My wife and I just had dinner at a very nice place in Wauconda, Illinois, called "Biloxi Grill". We were speaking with the hostess about various things. She saw us write something down and asked whether we were doing a review. We said "no", but I realized after she left that I could do so. Here it is! The restaurant is at 313 East Liberty Street. They are right on a lake, with windows looking out on it. Mention was made of a terrace overlooking the lake, with meals served there. But, the weather wasn't up to that sort of extra treat. Their phone number is 847-526-2420. They have been in business since March. I saw a short blurb on BG in the "Chicago" magazine, and decided to take my wife. The theme of the restaurant is Southern cooking, and they do it very well. We were served bread, biscuits, and cornbread soon after being seated. The quality of the bread-stuff boded well for the meal to come! They have a very nice selection of starters. My wife had the "Chilled Fresh Louisiana Blue Crab, Lightly Dressed" for $7.75. It was small chunks of delicious crab meat on a few pieces of very nice lettuce with a tasty dressing. There was also a small pile of red and yellow bell peppers, possibly lightly pickled, and a small stack of what I can only describe as "angel-hair fried sweet potato" -- Yummy! I had their "Biloxi Soup Sipper" for $4.50, which is a taste of all four of their soups (Southern Seafood Gumbo was delicious, Sweet Corn and Crab Chowder was very tasty but appeared to have "broken", Smoked Chicken and Black-Eyed Pea reminded me of soups I've had in the South, and the Soup of the Day -- a roasted tomato and pepper soup was extra tasty). My wife and I split the "Biloxi Salad" for $2.50. The waitress brought it on two plates for us. It includes a very tasty dill buttermilk dressing, cornbread croutons (!), and a couple of pieces of fried sage leaves (!!). For our main course, my wife had the "Pecan Coated Mississippi Catfish, Savannah Red Rice and Sauce Piquant" for $11.95. The farm-raised catfish was tender, juicy, and flavorful. The crust was really good. She didn't particularly care for the sauce on the rice, but I thought it was just fine. I had the "South Carolina Pulled Pork...Mustard Barbeque, Biloxi Slaw" for $14.75. This is really tasty stuff, similar to the barbeque we've had in Clarksville, TN. Highly recommended! We ordered Grilled Asparagus (just slightly over-cooked, but good) and Creamy Cheddar Grits (fabulous, and I usually detest grits) as side dishes at $2.25 each. For desert, my wife had the "Lemon Clabber Chess Pie" at $3.95, which we both thought was delicious. I had the "A Wedge of Sweet Potato-Pecan Pie" at $4.50 and asked for it to be "a-la-mode" with a scoop of their "Buttermilk Sherbet" (I don't recall whether they charged extra for that. They should have, as it's very fine.) A nice selection of wines, beers (including several micro-brews -- I enjoyed Georgia Peach Wheat Ale), and mixed drinks, along with the usual (and some un-usual) soft drinks round things out. Service was very friendly and competent. We left about a 20% tip. Good music (mostly Bluegrass) was playing over the sound system, loud enough to be heard but soft enough for conversation. There are two large rooms. One contains the bar and the smoking section. The other contains the non-smoking section. Great! As you can see, this place isn't particularly inexpensive, but the food is delicious and portions are generous. They seem to be doing everything right. They deserve a great deal of success.
Illinois