Carriage Greens Country Club is a public-welcome country club, located in Darien, IL, 25 miles southwest of Chicago. Carriage Greens features an 18-hole golf course and pro shop, banquet facilities, and even a gazebo designed for weddings. Of course an integral part of the golf experience is the "19th hole," also known as the bar. At Carriage Greens, that is the Sandtrap Grill.

The dining room features a long bar (one television at either end) that runs about half the distance of the entire room, with ample seating at the bar and at tables spread through the room. The rest of the room simply has tables. Large windows run the length of the room across from the bar, although they face the front of the building and not the golf course (that is visible through the windows at one end of the room).

The menu is balanced nicely between "bar food" standards and more elegant fare. Buffalo wings, nachos, and chicken tenders (listed as appetizers) and sandwiches like burgers, French Dip, Philly cheese steak, and Rubens represent the more casual dining. Items like quesadillas, shrimp tycoon, and a kabob trio are on a section of "small plates" (more than appetizers but not a full entrée). Entrees include various pastas, pork chops, chicken, fish, and steaks; daily specials are also available.

A basket of bread rolls, house salad or cup of soup, potato, and vegetable is included in most menu items.

Eight-ounce filet mignon ($18): This steak was served with an onion ring riding on top, a double-baked potato, and cauliflower and broccoli, and a steel ramekin of juice for dipping. The steak arrived cooked as ordered (medium well), and did not need the additional juice – the steak was quite tender and lean, and very enjoyable. The potato was good, and the vegetables were serviceable (perhaps steamed a bit too long).

Baby back ribs ($18): This full slab of ribs also came with the same cauliflower/broccoli combo (but who pays attention to veggies when ordering ribs!), thick-cut french fries, and extra barbecue sauce. The slab wasn’t quite as large as you’d see from other Chicago steak houses, but were very meaty and fall-off-the-bone tender. The sauce was more mild than wild.

Blackened chicken breast ($16): The chicken breast was one of daily specials. It was served with pico de gallo (chopped tomato, onion, and chiles) and sliced avocado. All that was balanced atop a mountain of garlic mashed potatoes. This dish was excellent. The first few bites (of chicken alone) left me wondering why people thought blackened anything was too spicy...then the heat began building. It was sneaky spicy...but not overwhelming. The creamy avocado helped cool down the chicken’s spiciness, and the pico de gallo added nice texture and some additional flavor. The garlic mashed potatoes were pretty much overwhelmed by the rest of the dish (but were good by themselves the next day as a side dish for something less spicy). I highly recommended this restaurant.

Their website is http://www.carriagegreens.com.