901 E. Lincoln HighwayOK…we’re getting old. I remember when my parents turned 40 and it seemed like they were ancient. I turn 40 this year and a lot of our friends have already hit that mark.
One of J’s best friends from high school (and the Maid of Honor at our wedding), celebrated her 40th birthday last weekend in New Lenox, IL near where she lives now. Her husband sent out a Facebook invite a couple of months ago and I started making plans for us to get there. I found a hotel nearby fairly cheap (hard to do because it was NASCAR weekend at Chicagoland Speedway which was close by) and asked my parents to watch the kids.
We got the kids to my parents pretty easily despite the fact they live an hour from where we were staying. My niece was playing softball that weekend in nearby Mokena and my parents were planning on being there to watch her. It worked out great for us because the park was ten minutes from our hotel.
It was super hot that day so we checked in to the hotel and showered before heading to 3 Corners Grill & Tap Room at the corner of Lincoln Highway (US-30) and Marley Road in the South Suburb of New Lenox. This is one of three locations for 3 Corners with the other two being in Downer’s Grove and Lemont. 3 Corners is fairly new to this location. As recently as last fall, this spot was known as Floyd’s Ale House. This 3 Corners sort of shares a plot of land with a credit union and after banking hours, their parking lot opens up for bar patrons…which is a good thing because the place was packed the night we stopped by.
The restaurant is pretty large and the first thing you see when you walk in the door is a huge bar area. It’s a big, bright open area with an enclosed rectangle bar, high ceilings, and TV mounted on either wall.
There are pub tables on either side of the bar with a very trendy, modern solid, dark wood design. On either side of a small wall is more seating with more traditional four tops.
We were there for a party so this blog post is going to be a little different. I assumed we’d all be sitting at a table and we’d have individual tabs but that’s not how this worked at all. We were greeted by our hosts when we walked in and shortly there after by a waitress who said drinks were covered tonight. I grabbed a beer list off one of the nearby tables and ordered a 2019 Liquid Truth Serum from Dogfish Head. I typically would have went for something local but I was under too much pressure and just went with something delicious that I recognized.
Later in the night, I had a second beer. This time I had more time to look and picked Villainous…an American IPA from Around the Bend Beer Company on Chicago’s north side.
This was a private party so we weren’t ordering from the main menu. Instead, we had an all you can eat burger bar. This thing was fantastic. They had thick, juicy burgers, pretzel buns, cheese, and all sorts of toppings in addition to a few sides and salads.
I went greedy from the start so I didn’t have to go back. I didn’t have to as it turns out they tried to send food home with us so there was more than enough to go around.
I built a double cheddar cheeseburger on top of one of their pretzel buns. If I had ordered a burger I would have went medium rare but since these were buffet burgers, they were all done a little past medium. The burgers were still super juicy and super flavorful. The pretzel bun is also a good choice. I chose to top my simply with just cheddar cheese. There were other options but I liked the burger so much on it’s own. It was like a much better version of a backyard BBQ.
I chose to go with some mac and cheese as side. The dish as a gooey, cheesy mess of macaroni noodles. It’s the kind of mac and cheese that is good on it’s own but butter with something mixed in to it. The flavor wasn’t overpowering so I added a little pepper to give it a kick.
They didn’t do fries because I imagine that would be hard to keep warm but they did do some pretty fantastic home made chips. I grabbed a big handful of the golden brown sliced potatoes and actually went back for more later. They were delicious as is but some blue cheese dip would have been amazing. I probably could have eaten the whole bowl they set out but I paced myself.
If this was the buffet food, I would be excited to see what the menu food is like. I was hesitant when I saw what was going on because buffet are usually lesser quality but I didn’t get that from 3 Corners. The food was maybe slightly blander and a little more cooked but it was still quite tasty and I left my plate empty. 3 Corners worked great for a party. We had a DJ, Karaoke, delicious food, and a great drink menu. Can’t ask for much more when hanging out with friends you don’t get to see all that often.