Prairie Grass Cafe in Northbrook

This evening, my mom and I experienced some moderately fine dining at Prairie Grass Cafe. I say moderately fine because it was fairly informal, but also because the food was just ...you know, moderately fine.

I was surprised at just how moderate the fineness was, because the Prairie Grass chefs apparently won heaps of awards when they worked for the Chicago Ritz-Carlton. I believe that this restaurant was also written up with great fanfare a few months ago in Food and Wine, or Bon Appetit, or one of the many other food magazines that are now just piling up on my nightstand unread because I work two jobs and basically pass out every night in bed still holding the biography of Alexis Soyer that I was supposed have reviewed for Saucy weeks ago, but can't seem to finish because my day jobs have once again commenced sucking away my energy and creativity.

But don't shed a single tear for me, because tonight my mother and I scraped clean a generous ramekin filled with lovely pate and served alongside a tiny pot of port wine reduction and a delicate fan of apple slices. We also made quick work of an overly salty fennel/pecorino/parmesan salad, two softshell crabs deep fried and served with an overly salty tomato and caper salsa, and two oddly dense shrimp cakes accompanied by a ginger-wasabi vegetable medley.

I rarely find food to be too salty. There seems to be a small contingent of the populace that bitches about saltiness in practically everything they eat, but I think the rest of us have established a pretty high salt tolerance level thanks to frequent restaurant dining and our highly processed food supply.

But wow, this food was really, really salty, and I'm not just saying that because there were capers involved. I know what to expect from them. That fennel salad was salted within an inch of its life, and I'm just not sure why. It made me sad. Fennel is so sweet and delicate, and it doesn't deserve to be brined like that.

The shrimp cakes were okay, but underwhelming, and my mom's crab was subjected to the same salt treatment as the fennel. For dessert, we tried the deep chocolate cake. It was lovely, but was delivered to us on a plain white plate. There was nothing else - no creme anglaise, no decorative strawberry or mint leaf ...not even powdered sugar. I don't mean to sound like a big whiner, but it just seemed a little strange. I could understand the plainness if we were in a stark, minimalist place that was trying to make a grand aesthetic statement, but that's not what Prairie Grass Cafe, in Northbrook, Illinois, is going for. At least, I don't think they are. I asked the waiter if this was normal, and he said yes, but that he didn't understand why either. Well, whatever.

On the other hand, the wines by the glass were great.

I'm not dying to go back. It just wasn't my scene, I think. The parking lot was stuffed with big cream-colored Lexuses slung casually across two or more parking spaces, and the diners tended more towards the custard-colored-pants-coordinating-socks-winter-in-Boca-geriatric set than towards whatever set I currently like to identify myself with.

So, it's getting late and it's time for me to pass out with Alexis Soyer once again.