Tropicana Evansville: Stay, dine, play

Stay at the very nice Tropicana Evansville Hotel or go upscale at the LeMerigot? Enjoy casual dining at Max & Erma’s or a steak at Cavanaugh’s? Try your luck at the slots or table games in the casino or listen to live entertainment? You’ll have lots of choices to make at the Tropicana Evansville in southern Indiana, but whatever you choose, you can’t go wrong.

Our comfortable room at the Tropicana Evansville Hotel overlooked the Ohio River, a picturesque view of the sparkling river with a walkway alongside it that beckons you to go out for a stroll. Later. Right now it’s time to grab a bite to eat.

With ten venues for cocktails and food, from casual to gourmet, not even counting the bars on the casino floor, it’s easy to find something that whets your appetite. The hard part is deciding between them. When we wanted a dessert, we opted for Max & Erma’s decadent triple chocolate cake.

Our splurge meal at Cavanaugh’s started with our choices of ten signature martinis. I went with chocolate, which seems more like a dessert martini, but it’s the one that most intrigued me. Our waiter assured me that people order it before dinner all the time.

Sipping the martini, watching a barge pass by on the river outside the window, and listening to live piano music set the tone for an elegant meal.

I ordered basic but my favorites: a salad, prime rib and double baked potato. After the salad and bread served with garlic oil, lemon sorbet was a nice palate cleanser.

I purposely didn’t finish my succulent, medium-rare prime rib, because I had seen the dessert cart and knew I couldn’t pass it up. We ordered the crème brulee, the brittle, sweet caramelized topping a crunchy contrast to the creamy custard.

If food quantity is your style, try the all-you-can-eat weekend brunch at the Temptations Buffet. You’ll find everything from breakfast meats, biscuits and gravy, eggs, and potatoes, to lunch foods like a salad bar, turkey, fried chicken, mac ‘n cheese, and too much more to list here.

If you want to eat while you’re in the casino, you can do that, too, at the Diamond Deli on Level 1. Level 1 is completely non-smoking, which is where I stayed while I was playing the penny slots.

Just outside the casino entrance in the riverfront Pavilion Hoosiers Lounge, enjoy free live music.

When you’re in need of a breath of fresh air, step outside the casino and take a stroll down the paved riverfront walkway. After you’ve burned off some calories, return to the Evansville Tropicana for more casino action before trying another dining venue.

The Tropicana Evansville is located at 421 NW Riverside Drive in Evansville, Indiana. Visit the web site for further details or to make hotel reservations.

Disclosure: I won my stay at the Tropicana Evansville, including dinner at Cavnaugh’s and brunch at the Temptations Buffet, in a drawing, but any opinions expressed in this post are my own.

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Q Smokehouse, Champaign IL: Authentic Smoky Barbecue

Connie Food & Drink, Illinois March 17, 2014March 20, 2014Champaign, Q Smokehouse, restaurants in Champaign 0 Comment

I love good barbecue, the kind with deep smoky flavor, the kind that’s everywhere in the south but rare in Illinois. I tend to gravitate to barbecue restaurants even in Illinois regardless, on the off-chance I’ll find a winner. So when I was in Champaign looking for a quick lunch, I was drawn to Q Smokehouse. Walking through the door, I drew in the aroma of an authentic smokehouse.

At the walk-up counter, order your choice of sandwich: pulled pork, pulled chicken, sliced brisket, smoked sausage, or burnt end. Burnt end—it jumped out at me. I’d only had a burnt end sandwich once before and I had instantly decided that was my favorite of all barbecue sandwiches. What are burnt ends? According to Wikipedia, “Burnt ends are flavorful pieces of meat cut from the point half of a smoked brisket…considered a delicacy in barbecue cooking.” Burnt ends have some char, but they’re also quite tender.

Sandwiches come with two toppings from a choice of ten, including items like bourbon apples and Carolina slaw. I chose caramelized onions and bacon. Several different sauces were available in pump dispensers. I like to do taste tests with different sauces, but unfortunately only two of the dispensers were working properly.

As it turned out, the sandwich didn’t even need sauce, it was that flavorful, and the house cut fries, with enough in the order to feed two, were a tasty addition. A muffin shaped cookie was a nice finish to the meal.

In addition to sandwiches, Q Smokehouse offers appetizers like barbecue eggrolls and entrees like pulled pork burritos and baby back ribs.

Q Smokehouse, located at 617 E. Green Street in Champaign, is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. Check the web site for the full menu.

What’s your favorite barbecue restaurant? Answer in the Comments below.

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Museum of the Grand Prairie: Lincoln and Life in Central Illinois

Connie Attractions & Events, Illinois March 13, 2014March 20, 2014Champaign, Illinois attractions, Museum on the Grand Prairie 0 Comment

Abraham Lincoln is most often associated with Springfield, but he spent time in nine counties throughout Central Illinois as he traveled the 8^th Judicial Circuit practicing law. The Museum of the Grand Prairie in Mahomet captures Lincoln’s travels through the area, as well as life on the prairie in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

Sit in a wagon much the same as Lincoln did. The video in front of you gives the illusion that you are riding through the prairie.

Learn humorous stories about Lincoln, like the time he hid the meal gong from the American House proprietor because it would wake up Lincoln and the other lawyers who stayed there.

When Lincoln was having his photograph taken, he was wearing his travel clothes, which were inappropriate for a formal photograph. The photographer, Samuel Alschuler, gave Lincoln his jacket to wear. The sleeves came almost up to the elbows of tall Lincoln.

See a replica of the Goose Pond Church where Lincoln spoke to a packed house, campaigning for John C. Fremont, the first Republican Party presidential nominee.

Other exhibits in the museum include artifacts like the Mitchell Wagon, used to cart corn to the local elevator.

The Chesebro Blacksmith shop that stood untouched from the 1930s until 1993 in Saunemin, Illinois, has been partially reconstructed with the contents in the exact place as they were originally.

Learn about typical families who lived in the area. This intricate gate was at the home of the local blacksmith.

A temporary exhibit titled, “Home Grown: Gardening Yesterday and Today,” opened in March, begins with the cultivation ways of Native Americans, moves to 19^th century orchards and pollinators, into the mid-20^th century Victory Gardens and canning, and onto sustainable gardening techniques of today.

The next time you’re traveling to or through Champaign County, make a little jog to visit the delightful Museum of the Grand Prairie. The museum is located at 950 N Lombard, Mahomet, Illinois, in the Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve. Check the web site for hours and directions. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.

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I Hotel, Champaign IL: Boutique Hotel on U of I Campus

Connie Illinois March 10, 2014April 2, 2018Boutique hotel in Champaign IL, Champaign Illinois hotels, Hotels in Champaign IL, I Hotel and Conference Center, I Hotel Champaign, University of Illinois hotel 0 Comment

The I Hotel, on the University of Illinois Campus, is the perfect place to stay during your visit to the college, or for that matter, any time you visit the Champaign-Urbana area. Read more

Big Grove Tavern, Champaign IL: Farm-to-Table Fine Dining

Connie Food & Drink, Illinois March 7, 2014March 20, 2014Big Grove Tavern, Champaign, Illiois restaurants, Restaurants in Champagn 0 Comment

You would think that a restaurant with “Tavern” in its name would be a casual bar that serves only pub food like burgers. Not so at the Big Grove Tavern, one of just a couple of fine dining establishments in Downtown Champaign, a fine dining restaurant whose menu changes with the seasons to use ingredients from local farms, sources that are written on a chalkboard in the dining room.

Yes, there is a bar in the Big Grove Tavern, and yes, they do offer bar snacks. And at lunchtime you can get a burger, too. But the Tavern Burger isn’t your ordinary pub burger. Rather, it’s a combination of beef, bison and pork with red onion marmalade and cornichon aioli.

At dinner a small pail of popcorn on your table continues the tavern theme, but low lighting from bulbs strung across the ceiling creates an ambiance that complements the elegant dinner menu choices. Although you can still order a Tavern Burger for dinner if you’d like, entrees like Seared Mahi Mahi served with charred leeks, glazed chestnuts, broken yolk and celery leaf are offered. I enjoyed the succulent Bistro Filet, medium-rare, on a bed of cider BBQ sauce with sides of roasted root vegetables and crispy fingerling potato chips.

The uniqueness doesn’t stop with entrees, but follows through to dessert, too. I was tempted by the Popcorn Panna Cotta just out of curiosity and thought about the grapefruit sorbet, light and refreshing after a beef dinner. But as usual, I couldn’t pass up the chocolate and went for the Spiced Chocolate Bread Pudding. Its rich brownie-like texture and flavor, offset by cool vanilla bean whipped cream that topped it, was a decadent finale to a delectable dinner.

As for service, it couldn’t have been better. Our server was attentive and knowledgeable about menu choices, water glasses were refilled regularly, and service was prompt but not too rushed.

Whether you’re in the mood for a snack, a sandwich, or a full entrée, Big Grove Tavern’s farm-to-table menu offers unique and tasty options. My opinion is obviously shared by many others, as Big Grove Tavern has won multiple OpenTable Diners’ Choice Awards.

Big Grove Tavern, located in Downtown Champaign at the corner of Main and Neil, is open seven days a week. Check the web site for hours and menu.

Disclosure: My visit to Big Grove Tavern was hosted by the Champaign County CVB, but any opinions expressed in this post are my own.

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University of Illinois Museums: Complementary Themes

Connie Attractions & Events, Illinois March 5, 2014March 20, 2014Illinois attractions, Krannert Art Museum, museums in Illinois, Spurlock Museum, University of Illinois Museums 0 Comment

Where is the line drawn between art and cultural heritage artifacts? That question came to mind when I visited the Krannert Art Museum and the Spurlock Museum, both on the University of Illinois campus in Champaign-Urbana.

Krannert Art Museum
The Krannert Art Museum, the second largest fine art museum in Illinois, has many pieces in their collection that are obviously categorized as art, like the extensive collection of European paintings, many dating back several centuries…

…and the collection of Lorado Taft sculptures. Lorado Taft, an early 20^th century sculptor and University of Illinois graduate, left the contents of his studio to U of I. The Lorado Taft collection includes small plaques portraying the Lincoln-Douglas debate in Quincy, Illinois, and his sculptural group “The Blind.”

I’d say this elevator grill from the Chicago Stock Exchange fits into the “art” category.

But go down to the lower level, and that’s where the question of art versus cultural heritage comes in. There are some stunning glass pieces.

There are ancient artifacts from Egypt…

…and from Greece.

There are lots of other items, too, dating back centuries.

Spurlock Museum
The Spurlock Museum holds approximately 43,000 artifacts in its collection, many that certainly can be classified as art.

During my visit, a temporary exhibit displayed museum textile artifacts. Alongside were new textile and fiber art pieces created by members of the C-U Spinners and Weavers Guild who drew their inspiration from the originals.

The Workman Gallery of Ancient Mediterranean Cultures is filled with statues of gods and goddesses.

This urn looks a lot like some of the pieces I saw at the Krannert Art Museum.

In other galleries you’ll find items like this costume used in Carnival rituals in the Andes…

…and Barong Ket, the mythical lion said to possess magical powers. The beast is carried in ceremonial processions in Bali.

So where is the line drawn between art and cultural heritage artifacts? It seems the line is so blurred it’s difficult to tell the difference. Perhaps there’s a technical explanation that can be answered by an art expert or an anthropologist. I am neither. I was just visitor who enjoyed both museums equally.

The Krannert Art Museum is located at 500 E Peabody Drive in Champaign. The Spurlock Museum is located at 600 S Gregory in Urbana. Both museums are free but suggest a donation of $3. Check the web sites for hours.

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Midwest Wanderer explores history, nature, and culture through road trips along scenic and historic U.S. highways, byways and trails

Author: Connie

Tropicana Evansville: Stay, dine, play

Q Smokehouse, Champaign IL: Authentic Smoky Barbecue

Museum of the Grand Prairie: Lincoln and Life in Central Illinois

I Hotel, Champaign IL: Boutique Hotel on U of I Campus

Big Grove Tavern, Champaign IL: Farm-to-Table Fine Dining

University of Illinois Museums: Complementary Themes