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.
“What’s in a name”?
“You can’t judge a book by its cover”.
Gifford’s Kitchen & Social
2300 Bushwood Dr. Elgin, IL 60124 847-649-3900
Directions: Take Route 47 South to I-90 East to Randall Road North to Technology Drive (Turn Left) and then turn left onto Bushwood Drive to restaurant.
Estimated Travel Time: 16 minutes
These two sayings apply to the restaurant we are reviewing today. The building’s exterior does not do justice to the beautiful wood accented interior. We are referring to Gifford’s Kitchen & Social in Elgin. Dining Duo Useless Information: This restaurants namesakes, Hezekiah and James Gifford, founded the city of Elgin in 1835.
This restaurant is ginormous, and we mean ginormous! There is a large dining area, private rooms, a huge bar, and a second floor banquet hall. There are two really cool features, they have two patios, one upper and one lower, with a beautiful scenic view of a large pond.
On to the important stuff, the food. We started with the Onion Brick ($7) for an appetizer. This was the size of a brick (hence the name), made of buttermilk battered onion strings with “comeback sauce.” These were absolutely devine, and we think that it was the buttermilk batter that made it so delicious. We are still trying to find out what was in the comeback sauce. It tasted sweet and tangy all at the same time, with a little kick at the end. We think that is what they meant by “comeback sauce.” Whatever it was, we’ll “comeback” for it.
Nancy just wanted a salad for a change and decided to go with the Chopped Italian Salad ($11). This was mixed greens, salami, mozzarella, sweet peppers, black olives, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, Parmesan Reggiano served with Sweet Vidalia Dressing. It missed being a “chopped” salad on many levels. The greens were not chopped. The salami was cut in small, very thing slices, not chopped into chunks. The mozzarella was shredded, not chopped into chunks either. Nancy orders her dressing on the side and this came in handy for her today. She switched to the Guacamole Ranch Dressing after tasting the Sweet Vidalia Dressing and found it to be, for her taste, 90% vinegar.
Jim, of course, found a funky dish on the menu today and wanted to try it. He ordered the Corn Enchilada Lasagna ($14.50) which consisted of corn tortillas layered with ground beef, Mexican cheeses, and roasted tomato salsa. This was served with salsa verde and guacamole. It sounded like a great idea to him, but it didn’t measure up to his high hopes. His entree was heavy on the corn tortillas and light on the rest of the ingredients. Dried out edges are good on brownies, not so good on lasagna.
On to dessert! We found something on the menu we never had before, so we thought we would try it out. We ordered the Churros Bãnabos ($6) which was cinnamon churros in a rum caramel sauce with cayene chocolate sauce on the side. These were excellent and we really enjoyed them. The cayenne chocolate sauce left a little heat in the back of your throat.
FYI: This restaurant is handicap accessible.
We seem to be on a roll lately reviewing restaurants that are at best mediocre and the streak continues…
The entree prices, in our opinion, were a bit high, but the appetizer and dessert made up for it. Those were terrific!
The price for our lunch date was $47.83.
Jim’s take: I loved the onion brick and the comeback sauce. As for my entree, “where’s the beef”?
Nancy’s take: Loved, loved, loved the appetizer and dessert. My salad, not so much.
Have comments or restaurant suggestions for the Dining Duo? Send them an email at thediningduo@gmail.com.
