Edge by Chef Dustin Allen

I had been looking forward to eating here for a while. I like the farm to table concept and had read great reviews on Facebook and in the newspaper. I wanted a chef cooked meal and a good nite out. I was excited by the menu selection. The décor seems to try a bit hard to be neutral but is not too distracting. The food however was underwhelming. It was ok but not worth the price. We started off with salmon and quail egg. This was by far the best dish of the meal. The salmon was flavorful and fresh. Our second course was pork meat balls over barley. It tasted like something I could do at home. Our main meal was a pork and cabbage dish. The concept was great but the flavored did not blend well and seemed to compete against each other. Over all, won’t go again or recommend it.

Edge is a family run business with a modern style for the area in general. They are definitely bringing a push of class and gourmet cuisine to an often unpalatable assortment of local establishments. The menu changes often as ingredients in this area are seasonal. Using locally sourced foods was a big plus. We ordered drinks and entrees as there is no actual starters or any type of charcuterie options. Edge offers a Chicago made vodka called CH that is incredible. The bartender was very sweet, but may need some training. Our drinks were not shaken or stirred. After mixing them ourselves, they were delicious. The strip steak was cooked properly as ordered. The seasoning on it was exceptional. The onions were a bit much. The roasted cauliflower ravioli was delicious. Again, the greens could have been fewer as more of a garnish. The grouper was cooked perfectly with a delicious bed of spinach and wheat berry. This dish specifically would have been excellent had the fish not been so overly salted. The brownie dessert is good. The brownie should have been served warm, but the coffee caramel was absolutely wonderful as was the toasted crème. The brownie is also very dense and overly sweet which may be perfect for those with a strong sweet tooth. The plating is very nice for Peoria. Our waiter, Antonio was extremely attentive and very accommodating. The prices are outstanding for the quality and experience. I am extremely pleased that we found such a great restaurant while here from Austin, TX. I’m pleasantly surprised with Edge and will return on future trips here.

Best New Years dinner ever! The chef’s tender hand with the freshest local ingredients and skilled cooking techniques are marvels to behold. The four course menu was chosen by the chef with imagination and a creativity rarely found in Peoria. Edge is worthy of many visits… our new special occasion destination.

I’m probably in the minority here, but I noticed that the Unilocal listing for this restaurant was in all upper case letters, and I found it odd when I rolled up to park that the sign outside listed the name in all lower case letters.
Inside, the restaurant was smaller than I expected; maybe seating for about 40 not including bar seats. The décor featured modern colors and was fairly nondescript.
We were a group of five and there seemed to be a delay before our drink order arrived, then we placed our dinner order and the food timing was good.
The bread and herbed butter was great.
Our server had explained that there were four courses to the menu, which is not large and changes regularly, but that you could pick and choose any courses you wished, and that some were good for sharing.
I ordered the beet salad ($ 12) to start, and while delicious and well presented, I wouldn’t recommend that particular dish for sharing unless you were just looking for a bite. The beets were petite, maybe the size of pearl onions, the bleu cheese was generous and there was a nice purée of some sort garnishing the plate.
For an entrée I had the roasted chicken with polenta ($ 27), and it was flavorful and delicious. The skin on the chicken was seasoned, browned and nicely crisp, the meat was juicy and the polenta had a wonderful savory flavor.
In between each course including bread, all plates and implements were cleared and fresh ones were brought out, and our waters were refilled several times.
I had two courses and some had three at our table, so overall from arrival to payment of our bills we were there two hours. I would consider dining here again for a special occasion.

We’ve tried this place three times. Each time hoping that dinner is better then the last. The menu options are trendy and seem well thought out… and then you receive your choice and it is underwhelming each time. We love eating out, and different types of food each time. Edge misses the mark each time. The Chef seems to be trying to hard to be creative.

Fantastic food. One of the few 5-​stars I’ve rated for dinner in Peoria. Service was excellent, food was outstanding, presentation was Michelin-​quality, and although pricey, worth the extra cost.
Atmosphere is dark, trendy, and very open. Nearly every seat in the restaurant has visibility to the entire dining room.
The bar is well stocked and the bartender very good. Cocktail menu is superb.
My wife and I shared the gnocchi for the first course. Second course was the beet salad, and the third was the Faroe salmon. It was all excellent.
The wine list was not as large as I had hoped, but the selection was very good.
Overall this is now one of my top three favorite restaurants in Peoria. I cannot wait to return and try the chef’s tasting menu.

Worth a 2^nd try.
The restaurant itself is quite pleasant and welcoming. We were greeted immediately and sat at the bar until our reservation time. The restaurant has a very fresh well lit open look with hardwood floors and a very long bar and high ceiling. I thought the tables were spaced well and no one was overly close to another table.
It was our first time there and was at the end of a very busy night. I got a same day reservation on «Open Table» for a late dinner. By the time we got there they were out of two to the six dinner entrees. The waiter politely apologized for being out of the pork and chicken dishes.
We ordered drinks. The wine selection was small but the wine was quite good. The beer was excellent. It was poured using a technique and in a glass suggested by the distributor.
My wife had the fish and it was done perfectly. I got the pork appetizer and we both enjoyed that. Although they were out of pork, they still had the pork appetizer. I enjoyed the farm to table freshness of the green beans on my entrée.
Cooks can be inconsistent but the long-​term success of a chef depends on his/​her consistency. At 85 one great chef explained, «That as soon as you think you’ve succeeded, you’ve failed.» That striving for perfection is what drove him to a lifetime of success. The chef at Edge needs to work on his bread, his salt levels, the temperature of his soup, and serving dishes as described on the menu and overall management. It’s a tough tough business for a restaurant that is not a formula chain frozen food style restaurant. Every city the size of Peoria benefits from having a restaurant like Edge succeed.
It was definitely a special treat to go to Edge.

I surprised my wife with a long overdue date night and a new restaurant neither of us had experienced. Before arriving we were initially ‘sold’ on going here since it has a coursed meal (a rare find in Peoria) and a seemly intimate and lively atmosphere (good for date night).
Overall, factoring in the cost of the meal ($ 140+tip), it didn’t meet our expectations.
Positive:
1. Food was expertly cooked, prepared, and presented
2. Quality ingredients (Farm to table, how can you beat that?)
3. Portions are perfect
Negative:
1. Despite the comments above the food wasn’t fantastic. Certainly not worth the cost of it. Nothing that either of us ate left us wanting to come back for more.
2. Cost — probably a common compliant, but $ 140+tip for 2 people in Peoria?
3. Tables are so close together you get to join other people’s conversations and vice versa.
Ultimately, for the cost there are better options in the Heights.

Everything we had at Edge was fantastic. We did not do Course 1 but we did do 2 and my husband and I both had the heirloom tomatoes with reduced balsamic vinegar. Our 3^rd course was me the salmon and my husband the tenderloin. We both can not say enough good things about them. For this final course I had the squash with chocolate for dessert. My Chardonnay went well with my meal and I had a 20 year tawny port. The service was outstanding too.

Surprising gem in Peoria. I sat at the bar on a Monday night. The bartender (Lindsey) was attentive, and very knowledgeable about the drinks, she went off menu and made a bijou that was amazing. The menu changes often being farm to table but I had the duck and it was cooked perfectly. I only good that I find myself in the area again to see what’s new. It’s in a strip mall but you would never guess by the interior.

Excellent food and service! Had the Stripped bass. Sat at bar and had great interaction with chef. Will be back!

Meh… cost to much for what you get. The food was OK. But a long wait. A waste of time really. You can do better so there is no need to settle for this pit. Peoria has many great restaurants to offer despite what some out of town a– holes think. I could write some long winded review but its not necessary. Its expensive and not very good. The only thing worse than bad food is overpriced bad food. No thanks.

The food was very good, but our service tonight when compared to the price was not good. We were the for 1 hour and 15 minutes, and the only item that was served was 1 glass of wine. For the expense, the service just has to be better.

The atmosphere, service, food and attention to detail are all consistently excellent. You will often see the owner who wants to hear how your meal is. This is a great place to relax, have a great meal and not feel rushed. You feel like you are an invited guest in someone’s home.

Well worth a visit. Very busy but considering it was V Day we only waited about 20 minutes passed our reservation time. It was very smokey in there as I think they could use better ventilation? My better half got her first glass of wine free due to the wait. The 5 course meal plan was great and a perfect amount of food. The food was very flavorful and a perfect balance. The price with tip ended up being $ 175 for 2. The dinner was $ 60 per plate plus there was of course another glass of wine. The staff was very friendly and accommodating as well.

The bar service, the bar itself and variety of wines and alcohol here gets them 6 stars alone. Beautiful giant wood bar all along one side of the restaurant staffed by the friendliest, most outgoing bartender we have found yet in Peoria. She chatted us up all the while concocting drink inventions using peppered tequila, house infused gins and vodkas, unheard of types of bourbons and ryes! Their menu consists of original drinks that are created with the time and care of a chef. Since some drinks call for a whipped egg white, that isn’t far off!
The food was not quite as amazing as the drinks and service but was still good. Maybe we were measuring it against too high of standards though! I was hoping for more small plate choices but decided to try an oxtail appetizer which was tender and flavorful followed by a coq au vin which was not nearly as tender as the traditional dish of chicken breast/​leg simmered for hours in a tasty wine broth. This version was a seared chicken breast that didn’t wow us. The accompanying veggies (baby Brussels sprouts!) were good and so was the sauce but just maybe not their best menu item. I did hear the menu changes weekly so odds are that we will find something tasty on our next visit!

Amazing. Food was really good. Good cocktails. The staff was very polite. Will definitely be back.

Another fantastic dinner last night, excellent service, fantastic food, ie, scallops, cod, sea bass were just the best.

Had dinner here last night for our first time. We just kinda stumbled into here after our weekly volleyball game, so we were WAY under-​dressed. If I had known anything about this place, I would have saved it for my just showered and pretty look;-) but c’est la vie… we didn’t care and no one here seemed to either. A huge plus.
I don’t believe in faith, but I have to say that earlier in this particular day I had this thought: «Are there any more places that serve food of substance, food that hits your taste buds individually, not a mosh pit at once? And why does most of the food recently, although looking good, taste like shi*t!?!»
So Edge fell into my lap.
The positive:
1. Definitely high end ingredients and high end cooking.
2. Delicious.
3. NOT a mosh pit of flavor.
4. Love that the menu changes
5. A top Chicago-​end restaurant in Peoria (made me miss living in chi town for a sec, but just for a sec since we didn’t have to drive around the place 3 times before we found a spot to park)
6. Classy ambiance
The negative: Only 2
1. lay off the salt, please. Coming from someone who LOVES salt and uses it in batches of acres even I was like whoa easy on the salt, chef. Didn’t ruin the meal but a couple more hand shakes of it could have.
2. a bit over-​priced
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If you have the time… Here’s the details:
Olive oil and herb flatbread were brought out with our drinks. Nice touch. People come hungry, so it is nice to give them a pre-​appetizer while they are waiting; the Mexicans and Italians figured this out a long time ago with chips and rolls. Finally, the Americans are catching on too;-) Sad, but we do live in a time of now now, more more and pre pre.
Since the menu changes, you may not be able to order this again, or maybe you will.
Apple salad was cute. Warm apple cubes (nice) with cool string apples (I like the contrast), goat cheese, arugula, some other fun things going on in there but the best thing was the mystery green cream paste. What was that? and can I have that to go? It would be great as a bread spread (hint hint;-). Shoot, sell it by the pint!
I had the pork chop which was just darn delicious. Loved LOVED the pearl onions, the sauce, the mushrooms, the pureed potatoes, that rare little hybrid of kai-​lan and brocolli. The chef left the fat on the chop, which I can actually really appreciate. It is probably why it was so darn juicy and yummy and why hide that fact. Kinda honest-​to-​goodness cool.
Hubby had the lamb two ways. His addition to this post is «It was good, I liked it» Yes, A man of many words. I tried it and it was cooked well (as in medium rare), well seasoned, moist, bone in, not overly salty, pretty much the way lamb should be done right. And then you find the hidden lamb. Remember two ways? Add a touch more, but not much more. Sensationally a great idea. Asparagus was firm and so was the cauliflower. The asp. was done right since I like my al dente, but I prefer the brain to be softer. But that’s just being nit-​picky.
Hub did comment that if their prices were lower they would have received 5 stars, «You know once you put yourself into that bracket, you have to live up to it, and you also get graded harsher.» Then he went on about not expecting much from fast-​food joints but more from sushi restaurants. I agree but we digress…
Dessert lava molten cake was well executed. We both liked that it wasn’t too sweet, although I had a conflict of mental thoughts about it. On one hand it felt like the perfect European not too sweet yet sweet dessert I grew up with, on the other hand I felt spoiled by the cheap-​O version at Chili’s that is overly sweet. SO I like them both, shoot me as I search for the perfect medium.
All in all, great dining and atmosphere. If they chill out with the high end prices and salt we would make this our go-​to place. But I know I’ll have a tough time talking my friends into spending $ 30 for a solo entrée, not including app, salad or drinks, so in reality the frequency that I visit will suffer. Which is a bummer, but it is what it is, and I’m glad this place exists here in dirty, old P-​town.

We had reservations and were seated right away. The place is small and decorated in a minimalist style. Simple and uncluttered.
Our server was slow to get to the table and slow to respond all night. She seemed a bit overwhelmed but of good intention.
I started with the soup and my wife the beet salad. The roasted tomato soup was fine and came in an adequate serving (small cup). The beet salad had wonderful flavor and contained 4 slices of a very small beet.
I ordered the brisket for my main course. It was an attractive presentation, but the brisket was very dry. The savior was the polenta that it was served upon. It brought some moisture to the dish. The serving might have been 4oz worth. Flavor was good, but did not warrant the price.
My wife had the halibut which came as a very nice presentation, but again a small portion. The food was overly salty and honestly not as good as we’d had hoped.
For desert we something called around the campfire? I know that’s not the name, but it was horrible. Too many disjointed flavors and textures.
For the money, I’d have expected much more professionalism and better food. As an aside, the establishment touts a dress code, but all we could see were blue jeans and jeans. If they are going to post a dress code it would be good to see them uphold it. My wife was dressed up and I was in a sport coat/​no tie and dress pants.