Topa more eatery than tavern

The words "tavern and grill" conjure up a dim and smoky ambience, with a grillman flipping greasy burgers behind a counter. Nothing could be further from that image than Topa Tavern and Grill in Elk Grove Village.

An open, airy space, the former location of Cucina Roma presents cleanly elegant lines, glossy, dark wood floor and tables, and creamy walls.

More restaurant than tavern, the upscale spot serves an easy-to-like, mix-it-up, something-for-everyone menu of Italian- and Asian-influenced dishes, steaks and dressed-up versions of old-fashioned American comfort fare. Choices range from burgers to offbeat specials such as banana-crusted tilapia.

Brothers Tony and Paul Diaz -- the To and Pa behind Topa -- launched the restaurant in October. The pair spent years working at the Rosewood Restaurant in Rosemont, where their father is a partner, and Paul ultimately became dining manager and sommelier.

Tony, the chef, went on to such high-end restaurants as Charlie Trotter's, Alinea and Moto, volunteering his time to learn kitchen skills while working as a server. His menu, however, seems drawn less from those rarified realms than from crowd-pleasing chains like The Cheesecake Factory and T.G.I. Friday's.

Satisfying starters include crispy ginger shrimp, eight medium-sized shrimp wrapped in wonton skins and deep-fried to crispiness, laid over miso- and sesame-dressed red-cabbage slaw, with soy-ginger and creamy tomatillo-avocado sauces for dipping. Roast corn and black-bean chicken rolls, a Southwestern-style take on egg rolls, offer a nice contrast of soft, warm filling and crunchy crust, with more avocado sauce as well as sweet-spicy honey-chipotle dip.

Our server said "Double T" spinach dip was a reference to the owners; this hot, gooey spinach-artichoke medley is chunkier than most, and comes with garlic toasts for scooping.

Other openers include fried calamari, shrimp cocktail and coriander-crusted, seared, rare yellowfin tuna, plus a couple of soups and some salads.

Entrees come with your choice of a daily soup, such as hearty tomato-basil, or the house salad, a mix of greens with cubed tomatoes, carrots and croutons.

Meat lovers can choose from seven kinds of steak, such as bistro steak frites, a New York strip, a filet with bearnaise sauce and pan-seared steak Diane. There's also an Angus burger.

Other meaty options include a pair of half-pound char-grilled pork chops, cooked just a trifle dry, piled atop a mighty mound of mashed potatoes over a savory lake of port-and-mission-fig sauce, and excellent meatloaf -- two massive, intensely beefy-tasting slabs of Angus, plated with marsala-mushroom sauce, set on a hill of mashed potatoes and surmounted by crispy Marlboro onions.

Linguine with marinara sauce, sausage and peppers and pork chop milanese add Italian flair to the menu.

Seafood choices include baked Lake Superior whitefish, pan-seared Atlantic salmon and a big fillet of moist, flaky mahi mahi crusted in crabmeat over sauteed leaves of fresh spinach and coral-colored lobster-cognac sauce.

Portions run more than ample.

Desserts, also large, include a Southern-style pecan pie with a terrific filling but, sadly, a hard, tasteless crust, and a dense but somewhat dry flourless chocolate cake. There's also chocolate mousse with bananas, cheesecake and creme brulee.

The bar pours creative cocktails made from freshly squeezed juices, craft beers such as Three Floyds on tap as well as international bottled brands, and a global wine list.

Topa Tavern and Grill

944 Elk Grove Town Center, Elk Grove Village, (847) 640-0440, toparestaurant.com

Cuisine: American/eclectic

Setting: Contemporary elegance in Elk Grove Town Center mall, Biesterfield and Arlington Heights roads

Price range: Appetizers $3 to $12.50; entrees $8 to $26.50; desserts $4 to $6.50; wine $5 to $8 by the glass, $20 to $130 by the bottle

Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday; 4 to 11 p.m. Saturday; 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday (bar open one hour later)

Accepts: Major credit cards; reservations

Also: Full bar; free parking; private party rooms