Wildfire in Glenview: Reliable But not Boring (Chicago Area Restaurant Review 21)

We've mentioned before that the Wildfire in Oakbrook is probably our favorite restaurant in the Chicago area. We think the Glenview branch is a close second. We started with a bottle of Groom Shiraz, which was served slightly chilled, making it perfect for a warm evening. The taste is slightly tart, but still very smooth.

For an appetizer, we had the baked goat cheese and tomato sauce dish we like so much in Oakbrook. It is also great here, though a little light on the tomato sauce. For a salad, we somewhat mistakenly tried something different from our usual, which is the tomato and onion salad. We ordered instead the summer goat cheese salad. It consisted of numerous different types of tomatoes -- some light green and light yellow, which didn't make it look very appetizing -- and cold goat cheese, plus some onions. While neither of us liked this as much as our usual salad, it did grow on us to the point where we'd say it was pretty good. The tomatoes were fresh and had a strong taste that set off the goat cheese. But, overall, it still lacked the tremendous flavor of Wildfire's tomato and onion salad, which we'll never forsake again.

For the main course, we couldn't bring ourselves to substitute anything else for the traditional bone-in filet. As usual, both steaks were cooked a perfect medium rare, had just the right amount of charcoal to please both of us (Steve likes heavy charcoal, Lisa likes just a slight charcoal taste), and tasted wonderful, though Lisa found hers to be slightly salty on the outside.

For dessert, Steve ordered his usual apple pie with ice cream, which matches the title of this entry. It is always a good finish to a fine meal (although this time, it needed a little more of the crust that Steve likes so much). Lisa ordered the oven baked double chocolate chip cookie with ice cream. The cookie has semi-sweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, pecans and walnuts, and was just the right mix of sweet and chocolate. It is served warm, topped with vanilla ice cream. This is her favorite dessert so far at Wildfire.

The total bill at Wildfire was about $210 with a bottle of wine, and would have been about $160 with wine by the glass.

Both bathrooms were clean, as usual, and well decorated. This location has an interesting take on the sinks. They look like slabs/troughs but also are spotless. The Women's Room has the towel dispenser and garbage can near the door, so germaphobes like Lisa can use a towel to open the door and exit without touching the handle. The Men's Room didn't have this amenity, which is too bad, since Steve is even more of a germaphobe.

Our ratings for Wildfire, 1300 Patriot Blvd., Glenview, Illinois

8.5 of 10 Steak Knives (Oakbrook still rates higher); 2.5 of 3 Bathroom Brushes