Restaurants in Elmhurst

Serving popular Asian dishes on a sandwich

Café Amano summons patrons to its elegant, warmly lit interior with the savory aromas of gourmet small plates, salads, pastas, entrees, and more. Warm up over a plate of warming gnocchi di pesto, potato dumplings chaperoned by apple-and-gouda chicken sausage ($17), or sink your teeth into an elegant entree such as the oven-roasted rack of Australian lamb chops, enrobed in a shiitake mushroom port wine reduction ($29). A menu of decadent handmade desserts sports sweeties such as the chocolate l’orange torte, infused with Grand Marnier and tipsily donning a lampshade-style hat of chocolate ganache ($9). Relax in the cream and black accented dining room with a correspondingly hued Intelligentsia café au lait ($3), or sip on an imported dessert selection from the wine list such as the French Pineau des Charentes ($7 per glass). View the full menu here.

The Silverado Grill brings the sizzling taste of Texas to the midwest. Its Lone Star roots are evident from the minute you step in the door—if the aroma of old-fashioned barbecue doesn't give it away, the Texan flag warbling "The Yellow Rose of Texas" from the wall will. Here, chefs hand-cut steaks and whip up a menu of Southern specialties, including baby back ribs, catfish filets, and hearty chicken dinners. Plates are served up in a casual, family-friendly dining room, which often hums with the sounds of live music.

For more than 20 years, the staff at Riley's Gathering Place have slaked thirst and staunched hunger with a full bar and a menu of tavern-style eats, including salads, burgers, melts, and wraps. Fourteen flat screen televisions flank the wood-paneled walls, as bar-high tabletops play Duck, Duck, Goose with stools. A patio hosts al fresco dining in good weather. Free wireless Internet at Riley's Gathering Place means that debates can only last for so long until someone verifies that the chicken and the egg were invented at the exact same time.

Serene Teaz’s herbal outfitters dress up waiting cups in international teas, rooibos, infusions, and matés. Toast sunrise over a breakfast campfire with a mug of smoky lapsang souchong black tea ($10 for 4 oz.) or train crosshairs at midafternoon fatigue with a restorative shot of gunpowder green tea ($10.50 for 4 oz.). Steeped like tea, South African rooibos transforms into a drinkable dessert when paired with fruit or chocolate. One of Serene Teaz’s most popular rooibos brew, Sweet Sin ($10 for 4 oz.) sifts together vanilla, rose petals, and freeze-dried raspberries to elicit a decadent aroma capable of transporting drinkers toward serene moments or back to their days as a chocolate-rabbit breeder. Herbal infusions dance across nose buds with scents blended from fruits, herbs, and flowers such as hibiscus ($10 for 4 oz.) and peppermint ($9 for 4 oz.).

Mayan Adventure Waterpark sends guests sliding through 24,000 square feet of rivers and pools. The expansive indoor park houses a plethora of thrilling slides, from the nail-biting Grand Mayan Falls tube slide to the shriek-inducing Howling Monkey body slide, launching bodies down slopes slipperier than an argument about a camel's nose. Ancient faces carved in stone spout torrents of water on guests drifting gently down the Oogaboo Lazy River, while whitecaps fill the Twisted Lizard activity pool and enliven aquatic games of basketball. Kids can frolic in the soaking meadows of the Parrot Island interactive play station, where a giant dumping bucket in the shape of a Mayan head casts 300-gallon curses upon the heads of those below. A nearby arcade provides respite from the watery jungle with a host of video games and prizes.