Bahama Breeze

I'mmmmmmm Baaaaaaccccccckkkkk!! Hello everybody. Ginger and I have not been eating out every Friday for the last couple of months due to some health issues in the family that have now been resolved. We can get back into our routine of enjoying our prelude to the weekend and sample the food and drink fare in our surburban paradise. It has been sometime since we had enjoyed an evening out and this past Friday crept up on us and we needed to find somewhere to go out to eat. I recalled an evening several years ago that Ginger and I had enjoyed at a restaurant in Schaumburg on Golf Road called Bahama Breeze. We have been there several times over the course of a few years. I remembered that the food was tasty and the atmosphere lively so I suggested we try it again.

We arrive at Bahama Breeze right around 6:30 PM with no reservations. We thought we would try our luck at open seating and try and catch the time between folks from work having cocktails and the time people arrive for a dinner out. As luck would have it we pull into the parking lot just as a couple of cars pull out from spaces near the front entrance. The outside of Bahama Breeze is very colorful and bright. As you approach the front door you can see the building's divisions very clearly. On the left appears to be an outside dining area but is glassed in so that it can be used all year long. It looks very much like a large cabana that should have a grass roof. As you look through the window you can see a bar and a stage. I remember sitting at that bar with Ginger and having the feel reminiscent of a walk up bar on a beach in Mexico. The small stage in the center of the room had a small three person band the last time we were here but there was no music or band today.... or at least not yet. The main restaurant has a very different feel...darker and richer in tone and appointments. It almost feels like all mahogany, teak and leather but I know it is the decorations and attention to detail that gives it the expensive island club feel. The large room is divided into three main areas. A huge bar dominates the rear of the restaurant and cleverly hides the kitchen and service areas. On the right is a general seating area accessed by a couple of steps up and to the left a similar area you get to with a couple of steps down. The area on the right appears darker and more intimate while the area on the left brighter and cheerier..... Or maybe that was my perception.... The truth of the matter is my eye was drawn immediately to the bar and the hum of activity.... This joint is jumping!!! At the bar, on the end on the right is a group of ladies (numbering around 8 to 10) and they are all wearing cloth and wire reindeer antlers that you would generally see in a child's Christmas pageant . I'm thoroughly amused and Ginger makes me resist the urge to go crack wise (at least not right yet "please!")

Presenting ourselves at the front desk, that is only about five or six paces inside the door and on the left, we are greeted by a cheerful hostess who promises us a seat "in just a moment" as soon as the other greeter returns from seating another party... I use the tiny wait to find out all I can about the antlered soccer moms... "What gives?", I ask. We are told that the women are a group of friends who had just enjoyed a Christmas shopping outing at the Woodfield Mall. The mall is so large and they always tend to get separated so the head pieces are a way for them to spot each other in the crowds. Very funny and weirdly practical. They have been here nearly two hours. As promised we are quickly joined by the greeter who accepts a couple of menus from the hostess and we are shown to a large booth in the section on the right. As we walk I keep glancing at the group on the bar and I wasn't sure what I expect to see but it is certainly entertaining to watch their animated gesturing and conversations with antlers bobbing up and down and waggling to and fro. We are quickly greeted by our server Daryl. He is cheerful and efficient. He asks if we would like to order drinks and confidently cites the wine choices for Ginger as she chooses a Meridian chardonnay and I elect a Pacifico beer (one of my favorites). He departs to get our drinks and we look over the menu of appetizers. It is a significant list and we can't seem to find one that we both have a hankering for until we get to the habanero wings..... whooooo........ after discussion and not having the courage to go after them we settle on the Jamaican Grilled Chicken Wings... It's not that we are so much frightened of hot and spicy so much as we were ambushed by our daughter and a chicken wings suggestion that to this day causes me to break into a sweat even thinking about it.... besides I want to taste the rest of the meal. Now if they temper their wings with mango it would be good but based on the description on the menu we have no way of knowing.

Our drinks arrive and here we go again.... that goofy little miniature carafe is employed here too. I hate those things and I have a pet peeve that readers of my blog are all too familiar with... But I'm in a good mood as Ginger gives me a knowing wry smile and we place our appetizer order. We sip our drinks and I keep leaning to my left and glancing over Ginger's shoulder in front of me to watch the activity at the bar..... I don't know.... kiddie antlers, all day shopping and two plus hours at a bar with eight to ten girlfriends......I guess I am expecting to see lampshades and dancing on tables by now. Daryl returns to our table before we have our appetizers served and asks if we want to order our dinner choices now. Since Ginger and I have pretty much discussed our choices we decide to order now rather than wait for our appetizer. Ginger asks for the grilled Mahi Mahi with no sauce or butter. I order the new item on the menu, Pan-Seared Salmon Pasta. This menu item is similar to a dish that Emmet's Ale House used to have on their menu that I really enjoyed and miss. This looks promising I tell Ginger and we say thank you to Daryl and hand him our menus. He sees that Ginger is in need of another glass of wine and asks if she wants another. Ginger says yes and he wheels around and is gone before I can point to my two thirds empty beer bottle to request a refill too.... darn I have to sharpen my reflexes.... This happens nearly everywhere we go.... either that or I have to train our server to know that two thirds empty means it will be empty in the next two swallows. Of course a dark beer bottle is harder to gauge the contents than a transparent wine glass. Before Daryl returns another server arrives with eight of the biggest chicken wings I have ever seen. They aren't the typical style of wing as the drummette is still attached to the lower piece which is still attached to the wing tip portion. Wow and they are golden brown and plump and whoaaaaa... piping hot!! These are so good and almost worth the trip alone. We totally enjoy them but realize only after two apiece (which in reality if they were hot wings elsewhere would be four apiece) that there is no way we are going to eat all of them and dinner too. Heck I could make a meal out of the chicken alone. We push the plate away and laugh because we know we are going to be taking home more than just some left over fish for Ginger's Saturday breakfast.

As we wait for our main course I listen as someone I assume is the manager stop at the booth immediately in my line of sight and behind Ginger. She engages the woman at the table in conversation and then has an animated conversation with the youngster who is in the booth with the woman. From what I can hear it appears as if the manager is offering a complimentary beverage to the little girl to match the frozen concoction Mom is having. Good for her. A kind gesture that I'm sure makes the little girl's night and Mom very appreciative of the attention. I take another peek in the direction of the bar and yup....still there and still looking like Santa's little helpers. About that time our meal arrives and I let Daryl know that I need another beer. I have a huge bowl of bow tie pasta and I can see the pieces of salmon in the creme sauce decorated with the green of the basil and spinach and only a bit of red from the tomato. Ginger has a large piece of Mahi Mahi grilled to perfection served with rice and vegetable. We dig in and Ginger tells me it is good and that she doesn't know how much she will be able to eat. I take a mouthful of my pasta and I'm immediately disappointed...... Not in the dish so much as in my expectation of flavors...... This wasn't the Emmet;'s version of salmon and bow tie pasta but something uniquely different. It has a strong flavor of it's own and frankly the basil's taste is muddied or hidden by the cream sauce and spinach and I can't taste the tomato at all. The salmon makes an appearance but it seems as if it isn't the star of the dish. If I were to construct this dish myself I would beef up the tomatoes and salmon's role and let the spinach be a bit player. (I have to be honest....I warmed it up for lunch on Sunday and it was quite tasty so maybe something caused it to mellow over the day and a half in the fridge.) Ginger and I are full before we are even half way done with our meal and when Daryl returns he knows instantly that take home containers are needed. He returns promptly with two containers with lid designs by Daryl and we scoop the remains into them for transport home.

After just a little while Daryl returns and presents us with our check and I quickly retrieve my credit card from my wallet and hand the portfolio back to Daryl who leaves to close out our bill. The woman who I thought to be the manager is nearby and I catch her eye so that she will come by our table. I introduce myself to Karen who is indeed the manager and confirm the conversation I overheard at the next booth over. I congratulate her on her thoughtfulness and praise Daryl's attentiveness. She thanks us for coming in this evening and waves her General Manager over who is introduced as Tim. We talk for several minutes about Bahama Breeze and the fact that I intend to write about their restaurant in my blog. We can't be more satisfied with the food, the service or the atmosphere. I assure them that the review is favorable and we thank them for their hospitality as we rise to leave. I again look over at the bar and son of a gun.... they are still at it.... They had apparently been there for two hours before we arrived and have imbibed for another hour since and looks like they aren't quitting anytime soon. Ginger and I make jokes about the poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas" as we try to recall all of the reindeer..."On Prancer on Dancer, On Comet and Cupid; On Sneezy, Go Dopey and Doc! We can't remember it exactly.

Bahama Breeze is a chain restaurant but not a large chain. They have only one location in Illinois and we are lucky to have it in Schaumburg. They have no presence in the West except Las Vegas and one store in a small suburb of Seattle. Bahama Breeze is owned by Darden Restaurants, Inc which also owns Olive Garden, one of the most ubiquitous chain restaurants. They are successful because they do it right. The menu is well stocked with the Jerk style seasoned items, seafood, casual fare to include Cuban sandwiches, chicken and steaks. All of it well prepared, hot and delicious. No the food isn't completely Caribbean but it isn't supposed to be. All Bahama Breeze needs to do is transport you there in mind and spirit and they have done that very, very well. You can't help but to enjoy the food, the hospitality and to be entertained. I really had a good time Friday night at an extremely reasonable cost. My compliments and thanks to Tim, Karen and Daryl and to the chef and, for that matter, all of the staff for treating us well and making the evening so pleasant. You can't go wrong with Bahama Breeze and I encourage everyone in Chicagoland to give it a try....... You won't be disappointed.

http://www.bahamabreeze.com