Tallgrass Lockport Fine Dining

Tallgrass Fine Dining in Lockport IL

Friday date night out, we dined at Tallgrass Restaurant in nearby Lockport (IL). A fixture in town since 1981, it is situated downtown in the picturesque river town on the banks of the Des Plaines river valley. 

The town straddles the valley that contains the working navigable Illinois Michigan Sanitary Canal and the historic Illinois Michigan (I&M) Ship Canal, and the Des Plaines River. The section of the canal that runs through Lockport, includes the remains of the canal's Lock No. 1 from which the town received its name.

The waterways flow from the City of Chicago, meeting with the Des Plaines and continue south past Joliet to meet the Kankakee River to form the Illinois River. 

Following the waterways are the Illinois and Michigan Canal Gaylord and Donnelly Trail along the canal right-of-way that is now the Illinois and Michigan National Heritage Corridor. 

Tallgrass is in a restored turn of the (last) century 1895 red stone and brick Victorian building, in a small narrow single storefront on busy State Street opposite the Roxy Theatre.

The small dining room has rustic dark wainscot paneled walls, authentic ceramic mosaic tile floors, tin ceilings, original gas chandeliers and artglass windows, with a mere eight dining tables adjacent a small bar in the corner, allowing for intimate dining and attentive service.

 

Tallgrass is the work of acclaimed Chef Robert Burcenski and local native Tom Alves. Tom studied oenology in France in the Rhone, Burgundy, Champagne and Bordeaux wine regions, and worked with winemakers in Oregon, Washington and California, and curates the Tallgrass wine program. 

The dining offerings are solely price fixe with diners selecting three, four, five or seven courses from the menu selections that range from seafood, poultry, beef, pork, lamb, vegetable dishes, salads and desserts, plus a couple of specials for the evening. Diners choose combinations with each offered as an entree or an starter. 

Dinners include a broad selection of fresh baked breads. 

There is a carefully selected winelist of a dozen WBTG - Wine-by-the-glass selections, and range of two hundred labels by the bottle to accompany each entree selection, primarily American. The wines are good values with a 1.5 to 2x multiple of retail prices. Note that while the actual winelist selection was greater than shown on the website, the prices as listed and shown on the website are woefully understated.

Linda selected the onion soup, the mixed green salad and a seafood medley entree selection. 

For my main course I selected one of the day's specials - Beef Tenderloin with foie gras mousse in a dark brown sauce with scalloped potatoes. For my starter I selected a Lump Crab, Lobster and Shrimp cake with Prawn in a lobster creme fraiche sauce. My vegetable course was an imaginative spinach ravioli with truffle and regianno cheese. 

Due to their fair and reasonable wine prices, we did not bring BYOB, which is our usual practice given our extensive personal cellar. We selected from the wine list Miner Napa Valley Chardonnay. 

Miner Family Napa Valley Chardonnay 2018

Miner is a family-owned winery sited up against the eastern hills of the Oakville appellation in the heart of Napa Valley. Founded in 1998 by former Oracle software executive Dave and Emily Miner, Miner Family Winery crafts wines sourced from fruit from estate and select grower's vineyards. This release was sourced from the Napa Valley Holman, Hyde and Genny’s Vineyards.

Winemaker Notes: "Sourced from low-yielding vineyards in Napa Valley, this Chardonnay is characterized by crisp apple, ripe melon and citrus flavors gently balanced with toasty French oak."

This was rated 92 points by James Suckling, 90 points by Wine & Spirits and 87 points by Wine Enthusiast.

Straw colored, medium bodied, rich forward green apple, pear and tangy citrus fruits with notes of mango and mineral on a creamy finish. 

RM 88 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3448852

https://minerwines.com/ 

With my entree beef tenderloin I ordered from the WBTG selection this Raymond "R" California Cabernet Sauvignon. 

Raymond "R" Collection California Cabernet Lot No. 1 2018

This is the budget value collection of Raymond Family wines. The Lot No. 1 refers to the first grape varietal produced by the winery, Cabernet Sauvignon. 

 

The Raymond family arrived in Napa Valley in 1933 and became connected to the Beringer family via marriage in 1936. Roy Raymond worked as winemaker for Beringer from 1933-1970. 

In 1970, Ray and his two sons set out on their own with the 90-acre estate property in Rutherford just south of St. Helena off St Helena highway at Zinfandel Lane where the winery is located. The first Raymond Vineyards label was released in 1974.

Today Raymond is affiliated with the French Burgundy Boisset Collection of global properties.  

This was basic easy casual sipping as a nice accompaniment to the beef tenderloin and dark brown sauce.

RM 87 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3451525

https://raymondvineyards.com/

For the dessert course Linda selected Raspberry Creme Brulee and I the Chocolate souffle.  This turned into a bit of a kurfuffle as they served us the wrong entree's from another table and never really were able to recover in correcting the situation. 

https://www.tallgrassrestaurant.com/

Pour Boys Fall Wine Dinner

Pour Boys Fall Wine Dinner features spectacular wines and food pairings

We hosted our Pour Boys wine group fall wine dinner. Bill & Beth came in from South Carolina, escaping Hurricane Ian, Dr Dan & Linda from Indiana, and Lyle and Terry out from the City. 

We were joined by son Sean and Michelle and grand-daughter Lavender, recently new neighbors, and son Ryan and wine buddy Dave M. 

 Each time we think we have out done ourselves with a spectacular wine flight, we seem to step it up another level, and tonight was another such occasion. 

We started with a pair of premium California Chardonnays with grilled scallops in beure blanc sauce, baked brie in pastry with toasted almonds and figs, with fresh berries and toast points, and deviled eggs. 

Nickle and Nickle Sonoma County Russian River Valley Stiling Vineyard Chardonnay 2013

Sea Smoke Santa Rita Hills Santa Barbara County Chardonnay 2010

Dan brought a recent release of this label which we set aside to drink this older vintage release. 

Lyle wanted to try a certain St Julien Bordeaux from his cellar so I opened an older vintage of the same label for a mini vertical tasting of Château Branaire-Ducru. We then opened another Bordeaux from the same vintage for a mini horizontal tasting as well. 

Château Branaire-Ducru St Julien 2005 and 2010

Linda and I visited and toured Château Branaire-Ducru Chateau winery and vineyards (below) during our St Julien Bordeaux Wine Experience in 2019. We also visited Pauillac and the vineyards and grounds of Château Pichon Lalande (below), one of my absolute favorite producers' labels.

 Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande Pauillac 2010

As we then moved to the dinner courses we opened a selection of California Bordeaux varietals and blends, starting with Linda's stuffed mushrooms followed by chopped wedge dinner salad. 

Linda then served grilled Tomahawk Rib-eye beefsteaks with a medley of grilled vegetables - corn, brussel sprouts, carrots, haricot verts, and onions, and scalloped potatoes.

Linda then served with the grilled Tomahawk Rib-eye beefsteaks a delicious medley of grilled vegetables - corn, brussel sprouts, carrots, haricot verts and onions, and her super scalloped potatoes.

Flight of California Bordeaux varietals and red blends - 

Chateau St Jean 'Cinq Cepages' Sonoma Red Blend 1997

We have visited the magnificent Chateau St Jean in northern Sonoma Valley numerous times over the years during trips to Napa and Sonoma, including a couple visits with Bill and Beth. 

Most recently we visited Chateau St Jean in Sonoma and did a Reserve Private Tasting with Dr Dan and Bill during our Napa Sonoma Wine Experience in 2017 (shown left).

Peter Michael 'Les Pavots' Red Blend 2011

Fellow wine buddy Ernie couldn't make it tonight. He's a wine club member from this producer and often brings this wine to our dinners. We've been fans and collectors of this wine for decades and pulled from the cellar this vintage release of a favorite label to match/compare with the same vintage Diamond Creek, another legendary label. 

Peter Michael hails from Newbury in Berkshire, England where I worked for fifteen years back in the eighties and nineties. I regret this was in the early days before he became a legendary American wine producer and hospitality entrepreneur over there, and that I never got to meet him during my almost two hundred trips to the region. 

Diamond Creek Vineyards Napa Valley Diamond Mountain Gravelly Meadow Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2011

We've visited Diamond Creek Winery on several occasions over the years. We did a private tasting with Bill and Beth during our Diamond Mountain Wine Experience - Diamond Creek Vineyards back in 2011, and then again with Bill and Beth and Dan for the Diamond Creek Open House 2015 Release Tasting in 2017 (shown left).

Beaulieu Vineyards Georges De Latour Vineyard Napa Valley Red Blend 2009

Brandlin Mt Veeder Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

We were then joined by son Ryan and his neighbor, wine buddy, Dave; Ryan brought a couple of big reds from Napa Valley and Dave brought a classic Aussie Shiraz/Syrah. 

Ryan and Dave recently hosted a spectacular Boy's Night Out cellar tour and tasting that I wrote about in these pages.

Phillippe Melka 'Metisse' MontBleau Vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

Seven Apart 'Expedition' Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

To accompany and pare with the Melka I pulled from our cellar a vintage release for a vertical comparison. It was fun to compare these Phillippe Melka labels in light of our recent visit to Galena Cellars Vineyards and Winery where we met Eric White, President and Winemaker for Galena Cellars who in 2015,  went to cult-cab Napa Valley producer Brand, and worked with Phillippe Melka there.

Phillippe Melka 'Metisse' Napa Valley Red Blend 2000

Wine buddy Dave brought from his cellar this classic Australian Shiraz/Syrah signed by the producer.

Mollydooker Velvet Glove McLaren Vale Shiraz 2006

 This signed bottle is especially appreciated as a special bottle as it is signed by Mollydooker co-founder producer Sparky Marquis (who has since left the business). Sparky is a personal friend and fellow racing enthusiast with a colleague and business associate,  Peter F, who manages Australia and the Asia Pac region in my business.  

For dessert, Linda served her delectable chocolate mousse with homemade profiteroles with fresh berries and whipped cream. 

To accompany the dessert course we pulled from the cellar an aged birthyear vintage port from Ryan's birth year.

Warres' Late Bottled Vintage Port 1982

As the evening progressed, to settle or substantiate debates and claims, and open questions about the Napa Valley vintage years 2004 and 2005, the guys ventured back down to the cellar to pull a couple Napa Cabernets from those vintages.

Ryan and Dave - photo from
Caroline Ct Wine Boys 22

Darioush Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvigon 2004 

This was somewhat special because we were first introduced to Darioush and first had a wine dinner together with Bill and Beth at a Cress Creek Country Club wine dinner back around the millennium.

We've visited Darioush several times over the years. Most notably was a private wine dinner hosted by Darioush and Domaine de Chevalier at Everest Dining Room. Chicago, with a special dinner matched to a flight of wines from Darioush and Domaine Chevalier. 

 

This fabulous private dinner was hosted by Darioush & Shaptar Kaledi of Darioush Winery and Olivier Bernard of Domaine de Chevalier (shown left with a much younger me). Dr Dan attended with us as our guest for this special dinner.

Most recently, we all visited the Darioush Napa Valley Estate Winery Visit & Tasting during our 'Pour Boys'  Sonoma/NapaValley Wine Experience back in 2017.

 

Paradigm Napa Valley Oakville Cabernet Sauvingnon 2005

 

Linda and I visited the Paradigm Oakville estate winery and vineyards and were hosted by owners Ren and Marilyn Harris back in 1999, as part of our Napa Valley Wine Experience 1999, and have been collecting this label every since.

Unless we manage another group dinner in the meantime, we'll next meet for our annual OTBN - "Open That Bottle Night", as is customary, the last Saturday in February. Following the seasons, we'll meet down on Seabrook Island in Charleston at Bill and Beth's. We hope then to possibly be joined by Bob & Gloria from Palm Beach County, and perhaps Ernie, and possibly Eric and Cathy, whom were all unavailable for tonight's gala.

Signorello Hope's Cuvee BYOB at Suzette's Creperie Wheaton

 Signorello Hope's Cuvee BYOB at Suzette's Creperie Wheaton

Saturday night, date-night dinner out, we dined at Suzette's Crêperie Wheaton for authentic French cuisine in intimate casual setting. We've featured Suzette's Crêperie Wheaton several times in these pages, most recently back in May in this blogpost. 

This is pretty a replay of those earlier posts,  Suzette's Crêperie in nearby Wheaton (IL), is one of the few authentic French cuisine eateries in the western suburbs, and one of our favorite go-to casual fine dining sites. 

Sited downtown Wheaton city centre, adjacent the convenient muni parking garage, a block from the Metra station, Suzette's offers intimate casual fine dining, al fresco dining out front or on the rear patio, a private dining room for special dinners, and a bar, adjacent the authentic Suzette's Boulangerie & Pâtisserie, a French inspired bakery. 

We're delighted to see Suzette's has survived and started return to pre-covid normalcy, offering once again their broader menu entree selections beyond their namesake specialty Crêpe menu.

As with our recent visits, again tonight, I selected the 'daily special' Sole Meunière, which is one of my favorite dishes, along with the Country Style Pâté, another of my favorites.

As featured in recent previous posts in these pages, the Chicken Liver Mousse and slice of Country Style Pâté  are served with Dijon mustard, Cornichons and delicious Red Onion Marmalade with toasted Brioche on the side.  

Suzette's Sole Meunière is served in the classic French style, Filets of Sole were dredged in flour, pan fried in butter and served with the resulting brown butter herb sauce, parsley and lemon, alongside spring vegetables and mashed potatoes. Wonderful, delicious, as usual. 

Knowing we would be ordering the Sole, we brought BYOB from our home cellar one of our current favorite rich Chardonnay's as an accompaniment, Signorello Hope's Cuvee Napa Valley Chardonnay.

This is the same wine we took BYOB on another earlier Saturday dinner outing that I featured in a previous blogpost Signorella Hope's Cuvee at Marco's Kitchen back in June.

Signorello Hope's Cuvee Napa Valley Chardonnay 2016

As posted in an earlier blogposts, we discovered and acquired (the then current release vintage of) this wine during our visit to the Estate on Silverado Trail in Southeastern Napa Valley during our Napa Valley Wine Experience in 2013. At that time I wrote about this label: "I am predominantly a red wine drinker and while I enjoy an occasional glass of white, most often with appropriate food, I don't normally get excited about a white wine. This chardonnay was the exception,  memorable and special."

We're getting down to the last few remaining bottles of the label that we've acquired over time.

(Former) Signorello Estate overlooking vineyards
and valley floor.

The Signorello winery sits at the very southern end of Napa Valley and has 43 acres of vineyards, including some of the oldest Chardonnay vines in all of Napa Valley - fruit from 37-year-old vines goes into his Hope’s Cuvée.

The magnificent Estate was destroyed in the fires that engulfed much of sections of Sonoma and Napa in 2017. Fires came down the foothills to the property that sat up the hill back from the highway.

The fire reached the winery and completely destroyed the hospitality center that also housed offices, a wine lab and a family residence upstairs. The adjacent  crush pad and stainless steel tanks survived intact along with the barrel cellar and equally if not most importantly, the vines of the adjacent vineyards. 

In the wake of the destruction from Napa Valley’s October 2017 Atlas Peak Fire, Ray Signorello vowed to rebuild. We're relieved to read about the Phoenix of Signorella Estate, rising from the ashes, literally, and being rebuilt, even grander and larger than before. Signorello said he viewed the tragedy as an opportunity to do something new and exciting and is rebuilding with a larger fermentation facility, wine caves and a stunning expanded hospitality center.

The winery has kept almost all of its team employed as an interim step toward returning to normalcy and they have been operating out of a modular building was brought in to serve as a temporary hospitality center.

The adjacent Darioush property nearby the sits at the valley floor closer to the highway and similarly situated properties were untouched.

Signorello "Hope's Cuvée" Napa Valley Chardonnay 2016

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate gave the 2015 release 98 points and said, "The best Chardonnay I have ever tasted from Ray Signorello has to be the 2015 Chardonnay Hope’s Cuvée." Vinous gave it 91 points.

Tonight's tasting was consistent with earlier tastings of this label. This Hope's Cuvée Chardonnay was full bodied but nicely balanced and polished for very pleasant drinking. It is bursting with flavorful fruit with layers of peach and poached pear giving way to hints of honey, almond, nutmeg, vanilla and creamy soft spicy oak. There is very pleasant full mouth-feel with rich texture on the palate with a long lingering finish of sweet mellow oak.

Golden colored, full bodied, rich and concentrated caramelized citrus, honeysuckle, white peach, pear and melon notes with a touch of almond and brioche.

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2806461

https://www.signorelloestate.com/

http://suzettescreperie.com/index.html

Vie Restaurant Gala Anniversary Prix Fixe Dinner with Wine Pairing

Vie Restaurant Gala Anniversary Prix Fixe Dinner with Wine Pairing

For our anniversary celebration, Linda and I dined at Vie Restaurant in nearby suburban Western Springs (IL), hometown of our daughter. We've dined at Vie and featured the Vie Culinary Wine Pairing Dinner in previous blogposts in these pages.

Vie is the flagship restaurant of Chef Paul Virant, who focuses on seasonal Midwestern selections featuring local sourcing utilizing traditional methods of preservation. He was a finalist nominee for the James Beard Foundation Award's Best Chef: Great Lakes in 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2011. He authored the 2012 cookbook, The Preservation Kitchen: The Craft of Making and Cooking with Pickles, Preserves, and Aigre-Doux.

Vie was the first restaurant in Western Springs to serve liquor since Prohibition. Vie opened its doors in 2004.

For our special occasion, intimate dinner, we opted for the Three Course Prix Fixe dinner with the curated wine pairing with each course. 

The wine pairings were selected by Vie Wine Director Grace Bradley, a Western Springs native. After passing her first sommelier exam in 2019, Grace passed the Certified Sommelier Exam with the Court of Master Sommeliers in 2022.

The Three Course Prix Fixe Menu offerings ...

The courses and wine pairings .... 

To start, complimentary sparkling white wine ... Portell Cava Brut NV

 Course One 

Corn Soup with Alesia Rhys Vineyard Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay 2018

Blackened seasonal vegetables, toasted pecans, smoked apple butter vinagrette paired with Babylonstoren Swartland, SA Viogner 2019.

 
Course Two

Pan seared scallops, curry roasted cauliflower, peach mustardo and mustard greens, paired with
Domaine Chevalier Les Pends Marsanne Crozes-Hermitage Rhone 2021. 

 This is the Marsanne white varietal label from Marlène & Nicolas Chevalier whose Syrah we've enjoyed at Chicagoland French Bistros Chez Joël French Bistro and Suzette's Creperie in nearby suburban Wheaton.

Salt roasted beets, burrata, blueberry, raddicchio, toasted hazelnut vinagrette, paired with
Pullus Rose, Styria SI. 

Course Three

Wood grilled CDK Beef Tri-Tip, roasted mushrooms, grilled green beans, sherry braised tropeo onions, green peppercorn beef au jus, paired with
Fattorio di Bascianno I Pinni Tuscan Red Blend 2018.

Wood grilled Sturgeon, basmati rice 'Tahdig', braised fennel, safron and preserved
cara cara beaue blanc, paired with
Emile Bayer Tradition Gewurztraminer Alsace 2019.

Dessert 

https://vierestaurant.com/

https://twitter.com/vierestaurant

Previous Vie Restaurant Blogposts 

Vie Restaurant Western Springs Restaurant Week Price Fixe Dinner

Vie Culinary Wine Pairing Dinner

Signorello & Del Dotto Napa Wines Paired with Vie Western Springs Fine Cuisine

https://www.paulvirant.com/

https://twitter.com/jarstarvie