We’ve hit most of Peoria’s classic steak houses on this meaty journey, but there’s one I was saving up till the end of this tour because it’s one of my favorite Peoria places and that place is Sky Harbor Steak House! Sky Harbor is an iconic Peoria restaurant and it’s one of the few restaurants in town that has a piano bar and live music.
Once a month on the last Thursday Sky Harbor owner, Daryl Klusendorf hosts a “Picking On” musical evening where musicians pay tribute to an artist or group and last week Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons got picked on. I love both of those musicians, so I thought this was the perfect time to visit Sky Harbor and enjoy our 26th steak and listen to some Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris tunes. And so that’s exactly what I did and you can follow along by scrolling, scrolling, scrolling!
Here we are and check out the sign, how did they know we were coming here tonight? It’s a little chilly this evening for the beer patio, but it looks like it’s all set for the warmer months coming ahead. Okay, let’s go in and begin the 26th week of steak!
This is the best foyer in Peoria, I love that stone wall. There’s the poster for tonight’s Picking On show which is going to feature Tim Harr on pedal steel guitar and vocals, Dave Moe on guitar, Jenny Moe on vocals doing the Emmylou Harris parts and Daryl Klusendorf on banjo and doing the Gram Parsons parts on vocals. This should be a great show and there’s the lovely hostess, Mrs. Klu! Always great to see her! I quickly went to one of my favorite spots in here, the bar!
There’s veteran Sky Harbor bartender and all-around good guy, Russ behind the bar with an ice-cold bottle of Budweiser in hand! And just as I sat down, the man who will be Gram Parsons for the evening, Daryl Klusendorf came over and said hi and posed for a picture with Mrs. Klu. Okay the evening has officially begun and I placed this week’s steak order with Russ.
While dinner is being prepared here’s some obligatory shots of Sky Harbor including a shot from the other end of the bar, the beers on tap, the Budweiser Trolley, the dining room and the classic blue leather banquettes.
Meanwhile, back at the bar my table is set and it looks like it’s just about time for our 26th steak dinner!
And here we go, we started off with a house salad and there’s Russ with this week’s steak dinner!
I got two signature dishes here at Sky Harbor, the bacon-wrapped petite filet and the au gratin potatoes. The steak is smothered with grilled onions, so I pushed them to the side to reveal the petite filet in all of its bacon-wrapped glory! It looks fantastic, but first i sampled the au grating potatoes. They were creamy, cheesy and delicious! Now on to the star of the show...
The bacon-wrapped petite filet. For a petite filet, this is a huge cut of meat! It was cooked to perfection and oh so tender, juicy and flavorful! The bacon and grilled onions added nice flavors to the steak and it was very savory and tasty! This was a wonderful steak dinner, but the evening isn’t ending here, now it’s on to the musical portion of the night!
Picking On Emmylou Harris And Gram Parsons
The musicians are setting up over by the piano and I saw some familiar faces in the crowd. There’s Mike and Shannon at the end of the bar, Shannon’s here for the music tonight, but many nights she is the music. Shannon’s a frequent musical performer at Sky Harbor and here’s a post with some photos of her in action. She’s an amazing vocalist and musician and you should come and see her here at Sky Harbor. I also ran into Andy and Brandi whom I haven’t seen for a while, so it was great to see them again. Now it’s just about show time!
They’re just about ready to start the show, there’s Daryl with his banjo, Dave and Jenny are in place and Tim is getting the pedal steel ready for the performance.
And they’re off and picking on Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons! This was such a great tribute and they picked some great solo tunes from Emmylou and Gram and they also dug into some songs from The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers.
Midway into the show, Mrs. Klu joined the group on washboard! This was a wonderful and entertaining show!
After the show I got a group shot of Jenny, Dave, Tim and Daryl.
Here’s Daryl with Jeff Hyde who’s a vocalist/guitarist with Super 88 and Lark’s Tongue and he’s been featured here on MBIP with both of those bands, check them out here and here. This month the Picking On series continues with a tribute to Creedence Clearwater Revival and Jeff’s going to be doing vocals for that show! It’ll be the last Thursday of this month and I’ll have photos and a post from that, so stay tuned!
The night ended up in the place that so many nights end up in, the bathroom. While doing my duty at the urinal, I glanced over and had a strange combination of a Brady Bunch moment, Shannon and urination! Shannon, Shannon, Shannon! Well, this can only lead to one thing...
Congratulations, Shannon, you’ve just been inducted into The Sky Harbor Urinal Hall Of Fame! Now will someone please cue up, “Mellow Yellow?”
Steak Rating
Four Elsie the Cows—Sky Harbor is a great place for steaks and for wonderful music and fun times! And don’t forget, the last Thursday of this month they’ll be Picking On Creedence Clearwater Revival, so mark your calendar for that!
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1321 N. Park Road
West Peoria
309-674-5532
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