The two Barrington-area restaurants participating in Lake County’s “Restaurant Week” — the Onion Pub & Brewery and Chessie’s Restaurant — are serving new dishes and offering special deals over the course of the 10 days.
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The Onion Pub & Brewery in Lake Barrington is offering its new Beggar’s Brown burger and a flight of four beers for $10, restaurant co-owner Mike Kainz said.
“The Beggar’s Brown burger is slathered in sautéed yellow onions, sharp cheddar cheese and it’s got our Beggar’s Brown, which is a beer that we brew, in a special sauce we made for the burger,” Kainz said.
One of the pub’s lead cooks, Shaun Nash, said the dish adds a new spin to the restaurant’s burger.
“We have a different seasoning on it that gives it a little bit of a smoky, little bit of a spicy taste,” Nash said. “[The Beggar’s Brown sauce] is sweet so it complements it really well.”
For the flight, a variety of craft beers is offered — all made in-house, Kainz said. “We’ve got, right now, around 14 in-house beers on tap so they can choose from about 10 of those; so lots of different choices,” he said.
Chessie’s Restaurant, located in the Ice House Mall in downtown Barrington, is featuring four new, price-fixed menus: three-course options for lunch and dinner, a four-course dinner as well as an entirely gluten-free three-course dinner.
For $40, the four-course dinner special comes with a soup or salad, an appetizer, entree and dessert, said Maria Straussner, marketing director for Ice House Mall.
“It’s a great way to sample some of the things on the menu that maybe you haven’t tried before,” Straussner said. “And a very reasonable price for the amount of food you’re getting.”
Lake County Restaurant Week kicked off Friday and runs through Sunday with special deals all week long. Feb. 28 and March 8.
There are over 70 restaurants participating across Lake County. A full list of featured restaurants can be found on the Visit Lake County website.
This wasn’t the first year that Chessie’s Restaurant decided to participate in Restaurant Week, Straussner said.
“We’ve done it before and it has always gone really well,” she said. “The customers seem to truly enjoy it.”
Barrington residents, Terry and Joyce Skibiski, decided to have a night out at Chessie’s on Friday and were very excited to learn of the new restaurant week menus.
Terry Skibiski ordered the four-course dinner and, his wife, Joyce, ordered the three-course, ensuring that they both chose different featured dishes to sample more of the menu, they said.
“[I got] the broccoli crab bite appetizer which is fantastic,” Terry Skibiski said. “I’ve had these before and I saw those as one of the choices and thought ‘I gotta go for that.'”
For dinner, the couple chose cedar-planked salmon, a Chessie’s classic, and shrimp Palermo pasta, he said.
Skibiski said he recommends that locals come out to Chessie’s this week and that they make sure not to pass up on the dessert menu which includes a chocolate mousse tower.
“The value is good and the food is good and the options are varied,” he said.
According to Straussner, Chessie’s Restaurant has a unique history to it. The restaurant is named after Chessie System Inc — a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway back in the 1970s.
“The original Barrington downtown train depot was moved to make the building a part of the restaurant back in the 70s,” she said.
“So, when you walk in you see an old roof and that’s because that’s the original train depot and they incorporated that into the bar area.”
To get the full experience, diners can choose to have their meal in the “Dining Car” – a 1920’s vintage Pullman train car placed in the center of the restaurant, Straussner said.
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The Onion Pub & Brewery began in 1997 as the Wild Onion Brewing Company. Kainz said he owns the company with his brother, John, and mother, Sue.
“We were one of the early craft brewers in the Chicago market and people refer to us now as the gran-daddy of the craft beer movement in the greater Chicago area,” Kainz said.
The company switched gears in 2003 and decided to open a pub and taproom at the current location off Pepper Road in Lake Barrington, he said.
“It’s a really welcoming space. So along with the great food and beer, it’s a very cozy atmosphere,” Kainz said. “It kind of feels like a ski lodge.”
When asked about his favorite of the brewery’s beers, Kainz said it is tough to choose.
“I wanna say the crazy fingers,” he said. “That is our American pale ale but it’s very floral and aromatic.”
After 23 years in the brewing business, Kainz said they decided to participate in Restaurant Week in an effort to attract locals who may not have gotten the chance to try their delicious craft beer.
“There are people who still haven’t heard of us in the nearby area, so we figured this is a good opportunity to cross market both the restaurant and the brewery,” he said.
Kelli Duncan is a freelancer.