Cooper's Hawk

Pretzel Roll Bread before the rest of the food came

We had heard about Cooper's Hawk from a few different friends, so we decided to try it to celebrate Natalie's birthday with her parents. We went to the restaurant in Burr Ridge, but they also have 5 other locations in Illinois and locations in Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin.  They are known for being a winery, but they also have great food.

Appetizer Sampler

Appetizer:

Cooper's Hawk Sampler - included over the border eggrolls (southwest eggrolls), tenderloin sliders, chicken potstickers, and mini crab cakes.  The appetizers were pretty typical of American restaurants in general.  They were all good and each item came with its own dipping sauce.

Entrees:

Sea Scallops sauteed in wine butter sauce served with jasmine rice and asparagus.  The scallops and rice were really great, but the asparagus was a bit tough - like they didn't chop off enough of the bottom part of the asparagus stalk (one of Natalie's bites was too tough to chew).



Sea Scallops, Asparagus and Jasmine Rice

Cooper's Hawk Farm Grill - 3 medallions, blue cheese crusted beef tenderloin medallion, maple, mustard and pretzel crusted pork tenderloin medallion, and parmesan crusted lamp chop, served with asparagus and whipped potatoes.  All three of the medallions were amazing. Nick's favorite was the pork - which you can order on its own. Each medallion had its own unique and bold flavor.

Farm Grill

Since it was a celebration of Natalie's birthday we received a complimentary birthday dessert of a white chocolate truffle, a chocolate covered strawberry and berries and cream.  The server actually brought out 2 of these plates because at first she didn't remember the special occasion. The chocolate truffle was the best item and you can buy those at their shop in front of the restaurant.

Final thoughts on Cooper's Hawk:

Dessert Plate

Food - tasty American fare with both upscale and casual food options

Service - not great, our server wasn't completely attentive (maybe because we didn't order any wine)



Flatbread we got to try

Atmosphere - lively, the restaurant was very full by the time we left. If you are a wine drinker, they serve wine at your table in giant decanters.

Goose Island

We went to dinner at Goose Island, a restaurant and brewery on Clybourn in Lincoln Park in Chicago.  We have had Goose Island Root Beer at home so that intrigued us.  We passed by it many months ago and made a note to try it someday.

Vanilla Creme & Spicy Ginger Sodas

You might think why in the world would 2 non-drinkers want to go eat at a brewery, but not only do they offer craft beers they also make there own line of soda pop.  There are 5 sodas to choose from - root beer, spicy ginger, vanilla creme, orange creme and grape.  We ordered the spicy ginger and the vanilla creme.  Both were really good, the spicy ginger was extremely unique.  We have seen all of their soda pop flavors for sale at our local grocery store so we will definitely be buying it sometime soon.

Jalapeno Appetizer

As an appetizer we ordered Stuffed Smoked Jalapenos with aged cheddar, cilantro and tomato creme fraiche. This take on a jalapeno popper was way more upscale than we were expecting.  The cheese wasn't too globby like most poppers  and it wasn't over breaded so you could still taste the jalapeno.  The jalapenos were served over bean sprouts and diced tomatoes to make it a lighter dish.

Black Earth Burger

One of the entrees we ordered was called a Black Earth Burger.  It was a hamburger with all natural beef, a goat cheese croquette, onion marmalade and spinach and it came with fries (these fries only came with ketchup not the truffle alioli like you can order as a side dish).  We were a bit apprehensive to order a burger thinking that it might just be standard bar food, but it really proved to be otherwise.  The burger was cooked to a perfect medium; it was tender and juicy.  The goat cheese was really great, especially served as a croquette because it was a great vessel to ensure the cheese didn't melt too much before being served.

Duck Reuben with homemade chips

The entree we ordered was called a Duck Reuben.  The sandwich included thinly sliced duck, baby swiss cheese, cherry sauerkraut, and house mustard all served on marble rye bread.  If you didn't know it was duck you never guess that it was. The duck meat was very moist.  This sandwich had a very unique taste, the cherry sauerkraut binds it all together kind of like Russian dressing does for a regular Reuben. The sandwich was served with homemade seasoned chips, which were great.  Definitely choose the chips over the fries as a side. They were unique in that they combined both salty and sweet tastes.

The menu descriptions here really undersell the quality of the food.  The food is all locally sourced so the food seems fresher and more flavorful. We came in with low expectations of the bar food but we were blown out of the water at the quality. Goose Island is an actual brewery and you can see the fermenting tanks by the entrance.  Nick first learned about this restaurant when we parked nearby to go on a ghost tour.  Something nice about this restaurant for the neighborhood is that they have their own free parking lot.

Final thoughts on Goose Island:

Food - high end bar food for a good price.  We would take people who appreciated this type of atmosphere in a heartbeat.
Service - We ate here on a Monday night so the restaurant was not very full.  We felt that the server actually cared about our experience.
Atmosphere -  We probably didn't get the full experience of this place coming early on a Monday evening.  But it looks like a nice place to hang out with friends. One thing to keep in mind is that there are 2 entrances to the restaurant so it can be a little confusing to find the hostess stand to be seated - but there are signs to direct you.

Brewery area