nsxtasy

Sorry, but your friend won't be able to have access to the terminal concourses unless he/she is on a flight or is an airline employee. So that won't work. It's true that some of the places in the vicinity of the airport have closed, including Black Ram and Flamingo's. There are several good steakhouses in Rosemont close to the airport, including Gibson's and Morton's. There's also a McCormick and Schmick's for seafood fans. Five hours gives you plenty of time to take the el to the various places mentioned in Alex's link, such as Giordano's for stuffed pizza, Smoque for barbecue, Lula for local/seasonal American, or even to go all the way downtown (such as to the French Market).

What's ironic is that the situation with the 1913 Room is the reverse of the traditional business model, and it appears we have now come full circle. For a long time, it seems that hotel restaurants considered their hotel guests a "captive audience" and were able to pull in enough business from them with mediocre food and service, even when they were shunned by locals as JBailey describes. But fairly recently - in the past 10-20 years - some hotels have realized that they could do more business and become more profitable by providing a sufficiently high level of quality to bring in a substantial local customer base. Nowadays some of the finest restaurants around are located in hotels - not only six one six in the JW in Grand Rapids, but such restaurants as Avenues, NoMI, Seasons, and David Burke's in Chicago. Now we have an example of a restaurant that has brought in plenty of business from locals, but is suffering due to inadequate patronage by hotel guests. How ironic!

Yes, that is indeed too bad. I ate at the 1913 Room a year ago, and it was a uniquely upscale experience. The food was excellent and creative, and the service was absolutely top notch, although a bit overly structured. Perhaps one of the problems with the restaurant in attracting hotel guests is that it's competing with Cygnus 27 in the same hotel, and people chose the latter because it's less formal and less expensive (especially in this economy). Regardless, changing to a chain steakhouse reduces the diversity and quality in the city's culinary scene. Fortunately, not every hotel in town has made that move. six one six over at the new JW downtown is a simply wonderful, one-of-a-kind restaurant serving creative contemporary American cuisine.

When people post about it happening on three different occasions, that's three more than any other restaurant. Twice in two weeks is not "few and far between". Tell me why that is not known until a few hours before the time of the reservation, because I don't understand how it would not have been known at least a week beforehand. Tell me why that can't be communicated to the person whose reservation is being cancelled. Tell me why it is that this one restaurant has such reports, and no other restaurant of the 20,000 in the Chicago area has such reports. If I could make only a "few" calls to get a reservation, I would have done so. It's not a "few", so please don't oversimplify when you're bending over backwards to excuse unprofessional behavior on the part of this restaurant.

Well, I assumed that there was some good food there when I TRIED to get a reservation. Unsuccessfully. It was for a special occasion - in fact, for me, I would consider any nice dinner a special occasion. But I will not plan a special occasion with the knowledge that there is a significant chance that the restaurant will cancel my reservation with virtually no warning. NO restaurant is good enough to put up with such customer abuse!

I am very leery of making a reservation at a restaurant with the knowledge that there's a real chance they may not honor it - AND may cancel it at the last minute, without even giving a reason. It's even worse when you have to phone the restaurant dozens of times to try to make a reservation, only to receive a message that they are busy and their answering system is full. That's what happened the last time I tried going there, only to give up in frustration. There are thousands of restaurants in the Chicago area, and NO other restaurant perpetrates such travesties upon their customers (at least, not that I have heard). There's absolutely no reason to put up with such abuse when you can avoid it anywhere else.

Another forum has posts by two different posters who both had reservations for dinner at Schwa within the past two weeks (on different nights); in both cases the restaurant called them a few hours before the reservation to tell them that they would not be able to honor their reservation, without stating a reason for doing so. They told one person at 4 p.m. that the restaurant would be "closed" that evening, and they told the other person at 6:00 p.m. that they were cancelling his/her 8:30 reservation.

I don't know how they handle people still in line at their posted closing time, but that's what was going on. No one stood out as a tourist - no dangling cameras, no conspicuously inappropriate attire. Chatting with those around me (since there was plenty of time to chat), many were locals and others were from out of town; there were also mixed groups where locals were bringing their friends and relatives visiting from out of town to eat.

Not true, in my experience. I went there on a crummy Thursday a couple of months ago, and arrived around 1:00. I waited around 100 minutes (yes, one hour forty minutes) to be served. When I left around 3:00, I noticed that the line was significantly longer than when I arrived, and looked like a two-hour wait.

I would never direct anyone to Hot Doug's without warning them that it's really inconvenient to get to, and that they'll wait 90-120 minutes in line outside before ordering. As for the foie gras dog, I wasn't all that impressed, but to each his own.

So you're saying people should give it a chance despite knowing that the restaurant doesn't hire as much staff as it needs to serve its customers (at least, by taking reservations), and despite knowing that it has a past history of cancelling its customer reservations. In other words, give it a chance even though it has mistreated customers in the past and some of its problems continue. That's what you're saying.

If there's any doubt, have Ms. Alex take a look at the menus on the restaurants' websites to get a good idea of what they offer. FWIW, my tastes align pretty closely with Ms. Alex; I'm not big on pork and I detest oysters (as well as most types of raw fish). I liked some of the items at the Publican, particularly the mussels, but thought the pork rinds were overhyped. Desserts were dreadful and the INCREDIBLY HIGH NOISE LEVEL made me swear never to return. I haven't been to the Purple Pig yet, primarily because the menu on their website doesn't sound particularly appealing to me.

Purple Pig is really the same genre as the Publican - pork, charcuterie, pork, a little bit of cheese and a beer with your... pork. If you're holding off on the Publican for that reason, the Purple Pig may not be the best alternative choice. One of my frequent dining companions absolutely refuses to go to Schwa ever since Carlson suddenly closed for months and cancelled all reservations with no prior notice. He didn't have a reservation that was cancelled; he just feels that he does not want to spend his restaurant budget on a place that treats its customers that way (I think he used the term "customer abuse"). The way I see it, everyone is entitled to go wherever they want, and to avoid whatever places they want, for whatever reasons they deem appropriate.

I've been to five of the eight (not seven ) options listed. Here are my thoughts. Everest is absolutely wonderful. Jean Joho has keep his version of French cuisine contemporary and relevant. The service is exquisite, the view of the city is spectacular, and the wine list is one of the best anywhere. The pre-theater dinner is a bargain but I believe it's a set menu, i.e. three courses with no choices, which could be limiting. Sweets and Savories is very good but hasn't impressed me as outstanding. It's also a very good value but for about the same bargain price I'd easily choose Sable or Inovasi instead. Michael is, IMHO, the best restaurant in the Chicago area aside from our uberexpensive temples of haute cuisine (which include Everest). If I had to name the best half dozen meals I've had in the past several years, 3-4 of them would be at Michael (and I've only been there maybe 6-7 times during that period). It's where I go when friends come from out of town and I want to impress them with great food. Prices aren't bad, either, with a three-course prix fixe option of $48 for virtually the entire menu. Blue 13 and Pelago - I haven't heard anything about either of these places. That doesn't necessarily mean anything, of course. What should I know about them? Anyone? Cibo Matto - I had dinner there a few months ago (like Josh, before chef Todd Stein left for the Florentine) and I liked it a lot. It's a contemporary bistro version of Italian cuisine, with traditional Italian dishes as well as ones you'd find in a global bistro. The standout in my meal was a dessert featuring cardamom panna cotta; if they have it, don't miss it! The Publican - They serve a limited menu in the afternoon from 3:30 to 5:30, so check out the menus on their website to see if this suits your needs. It's a nice place for beer and smaller plates at an early hour, before it gets OVERWHELMINGLY LOUD when it fills up for dinner later on. For dinner, I thought the food was very good, but not outstanding, and was not left with any desire to return. Girl and the Goat - I haven't been there but I've read a cascade of consistently positive reports. Reserve now, as they've been booking up months in advance for desirable times on weekends. If I had to rank the five places based on how much I enjoyed them, Michael and Everest would be at the top (sublime), then Cibo Matto (excellent), then S&S and Publican (pretty good). HTH

I guess my question was really, how MUCH cheaper? Is a place like North Pond, with entrees in the thirties, okay? If so, you're only excluding about a dozen high-end restaurants in the entire city. If not, though, I would steer you in an entirely different direction. Chicago has an excellent system of public transportation. The CTA runs els (subways) and buses in the city and nearby suburbs; Metra runs commuter trains to the suburbs. You can find some information on the Goroo website but I generally find it easier to look at the CTA and Metra websites to find my way around. IIT is near the 35th Street stop on the CTA Green Line which is only a few blocks over from the Sox-35th stop on the CTA Red Line. Beware, many restaurants in Chicago are not open on Mondays, particularly our creative Mexican restaurants. I'm not sure that there is a "traditional Chicago meal", because there are so many different kinds of food here. We're probably best known for our deep-dish pizza, which is one of the few things you can get here in Chicago but not elsewhere. We are especially good for many other types of food, and then it just becomes a matter of personal taste. If you enjoy molecular gastronomy, with its unusual combinations of ingredients, preparation techniques, etc, then Moto is a good choice; along with Alinea and Schwa, it's one of three restaurants in Chicago which really specialize in it. However, it's not inexpensive, with its tasting menus costing $135 and $195. And it's not a substitute for Alinea. For retail customers, the Chopping Block has locations in the Merchandise Mart downtown, and in Lincoln Square on the North Side. Sur La Table has a store in Lincoln Park on the North Side. For stores serving professionals in the industry, I've heard that there are several places in the 1100 block of West Madison Street just west of the Loop, notably Gold Brothers. And for cutlery, go to Northwestern Cutlery just west of the Loop (about half a mile from Gold Brothers). I've heard that there are some other restaurant equipment suppliers along Randolph Street roughly 700-1200W, which is where many restaurants have located in recent years (Red Light, Blackbird/Avec, La Sardine, etc) but for many years was an open-air market for produce and other restaurant supplies, and I guess some of those stores remain there. (This is also the same general area as Gold Brothers and Northwestern Cutlery, as well as Moto and the Publican.) Click on links in my posts for more information about these places.

Well, we all have our opinions! Alinea is indeed terrific. While it gets lots of acclaim for its innovative molecular gastronomy, what often gets lost in the shuffle is that (a) the food is really, really delicious, and (b) the entire experience is a lot of fun. I would never, ever tell anyone to go to Hot Doug's without also informing them that they will wait over 90 minutes standing in line outside at virtually any hour they are open (and no, this is not an exaggeration), and that it's very inconvenient to downtown, where most visitors from out of town stay. I was also not impressed at all with the food, but that's a matter of opinion. If you want creative sausages, at least save yourself the time and inconvenience by going instead to Franks 'n' Dawgs. I just don't understand the praise for Hot Chocolate. What's even worse is any for Bleeding Heart Bakery, which is the worst bakery in the entire city IMHO - worse than the stuff you get at the neighborhood supermarket, and the only place I've been where the pastries are so bad I couldn't even finish one. If you want great baked goods and pastries, go to Fox & Obel downtown, or Vanille Patisserie (locations on Clybourn and in the French Market near the Loop), or Floriole Bakery four blocks east of Vanille's Clybourn location.

Lou Malnati's - which does have authentic Chicago deep-dish pizza - has 31 locations in the city and suburbs, but none of them is in Skokie. The location I mentioned above is just a few blocks from the event where the OP is headed. First of all, the commercial street in the Loop is called State Street. And Bayless's "Fresco" fast-food outlets are really nothing great. Especially when the original restaurants are only half a mile from there. If you want a late-night dessert, go to Fox & Obel, the gourmet grocer/cafe. Or do the dessert tasting at TRU. Or on weekends, consider the "Chocolate Bar" buffet of all-you-can-eat desserts at the Lobby in the Peninsula. I would not recommend Hot Chocolate.

I'm a little bit confused about what you're looking for. You say you're looking for places to go on a budget, but you also say you want to go to Alinea! And the responses from others are all over the map, price-wise, as well. At the top of the pricing scale are the high-end haute cuisine places. Alinea is the most widely known, but you will also get great food, and pay $200+ per person inclusive, with moderate alcohol, at any of them: Charlie Trotter's, Everest, Avenues, Spiaggia, TRU, and Schwa. They're all excellent, but not cheap. Then there are the "casual fine dining" places, where entrees may be in the mid twenties to mid thirties and you may pay anywhere from $75-110 pp. In this group, I think very highly of KD1191's recommendation of North Pond, for its exquisite setting in the park as well as for the contemporary American food from James Beard finalist Bruce Sherman. Another place I love is Cafe des Architectes in the Sofitel. I love it for the food, but an added bonus is that it's less expensive than many of our other contemporary American restaurants, with its $45 3-course prix fixe every night, and its $32 3-course "neighborhood friends menu" Sundays through Tuesdays. Cafe Spiaggia and Cibo Matto serve outstanding contemporary Italian fare, and we have great French bistros like La Sardine. Designers will also appreciate the contemporary design of Cibo Matto, which is in the new Wit Hotel, as well as the retro design of North Pond (the renovated building formerly served as a warming shelter for ice skaters on its adjacent namesake pond). I also think many of our upscale ethnic restaurants, in this same price category, are excellent and worth visiting. These include Topolobampo/Frontera Grill and Mundial Cocina Mestiza for creative Mexican, Mexique for contemporary Mexican with a French accent, Red Light and Opera for pan-Asian, Alex's recommendation of Mercat a la Planxa for tapas, and Carnivale for Latin fusion. Finally, there are all sorts of places in the "cheap eats" category, where you can dine for under $40 pp. There is our delicious local specialty of deep-dish pizza at Uno/Due, Lou Malnati's, and Pizano's, and Italian beef sandwiches and Chicago hot dogs at Portillo's. Lou Malnati's at 8th and State is near the Spertus Institute. For specialty sausages you can brave the 90+ minute waits at Hot Doug's or skip the lines by going to Franks 'n' Dawgs. And there are neighborhood restaurants, often simple storefronts, with inexpensive fare from just about any ethnicity - Greek, Thai, Chinese, Mexican, Vietnamese, Indian, and just about any other cuisine you can imagine. For a breakfast treat, go to Bongo Room, a five minute walk south of Spertus, at Wabash and Roosevelt. Their specialty is creative pancakes, such as their pretzel pancakes with white chocolate caramel sauce. Tip: Their standard portion size is three gigantic pancakes, but you can also order one-third and two-thirds portion sizes at a reduced price, which lets you try more items. Incidentally, Avec is currently closed due to a fatal fire, but is expected to re-open at the end of the month. I'm not particularly fond of it, due to the no-reservations policy and long waits to be seated, uncomfortable communal-only seating, and EXCESSIVE NOISE. Blackbird and Publican can also be ear-splitting. Enjoy your trip, and feel free to ask more questions!

Actually, a much bigger issue is the fact that apparently I'm the only one here who has actually dined there. And I paid for my meals on both occasions. So even though he's turning out some great food (IMHO) and filling the place, he's indeed "flying under the radar" when it comes to the media. My recommendation is that, instead of complaining about the technicalities of this offer, you just go there to eat and to enjoy a nice dinner, regardless of whether or not you accept the offer. (Even if you decide to pay for it yourself, it's NOT an expensive restaurant.) Decide for yourself if the food is as good as I'm telling you it is, and let us know what you think.

FWIW, at both my visits to Inovasi, the restaurant was about 3/4 full on a weekday evening, and I heard that they are booking up 1-2 weeks out for weekends. This means they are doing very well in the current economic environment.

I'm happy to answer this question, with an enthusiastic "Yes!" I think Inovasi is absolutely terrific. The food is as good as any contemporary American restaurant in the city (excluding big-bucks places like Alinea). I have enjoyed my dinners there as much as anywhere in the city (and I've tried most of the more publicized comparable places, and some of the less publicized ones). And the prices are substantially less than comparable places in the city. For food of that quality, including moderate wine and tax/tip, I'm accustomed to paying $80-100/pp in the city and suburbs, and my jaw dropped when I saw the bill ($50/pp). I've posted detailed reports on my two dinners at Inovasi this year in the topic about Lake County dining (click here). I don't have any specific thoughts about your other questions, other than to note that Inovasi is indeed at a geographic disadvantage in terms of media coverage, due to its location in a distant suburb of Chicago. It just doesn't get much coverage, or even many postings on food boards like eGullet.

True, but without specifying whether that is supposed to be for a three-course meal (good luck with that!) or for an entree (in which case only the most picky person would exclude Michael, whose prices are only a few dollars more; even the exquisite Dover sole and lobster special I mentioned was $29).

Dinner at Michael last month (July) We ate at Michael again tonight, and I gotta tell you, they knocked it out of the park again. Just OUTSTANDING. How good was it? This was one of the two best dinners I've had in the past three years (and the other, at Alinea, cost several times as much). It was AMAZING. When we were seated, we were served two small grugeres (melted cheese puffs) that were yummy. One appetizer was the foie gras appetizer noted in the original post above (seared foie gras over foie gras and mushroom strudel), although it is now labeled "foie gras served two ways" on the menu. The other was a giant sea scallop served over a spinach-filled crepe. Both were superb. But wait, there's more! Next was a very nice frisee salad with pecans and Asian pears. ... And things just kept getting better and better as the meal went along. One entree we had pre-ordered after receiving an e-mail from Michael's mailing list. It was a Dover sole and Maine lobster duo, with half of a 1.5-pound Dover sole (2 filets) and half of a 1.25-pound Maine lobster (claw, tail and arm meat all shell free), served with Grilled thin asparagus and Drawn lobster butter over creamy polenta. Imagine the most tender, moist, and delicious Dover sole you've ever had in your life. Now imagine the most tender, moist, and delicious lobster meat you've ever had in your life. THAT'S how good this was. And oh yeah, the creamy polenta was equally amazing, with a silky smooth texture and a great taste (it had some goat's milk cheese in it). The other entree was just about as amazing; it consisted of a stuffed breast of hen, amazingly tender, moist, and delicious, and a breast of Pekin duck, perfectly cooked and fanned out on the plate in ultrathin slices, with virtually no fat to trim off, served alongside Door County cherries. But wait, there's more! We had two desserts, and they were just as amazing as the entrees. One was a candied spiced peach served over a shortbread cookie, with a small scoop of spicy roasted orange sherbet placed on a French fig. The other was a "mango charlotte" that didn't seem like a charlotte but was easily the best dessert I've had all year. It was a buttery rich moist cake, almost like an upside-down cake, with chopped mango in the middle, and a small scoop of coconut ice cream on top, and it was just wickedly sinful. Amazing. (The waiter told us how it's made but I won't spoil the fun!) A little bit of chopped macadamia in the corners of the plate was a nice touch for this exquisite dessert. And our waiter also brought complimentary chocolate truffles, but even though they were very good, they were only the final touch on a meal that was already phenomenal. Michael is also reasonable in price for such high quality food. It's $48 if you order three courses and $55 if you order four courses (the foie gras dish had a $6 supplement, the only supplement I recall seeing on the menu). Michael is a very, very special restaurant, IMHO the very best in the suburbs and the very best in the Chicago area aside from a handful of uber-expensive big-name restaurants in the city. Those who haven't been there are really missing something special. If you live in the city, it's easy to get there on the Metra commuter train (see www.metrarail.com ); the Indian Hill stop on the Union Pacific North line is just a few steps from the restaurant, and the trains run well into the evening. HOORAY for Michael!!!

Dinner at Inovasi this past February This past Thursday night I had a TERRIFIC dinner at Inovasi in north suburban Lake Bluff. It was also a true bargain. Read on! Inovasi is located on a corner in the small business district of Lake Bluff, on the North Shore in Lake County IL. It's a block from the Lake Bluff station on Metra, and a mile east of the IL-176 exit from the Edens Expressway (US-41). It's a fairly large restaurant; the bar room is at the entrance, from which there are two dining rooms to the left, and a private dining room to the right. The tables are spaced fairly far apart so there is a nice feeling of spaciousness and privacy. There is also a decidedly casual atmosphere, despite the upscale creative menu. Inovasi's menu is quite unique. Items are not designated as appetizers or main courses; instead, there are simply sections for seafood, meats, and vegetables/greens/soups. All of the menu items are designed to be in between the size of appetizers and entrees you would fine at other restaurants, roughly 2/3 the size of entrees elsewhere, and they are priced accordingly (most are $9-13). The intention is to allow you to structure your meal however you like. The four of us decided to order five items for our first course, including three soups. As it turns out, the soup portion sizes were a fairly large bowl, so they are consistent with the "2/3 entrée" theme. The "honest mushroom bisque" was simply wonderful, one of the best mushroom soups I've ever had. The "Tuscan tomato soup" was a thick and hearty tomato soup, very good indeed. They had a daily special of "white truffle and cauliflower soup" which was garnished with an ample number of baby shrimp, and this was also wonderful, with lots of truffle flavor. We had the fried calamari which was made with roasted pecans, lemongrass coconut juices and a maple syrup and soy reduction; they were perfectly prepared and amazingly tender (although the bottom of the bowl was a bit gloppy due to the sauce). The final dish in this course was the sauteed foie gras, which is one of the best preparations you'll find anywhere, with a slightly salty crispiness to the oh-so-thin crust on the outside, and perfectly tender and warm on the inside. Just yummy! For our second course, we ordered two meat dishes and two seafood dishes. One was the Duroc pork shoulder, which was one of the most awesome pork dishes you'll find anywhere, amazingly flavorful and tender. As described on the menu, they use "a 4 day process of marinating, grilling, confit, smoking, and finally sautee". The pork is in the shape of a disc, and it just falls apart as you cut into it - very tender, not at all dry (although not overly moist). Really delicious, even if you're not a big fan of pork. The second was the Tallgrass sirloin steak, which is dry aged in house for six weeks. It was very tender and flavorful; Inovasi is by no means a steak house, but this steak is as good as you'll find at any steakhouse anywhere. Another dish was the Dutch white sea bass, a grilled filet with a slightly spicy glaze on the outside, very tender and delicious. The final dish of this course was the most visually stunning of the entire meal. It was rainbow trout sauteed with a crispy corn crust. The trout was already fileted and boned, which is unusual for trout; even more unusual, the pieces were cut up into small, silver-dollar sizes, and stacked neatly along with the farro piccolo grain accompaniment. But the presentation, oh my! It was served on a rectangular CANVAS PAINTED with four sauces "Jackson Pollock style". Very unusual, and gorgeous! Well, by this time we were nicely sated - two dishes there is plenty - but how could we resist the desserts? Fortunately for us, we couldn't; as it turns out, the desserts were every bit as good as the rest of the meal! One dessert was coffee mousse layered with phyllo and served with roasted pistachio nuts and a pile of small pieces of homemade smoked bacon. Yes, bacon. And it was very good. So was the tres leches cake, in the simple traditional presentation. My personal favorite was a chocolate pot de crème. This was a bit different from the traditional presentation; anywhere else, it's served in the cup in which it's baked. At Inovasi, the disc-shaped chocolate was served on a plate, and was slightly lighter than the typically dense and rich version; above it was a layer of a coconut cream, like a moist custard or panna cotta. And it was surrounded with slightly spicy chopped macadamia nuts. This was a great dessert, one in which there was a balance of different textures (smooth vs crunchy), as well as a balance of different tastes (strong chocolate and strong spice vs mild coconut). What a great composition! Inovasi specializes in using local, seasonal, and sustainable ingredients wherever possible. Of course, a lot of restaurants say that... but how many have a partnership with a local farm, in which the restaurant's own dedicated hens lay the restaurant's own dedicated eggs? When Chef-owner John des Rosiers stopped by our table - he stopped by most of the tables while we were there, a practice I think speaks well for any restaurant - he mentioned that this time of year they have fewer vegetable dishes than the rest of the year, because of their reliance on local and seasonal ingredients. He also noted that they can develop menus for specific needs, such as the three very distinct dishes he had recently prepared for a vegan diner. Oh yes, I left out one important part. The price. My jaw practically dropped when I saw how LOW the bill was. Oh sure, I was aware of how much the individual dishes cost, when ordering them, but still! The nine savory dishes ranged from $8 to $15; granted, they were roughly 2/3 the normal portion sizes, but even after adjusting for that, they were inexpensive. Everything else was quite reasonable, too. We had two glasses of wine, for $6 and $9, and the desserts were $6-7 each, all of which is pretty darn reasonable nowadays. For the four of us, the grand total was $153 plus tax ($14). With tip, it came out to $50/person for a top notch dinner. That is an amazing BARGAIN; you can easily pay twice that much at comparable restaurants in the city. Please forgive me for my effusive praise here. This was NOT a typical meal, and this is NOT my typical praise. Yes, I eat out a lot, and while I find a lot of good food in the restaurant business, it's very rare when I eat a meal and try a lot of different things and one dish after another after another is just amazingly delicious. This happens to me roughly once a year, if I am really lucky. And this was one of those dinners, one I will be remembering for months to come, even longer. (Of course, this ignores the fact that I want to return to Inovasi and try some of the dishes I missed, as well as repeating some of the ones I enjoyed the most.) THIS WAS A GREAT DINNER AT A GREAT RESTAURANT. Incidentally, Inovasi (which has been open for only eight months) is doing a very good business these days, so reservations are recommended. On this mid-winter weeknight, about 2/3 of the tables were occupied, and for weekend evenings, it's best to make reservations several weeks ahead if you want a desirable time slot. Inovasi 28 E. Center Ave. Lake Bluff, IL 60044 847.295.1000 www.inovasi.US Dinner at Inovasi earlier this month (August) We returned to Inovasi for dinner again last night, and it was another wonderful, memorable dinner. The menu was very different from our earlier visit, and somewhat different from the one on the restaurant website, but the style is very much the same. Which is to say, there were again a huge number of dishes that sounded great, making the selection process very difficult! Some of the highlights of our dinner: - chilled watermelon soup with chopped asparagus and a scoop of goat cheese ice cream - this was a wonderful way to start a meal on a warm summer night. - sesame-coated chicken confit and seared foie gras - an excellent combination. Chef Des Rosiers's seared foie gras is one of the best anywhere. It has a thin crisp on the outside, slightly salty, that gives it extra flavor. The chicken confit underneath was great too. - lettuce wraps with chicken and mushrooms - This was a good dish but I don't remember much about it and, like most of the dishes we had, is not on the current website menu. - ishikura onions with romesco sauce - This was a very unusual dish. The onions were in the sauce (a tomato-based spread) topped with chunks of Dunbarton bleu cheese on top, served inside a glass jar to keep it warm, alongside slices of grilled rustic bread. Yummy! - Sustainable Ocean Raised Sweet Shrimp - This was my favorite savory dish of the meal. The description on the menu is "spicy & sautéed with a little Thai chile, shiitake mushrooms, yellow fingerling potatoes, Japanese citrus marmalade, and a sauce made from Vietnamese coconut & lobster broth". This dish would be at home in most Thai restaurants, but they should only make it this good. The shrimp were a somewhat small size and cooked perfectly so that they were tender and succulent. The sauce was very nicely spicy. Wonderful. - Chesapeake Bay Soft-Shell Crabs. My dining companion loves soft-shell crab and deemed these among the best anywhere. They are "done in a very light, crispy Japanese tempura style and served with a light salad made with organic cucumbers, daikon radish, jalapeno, cilantro, California red verjus, and single grove extra virgin olive oil". The very slight amount of breading was just perfect, allowing the crab flavor to shine through rather than overwhelming it. - Cherry cake. This was a light, airy slice of cake, almost like an angel food cake in consistency, studded with cherries that may have been soaked in some sort of liquor. Very good. - Whipped Coconut “Mousse”. The whole meal was excellent, but this dish takes my personal "best in show". Not because it's a dessert - yes, I do love desserts - but because it's so delicious and has so many delicious layers to it (both literally and figuratively). The top 2/3 of the dish is a very light, silky-smooth coconut-flavored mousse, and on top of it is a thin layer of coriander-pear sauce that adds a note of fruity sweetness. The bottom third has pieces of crushed graham crackers and toffee in the coconut mousse, and the texture is amazing - not crunchy (which would overwhelm the silky mousse) but what I would describe as soaked/crumbly. This was an amazing dish. The only thing I would do differently next time is that I think we ordered too much food. As noted above, the items on the dinner menu are all about 2/3 portion sizes, so it's a free-form, "mix and match" which lets you structure your meal however you like. Last night, each of the four of us ordered three savory courses plus dessert, and that was a lot of food. I was feeling fairly full before dessert, and a bit overfull afterwards; next time I'll stick with two savory courses plus dessert for each of us. (This would be about the same amount of food as the customary three-course a la carte at most restaurants, I think.) On Mondays, in addition to their regular menu, they offer a supplemental menu with five comfort-food dishes (e.g. chicken pot pie) and five particularly healthy dishes, but we didn't order any dishes from that menu. I was really hoping to have their "Becker Lane Pork Shoulder done in a 4 day process of marinating, grilling, confit, smoking, and finally bathed in cooking liqueur" which I had enjoyed so much during my previous visit there, but unfortunately they were out of it. They were also out of one of the seafood dishes, an Illinois amur. I was surprised to see the restaurant about three fourths full on a Monday evening - an unusual sight in this economy - so as always, advance reservations are recommended. I'm glad the restaurant is doing so well, because this is a very special place, firing on all cylinders in both my visits. Even for distant city-dwellers, it's worth taking the trip up to Lake Bluff (35 miles from the Loop, an hour by Metra which stops a block from the restaurant) to enjoy what Chef Des Rosiers is doing. It's just wonderful. And it's priced very reasonably too. Highly recommended.

Absolutely! The top half dozen meals I've had in the Chicago area in the past three years include dinners at both these restaurants. Inovasi fits the OP's desires a bit better because it's less expensive and it's closer. (Inovasi is in Lake Bluff in Lake County, 8 miles from Gurnee; Michael is in Winnetka in Cook County, 21 miles from Gurnee.) Both places accept reservations on Opentable, and both places (particularly Inovasi) can fill up, even during the week, so advance reservations are highly recommended. I'll post stuff I've written about each; just a sec...