Firefly Grill & Restaurant

When Kristie Campbell was two years old, her family moved from Effingham to Maine.

Every summer, her family returned to visit Kristie’s grandparents. Between family farms and beneath a blanket of stars that filled the Midwestern night sky, Kristie and her brother would catch fireflies that her grandmother put into mason jars and placed next to Kristie’s bed on the screened-in porch where she sang the children to sleep.

Years later, when Kristie met Niall, an exceptionally talented chef—and, as Kristie might add, also very cute — who was working on the vacation island of Vieques (as destiny would have it, Niall grew up on a small dairy farm in Maine, too), their love of family and shared passion for the kind of good, natural food raised on small family farms inspired the idea for Firefly Grill.

The goal was simple: create more than just a restaurant. Kristie and Niall wanted to create an experience that reflected how they live their lives every day. Since the kitchen is the heart of the Campbell house, the kitchen at Firefly Grill is designed as an expedition for customers so they can see all of the love and hard work that goes into the dishes.

If you want to know what’s on your plate, just take a walk around the building and you’ll find an organic farm that supplies the majority of the dishes on the menu. What they don’t produce themselves, they hand select from local artisan farmers, foragers and fishermen who care for the quality of food as deeply as they do.

This sustainable, community-based dining establishment is well ahead of the curve of how things will be in the future. However, the opportunity to taste their roasted salmon with fettuccini, cacao de pepe, fresh peas and carrot butter is about all you’ll need to join the Firefly faithful. Every guest of Kristie and Niall Campbell knows, when they visit here, they’ll be nourished and cared for in a way that makes them feel like they’re coming home.

Discover more Illinois artisans at Illinois Made.