Tallgrass Restaurant: Inconsistencies Abound (Chicago-Area Restaurant Review 16)

Tallgrass Restaurant is very highly recommended, since it is at or near the top in the food category in Zagat's. We were definitely looking forward to a dining experience, and we got one. First, the restaurant is totally incongruous in its location, which is in a slum-like part of downtown Lockport. While there a few nice antique stores around, most of the area struck us as just scary, especially the biker bar, and the fact that you need to ring a bell to be let in to Tallgrass. Steve thought the decor did not particularly fit a destination restaurant, as it looked like a coffee shop to him, though Lisa liked the dark wood and booths.

Tallgrass' menu is extremely interesting because the diner gets to choose each course from any section of the menu and can opt for 3 - 5 courses. We started with a cheese plate, which contained a good variety of cheeses, but none of them was particularly distinctive. Also, there were not enough European cheeses. Next, we each had an Asian pear and blue cheese salad. Again, this course was okay, and we both like blue cheese, but nothing about it really stood out.

The next course was seafood. Lisa ordered a salmon plate with three types of salmon. Lisa liked the salmon mousse (which Steve also tried and didn't care for) and grilled salmon (which Steve also liked). The third salmon course was not very memorable (so we don't recall what it was). Steve ordered grilled ahi tuna, which he really liked, but Lisa didn't care for it. (To be fair, Lisa really only likes tuna tartare.) Our meat courses were short ribs and beef tenderloin, both of which were less than stellar and rather tasteless.

For dessert, Lisa ordered the Tallgrass tower, which included flourless chocolate cake, raspberries, and chocolate garnish. The garnish was dark chocolate and very good, but the cake was a little disappointing. It didn't taste much different than a store bought cake. Steve was torn between several choices, and unfortunately picked the worst. He had the puff pastry selection of the month -- blueberry -- accompanied by a caramel sauce. Steve really likes caramel, which is why he chose this, but the blueberry/caramel combination doesn't work.

The wine selection at Tallgrass was limited and concentrated on American wines, with very few European wines to choose from, which also is kind of incongruous for a restaurant like this. We ordered a California Zinfandel, which was good. But it would have been more fun had there been a bigger selection.

The total bill at Tallgrass was about $350 with a bottle of wine. It would have been around $275 with wine by the glass.

The bathrooms both were a bit small, but were very clean, smelled nice, and were nicely decorated.

Our overall rating for Tallgrass Restaurant, 1006 S. State Street. Lockport, IL:

6 of 10 Steak Knives (don't go here expecting a true destination dining experience, which is why you should read our blog, and not just Zagat's before choosing a restaurant) and 2.5 of 3 Bathroom Brushes