Maggiano's gift card giveaway

The newest location of Maggiano's opened this week in Vernon Hills at the Westfield Hawthorne Mall. It was my first experience visiting a Maggiano's after hearing people rave about it for years. Now I see what all the fuss is about. The food was magnificent. The portions generous. The atmosphere cozy. The staff friendly.

Not only was it a celebration of the grand opening of this location, but it was an introduction of the new "Lighter Fare" menu, which is only currently available in a handful of their restaurants and it is the only one in the Chicago area to have those menu options. The new Lighter Fare options allow you to enjoy your favorite Maggiano's classics, reducing the calories and fat content, but maintaining the great tastes and big portions that the chain is known for. More on Lighter Fare in an upcoming post.

On our visit, we sat at the media table where a variety of different dishes were brought out for us to view and photograph and then taste. Some were their most popular menu items. Some were Lighter Fare menu items. Some were appetizers. Some were desserts. It gave me a great sense of the overall offerings there and a point of reference when comparing the Lighter Fare to the typical dishes on their menu.

The first two items we started out with were the Stuffed Mushrooms and Crispy Zucchini Fritte and both were purely delightful. The mushrooms are stuffed with spinach, capped with seasoned breadcrumbs and served in a garlic white wine sauce. I'm a huge zucchini lover and this fried zucchini is the best I have ever had. It was lightly breaded in Japanese crumbs and served with lemon aioli so good you totally want to lick the dish. :) I would recommend both as musts for starters on a visit to one of their restaurants. And today, I'm giving away a $25 gift card to Maggiano's so that a winner can try out these appetizers or some of their other delicious menu items. Many thanks to our friends at Maggiano's for providing the gift cards to give to our blog readers!

Giveaway will be done on rafflecopter to select a random winner. Please leave an e-mail address so we can contact you if you win! Good luck! And be sure to subscribe to the blog to get our posts delivered to your inbox. We'll have a couple more posts coming up about the new Lighter Fare menu and other items on the Maggiano's menu and more giveaways!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

***Disclosure: I received complimentary menu items for the purpose of a review. Maggiano's provided gift card prizes. I was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.