Beautiful Rind — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

An absolute GEM in the neighborhood. This place has been on my list for a while, and I finally stepped in for lunch. The sandwich/salad menu is on the small side, but everything looked great and very reasonably priced. The option for a side salad that isn't your basic garden salad (spring mix, cucumber, carrot, tomato) was a big plus. Even better was that the arugula salad was incredibly delicious and the dressing tasted like it was freshly made.

My partner and I split the TBB and Pimento/Okra sandwiches. The Pimento/Okra was small but MIGHTY in flavor. Coming from the south, we have a high bar, and The Beautiful Rind surpassed it. We may come back just to buy a tub of their pimento cheese. The TBB blew me away with the cranberry mayo and bacon jam. Incredible flavor.

I love the versatility of the shop. Perfect for stopping in for a light meal, grabbing a drink, splitting a charcuterie board while you catch up with friends, or shopping from a beautifully curated selection of cheese, wine, nuts, chocolate, tinned fish, etc!

The size/shape of the space does allow voices to carry, and it was a little loud with what seemed to be a large group (having a great time) in an adjacent room, but that's hardly a complaint, and more just something to be aware of if noise is something that affects you.

I can't wait...

If only I could live right next to this amazing place for cheese, wine, food, and good ol' fashioned fun, I would do so in a heartbeat! The selections and pairings of cheeses and wines were highly enjoyable. There is a cheese (or three) that will suit every palate. Never in my wildest imagination would I have thought of pairing bleu cheese with chocolate ganache -- but at Beautiful Rind, anything is possible.

Our wine selections (and very generously poured wine flights) were creative, fun, and spunky. We are huge 'weird wine' drinkers, and they did not even bat an eye when we asked if they had any (of course they did!).

We had so much fun with our selections, we kept ordering wines and cheeses, and also a raclette (why not?) for good measure. To top it off, we bought two bottles to take home -- and even those are very competitively priced. One of the two bottles was even cheaper than the average market price according to my wine app.

Lastly, the ambience gives off a cute retro, minimalist chic feel. The staff give me cool, vibey, and friendly. Win-win.

I can't say anything bad about Beautiful Rind. I just can't wait to go back...

Beautiful Rind is the best! We’re members of the monthly cheese club and it’s such a treat to get to learn about 3 new cheeses every month!

I just had my bachelorette party there for a private “intro to cheese” class - everyone had the best time!! Randall is incredible! His love of cheese is infectious and made the whole experience so fun, and we also learned things about cheese and world history! The cheeses were delicious - all 5 of the cheeses were someone’s favorite (which is crazy because the Blakesville Chèvre is obviously the best). The charcuterie boards and pairings were delightful! They made sure to have rice crackers for my celiac and gluten free friend! They were a joy to work with - so easy to book and coordinate final numbers, wine pairings and allergies.

We had 12 of us and it was a great number, but their private space could have fit more people! They also even do house calls! It was such a fun event and people were talking about it the whole bachelorette weekend!!

I wish I had pictures of how beautiful everything was! But I think a testament to what a great time we had that we just...