I missed my annual ski trip this winter.  It has become a family tradition for years now to head out to the mountains of Colorado, eat, sleep and ski for a week or two.  This year, the beaches were calling and the skis took a backseat to the bikinis.  Looking back on it in mid-February, now, I realize the part of that trip I yearn for the most is not actually the skiing, or the mid-day glass of pinot grigio at the ice bar, or even the horse-drawn carriage rides spent singing carols while bundled up beneath plaid, woolen blankets.  No; the part I genuinely miss most is the hearty dinners in the massive mountain lodges enjoyed beside a crackling fireplace.

Guests enjoy sports viewing in the lounge

Unbeknownst to me until just a week ago, a little restaurant in the suburbs of Chicago exists that can actually satiate my every longing for a real mountain meal.  Driving to The Birch River Grill for the first time, I discovered that it sits nestled against the Doubletree Hotel in Arlington Heights.  OK.  So, the area isn’t exactly remote, natural or even exotic—really, nothing you would expect from a restaurant that serves award-winning wild game chili or something called a Cowboy Rib Eye.  The ambiance inside, however, makes diners feel as though they’ve just been transported into a completely different world—if not, at least, a different time zone.   

Larry, Moe and Curley over the fireplace

You won’t hear Shania Twain playing in the background, wade through peanut shells on the floor or find a paper napkin at The BRG.  It’s not that kind of mountain lodge.  And despite the fact that the friendly yet reticent wait staff wears blue jeans, cowboy boots and shiny, Rodeo-style buckles on their belts, the interior is modernly Western, designed almost from a Minimialist’s take on the contemporary hunting lodge.  Birch tree trunks shoot up from the dining room platform in an elegant yet rustic sort of way.  Oversized, soft-leather chairs welcome guests to sit beside a wood-burning fireplace.  And, although, the three antelope heads mounted above that same fireplace may upset some of the more Peta-friendly customers, it’s all a part of the fun décor.

Dishes like hearty artichoke and parmesan dip served with warm tortilla chips, flash-fried popcorn shrimp with haystack sweet potatoes and grilled crab cakes with chipotle mayo are all favorite appetizers among the regulars.  The wild game chili, made with bison sirloin, wild boar, andouille sausage and chunky portions of sweet tomatoes shined through with its fresh ingredients—unlike other chili recipes in which natural flavors are concealed by a smorgasbord of melt-your-tongue-off hot spices.  Perhaps that is why this recipe has won the Arlington Heights Annual Chili Cook-Off for two consecutive years.  And the Spruce Point Smoked Salmon flatbread?  Well, for all those lox-and-bagels-for-breakfast lovers, this is the creative dinner version that really gets the taste buds a buzzin’.

Wild game chili

The grilled “Baja Style” fish tacos are served with fresh cabbage, spicy salsa and a cilantro-lime mayo all wrapped inside soft, warm, corn tortillas.  Fish filets are grilled moist and go down in a flash if you’re not careful thanks to the complementary Southwest flavors of the salsa and mayo.  Other seafood dishes include a rainbow trout with beluga lentils and spinach as well as a cedar planked maple salmon with smoked pepper bacon wild rice pilaf.

Grilled "Baha-style" fish tacos

But if you’re in the mood for a hearty portion of red meat, as real cowboys and cowgirls usually are, then the blue cheese crusted filet mignon is the dish to go for.  Served with grilled asparagus, this robust steak is drizzled with red wine veal jus atop a generous helping of whipped, warm potatoes.

Blue cheese crusted filet mignon

When comparing items on the menu like the Mac N’ Cheese or the Yankee pot roast with the rock shrimp scampi linguini and the duck with mission fig polenta and dried sherry port, one begins to think that the chef may be having a real identity crisis on his hands.  What kind of place is this really?  Is it the playful, four-star version of the LongHorn Steakhouse or is it a creative and sophisticated restaurant with a theme? 

Executive Chef John Ayaleanos doesn’t help much as I’m trying to find a resolution to this quandary.  A Kendall College graduate of culinary arts, the veteran chef of the Lettuce Entertain You concept restaurants developed his talents at such places like Marche, Red Light and Papagus over the last decade.  “I’ve got Asian, French, Greek and fine French experience all under my belt.  I even ran a brewery at one point.  When you take all of these techniques and start applying them to the present, everything just melds together.”  Hmmm…So, it’s not exactly fusion, but the Chef is skilled in most popular international cuisines conceivable.  Perhaps my fixation on pinpointing a singular identity for this restaurant has impeded my ability to enjoy the simple pleasures of the food.

And then the Apple Brown Betty comes.  And I eat, and smile, and eat some more and smile even harder.  Ah, the simple pleasures of a crispy apple tart a la mode with hot caramel sauce.  It don’t get any better than this.

The Birch River Grill is located at 75 West Algonquin Road in Arlington Heights.
The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.
For more information, click here

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