Skip to main content

Feast on a Whole Alligator at Frontier Chicago’s Whole Animal Experience

Frontier Chicago Whole Animal Experience
Frontier Chicago

Pig roasts, hot roasts, luaus — whatever you call them, they’re a popular shared culinary tradition in cultures around the world. It seems the primal desire for savage, Lord of the Flies-style dining is deeply ingrained in us as humans. But it’s rare to find a full-on pig roast at a gourmet restaurant in the middle of a city; and rarer still to find a restaurant that also offers whole goats, antelope legs, and even entire chicken-stuffed alligators. Such is the case at Chicago’s Frontier, though, where they proudly encourage guests to eat outside their comfort zone.

Frontier Chicago
Frontier Chicago

If you’re looking to really impress two dozen of your closest friends with dinner in the Windy City, sharing a few deep dish pies is hardly the way to go. Frontier Chicago boasts a one-of-a-kind dinner that’s unlike anything you’ll find in almost any American city. The Whole Animal Experience can generously feed up to 25 people. The experience starts by choosing your main course. Entry-level options include farm-raised pig, wild boar, and whole goat (if, at this point you’re thinking, “Wild boar is entry-level?” strap in, it’s about to get wild).

For the more adventurous, a giant salmon (feeds up to 12 adults), a whole antelope leg, and Frontier’s Select Trio (a gamey medley of goat, boar, and wagyu beef) are also available. But, the big get is the restaurant’s wild-caught Louisiana alligator. It’s slathered in a house marinade, stuffed with whole chickens (take that, turducken), then roasted and smoked over apple and cherry wood. Frontier promises the meat tastes a lot like pork or chicken with far less fat and cholesterol. And you get to say you ate a whole freaking ‘gator, so there’s that.

Frontier Chicago
Frontier Chicago

Every beast is served family-style with a carefully chosen selection of hearty side dishes. The wild boar, for example, is accompanied by Southern-inspired five-cheese mac, seasonal vegetables, and buttered rolls. The whole salmon is backed with Acadian green rice, green beans with lemon and candied pistachios, and smoked shrimp and dill potato salad. The ‘gator comes with shrimp and sausage jambalaya, five cheese mac, Caesar salad with polenta croutons, seasonal vegetables, and buttered rolls with herb butter. Frontier also encourages guests to punch up their experience with add-ons like char-grilled oysters, roasted pig face, and house-made punch bowl concoctions.

Pricing for Frontier’s Whole Animal Experience starts at  $400 which feeds at least you and a dozen of your friends (or one Adam Richman). But, the restaurant’s more exotic offerings — the shrimp boil and whole alligator, in particular — are sold at market price. Whichever you choose, you’ll need to secure your reservations at least three days in advance (some animals take longer), and plan to arrive very, very hungry.

Topics
Mike Richard
Mike Richard has traveled the world since 2008. He's kayaked in Antarctica, tracked endangered African wild dogs in South…
How to make hard cider (it’s not as complicated as you think)
Making your own hard cider is a surprisingly easy and an incredibly fun new skill to learn
Hard apple cider in a glass, surrounded by apples.

There's never a bad time to start drinking hard apple cider. Not only is it a wonderfully different, crisp, and refreshing adult beverage to enjoy, but making your own hard cider at home can be an incredibly fun hobby. If you're looking to try something new, consider learning how to make your own hard apple cider.

As much as we'd like to talk about beer, that's not what we're here for — not right now, at least. We're talking hard cider here, which is not only as tasty as beer, but it's also simpler to make in the confines of your home/apartment/Quonset hut. Read on and start brewing your own hard apple cider.

Read more
How to cook ribs in the oven: A step-by-step guide
Don't have a smoker? Don't fret — an oven can be an excellent tool for fall-off-the-bone ribs
Ribs cooking in the oven

Who doesn't love mouthwatering rib recipes? But there is an age-old question that needs to be answered if you don’t have a grill: Can you cook ribs in the oven? The answer is simple: Yes, you can. After all, you can use your oven for so much more than baking. You can cook bacon in the oven, cook ham in the oven, or even, yes, cook steak in the oven.

We used to think that ribs were only properly prepared if they were cooked in one of the best smokers or on the grill (sometimes first placed in a slow cooker), ideally over a long period of time. However, when circumstances (time constraints, lack of tools or space, etc.) don’t allow for these methods, you can cook some fall-off-the-bone ribs in a conventional oven.

Read more
Wondering how to get rid of bloating? The best foods to beat belly bloat
From apples to rhubarb, here are a few of our favorite tasty bloating remedies
Man with bloated tummy.

No one likes to feel bloated. Not only may you feel a little self-conscious if you have a prominent, protruding, bloated belly, but bloating is also physically uncomfortable and can make you feel sluggish. Unfortunately, quite a few foods can cause bloating, and there are additional factors that can make you bloated, so feeling bloated after eating, drinking, or even exercising is rather common.

The good news is that there are certain foods that can reduce bloating to help you relieve the discomfort. Foods that help with bloating do not make you lose fat, but they can reduce inflammation in the gut and reduce fluid retention to help you get rid of any gas or water causing a belly pooch.

Read more