1616 E. Chicago RoadWe went for the low key Father’s Day. We spent it at Jessica’s parents. I smoked some ribs and a pork butt. The kids took a boat ride. I took a nap or two. Nothing fancy which is fine with me.
We decided to stay the night at her parents since I was going to smoke a pork butt. I had to get up early to get it started so it was better that we were just there. I could get up and everyone else could sleep in.
J’s parents offered to watch the kids when we got there so J and I could go to dinner. I was kinda hoping we could go to Bill’s Steakhouse but neither of us brought steakhouse clothes. J’s dad had a suggestion he thought we’d like though so we did that.
DaVinci’s Smoked Meats & Pasta has had a few different names but this seems to be the newest iteration. The restaurant is on Chicago Drive on the east side of town at the intersection with Franks Avenue just before you leave town. The building sits kind of awkwardly on a corner lot and goes for a cabin theme with faux rocks and logs covering the exterior walls.
The parking lot was fairly full as we expected on a Saturday night. There was a big party in the front dining room when we walked in. The lighting is kept pretty low with track lights and string lights doing most of the work. The log cabin theme is subtly mixed in with classic Italian restaurant which is what this place used to be before the owner got in to smoking meats.
We were taken in to the bar area which is where my in-laws usually sit. The bar is pretty cool. There’s a glass case that runs the length of the bar along the bottom. They use this area to display jersey’s from local sports teams and from professional teams I’m assuming the owner likes. The string lights highlight all the liquor bottles behind the bar and there are TV’s in the corners if you’d rather watch Fox News than talk to your dining companion.
We were sat at a table just inside the entryway to the bar area. There are a handful of tables in this area which was likely used as the “smoking session” in ancient times.
I was hesitant to come to this restaurant at first because it checks off one of my biggest pet peeves. There’s no menu anywhere online. Trust me..I’ve looked. I tried to rectify that situation but my picture of the second page turned out blurry and I didn’t look to make sure it was ok. I really, really, really don’t understand why this isn’t top priority for restaurants. They have (multiple) Facebook pages. It really only takes a few seconds to to upload them.
They have a very small draft selection but they have my go-to. I ordered a tall Two-Hearted Ale.
J didn’t see a cider she liked on the drink list so she did a Crane Lake Moscato out of California
Like I said earlier, this place has had a few different names and the menu reflects that. It was an Italian place once. The sign out front says bar & grill. The menu says smokehouse and pasta. All of those are on the menu somewhere.
I ordered the Smoked Beef Brisket Dinner. The dinner’s at DaVinci’s are a total throwback to the dining experiences our parents are used to. The meal comes with bread which came out as three pieces of frozen garlic bread in a small red basket.
It also comes with salad bar. I could have been nice and given it to J but it actually sounded good to me. I found the salad bar in the front dining room tucked into an alcove near the server’s station. It was simple with just a few toppings and a variety of dressings.
The brisket itself was two long pieces of slow smoked beef brisket. The waitress asked me what kind of sauce I went and I went with the sweet one. I assumed it would be on the side but they slathered it all over the top of the meat. I don’t get that. The brisket was delicious on it’s own. The sauce was really tasty too but I don’t typically eat good smoked meats with sauce. It defeats the purpose. I still loved every bite I took of the brisket but really wish the sauce had come on the side. I actually scraped off a lot of the sauce with the fries that I got on the side.
J did the Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwich. This, again, is slow smoked pork cooked on site. It’s put on a brioche bun with monterrey jack cheese and slaw. Now J is more of a sauce person and they only did the thin Carolina sauce on hers. She would have preferred the thicker, sweeter sauce I got. There was a lot of of meat on her sandwich so she pulled some off and gave it to me making her meal more manageable. She also got the battered fries on the side.
Our bill was just under $40 before tip.
DaVinci’s was a solid meal and J’s dad was right, we did enjoy. There are minor tweaks that could be made that would have improved the experience for us but we were happy to have a night out without the kids with some delicious BBQ