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.
Hang in there, we’ve almost made it through another Midwest winter. The days are getting longer and spring is on the horizon. Because we’re all getting grumpy, we thought it would be fitting to pay a visit to the Grumpy Goat Tavern in Elgin.
This restaurant is well hidden in The Highlands of Elgin golf complex, and the only way we found it is because Nancy purchased a Groupon coupon for it. As you drive down a roller coaster side road, a beautiful park district building suddenly appears which houses the Grumpy Goat Tavern.
The Grumpy Goat Tavern
875 Sports Way
Elgin 60123
(847) 931-5950
www.grumpygoattavern.com
Directions: Take Rte. 47 South to Lake Street, East to McClean Blvd. Exit South and go to Sports Way East to restaurant.
Estimated Travel Time: 23 minutes
This four-year-old restaurant is more upscale than you would expect to see at a golf course. The interior is beautiful, and the bar and dining room is perched high above the golf course with a panoramic view. The tartan plaid bar stools accentuate the Highland theme.
For an appetizer, we just had to try one of their daily specials. We chose the (5) Crawfish Rangoon ($9), which was crawfish and cream cheese in a wonton wrapper, then fried golden brown served with Maeploy dipping sauce. They were good, but in our opinion, there could have been more crawfish in the filling. Because of this, we thought they were overpriced.
Jim decided to try the Chicken Po’ Boy ($11.50). This was grilled chicken, andouille sausage, creole aioli, Provolone, and black cherry chipotle sauce, all on a pretzel bun. It was served with lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, and your choice of a side from 15 items. He chose the cajun fries. I never saw Jim enjoy a chicken sandwich so much as he did this one. What made this so delicious was the heat from the sausage and the sweetness from the chipotle sauce. This was a little messy, but finger lickin’ good.
As usual, Nancy had a hard time deciding. She was torn between a Grilled Chicken Salad because it came with jalapeno corn bread and cajun honey butter, and the CBB Burger because she wanted to try the bourbon candied bacon that comes with it. The waitress came to her rescue and said she could have the CBB Burger ($12) and add the two jalapeno corn bread muffins for $1.50. Problem solved, and as they say, “happy wife, happy life.” The jalapeno corn bread muffins came with homemade pickle slices that were awesome, and pickled red onions, which I enjoyed. Nancy even shared one of the muffins with me.
My CBB Burger was Angus beef with thick cut, bourbon-candied bacon and jack cheese. It was served with yellow mustard, lettuce, tomato, and onion with choice of a side. I chose the bacon jalapeno slaw just to try something different. The burger was delish, and the bacon was the star.
To top off this unexpectedly good meal, they offer a clever option for dessert. You have your choice from three mini desserts for $1 each. We had to have the Beignets (2) with caramel sauce, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream also with caramel sauce. The portion size was just enough for a sweet finale! Kudos to the chef.
The menu has a lot of creole/Cajun dishes. You can tell the chef is creative and has tried to step it up a notch from the normal tavern items. This place is a hidden gem.
FYI: Handicap accessible.
The bill for our “Highland Fling” was $44.65. FOUR!!!
Jim’s take: The Cajun fries and Nancy’s jalapeno bacon slaw was over the top. The desserts were a brilliant idea.
Nancy’s take: They gave me Ranch dressing to dip the Cajun fries (Jim and I shared our sides) that were awesome. The slaw was fantastic, but the beignets … mmm, mmm good!
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