Best Dishes: Schoolyard Tavern Skillet Cookie

One of my all-time favorite ways to end a meal is the skillet cookie. For those of you unfamiliar with this dish, it's a chocolate chip cookie baked in a cast iron skillet and then topped with what's more or less an ice cream sundae while the cookie is still piping hot.

My love affair with the skillet cookie began after dining at Lou Malnati's for my oldest friend's 3rd grade birthday party. (It helped me get over my near-death experience at dinner when I started choking on cheese from the pizza, which then had to be extracted by my dear friend's father -- thanks again, Mr. Brown! I still haven't learned to eat anything slowly.) The original Lou Malnati's was just a hop, skip and a jump from our houses growing up, so we pretty much grew up on the stuff. In addition to their glorious pizza (to be highlighted further in a later entry), we also ate our fair share of skillet cookies from the age of approximately 8 through... well, the present. To this day, when I visit Keelyn's parents' house, it's very likely that we'll be ordering Lou's in or heading over for the real deal at the restaurant itself.

However, since it's not often that I get back to our old Sauganash/Lincolnwood stomping grounds, I was thrilled to discover another delicious skillet cookie option in my own neighborhood. Schoolyard Tavern has all kinds of great food, but the highlight of my meal is always the grand finale: their very own skillet cookie. As it should be, the cookie's served scorching hot in the cast iron skillet in which it was baked and features no less than three scoops of premium vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce and lots of whipped cream. It makes me so happy. I will con anyone and everyone into ordering this with me anytime I'm at Schoolyard -- or any of the other Four Corners taverns (Gaslight, Side Bar, Brownstone, etc.). Beware: if we're eating -- or even just drinking -- at one of these establishments, there will be a skillet cookie coming our way. Just saying.

It's not to be missed. The next time you're at any of these establishments, order one up and finish your meal the right way. You won't regret it.

Coming soon: a review of the food I sampled at Lollapalooza Friday through Sunday. Sorry for the lack of posting on Friday -- I was busy trying the Graham-Elliot-Bowles-approved fare at the fest!