Glen Prairie

Last night was my mother's birthday and big girl Kimberlee Dudek picked the restaurant to celebrate! For the past few years I've been reading Chicago Magazine and kept reading about Glen Prairie; local "Americana" food right in Glen Ellyn. I've been trying to get my parents to go there (who live a whole 10 minutes away). Of course, they are creatures of habit and always go to the same 2 restaurants alllll the time. However, I FINALLY told my parents..."we are going to Glen Prairie for Mom's birthday, whether you like it or not." So we did...woo! And guess what...it was delicious. My parents, boyfriend and I loved it. One of the best Suburban restaurants yet!

When we got there at 7p.m. on a Saturday, there was hardly anyone there. The restaurant was small, but quaint and homey. The tables had large comfy chairs and the table was a little small for 4 people, but we managed. We first ordered wine of course, which was a Riesling because my mother only drinks Riesling and well...it was her birthday. To my surprise, it was a dry Riesling, which is rare; I feel like every one I've had has been unbearably sweet. 2 1/2 glasses went down reaaaal easy. Because we were starving, we ordered 2 appetizers; sweet corn bruschetta and onion rings. The bruschetta was great! Corn, tomatoes, mozzarella, onions with a jalapeño sauce which I'm going to try to re-create at home. And the onion rings were PICKLED! That's in caps because pickled anything is TO DIE FOR!!! They were "out-of-bounds" as Guy Fieri would say. Like, I want pickled onions on everything from now on.

After a glass of wine, dinner came out. I had a quarter of a chicken with mashed potatoes and heir covert (French green beans). My mom had pork tenderloin with rice pilaf, my father had a cheeseburger and fries(as always), and Mark had short ribs with mashed sweet potatoes (which i kept eating) and brussels sprouts. Everything was DELICIOUS! Chicken can have a tendency to be dry and boring, but it was so flavorful and juicy. And the chicken stock sauce was delicious. The green beans were cooked perfectly...forget about that frozen crap.

Mark's sweet potatoes were to die for. I am a sweet potato freak soooo...no surprise there! And his short ribs...butter. I'm not even kidding. No knife needed. My family was literally eating off his plate. My mom's pork tenderloin was juicy as can be. I'm not a huge pork tenderloin fan but it was pretty good! And my father's dinner...I only got to try ONE fry. That's it. So I can assume it was pretty good?!

Dessert time came and I made sure to save room. As always, I picked vanilla bean creme brulee. It's my weakness, can't help it. There were 3 other things that I would have LOVED to try but creme brulee is always #1 in my book! Luckily, Mark decided to get caramel apple pie, my mom got pumpkin cheesecake, and my father got a brownie sundae. I tried everything...and it was soooo yummy. I could have just had dessert and been satisfied to be honest. My creme brulee was super creamy with raspberry and blueberries on top; just the way I like it :)

So GO TO GLEN PRAIRIE! It's great food, inexpensive and a great time! We are going back asap. Here's the link http://glenprairie.webs.com/