Wild Onion Tied House

Highly Recommended **** When most of us think west of downtown, we think Oak Brook, Lombard, Downers Grove, never mentioning Oak Park, which is only a hop, skip and jump from the loop. Just think, seven miles from State and Madison, the suburb adjoining the city where life exists and almost every type of dining can be found. By the way, when there is theater, there are theater companies, including a wonderful summer outdoor festival from the Oak Park Players. Sometimes we forget about the city of Frank Lloyd Wright homes and how easy it is to hop a train from the city and within minutes arrive “downtown” Oak Park. Last night, we made the trip, and are so happy that one of our radio listeners suggested a place called Wild Onion Tied House.

First of all, one needs to understand the name. They are “tied” to Wild Onion Brewery in Lake Barrington. Brewers love to offer food to put the puzzle pieces together and the pub grub menu at Wild Onion is a mixture that will please everyone in your party, no matter their particular tastes. The building located at 1111 South Boulevard used to be a theater ( how fitting for my radio co-host, Frank and I to be dining in a theater) called “The Playhouse Theater” that was opened in 1913, so it is well over 100 years old. Under the supervision f GM Corey Sweet, and an amazing crew of people, you will enjoy ever step along your journey.

Being a part of a brewery, they have a marvelous selection of beers including some that are seltzer mixes. I enjoy trying drink specialties, so I did the Wild Onion Old Fashioned ( Bulleit Rye, Buffalo Trace,orange bitters, a simple syrup choice including one that is new-smoked) Delicious. They do their own smoking, so the menu is filled with smoked items and the best description would have to be “Holy Smoke!”.

While we were getting our drinks ordered, we shared the fried calamari appetizer. Quite flavorful with or without the marinara sauce ( nice and tangy) . For our “Shareables” we enjoyed fried pickle chips ( served with a side ranch dressing), their Mac & Cheese ( we should have done the loaded as the regular was not as good as I anticipated) and their candies bacon ( this is a must item). We also shred a full Caesar salad that was in fact large enough for all four of us to partake. The salads come as “side” or “full”.

FYI They offer two types of Chili- Vegan and  Brisket ( I love brisket and I love chili, so this one truly got to me. I would visit Tied House just for a bowl of Brisket Chili alone!

For our entrees we chose the Brisket Sandwich served on a french roll, their pulled pork sliders ( three juicy and delicious sandwiches) and a Reuben Panini (smoked pastrami, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese on rye bread- toasted to perfection. All of their “mains” come with fries ( if you say well done, you will see just how great a french fry can be), a cup of soup ( their soup is the chili), mashed potatoes, potato salad, a small salad or tater tots.

For the record, they have some specials BBQ dinner for two, Smoke-House dinner for two and a pick 3 BBQ Tray that allows the BBQ fan an opportunity to try a variety of smoked items. They also offer ribs ( next time) but since we had recently done ribs, we did other items that we seldom talk about. The burgers looked good too. They have desserts, but they were closing up and we were all watching our calories, so we said goodnight to our marvelous server Breon and headed home. A wonderful experience under our belt and a spot that we will return to.

The current hours are :

Tuesday-Friday  3 p.m.- 9 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday noon- 9 p.m.

They do offer a a brunch menu on Saturday and Sunday until 3 p.m.

CLOSED MONDAY

Wild Onion Tied House Oak Park is located directly across the street of the Green Line “L” and the parking is fairly easy ( meters) to find. The phone number is 1-708-628-3553 and their website www.wildoniontiedhouse.com

If you have not been to Oak Park ( either ever or in a long time) it is time to “Go West my friend!”

They follow all CDC protocol and offer curbside pick-up and delivery ( where grubhub services)