Locally focused menu keeps 'em coming back to The Shanty in Wadsworth
The Shanty is a true neighborhood place — those of us who grew up in the area have been going here for 20 years at least and can reminisce about the 100-year-old building's pre-addition times, before area farmers donated all the barn wood used to update the restaurant. As the building has grown and changed, so has the menu.
We're now able to enjoy The Shanty's new menu, dubbed Eleven, which furthers owner Dimitri Kallianis' and executive chef Brad Trowbridge's efforts to support neighborhood farms, locally produced ingredients and a grove of organic olive trees Kallianis' family tends in Greece.
Along with being a neighborhood haunt, The Shanty gives off the vibe that you're walking into a big family dinner. Kallianis grew up in Gurnee and is well-known to locals. He's always somewhere around the restaurant, either answering phones, seating people, serving patrons at the full-service bar or running food from the nouveau American menu of fish, chicken, pasta and beef out to tables. The Shanty is the place to be and the place to be seen in Wadsworth, even if you haven't seen the extensive television attention the small restaurant has deservingly garnered from Guy Fieri on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.”
On a recent visit, our meal (as does every meal at the restaurant) began with warm, fresh bread served with roasted red pepper hummus, non-GMO certified olive oil from Lonely Olive Tree Organics (from the family grove) and parmesan cheese.
For appetizers we picked the apple brandy pork shank and the charcuterie board. The pork shank was bone-in, braised and drizzled with apple brandy sauce. It comes served on a mix of balsamic vinegar, kale and charred al dente brussels sprouts. The tender meat fell apart with a single chew, and the apple brandy glaze's interplay with the hearty meat gave the whole dish an earthy sweetness. Another nicety — the pork came off the bone cleanly and easily.
The Shanty-branded charcuterie board came stocked with imported Brie, olives, cured meat, wild salmon pate, cabernet sauvignon blackberry Dijon mustard and table crackers. Overall it was a satisfying dish, although I found the salmon too peppery as the spice overwhelmed the mild fish. The real standout to me was the blackberry mustard. I typically don't like mustard, but this was stunning even on its own with a kick of spice and strong berry sensation.
For dinner, we ordered the certified Chilean sea bass (with a toasted walnut pesto crust and tomato jam, on a smear of purple cauliflower puree), wood plank salmon (served on a cedar board, glazed with a mix of honey, ginger, brown sugar and garlic, accompanied by garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed veggies), the bone-in rib-eye (an 18-ounce cowboy cut topped with herbed butter from a local farm and a Guinness Stout pan sauce) and the bone-in filet mignon (12 ounces, aged, topped with imported Brie, resting on a red-wine reduction).
The sea bass proved a brilliant combination of buttery fish, crunchy walnuts, refreshing basil and crisp garlic with everything in perfect balance. A powerhouse of a dish that any chef would be proud to have on the menu. The salmon was another standout; slightly sweet from the honey but overall balanced. The fish was crispy and flaky at the same time, and could easily become a seafood lover's staple.
The rib-eye was good but not great — we found the meat to be a bit gristly and the butter somewhat bland. The Guinness sauce saved the dish; it was versatile and delicious, and we tried it with almost everything else we ordered.
According to our waitress, the bone-in filet is a new item, introduced to the menu based on demand from employees at nearby Uline — they would have the dish at meetings and then wanted to share the meal with their families. And we were thankful for those employees, because we were able to enjoy the dish also. The meat was cooked exactly right, seasoned well and slightly sweet from the wine reduction, which was tempered a bit by the Brie's weightiness.
The two desserts we had — cinnamon apple pecan bread pudding and Key lime pie — were made by a woman named Mary Jo, who came out to see how we were enjoying our sweets. We only had good things to tell her. The Key lime pie was on the milder side without overpowering tart notes, and it was as smooth as creamy cheesecake. Also soft and smooth, the bread pudding was full of big apple chunks doused in a tantalizing cinnamon explosion. Add in the vanilla ice cream and crunchy pecans? Perfection.
• Restaurant reviews are based on one anonymous visit. The Daily Herald does not publish reviews of restaurants it cannot recommend.
The Shanty
38985 N. Route 41, Wadsworth, (847) 336-0262, <a href="http://www.theshantyrestaurant.com/">www.theshantyrestaurant.com</a>
<b>Cuisine:</b> Nouveau American
<b>Setting:</b> Rustic casual
<b>Entrees:</b> $10 to $36
<b>Hours:</b> 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1 to 9 p.m. Sunday