I have a dealer in the far western suburbs of Chicago and we had been missing each other on a couple previous trips I had made into the area. We made a point to get together for dinner some evening and he suggested getting together at a place that wasn't far from his home. The place - Stone Eagle Tavern - was one that I've been wanting to try for quite sometime. On a weekday evening, we met up at Stone Eagle Tavern in the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates.
Jimmy Vitale was a native of Rockford, IL who in his early 20's was a manager at the famous Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island off the upper peninsula of Michigan. He moved back to Rockford in 1975 and opened his first restaurant - the wildly popular Jungle Jim's Oyster Bar - one of the first Cajun restaurants in the Midwest. In addition to a handful of other restaurants that he ran over the years, Vitale also owned the popular Cliffbreakers Hotel and Restaurant in Rockford until he sold the place in 2006. He was lured out of retirement to be the G.M. of the hotel and restaurant two years later, but was looking to do something more along the lines of another Jungle Jim's Oyster Bar concept.
In 2009, Vitale opened the Stone Eagle Tavern in Rockford in an old Cheddar's location. Like the restaurants he ran before this, the Stone Eagle Tavern instantly became a local favorite with a varied and value oriented menu. But the Stone Eagle Tavern also incorporated a number of architectural antiques into the decor of the building. These antiques include a couple of stone eagle statues that flank the entrance to the restaurant given the eatery its name. He got those from a old Federal Bank building in New Jersey.
Pictured right - Jimmy Vitale
In 2012, Vitale opened a second location in Hoffman Estates hoping to tap into the growing NW Chicago suburbs. By all accounts it's been a rousing success. He's looking to add a third Stone Eagle Tavern in the near future, possibly in Madison, WI.
The Hoffman Estates Stone Eagle Tavern is located between Higgins Road and the Highway 59 Exit of of the Jane Addams Tollway (I-90) located on the south end of the Poplar Creek/Prairie Stone Shopping Center (see map). Walking past the two big stone eagles out front, I made may way into the place around 6:30 that particular evening. My dealer had not yet made it into the Stone Eagle Tavern when I got there. I told the hostess that I'd just go into the bar area and wait for him there.
As a throwback to the days of the original Jungle Jim's Oyster Bar, the bar at Stone Eagle Tavern features an oyster bar as part of the bar. However, in keeping with the architectural antique concept of his Rockford restaurant, Vitale installed a beautiful domed stained glass insert that he procured from a place on Long Island into the ceiling. It gave the bar area sort of a church-like feel to the place.
Curiously, some of the other displays in the bar area sort of made it look like it was run by the head of a Russian oligarchy. There was a vintage Indian motorcycle flanked by a stuff lion on one side and a stuffed Bengal tiger on the other. It sort of made me chuckle and shake my head as it was seemingly out of place for a classy place such as Stone Eagle Tavern. In contrast to the bar area, the walls in the dining area are adorned with the original walnut panels from the old Continental Bank building in downtown Chicago.
My dealer showed up not long after I got there and we decided just to eat at the bar. We took a table and our server for the evening, Jennifer, showed up with a couple of menus. My dealer had a late night/early morning of travel previously and was just wanting to drink iced tea. I ordered up a Goose Island Goose IPA.
The menu at Stone Eagle Tavern is extensive - wood-fired pizzas cooked in an American-made Renato brick oven; oysters on the half-shell, peel-and-eat shrimp, and steamed mussels from the oyster bar; and, of course with a name like Vitale, there has to be a number of Italian specialties on the menu. Stone Eagle Tavern also features a number of sandwiches, burgers, and appetizers along with a kids menu. And if you're looking for a good steak, you can ask the server for the "back pocket" menu.
They also featured a couple of good ol' comfort food items on the menu - the pot roast and the Tavern meatloaf. I had been eating crap for the past couple of days and comfort food sounded pretty good to me and I got the meatloaf. It came on a bed of garlic mashed potatoes with a side of cooked carrots. It was topped with a generous portion of onion straws and finished with a gravy sauce.
My dealer got the muffuletta sandwich which featured imported salami and ham with cheese, topped with an olive oil dressing and served on a Tuscan-style tomato focaccia bread. A chopped olive dressing - usually served on a muffuletta sandwich, no questions asked - was in a small bowl off to the side.
The meatloaf was thick cut, but it had sort of a peculiar taste to me. I thought it might have been the gravy, but it was definitely in the meat. It had sort of a medicine-like taste to me - sort of like they had put anise in the meat or something like that. It was noticeable enough to make me think that I didn't care for the taste of it that much. Still, it was good enough for me to eat nearly the whole slab of the meatloaf.
My dealer enjoyed his muffuletta sandwich. He said the sandwich was full of flavor and he said that he liked the bread very much. It was a big sandwich for the price and he was able to finish all but a couple three bites.
The food at Stone Eagle Tavern is a very good value - you get a lot for the price. I don't know if I care that much for the taste of the meatloaf, but my guest enjoyed his muffuletta sandwich. The decor ranges from curious to elegant, and if there is one problem with our visit was that our server - who was also a bartender - was too busy to take care of customers in her immediate area. With an extensive and varied menu, Stone Eagle Tavern does everything pretty well, just not great. And that's the problem with having so many things on a menu to choose from. But Stone Eagle Tavern seems to do it better than most.
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