The Blackthorn Grille is a traditional Irish Pub focusing on gourmet meals and a wide selection of top-quality wines and beers.

You will find the finest quality in every detail at the Blackthorn Grille. From our Executive Chef to the tenured bar staff, we have created the ideal atmosphere to enjoy a meal or share a bit of drink.

BLACKTHORN

Found throughout the British Isles, Blackthorn dwells on the edge of woodlands forming dense thickets and hedgerows. The thickets are dark, dense and thorny, the branches and twigs twisting and branching out in all directions. The sapwood is light yellow and the heartwood is brown.

Blackthorn is a deciduous tree (or bush) with white flowers and small, bluish-black, plum-like fruits used chiefly for flavoring alcoholic beverages such as sloe gin. It’s leaves turn yellow in autumn and fall off in winter, leaving a stark twisted black skeleton.

The wood is mainly used to manufacture walking sticks and Irish shillelaghs. The berries are harvested for sloe gin and fruit jam.

The Irish cudgel is called a shillelagh, (pronounced "Shelaylay", named for the Shillelagh forest near Arklow, in County Wicklow). Every young boy was trained to defend himself with this Irish fighting stick. The genuine shillelagh is usually made from Blackthorn, which is hard, strong, plentiful, and has a convenient "knob” formed from the root of the shrub. The black bark is especially tough.

In Irish tales, heroes were aided by the Blackthorn tree - if they threw a twig of Blackthorn after them, it would take root and form an impenetrable hedge or woods, thwarting the pursuing giant. Often in fairytales, such as “Sleeping Beauty”, Blackthorn forms the thick, impenetrable thorn bramble that hides the magic castle from intruders and princes alike! In order to prove worthy, the prince must cut through this thorn forest to rescue the princess.

Traditionally, Blackthorn is used in protection against evil, creating boundaries, purifying, confronting our own dark side. Blackthorn dispels negativity, toxins, old wounds, and impurities.

With that in mind, we concluded that Blackthorn Grille was an appropriate name for the newest addition to the Lake Villa landscape. Somewhere to seek solace, nourishment and enjoy the "luck of the Irish", the Blackthorn Grille is a great place to meet friends and family alike.