Smile Politely

Big Grove Tavern updates its menu for Winter

Big Grove Tavern has recently revealed new winter menu items. 

From their newsletter:

NEW STEAK ENTREE: Grilled Bistro Filet
Spinach Latkes, Roasted Carrot & Celeriac, Peppercorn Hollandaise

When winter time comes around it’s hard not to put meat and potatoes together as it is a quintessential Americana comfort food combo. One of Chef Tomasz’s favorite dishes growing up was his Dad’s Steak au Poivre. This dish is traditionally a filet mignon coated in cracked black pepper and seared to perfection. It has since
evolved into a filet topped with a creamy peppercorn sauce. For Big Grove’s interpretation we have taken it one step further and introduced two of our favorite ingredients: butter and potatoes. Instead of a cream sauce we made a bright and peppery hollandaise and crispy spinach latkes. To add some sweet and earthy notes to compliment the rich bistro filet, we roast carrots and celery root with cumin seed and finish with parsley from our friends at Blue Moon Farms.

NEW VEGETARIAN ENTREE: Poached Farm Egg & Cheddar Grits
Red Wine Reduction, Roasted Mushrooms, Turnip Greens

When planning our menus we try to have something hearty and delicious for all our guests. This dish is no exception for our vegetarian friends! This dish features a poached fresh egg from Little Farm on the Prairie served over creamy, cheesy grits (cream from Kilgus Farmstead) with pan roasted mixed mushrooms, cippolini onions, and turnip greens and finished with a vegetarian red wine sauce. Warm, delicious and local- that’s what it’s all about!

NEW DINNER STARTER: Grilled Octopus Confit
Seared Jicama & Frisee Salad, Grapefruit, Tamarind, Toasted Pistachio

For our new Octopus dish, Chef Terrah drew inspiration from her classic French cuisine training and a love for Latin food. This led to one of her favorite preserved fruits: tamarind. Tamarind is a tropical pod-fruit that is sticky like a date but more tart than an unripened strawberry. It’s used in all parts of the world but is pretty scarce in the West. We add some savory components like garlic, shallot, ginger, and fish sauce to balance the tartness in order to compliment the Octopus instead of cover it up. A salad of frisee, grapefruit, and pistachio goes along with the Octopus. If you’re unfamiliar, frisee is a frilly, bitter green that is found a lot in classical French dishes and is a great component to help bring the natural sweetness of both the tamarind and octopus forward. The grapefruit adds a level of bright acidity to balance the sweet and sour of everything. The toasted pistachios really bring the dish together with their texture and mild fattiness. Is your mouth watering yet?

NEW DESSERT: Brown Butter Cake
Tart Cherries, Caramelized Pineapple, Shortbread Crumbles,
Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream

Instead of reinventing the wheel for this dish we have taken inspiration from the classic pineapple upside down cake.
Our chefs have upped the ante by browning the butter used in our cake recipe. This adds a very delicate note of nuttiness and a bit of decadence to the dish. We top the cake with tart red cherries poached in a red wine shrub and finish the dish with sugar cookie crumbles and fresh caramelized pineapple. It is quickly becoming a staff favorite. Move over, chocolate bread pudding!

Big Grove Tavern is open from Monday-Thursday 11am-10pm, Friday 11am-11pm, Saturday 10am-11pm, and Sunday 10am-10pm. You can make a reservation here

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