and delectable.  The deviled egg being served in the eggshell must be in presentation right now as we had the same presentation with an egg desert we had a few weeks ago at Takashi.

 

Fourth Course- We chose dessert as our last course but you could pick all savory options for all of your courses as well, if that is what you would prefer.

Chocolate Quintet: Tower, Truffle, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Crepe, Souffle, Pot de Creme.  No question about what dessert Nick would choose considering the options. The quintet covers all the bases with wonderful chocolate dessert options that all tasted great.

Pumpkin Souffle



Pumpkin and Maple Praline Souffle - there was a small chocolate souffle on the chocolate quintet plate, but this was a larger souffle of wonderful fall flavors. The creaminess of it melted in your mouth.

Chocolate Quintet

Natalie was pretty full at the end of the meal and Nick was pretty much full.  So 4 courses was definitely plenty for us.  You would probably have to be pretty hungry to do the 5 or 7 courses. 

Final thoughts on Tallgrass:

Food - really good food, I think we prefer it slightly to Courtrights which we recently dined at (one of the other fine dining estalishments in the southwest suburbs)

Service - the waitress explained each of our dishes as they came out, they brought out different utensils for each course

Atmosphere - a relatively small space, entrance is downstairs. One thing to keep in mind is that there is a set price depending on how many courses you choose to have. However, some of the food selections have a slight upcharge, so you may have a higher bill than expected.  The upcharges are specified clearly in the menu so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise.

Outside the restaurant (your enter down the stairs)