Tavern on Grand

11.19.06

My wife's parents gave her the reigns for picking out a place to eat Sunday brunch today. She checked out a few places online, but settled on Tavern on Grand. The website declares "Famous for Walleye," which is fortunate, because by the time we got there, it was getting on about 1pm. Typically in this situation my wife would be in trouble, as if she gets too hungry, she gets to a point where she can't decide what she wants.

Luckily, she's selected this place specifically for it being "famous for walleye," so we were set. In fact, we all chose the "Shore Lunch," which is a walleye fillet with some potatoes and steamed vegetables (I won't mention the salad since it was pretty much there as an afterthought). We each had ours prepared a little differently - the in-laws chose blackened, I went for grilled, and my wife went off the map - she noticed that the walleye fingers appetizers were done with a "cajun deep-fried" batter. She requested hers with this option, which they accomodated.

The walleye was quite good, both the blackened and the grilled. The cajun I wasn't to thrilled with, since it wasn't cajun so much as "buffalo," a seasoning which I don't typically like. Basically, though, it was all about the walleye - the rest was just window dressing. And that was fine with me, because the walleye did not disappoint. I ate my whole thing and was quite satisfied. Yummy!

The other thing I should note was the atmosphere. For those who are familiar with Grand Avenue, this place was a bit of a surprise. It was like walking out of the middle of the bustling city and into an out of the way local dinner off of a lake in Wisconsin. The walls were painted with a fake log cabin pattern, the waitress wore jean shorts, and of course the game was on in the background.

As we walked out, we declared this was definitely a score. The Shore Lunch was $10 (the normal dinner version was $15), but was way better than any other $10 walleye plate you're likely to find in the city. Of course, you're free to try something else on the menu, but with my history, I've learned to stick with what they're famous for!

* Mello Yello available