Live, from Peoria, Illinois, it’s Saturday Night, starring this week’s host: Edge, By Chef Dustin Allen with special guest stars, Jon, Mae, Chef Dustin and a Giant Chocolate Cake and featuring The Ready For Prime Beef Player, Marty Wombacher. And now, please welcome, from Junction City, this week’s host, Edge, By Chef Dustin Allen!
Here we are at Edge, By Chef Dustin Allen, I love the blue-lit neon sign above the double-doors! Okay, let’s go in and start this week’s Saturday Night adventure!
Heather was kind enough to open the inner door for us, we met her last time we were here and it’s great to see her again!
Our special guest stars for the evening are Jon and Mae, who just got married a few weeks ago. They invited me to the wedding party, but I had to work and couldn’t make it, so we decided to celebrate their marriage tonight, with a dinner at Edge! Before we go look for them, let’s take a look around inside of here first. The dining room is cozy and I really like the wooden floor in here and the bar is just opposite the dining area. I love the classic look of the back of the bar with the Edge logo prominently displayed above. Kendra is the pretty bartender on duty and down at the end of the bar is the man who’s going to be making our meal tonight, Chef Dustin! Always a pleasure to see him and there’s Kelly, the cute hostess who’s going to lead us to our table and...
Join Jon and Mae, who are looking fabulous! Alright, the party can now officially begin! Jon’s the managing editor of the Peoria Magazine group, which includes, iBi and Peoria Art & Society. We had a Christmas party at Peoria Magazine’s offices last year and Jon told me they’re moving soon to 4736 University near Fix My Gadget and The Hometown Community Banks. Once they get moved in maybe we can have an office-warming party there! Mae has started her own jewelry and glass business (she’s been working with glass since she was 8-years-old) and you can check out her work at her website right here: iota by mae and also on facecrack. Mae is graduating this Saturday with her PHD in Divinity in Edinburgh, Scotland, but she’s skipping it to be at the Old English Faire this Saturday and Sunday. Coming up next Friday, July 1st, she’ll be at One World Cafe for the First Friday Celebrations there, so stop by and say hi if you’re in the area! Great seeing both of them and now it’s time to start the dinner celebration!
Our server for the evening is Magan who’s looking very stunning and she took a photo of the three of us at our table, as you can see we all decided to dress up for the occasion in honor of Jon and Mae’s recent marriage celebration! Take a good long look at me in a jacket and tie, this doesn’t happen very often!
There’s a shot of our table and our first courses have arrived. We got some of their bread, which, like everything on the menu, is made in-house using local farm to table ingredients and is oh-so good and tasty! We also got the Cheese Plate which had Asher Blue, Midnight Moon and other delicious cheese offerings with berries and a sweet reduction underneath. What a great start to our meal!
Here’s a couple shots of them back in the kitchen creating these magical and delicious plates!
For the second course, Jon and Mae split the Duck Egg plate and I got the mixed green salad. The plates here are not only delicious to eat, but I love the presentation of the food. Every plate is painstakingly made to order, insuring your dish is a one-of-a-kind for the evening.
As you can see, Chef Dustin is hard at work preparing the main courses for our dinner.
And here’s those main courses at our table and they look unbelievable! At the top is Mae’s dish which was the Freedom Ranger Chicken, Jon had the Roasted Salmon and I got the New York Strip Steak. As you can see, each plate is like a work of art and I almost didn’t want to start eating it and ruin the design, but, of course looking at food this sinfully delicious, I had to break down and start digging in!
All the meals were fantastic and you can read more about them in the review below, but if you’ve never tried the wonderful cuisine here at Edge, you need to go and try it out for yourself! Jon and Mae said their meals were unbelievable and this steak was so tender and delicious! It was topped off with a cauliflower dressing that really complimented the steak and it was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. It came with roasted potatoes and those were buttery and creamy as you bit into them and I really didn’t think this meal could get any better...
But then Chef Dustin came out with something that blew us away...
Check out this cake he brought to our table! I had called in advance and asked Chef Dustin if he could make us some sort of special dessert in honor of Jon and Mae’s wedding and he pulled out all stops with this incredible looking cake! It’s a Dark Chocolate Cake with Bourbon Cherry Filling and Coffee Buttercream icing. This blew us away!
Here’s Chef Dustin slicing up the cake and we were sitting there simply in awe of this amazing homemade dessert!
What a perfect ending to a perfect meal! I’ve had a lot of Saturday Night dinners through the years here at MBIP, but his is definitely one of the best, if not the best!
And yes, we were the last to leave! Thanks to Chef Dustin and everyone at Edge for such a wonderful meal and for such friendly and fun hospitality! And thanks and congratulations to Jon and Mae for hanging out and for their recent wedding vows! Here’s wishing to both of you that your marriage lasts ten times longer than mine did...oh wait, it already has! Anyway, congratulations and cheers to a wonderful and happy life together!
I think the photos of our meal pretty much tell the whole tale of our delicious Saturday Night meal! I don’t feel worthy of critiquing such a feast, suffice it to say, I don’t know if I’ve ever had a better meal in my life!
What I would like to write about is the unique dining experience at Edge. The menu changes every night and the food is exclusively locally-sourced, farm to table! Chef Dustin told us about the daily process of creating his menu’s and he said he never plans what he’s going to make in advance. And once the menu is created for the evening, every dish is created as it’s ordered. Chef Dustin's style of cooking has been compared to free-form jazz and it kind of reminds me how I do this blog in an improvisational kind of way. While the menu is ever-changing and there may be dishes that are unfamiliar to your taste-palate, the staff at Edge are more than helpful in helping you choose your courses and there’s no stuffy attitudes here. And when your plate arrives, they give you every detail about what is in the dish and how it’s prepared.
Having a meal here at Edge is really an experience that you need to try.
SN Rating
Four Galloping Gourmets—The food and dining here is something that is totally unique to the Peoria area and I suggest you go and try it tonight! It’s local, it’s all made in-house and it’s delcious!
Edge, By Chef Dustin Allen
5832 N. Knoxville Avenue
(In Junction City)
Peoria
309-692-3343
facecrack page
Related Posts: Saturday Night @ Noir Tapas & Rendezvous Lounge, Jalapenos and The Fish House.