White Chocolate Grill

White chocolate is a confection of sugar, cocoa butter, and milk solids. In fact the same cocoa butter people use as hand lotion is directly related to the white chocolate you eat. Since it does not contain any cocoa solids, it has virtually no atioxidants, is in no way healthy, but is sinfully delicous. Take that image of sinfull goodness and name a restaurant after it, and you already have people hooked. The people at “White Chocolate Grill” are so ingenious, that they have you thinking about dessert before you even walk through the door.

Located in Naperville, “White Chocolate Grill” boasts an ultra hip décor with stone and maple wood covered walls, and an impressive wall of designer spirits. Open the menu and the thought of dessert is reinforced by having the dessert menu right at the top if the menu. They have a focused menu of classic American fare; made from scratch, a selection of house-made white chocolate and other desserts.

AZ egg rolls start out our evening with a slightly spicy kick. While more like a flauta, the spiced chicken, black beans, and jalapeños put a nice southwest spin on the traditional dish. To finish off our “warm up” for the main event, my wife and I each decide on the WCG salad. Mixed greens, Maytag blue cheese, smoked bacon, red onion, and candied nuts make up a salad that is filled with varying textures. The blue cheese is wonderfully creamy, the bacon is crisp and smoky, and the candied walnuts add a nice sweet crunch.

Tonights main course includes a parmesan crusted filet and a rib/chicken combination. The rotisserie herb rubbed chicken was exceptionally moist and flavorful with a nice crisp outer skin. The ½ slab of tender baby back ribs were smoked, grilled, and then topped with a sweet barbeque sauce. But instead of the usual hickory or mesquite wood, they smoked the ribs in oak, and it delivered a sharp contrast to the sweet sauce. The dish was accompanied by a side fresh cut shoe string fries, which were unfortunately slightly greasy and not very crisp.

The filet was a lovely sight to behold. The 10oz filet was grilled beautifully to medium, and the topped with an unbelievable Parmesano Reggiano crust. This was absolutely fantastic! The exceptionally tender filet had its mellow flavor turbo charged by the wonderful buttery parmesan crust. I would have eaten two of them if I had the chance! My filet was accompanied with their freshly whipped mash potatoes, which were very creamy, and had nice pieces of the potato skin running throughout.

It would be an absolute sin to go to a restaurant named “White Chocolate Grill”, and not have any dessert. To keep ourselves in good standing, we ordered the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake and the white chocolate brownie. The medium density cheesecake sits in a drizzle of raspberry sauce, has a nice raspberry ribbon running through it, and is topped with some of their white chocolate shavings. The cheesecake strikes the right balance of decadence and fresh raspberry taste. The white chocolate brownie is actually a “blondie” with chocolate chips and a river of white chocolate inside waiting to run out. The blondie sits in a pool of chocolate sauce and is topped with creamy vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and of course some white chocolate shavings. Rich and wonderful!

Final bill for the two of us with tip was about $120. Somewhat pricey, sure, but the high quality food, hip décor, and attentive service certainly warrant the price. Overall, “White Chocolate Grill” hits the mark and seems destined to be one the newest hot spots in the suburbs.
Location
1803 Freedom Dr.
Naperville, IL 60563
Phone - 630.505.8300
Fax - 630.505.8333

Someone please help me out in terms of posting an image. I'm obviously challenged in this.

Very awesome review, HungryZ. Are you sure that the White Chocolate Grill really is in Naperville, rather than in heaven? That place sounds absolutely lovely. Smoked bbq and white chocolate, are two of my favorite foods. Unfortunately, I'm not exactly sure how to post an image. Although, you could try putting the image on a photo hosting site, then linking the photo to here.

I was dragged to the White Chocolate Grill by my in-laws the last time we were in Scottsdale. The place was fine as far as corporate/chainy restaurants go...it reminded me of a nicer version of Houston's or the Claim Jumper...but i wouldn't go very far out of my way for what amounted to really overpriced steaks and chops. My real problem with this place is that it is named after "White Chocolate" which I hate as a food in general because the name is misleading as it is not chocolate at all, and in particular because it just sucks. The Naperville location is apparently the third location. Before you know it you will see White Chocolate Grill near the airport in Orlando, Columbus and Jacksonville and other parts far and wide. I predict a rapid expansion, massive corporate debt, foreclosures, layoffs and bankruptcy reorganizations in its future. You better get there quickly so you can say you had it way back when, before they sold out, went corporate, they are doomed.

HungryZ, check out the help I got regarding your same problem.
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=20372&start=60

And thanks for posting. My mom wanted to go here but we didn't know anything about it. Next mother's day!

To post a photo, it needs to be stored/uploaded on another website, which allows images to be accessed from other domains (websites like lthforum.com). There are many websites which allow such remote access. The one I use is a free one called Photobucket.

Once your photos are stored elsewhere, you can post them here by (a) finding out the website address (URL) for the photo, and (b) including it in your post. To find out the website address, right mouse click on it, and then click on "properties". You can use your mouse to highlight the website address (URL) and then copy it. To include it in a post, type in:

[ img ]

(without any spaces), then paste in the website address (URL) for the photo, then follow it with:

[/img]

(If you don't want to type the bracketed stuff in, you can click the button that says "Img" above the window where you type your post, and it will insert that for you, positioning your cursor where you need to paste in the URL.)

If you want the photos to appear in your post here on LTH, you have to do this with each of the individual photos, and not by typing in a link to a web page where they may appear.

I see you have a web page on your own website, with three photos from WCG already stored, so you're already "halfway there". Now you just need to type the post in a way that it displays those photos. I'm following the two steps (a) and (b) I just mentioned, to display these photos below. If you "quote" (reply to) my post, you will see what I entered in my post to make these photos appear.

HTH

HungryZ wrote:White chocolate is a confection of sugar, cocoa butter, and milk solids. In fact the same cocoa butter people use as hand lotion is directly related to the white chocolate you eat. Since it does not contain any cocoa solids, it has virtually no atioxidants, is in no way healthy, but is sinfully delicous.

Oh, I agree! I love white chocolate! The real stuff - not the "confectioner's coating" sometimes passed off as "white chocolate". (As you note, real white chocolate is made from cocoa butter, and not other types of fat, which confectioner's coating typically uses.)

The problem I find with many white chocolate based desserts is that there is very little characteristic white chocolate flavor to them. White chocolate is a mild flavor and it is easily overwhelmed by other ingredients.

I would love to hear about white chocolate desserts which highlight the strong, authentic flavor of white chocolate. To what extent did the desserts at WCG taste of white chocolate? I wish I could mention others available in the Chicago area, but I can't think of any that hit you over the head with "essence of white chocolate". Other suggestions?

Just a week ago I had a really wonderful white chocolate dessert, but unfortunately it wasn't at a restaurant in the Chicago area. (It was at Elements in Indianapolis, and consisted of an almond financier cake with Indiana peaches and a white chocolate sauce. The sauce was wonderful; it must have been almost entirely white chocolate, melted and mixed with something to give it a more liquid consistency, although it was pretty darn thick, almost solid, and with that knock-you-over white chocolate taste, just scrumptious. Unfortunately, they change their menu often, so it was just a fluke they happened to have it that night; I see from their website that they have already switched the sauce on that dessert to a vanilla creme anglaise.)

I went to the White Chocolate Grill about 2 months ago. While it was ok, I wouldn't call it the orgasmic experience that HungryZ had. As "IBlock9" mentioned, it's a serviceable chain restaurant, no more and no less. You could be several other chains and not really know the difference.

I really do like white chocolate however, especially white chocolate bark with almonds. Yumm!!!

Thanks, I finally get it!

nsxtasy wrote:To post a photo, it needs to be stored/uploaded on another website, which allows images to be accessed from other domains (websites like lthforum.com). There are many websites which allow such remote access. The one I use is a free one called Photobucket.

Once your photos are stored elsewhere, you can post them here by (a) finding out the website address (URL) for the photo, and (b) including it in your post. To find out the website address, right mouse click on it, and then click on "properties". You can use your mouse to highlight the website address (URL) and then copy it. To include it in a post, type in:

[ img ]

(without any spaces), then paste in the website address (URL) for the photo, then follow it with:

[/img]

(If you don't want to type the bracketed stuff in, you can click the button that says "Img" above the window where you type your post, and it will insert that for you, positioning your cursor where you need to paste in the URL.)

If you want the photos to appear in your post here on LTH, you have to do this with each of the individual photos, and not by typing in a link to a web page where they may appear.

I see you have a web page on your own website, with three photos from WCG already stored, so you're already "halfway there". Now you just need to type the post in a way that it displays those photos. I'm following the two steps (a) and (b) I just mentioned, to display these photos below. If you "quote" (reply to) my post, you will see what I entered in my post to make these photos appear.

HTH

One other note is that the photos should not be more than 600 pixels wide.

LAZ wrote:One other note is that the photos should not be more than 600 pixels wide.

If they are, they will still be displayed, as you can see in my previous post, in which HungryZ's three pictures are all 700 pixels wide. They will just expand the width of that particular post wider than other posts in the topic.

If I'm not mistaken, the width of posts without pictures depends on the screen resolution of your computer, in which case so too would the picture width which makes a post appear wider than others.

Well, I finally went to dine at the White Chocolate Grill on Wednesday afternoon. While I didn't feel that the place is as heavenly sounding as I thought it was going to be, the place wasn't at all bad. I had the bbq ribs, which were quite smoky, in a much different sort of way than my still favorite bbq place, Smoque BBQ. The bbq ribs at WCG wasn't a sweet smoke, wasn't a harsh smoke, yet more of a rustic smoke. Something more like a fireplace-cooked smoke, rather than a smoke machine. The mashed potatoes which I had with the bbq ribs, were quite good, the fries which my mother had, also were quite good. Crispy, non-greasy fries. The white chocolate brownie was okay-ish, yet should have been served with white chocolate ice cream, rather than vanilla ice cream. I don't understand why the WCG doesn't have white chocolate ice cream, along with more variety of white chocolate desserts. Also, the fresh squeezed lemonade was rather bland, especially for $3. I admit, that I am extremely picky about lemonade, so others may like the lemonade there more than I did. Overall, the WCG is good, not great though, yet better than most of these type of restaurants in the nearby OakBrook/Lombard area, with the exception of Weber Grill, which I love alot, especially Weber Grill's white chocolate ice cream.

Are we sure this isn't a Houston's in disguise?
I like Houston's for what it is, I just want to call a spade a spade.

chico

BP wrote:I had the bbq ribs, which were quite smoky, in a much different sort of way than my still favorite bbq place, Smoque BBQ. The bbq ribs at WCG wasn't a sweet smoke, wasn't a harsh smoke, yet more of a rustic smoke. Something more like a fireplace-cooked smoke, rather than a smoke machine.

My guess, you are describing liquid smoke. I doubt they are smoking anything at White Chocolate Grill

iblock9 wrote:

BP wrote:I had the bbq ribs, which were quite smoky, in a much different sort of way than my still favorite bbq place, Smoque BBQ. The bbq ribs at WCG wasn't a sweet smoke, wasn't a harsh smoke, yet more of a rustic smoke. Something more like a fireplace-cooked smoke, rather than a smoke machine.

My guess, you are describing liquid smoke. I doubt they are smoking anything at White Chocolate Grill

I don't think that it was liquid smoke. The bbq ribs weren't at all greasy. They were even less greasy than the bbq ribs served at Smoque BBQ, Weber Grill, and some of my other favorite bbq places. I could smell the smoke from outside WCG. Plus, over the past few days, I've had some moments where I could taste the smoke in my mouth since having eaten at WCG, which means that I like the bbq ribs there even more than I did when I posted my review. In my opinion, the longer lingering the smoke taste, the better. Stronger, longer lasting smoke taste. If there was a chewing gum that had bursts of smoke flavor packed into it, I'd be chewing the gum all day. I suppose that if I lived at WCG, I'd be eating the bbq ribs there all day long, if I could afford it. Plus, I'd be begging them to make a better lemonade and have white chocolate ice cream available to me. If they did that, then WCG would be very heavenly.

BP wrote:In my opinion, the longer lingering the smoke taste, the better. Stronger, longer lasting smoke taste. If there was a chewing gum that had bursts of smoke flavor packed into it, I'd be chewing the gum all day.

BP,

In BBQ circles that's referred to as Eating BBQ on Sunday, still burping smoke rings on Thursday.

Not my personal preference, I prefer a lighter more nuanced smoke that compliments as opposed to overpowers, but I've both eaten and cooked that way and know exactly what you mean.

Enjoy,
Gary

I had a pleasant, if not astounding or repeat-worthy, lunch here on Friday. The setting and uber seriousness (and sincerity) of the staff was the most remarkable aspect of this meal; the place looked like Craft Steak, the staff wore black and communicated with those Borg-like ear pieces that make me think I must be in Hollywood or Miami, not a parking lot shared with a Maggiano's in Naperville. Well, jokes aside, I actually liked the uber seriousness of the service, which was not untempered by a bit of self-aware humor at the over-the-topness of it all. Because, guys, the food was basically no better or worse than Chili's. We all had a sopa Azteca (not their name for it) that was just a perfectly fine tomato bisque soup with some white tortilla chips from a bag and a bit of Mexican white cheese and avocado. Totally unremarkable stuff. I had a BLT that was made, to their credit, with a very fine applewood smoked bacon (the sort of thing places like Firkin in Libertyville started doing at least 10 or so years ago), fries that hinted at frites, but were really just fries; it all presented as something more than it really was. Just straight down the middle of that road called J.B. Cheesecake O'Friday's Avenue; perfectly edible, perfectly bland corpo-nutrition. Feeling we really ought not to eat at a place called White Chocolate without eating any white chocolate, the three of us split a dessert that was a somewhat ill-conceived banana "cream pie" consisting of a graham cracker crust embedded with chocolate chips (what?!?) and filled with sliced banana, creme Anglais and a big mound of curly-cued white chocolate shavings. Conceptually (and in practice), just sort of all over the place and not untasty, but not remarkable, either. I'd actually like to go back and see how on their game they might be at dinner; I got the feeling lunch was not their sweet spot, based on the swank bar, black wardrobe, glass-walled kitchen, etc.