Wild Monk

Lamb Poutine

We went to dinner in downtown La Grange at a new restaurant called Wild Monk. The owner also owns the restuarant across the street and we love their food so were excited to try this place. The concept of this resutaunt is gastro pub, meaning there are a lot of craft beers and a large slection of adult beverages paired with some relay tasty food. By not partaking in the adult beverages it somewhat baffled the wait staff.

We ate: 

Lamb slider

Lamb Poutine - french fries with cheese curds, golden raisins and a lamb sauce, we had never had this dish before (but had heard about the dish in general). It is a big hit in Canada so what could be bad about it. The raisins gave it a sweet burst with a savory bbq flavors of the lamb. And you can never go wrong with cheese and fries.

Beef slider

Jalapeno Cheddar corn bread - once again we thought our corn bread might not even arrive until after we were done with our entrees, but it came just after the entrees were brought to the table. It was tasty but no where close to our Table 52 experience. It would go great with some kind of chili, but it was way too hot outside to be ordering chili.

Lamb Slider with tzatziki, feta, pepper relish and cucumber and Beef Slider with blue cheese, bacon jam and tomato -These two sliders were both good.  Nick was expecting more than just a two bite sandwich (so we each got one bite of each one), but what we had was good. Nick preferred the beef with the familar flavors and was surprised at how much he enjoyed the sweet bacon jam. Natalie liked the lamb slider with its cool crisp summer flavor of feta and cucumber.

Jalapeno cornbread

Pork Belly Tacos with pineapple salsa - It is funny that Nick ordered this dish because when we were deciding where to eat out that night he firmly stated that he didn't want Mexican since we had cooked a lot of those type of dishes at home recently. But these were intriguing enough that he wanted them.  The grilled pineapple sugars off set the saltiness of the pork for a great summer dish.  We would get these again.

Final thoughts on Wild Monk:

Pork Belly Tacos

Food - everything we tasted was very good so we have no complaints there.  We just came away feeling not quite satisfied.  Maybe we felt that for a local place we should have gotten more bang for the buck.  On purpose we didn't order their full entrees because it was a hot day and we didn't want anything too heavy.  Also, this place is first and foremost a pub.  The waitress kept asking us if we wanted a beer almost to the point where it got a bit annoying.

Service - see comment above. Our water wasn't refilled quickly and in some cases at all.  Maybe because we didn't order any alcohol they forgot to come around and check on the water.

Atmosphere - cool looking decore, lots of tvs on the walls

Interior space



Outdoor patio







Ballydoyle

Went to eat at Ballydoyle in Downers Grove, an English/Irish Pub.  It was a late celebration of St. Patrick's Day for us.

 


Corned Beef Bites

As an appetizer we had Corned beef bites - they were corned beef and cream cheese shaped into balls and fried. It filled Nick's need for corned beef for St Patty's day. They were warm and freshly fried. We were a little apprehensive about the cream cheese but it went together well with the corned beef.  They were served with a cocktail sauce, but it really was not the best sauce to pair them with as it was too tangy and strong.  The cocktail sauce over powered the corned beef; maybe a honey mustard or mild mustard sauce would have been better.

For entrees we ordered a Steak Boxty and Bangers and Mash.  In Irish, a Boxty means "poor house bread".  The menu described the boxty as a homemade potato pancake cooked on a griddle and wrapped around a filling.  The potato pancake was actually thin and crepe-looking; not exactly what we expected  from a potato pancake (i.e. not like a Jewish/Polish pancake).  But it was very delicate and nicely wrapped around tender well flavored steak.  Nick wishes he could have tried the corned beef boxty.

Inside a corned beef bite

The Bangers and Mash were several links of Irish sausages with a mountain of mashed potatoes.  The bangers were well balanced in the spice arena and served in a light gravy. Natalie was hoping that they would be sweet like the bangers we ate at Chequers in La Grange but they were still delicious.

Final thoughts on Ballydoyle:
Food - tasty, would like to try their corned beef in a more traditional presentation.  Otherwise standard bar fare.
Service - when we walked in there was a sign that said to seat yourself, which seemed a little odd. Then we felt like we waited a long time to get menus and water.  After that everything was served very quickly.


Steak Boxty

Atmosphere - most people probably come here for the pub atmosphere so eating here on a Monday night doesn't really exude the same feeling as on a weekend.  But in the bar area they do have a stage for band performances to take place at night. Something else we noticed is that the waitresses are dressed in kilts and t-shirts - maybe trying to be like Tilted kilt, just a little more subdued an not overtly sexual.

Bangers & Mash