Brio-Lombard

I visited Brio last week, here's my take.
“To eat well, is to live well.” Truer words haven’t been spoken, and it’s the slogan the folks at “Brio Tuscan Grille” live by. Brio actually means vigor and liveliness, so you might say to eat well, is to live brio. If the folks at Brio have their way, you’ll be livin’ large by nights end!

Glance over the menu and you start to see that Brio likes to change up some familiar favorites. Four variations of bruschetta are punctuated by a wonderful roasted red pepper, sweet balsamic, and fresh mozzarella rendition. Ditch the usual potato soup options and instead choose the velvety and slightly spicy lobster and shrimp bisque. Lumps of shrimp provide texture and the right amount of spice warms the back of your throat.

To really live large, you need to experience their version of surf ‘n turf. A beautifully tender, seasoned, and charred filet is accompanied by their signature crab and shrimp cake. Tender shredded crab meat is complimented nicely by the lump gulf shrimp. It’s then pan fried to a golden brown. Need your pasta fix? Handmade tortellini filled with ricotta fits the bill. To kick it up a notch, it’s topped with prosciutto, garlic, basil, and a sinfully creamy vodka sauce.

While I love livin’ large, it’s cool to live small every once in a while. Desserts at Brio are served in espresso cups, and are an excellent way to finish your meal without loosening your belt! Fun creations include the bananas foster bread pudding and the creamy chocolate peanut butter crème brulee.

Dinner for two with drinks runs about $125, upscale but not astronomical. Overall Brio offers fun twists on old favorites and reminds us that “To eat well, is to live well.”

Location
330 Yorktown Center
Lombard, IL 60148
phone: (630) 424-1515

Interesting review. I probably would not have even considered this place, as it appears to be part of a large national chain and there are so many other choices in the area.

I don't get out to Yorktown that frequently, but visited the Orvis store last week and saw Brio, as well as about a dozen other new restaurants, including D.O.C. (directly across from Brio -- not sure if this is related to "Pizza D.O.C."?) and a very large and conspicuously empty sushi restaurant, to name a few. I was somewhat overwhelmed -- shocked even -- to see all of the chain restaurants that also have developed near Yorktown/Butterfield, including Rock Bottom and Claim Jumper (I realize Claim Jumper has been there for a while). Just an observation, but, given the economy, I'd imagine that a lot of these places will have a hard time making a go of it -- this particular area seems to be really heavily saturated with chain restaurants.

creamy chocolate peanut butter crème brulee.

I used to be a creme brulee purist who would have winced at this idea, but I've matured and it sounds delicious. I think I'll make a batch this weekend.

I haven't yet tried Brio as when we're in the area, hubby and I tend to eat at D.O.C. It is a sister restaurant to the other DOC places. I believe it's been mentioned elsewhere in this forum. We did walk into that sushi place once, sat at a table, looked over the super-hip maki menu, glanced at the super-hip young people clearly enjoying the very loud music and decided the place wasn't for us. We went next door to D.O.C and had a very nice meal in a conversation friendly atmosphere. Our waiter was knowlegable about the food and wine list and overall it was quite pleasant. It is our go-to when we're in this mall.

Sorry I can't be more specific about the food although they do a decent cured meats and cheeses plate we enjoy. We tend to eat here post-movie and don't tend to go for a heavy meal. Just bites to have with wine.