In observance of the Presidents Day holiday, the Northwest Herald newspaper will not be published February 18.
The Donkey Inn Bar and Grill, in the old Nero's off Algonquin Road just up the hill east of the river in downtown Algonquin, has a ton of menu options and plenty of specials.
It serves breakfast all day, and on Tuesday during the Cubs' one-game tiebreaker with the Brewers, we headed there to check it out.
There are seven pages of options just on the takeout menu, and on Tuesdays, the dine-in pizzas were half off. I debated that, trying an 18-in BBQ pizza ($24.99 for the "favorites" before the Tuesday discount), but went to a different part of the menu instead.
There are a ton of sandwiches, wraps, salads, pasts, entrées and appetizers.
But I went with the Kick (butt) Burger, which isn't actually called that and is a reference to the donkey on the logo, but I still better not write it in this family newspaper. You can figure it out.
The donkey-named burger ($11.99) comes with jalapeño jack cheese, chipotle mayo and guacamole with plenty of fix-ins on the side with a tomato, lettuce, onions and pickles.
For starters, I ordered a Coca-Cola ($3) and my fellow diner – who was off work for the day – tried Left Hand Brewing's Oktoberfest ($5). I'm fond of the Longmont, Colorado, brewer's other options, so the Oktoberfest probably was a good choice.
We started out with the spinach artichoke dip ($9.99), picked from about 15 appetizer options that range from a blooming onion to sampler platter to nachos and more.
Meanwhile, my fellow diner went to the wrap menu – which is labeled by letters – and chose the M Wrap, ($9.99) which is the grilled buffalo and bleu cheese chicken breast.
I laughed a little, because not only was it hard to figure out if the order was N Wrap or M Wrap, it also is unintentionally named after the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected military vehicle MRAP, which my fellow diner had never heard of.
The spinach artichoke dip came out first and hot, so we had to wait a minute before digging in. As we did, I wondered if I should have gone after breakfast. They have pancakes and French toast, along with all sorts of skillets, breakfast sandwiches and omelets.
The chips were pretty good, the kind you would expect with a dip at a place like this, and so was the dip. It was for sure above average.
Then came the burger, the large and spicy burger. and I forgot all about breakfast.
It was cooked perfectly as ordered – medium – and had enough kick that I downed my Coke and took plenty of tater tot breaks.
The wrap also was pretty good. The chicken was high quality, it had a little kick and the bleu cheese dressing was used liberally.
All in all, despite the Cubs' loss, it was a good experience. The server was friendly and quick, there were a ton of good food options and there were TVs everywhere to stay on top of both the Cubs-Brewers and Ryder Cup coverage.
• The Mystery Diner is an employee at the Northwest Herald. The diner’s identity is not revealed to restaurant staff before or during the meal. The Mystery Diner visits a restaurant and then reports on the experience. If the Mystery Diner cannot recommend the establishment, we will not publish a review.
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IF YOU GO
WHAT: The Donkey Inn Bar and Grill
WHERE: 300 Eastgate Court, Algonquin
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday, 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday
INFORMATION: Call 224-333-0575 or donkeyinnalgonquin.com