Jim and Nancy do not disclose the fact that they will review a restaurant before they attend, ensuring their reviews are unbiased and uninfluenced by their position with the Sun Day.
From the Sun Day News “Believe It or Not!” category. An old married couple living in Del Webb Sun City, Huntley, Illinois miraculously reviewed 100 different restaurants in the last four years. This can easily be confirmed by their expanding waistlines.
Wildfire Restaurant
1250 E. Higgins Road
Schaumburg 60173
(847) 995-0100
www.wildfirerestaurant.com
Directions: Take Rte. 47 South to I-90 East to Rte. 53, Exit Higgins Road West to restaurant.
Estimated Travel Time: 32 minutes
Have comments or restaurant suggestions for the Dining Duo? Send them an email at thediningduo@gmail.com.
On a serious note, it’s been a “gas”-tronomical good time and we would like to thank all of our loyal readers for their support and encouragement. And for all of you who have given us your negative feedback, all we can say is, “Na-na, na-na, boo-boo!” Now on with our 100th restaurant review.
For our big celebration we wanted to go to a restaurant that would match this momentous occasion. We thought of Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, but realized the limit on our charge card was only $35,000.00, so we scaled back slightly and got all fired up for Wildfire Restaurant in Schaumburg.
This elegant venue brings your thoughts to the old downtown restaurants with their wood, leather, and stone décor. I must admit, Jim cleans up pretty good and looked dashing, compared to some of the people in shorts and flip flops sitting around us. What’s this world coming too?
While looking over the menu, the waiter brought over a basket of corn bread, pumpernickel rolls, and onion rolls with whipped butter. The corn bread was our favorite.
Jim decided to have a bowl of Shrimp and Crab Bisque ($6.95) as an appetizer. This was full of shrimp and crab with corn and red peppers and he said it was really good. So of course, I had to dip my spoon into it, and it was delish.
Nancy decided on their House Salad (side portion) as an appetizer for $5.95. This was to be assorted greens with artichokes, carrots, eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, and croutons. That was of course until Nancy got through with it. She left off the, as she puts it, “yucky” artichokes and the tomatoes and had it with ranch dressing. She was in heaven; it resembled a Cobb Salad the way they presented it and she said, “This is what a salad should be, not just lettuce.”
For this gala celebration Jim went all out and had the Filet Mignon Wellington ($36.95). This was a filet encrusted in mushrooms and wrapped in a puff pastry and served with snap peas and au gratin potatoes. Halfway through the meal he said, “Everything on my plate is out of this world.” I didn’t taste his Wellington because of the encrusted fungi, but the snap peas were good.
Nancy was in party mode tonight and went crazy and ordered red meat for a change. She chose one of their most popular dishes, namely, the Filet Medallion Trio ($35.95). This was three (3 oz.) filets with her choice of three crusts. Nancy has a hard time making a decision when there are so many choices. Trying our waiter’s patience, she finally chose the Shrimp de Jonghe, Parmesan, and a Peppercorn Sauce. Now she had to make another decision for her side choice, which was easy for her since she too wanted the au gratin potatoes. Her filets were like butter in spite of the fact she ordered them “well done.” This proves it can be done if you have a good steak and an excellent chef!
And now for the pièce de résistance: dessert. Jim ordered the Strawberry Rhubarb Pie ala mode ($4.95 for a half order). This brought back memories of his childhood growing up with a garden full of rhubarb, and his mother trying to be creative to use it all up. Thankfully, this was not like his Mom used to make…He also had a Cappuccino with his dessert.
Nancy went all out tonight and ordered her own dessert of Key Lime Pie ($4.95 for a half order). These were (in her words) “cute, itty, bitty, triangles of lime deliciousness.”
FYI: Handicap accessible and reservations on a Saturday night highly recommended.
Our 100th restaurant review was a success, the service and food was wonderful. We’re looking forward to 100 more. We may have to hire Omar the Tent Maker when we dress to the nine’s for our 200th review!
The cost was $118.89; the memories are priceless.
Jim’s take: Normally Wellington is prepared medium rare to medium, I ordered it medium to medium well and it came out perfectly!
Nancy’s take: The best crust ever for a steak was the Parmesan, you haven’t tasted Parmesan topping until you’ve tried it here.
