Autre Monde

We finally went to dinner at Autre Monde in Berwyn.  We had heard about it from friends a while ago and then it was featured on Check Please last year.

Most of its menu consists of shared smaller plates.  So we ordered a few.

Roasted Cauliflower with raisins and pine nuts.  There was a sauce that covered this that was a little spicy.

Roasted Cauliflower

Scallop Spiedini - 2 scallops with broccoli rabe and grapefruit.  It was an interesting combination to have these ingredients together.  We were not expecting the grapefruit but the flavor of the fruit offset the saltiness of the broccoli.

Mushroom and Ricotta Tagliatelle

Mushroom and Ricotta Tagliatelle - This was our favorite dish of the night since we both love this type of pasta and this is a classic dish.

Duck Sausage Flatbread - with Manchego cheese, smoked tomato and basil oil.  This had a little kick to it as well.

Scallop Spiedini

We were pretty full after these 4 dishes so we didn't order dessert but it did seem like several people were ordering dessert around us.

Duck Sausage Flatbread

Final thoughts on Autre Monde:
Food - It was all great.  We were happy we got to try a few things - that is what we like about tapas style restaurants

Service - The food got out to us fairly quickly.  Pretty good service overall.

Atmosphere - It is a fairly small restaurant so it probably could get pretty packed on the weekends. We were there on a weeknight so it wasn't completely full.

Big Guy's Sausage Stand

We went to lunch at Big Guy's Sausage Stand in Berwyn.  This restaurant has been featured on Chicago's Best and on Three Days to Open on the Food Network with Bobby Flay. They offer traditional Chicago Style hot dogs, sausages and Italian beef.

Crawfish Sausage - crawfish andouille with burlesque sauce.  This was the most unique of the sausages.  It was tasty and different.

Crawfish sausage

Buffalo Chicken Sausage - spicy chicken with buffalo sauce, blue cheese dressing, carrots and celery matchsticks.  This was a spicy sandwich that was fun with the veggies on top.

Hot dog - with everything on it (no picture). A traditional hot dog.  Nothing super special.

All sandwiches come with fries.  You can also get any sandwich with a hot dog "kicker" so you only get the hot dog itself and not extra fries.

Final thoughts on Big Guy's:

Buffalo Chicken sausage

Food - the Crawfish and Buffalo chicken were really good but the hot dog was just ok.  The crawfish and chicken sausages were the most "different" things on the menu.  Most of the rest of the sandwiches were variations on hot dog or Italian Sausage.  But there are so many traditional hot dog places in the area; we're not sure their traditional items would bring us back.

Service - It took a long time for us to get our food.  Obviously the items are cooked to order, but it sure seemed like a long time considering there were only a couple of people in the place at the time.  We weren't there at a peak lunch time so it is hard to tell how they would be able to handle a more rushed pace.

Interior

Atmosphere - the Bobby Flay show 3 days to open made Big Guy's look a lot bigger than it is. There are really only three stools to eat at and a long counter - even our picture makes it look bigger than it is. In reality it is a large indoor hot dog stand. Much like the hundreds of others in the Chicagoland area. It looks like they have totally given up on the idea of a Drive up window which would have made it unique but their slower ordering and cooking process would make it nearly impossible to operate.