Something--actually two-- worth ordering at Avenue Ale House

I'm not a fan of Avenue Ale House, but it's one of those default choices for Oak Park get-togethers that are, inexplicably, not all about food, so I end up there fairly often. I usually get the turkey burger, of which I can only say it's better than most turkey burgers (the avocado helps a lot). I know someone who is very fond of their blue cheese burgers but I'm usually with a bunch of women eating salad and can't quite go there.

This time though I was inspired to ask what the day's fish sandwich was. The server said it was blackened tilapia, which it nearly always is, and we should be warned that it is very spicy. With a little more questioning she said we could get it with lemon pepper instead of blackening spices. So we did.

An excellent sandwich--way better than the turkey burger. Real fish, not at all overcooked, on one of their nice buns. Better than average tarter sauce served on the side. I can even imagine deliberately choosing to go there just so I could have it.

Then, as an added bonus, though we hadn't told her we were celebrating a birthday, our server must have overheard our discussion and brought out a piece of bread pudding with four forks for dessert. Again very pleasantly surprised. Warm, fluffy, moist, not over-sweet or over-spiced, served with a drizzle of chocolate and a dollop of real cream. Best I've had since I last ate--too long ago-- at the the Bon Ton Cafe in New Orleans.


Avenue Ale House
825 S Oak Park Ave
Oak Park, IL 60304
708-848-2801

Hmmm. I wonder if they are still using my bread pudding recipe over there? Secret ingredient - butternut extract.

Might be. There was something there that I couldn't identify but liked a lot.

The Wife and I went to the Ale House near the end of last summer and had a satisfying burger on the rooftop. This bar(n) has always seemed to serve better food than expected (not destination food, but quite decent by the standards of Oak Park, The Suburb that Doesn't Have Nearly as Many Good Restaurants as You'd Think It Might).

As I recall, Vital Information's excellent offspring refer to it as Al's House.

Amending my own post to mention a couple of things you should never order at Avenue Ale House. 1) fruit salad, offered as a substitute for your chips/waffle fries/slaw side with your sandwich. Maybe it doesn't come out of a freezer bag, but it might as well. 2) The "Oriental soup"(yesterday's soup of the day). It tasted like it started with a pouch of Knorr's, circa 1970, cooked with a bunch of celery and carrots till mushy, and then turned "oriental" by stirring in an egg. Not a success.

I have been to Avenue ale House in Oak Park a number of times. It's a fun place. Loud in the evenings. I like it better for lunch. Pretty decent burgers, really like their Reuben and their ribs are pretty good too. They are open later to dining than most places it Oak Park.

I don't know if it's still the same, but when it opened, their chopped salad was one of my favorite examples of the form - the dump whatever's left over in the icebox Cobb mentality salad that is.

If there's a bright center to the universe, the Avenue Alehouse is the point that it's farthest from.