ONE GREAT DISH: Maple Tree Inn's 'Dixie Doorstop'

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Feb 13, 2013 8:45PM

Photo credit: Chuck Sudo/Chicagoist

I posted an untouched version of this photograph taken at Maple Tree Inn on my Facebook page and the Chicagoist Instagram feed last night, which prompted an old friend from New Zealand to ask, “Wait! Maple Tree Inn is still around?”

Yes, they are and it’s thanks to dishes like their “Voodoo Nuts” (roasted cloves of garlic smothered in Andouille sausage and smoked into submission) and the “Dixie Doorstop,” which was part of their Mardi Gras menu. To be fair, the Blue Island restaurant’s Fat Tuesday menu was 80 percent of their everyday menu, so you can enjoy this pork chop stuffed with Andouille sausage and served atop jalapeno cornbread dressing and Maple Tree Inn’s country gumbo any time you visit.

This is one of the most moist pork chops you will ever enjoy, the meat almost sliding off the bone glistening in its juices. The sausage, smoked in house, is so rich in flavor you can almost imagine eating it next to the smoker.

Maple Tree Inn and the neighboring Rock Island Public House are two reasons to visit Blue Island. We recommend taking Metra as the trains stop right by both places.
Maple Tree Inn is located at 13301 Olde Western Avenue in Blue Island, 708-388-3461.