There is a high-end audio trade show - AXPONA - that takes place each April in Chicago at which my company participates. The trade show was at the Westin in Rosemont near O'Hare International Airport for the past few years, but it will be moving out to the Renaissance Hotel in Schaumburg for the upcoming show in April. Being that Chicago is "my town" (an old joke in our company to signify that any city in our given territories are "my town") I'm usually called upon to provide the eating arrangements for our ever growing group of colleagues who attend the show. When it was held in Rosemont, that was no problem for me because I usually stay around there when I go into Chicago. However, with it now 13 miles to the west in Schaumburg, I wasn't really familiar with restaurants in the area. I knew that I needed to check out some spots to see if they would be up to snuff for us to dine in when we all got together in Chicago in April. After calling on an account in Hoffman Estates one day, I drove back toward Schaumburg to look around at the various restaurants and to give one a try. One that stuck out to me was a place called the Stonewood Ale House. I pulled into the parking lot to see what the place was all about and to have some lunch.
Louis Gatziolis grew up in a family that had restaurants in their blood. His father, John, ran Finley's Grill Room on Finley Road in Downers Grove for a number of years, and along with his brothers Alex, John Jr., and Tom, they ran a number of dance clubs in the western suburbs of Chicago for years. Louis decided to open his own place where he wanted to strike a balance between having a great classic restaurant and a great bar. He opened Stonewood Ale House in early 2005, featuring a good beer list and food that is wood-fire cooked.
It was around 2 p.m. when I got into the Stonewood Ale House, located on the corner of Mall and Kimberly Drives, just south of Woodfield Mall. (see map) There was plenty of parking available on the south and east sides of the
The front door of Stonewood Ale House took me right into the large bar area. There was a long, rectangular bar with an island of flat screen televisions hanging in the center. The bar area was bright, open and roomy. Along the wall near the ceilings were reproductions of old-time beer signs from breweries such as Genesee, Grain Belt and Adler Brau.
The restaurant was segmented into smaller rooms or areas. There was a large room toward the back of the place that could be used for receptions, parties or gatherings, and possibly for overflow dining. Other areas featured tables with banquette seating and tons of televisions throughout the place.
There was a nice room the featured a large stone hearth fireplace as the centerpiece in the room. The room had a number of tables and booths, and was well lit in the daytime from natural light coming in through skylights in the ceiling.
It wasn't very busy at 2 p.m., so I ended up taking a seat at the bar. The bartender that day was a nice young lady named Margaret who handed me a food menu to check out. They have a number of beers on tap at the Stonewood Ale House and I ordered up a Bells Two Hearted pale ale while I looked through the menu.
Stonewood Ale House has a wide and varied menu that sort of told me that they probably did a lot of things all right, but nothing really well. There was a full slate of appetizers to choose from - your standard sports bar variety of wings, nachos, mozzarella sticks, and fried pickles. They had a large number of salads on the menu, as well as pasta and seafood dishes, a number of sandwiches and burgers, and a number of wood-fired entrees including pork chops, steaks, ribs, and chicken.
Two things that really caught my attention were the pot roast sandwich and the meatloaf. The pot roast is slow roasted for six hours, then simmered in a demi-glace. It's served with mashed potatoes and gravy along with a medley of vegetables. The meatloaf sounded almost as the pot roast as it featured a blend of ground chuck, brisket and short rib beef topped with a sweet-tomato demi-glace. It was also served with mashed potatoes, gravy and an assortment of vegetables.
But I'd had a pretty big breakfast and I didn't think that either the pot roast or the meatloaf would sit too well on me for the rest of the afternoon, so I ended up going the safe route and got a burger. They have over a dozen assorted burgers to choose from at the Stonewood Ale House and I went with my old standby burger - the Swiss/mushroom burger. I asked Margaret to have the cook throw a couple slices of bacon on the burger, as well. A side of fresh cut fries came with the burger.
The burger featured a blend of chuck, brisket and short rib - like the meatloaf - and hand-formed into 1/2 pound patties. It was grilled over a wood fire and came on a sesame seed bun with sliced red onions and tomatoes, pickles and shredded lettuce.
For a wood-fired burger, it wasn't overcooked or dried out like most burgers cooked over wood can be. It was actually a very juicy and flavorful burger. The only complaint I had was that there was too much bun for the burger. The crown of the sesame seed bun was too thick and I ended up pulling away chunks of the bun as I made my way through the burger. But other than that, the burger was pleasantly surprisingly good.
Even the fries were good. I'm normally not big into fries all that much these days, but these fries had a nice crispy outer shell and a nice puffy inside. I could easily tell these were the fresh cut variety and not out of a freezer bag.
My colleagues and I usually have lunch together the day we get into a city for a trade show and I'll be able to put the Stonewood Ale House at the top of the list for a lunch opportunity this coming spring. The burger I had was very good - a little too much bun came with it, but it was still a good burger. The place was clean, comfortable and had a lot of space. The service I received that day was fast, efficient and friendly. Along with a good beer selection, there wasn't much to not like about the Stonewood Ale House.
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