Cooper's Hawk

Ok, if you have been to a Cooper's Hawk before, raise your hand. If you haven't, what they heck have you been doing with your life? Seriously, anyone who loves good food and wine really needs to visit a Cooper's Hawk location.

It's been a couple years since my first stop at a Cooper's Hawk. My boss had been raving about it and telling me about the Merrillville location where he and his wife dine often. He mentioned that they were members of the wine club and how much they loved it.

A few months later as hubby and I were headed out to Orland Square Mall to do some shopping, we decided to visit the Orland Park location. We'd actually had lunch earlier at a nearby brewery, so we weren't up for a huge meal. We split a fish entree and I sampled some wines and had a glass. I loved how knowledgeable the staff was. Our waitress asked what kind of wines I liked and brought a couple to try. She made suggestions based on what we were ordering. I like wine, but it's a topic I still am a bit clueless on. I often have to rely on my server to pair up wines with the food I am eating. I'm getting a little better at it, but at the time I had no idea and was very glad our server was so friendly and helpful and knew so much.

I love that Cooper's Hawk originated in the Chicago area. They've now expanded to nine states. Founder Tim McEnery, who I have been lucky enough to meet at a couple of their wine club dinners, is so passionate about Cooper's Hawk and providing a place for us in the Midwest that gives an experience of being at a California winery where exquisite food is paired with wonderful wines all in one space.

There's a lot of focus on wine, but don't let that give you the idea that the food isn't equally as important. I have had some of the best seafood of my life at Cooper's Hawk events.

On my last visit to a Cooper's Hawk a few months ago I finally decided it was time to join the wine club myself - and I haven't been back yet, so I'm looking forward to picking up my stock of wine. That's one great thing about the club - you can sign up to get one or two bottles per month, but if you don't get there every month, they'll keep it for you to pick up at a later time. I'd love to visit more often, but I'm at least 30 minutes from a location, so I don't get there as often as I would like.

Here's a few visuals from that last lunch date there:






Find out more about the restaurants and the wine club at chwinery.com.