There’s nothing like finding yourself staring into the beady eye of a huge stuffed buffalo head just as you’re about to bite into a buffalo burger. It reminded me of Spy magazine’s recent “Bunny BurgerTM” prank, in which PR and marketing firms vied for the chance to market ground rabbit on buns in little boxes with pink Styrofoam bunny ears.
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Foodwise, the place is a hunter’s paradise. It may be a sports bar, but there’s more game on the menu than on the gazillion TVs–elk steak, venison, rabbit, and the buffalo, which seems to be most popular because of its low fat content. Grizzly’s Lodge serves about 100 pounds of buffalo a week, from a farm right here in Illinois. I guess a lot of people are desperate for some kind of meat; if poor Rover turned out to be low in cholesterol we’d probably be seeing hot dogs made from the real thing.
When it came to decor, these guys really ran with their concept. A giant, brightly colored mural of three bears with food in their mouths hightailing it out the window of a hunting lodge is painted on the outside of the building. The sign consists of a giant hand with its index finger pointing to the front door. Colored Christmas-tree lights are all over the place, indoors and out. Once inside there’s a real live tree strung with fairy lights, walls full of hunting-related artifacts brought in from northern Wisconsin, and even a little log cabin built into the back. Between the lights, the TVs, and the animal eyes staring at you, it’s optical overload time.
Desserts are baked daily on the premises. An enormous portion of dense chocolate “moose” ($3.50) is topped with whipped cream and a cherry. Yukon Jack bread pudding ($2.50) comes with a wonderful caramel sauce. Other selections vary, but there are always a lot to choose from: key lime, apple, and rhubarb pies, flourless chocolate cake (all $3.75). We clogged our arteries with a great caramel pecan cheesecake ($3.75) and, best of all, Oregon chocolate pie ($3.75), an incredible fudgy Belgian semisweet chocolate and whipped cream creation that explains why people in Portland don’t get the blues when it rains.
