Lovells of Lake Forest: Worth the Trip (Chicago Area Restaurant Review 24)

On one recent Saturday night, we decided to take a drive for dinner, so we chose Lovells of Lake Forest, which is located in one of the ritzier Chicago suburbs. Steve also wanted to go because the restaurant is owned by the family of Jim Lovell, the Apollo astronaut (although Apollo memorabilia is not really a theme there, other than some framed photos on the staircase and a dessert named after the Apollo mission).

The restaurant is in an interesting looking old mansion, and our table was in front of floor to ceiling windows. Though the view is of the adjoining strip mall, it still gave a nice feeling of dining outside without the bugs. We started with a bottle of Domaine Pont de Guestre, which is from the Pomerol region. It had a bit of an aftertaste, but it definitely grew on both of us.

For an appetizer, we ordered the shrimp cocktail. These were truly shrimpy shrimp -- we've never seen any that small -- but they were good enough to leave us wanting more. Lisa ordered the tomato and mozzarella salad. The mozarella came in small scoops and was very fresh. The red tomato slices had a nice, almost fruity taste. The orange and green were less flavorful, but overall the salad was good. Steve really liked his wedge salad with blue cheese dressing on the side. The lettuce was crisp, and the dressing was tasty.

We both ordered red meat for the entree (surprise). Steve had the ribeye, and the steak was cooked a perfect medium rare, and tasted good, although not inspired. He had a side of pomme frites as well. These were pretty good, especially since they were not the skinny kind Steve usually likes. Lisa had the 12 ounce filet mignon, also cooked a perfect medium rare. It was a little dry and overpowered by the cognac sauce, but was still okay.

For dessert, Steve had a strawberry puff pastry, largely because the selection was not that great. The dessert was as average as the selection. Lisa had the Mocha Mocha cake. It had a dark fudge filling she really liked, though the cake itself was slightly gummy.

In keeping with the great decorat Lovells, the bathrooms were quite nice. The Women's Room had individual small rooms instead of stalls and had separate sink areas with their own bay-window style mirrors. The Men's Room, as usual, was not quite up to the Women's Room, but still was nice.

While this was not at the top level of fine dining restaurants we've been to, overall, and especially given the nice decor and location, Lovells is well worth trying.

The total bill at Lovells was about $220 with a bottle of wine, and would have been about $170 with wine by the glass.

Our overall rating for Lovells of Lake Forest, 915 S. Waukegan Road, Lake Forest, Illinois:

7 of 10 Steak Knives; 2.5 of 3 Bathroom Brushes

ENO in Chicago: A Good Idea Wasted (Chicago Area Restaurant Review 24)

Wine, cheese, and chocolate -- could it get any better? Yes, it could, if the restaurant was good. Unfortunately, Eno was not.

Neither of us was particularly hungry (believe it or not), so we decided to try Eno, a restaurant near downtown Chicago that only serves cheese, wine and chocolate, which sounded wonderful. The idea of the place is to order flights of cheese, wine and chocolate, which supposedly compliment each other. We started with three cheese flights (each cheese comes in a 1/2 ounce portion). We ordered the Roaming Goat cheese flight, a bleu cheese flight, and one of our creation. The goat cheese was pretty good, especially one that was a soft, whipped cheese, though not up to One Sixty Blue standards. The bleu cheese was all extremely strong and not particularly tasty. Our own flight consisted of four year gouda, Delice de Bourgogne and Bellwether Farms Pepato. We liked the Delice (a white whipped cheese). The gouda was hard and too strong. The Bellwether had a texture between the whipped and gouda and tasted fairly good. Overall, though, the cheese was disappointing.

But not nearly as disappointing as Eno's wine choices. We ordered two red flights -- a Spanish flight and a Bordeaux flight. Surprisingly, they appeared to be two of the only red flight choices. We expected more because red wine sets off both cheese and chocolate very well. In any event, our six small servings ranged from disgusting to only passable. The first Spanish red was described as "dirty," and that's exactly how it tasted, as in dirt from the ground. The only passable wines were one Syrah and one Merlot. But neither was anywhere near what could be called inspired or flavorful. This is particularly problematic, given that Eno advertises itself as a wine bar. It does have a large selection of non-flight wines by the bottle, but the server actually discouraged a choice from that list in favor of the flights.

The chocolate flights sounded much better than they tasted, though they were not bad. We would have preferred a choice of various types of chocolate dessert (such as brownies, cake, ice cream etc.), but only chocolate candies are offered. Lisa ordered the Dark Secrets flight and did like the one that had a touch of peppercorn, as odd as that combination sounds. Steve ordered the Chocolate Factory, because it had one vanilla-centered chocolate. However, whatever vanilla was there was either totally miniscule or overpowered by the chocolate. Either way, Steve was not a fan.

Also, one would expect a cheese, wine, and chocolate bar or restaurant to be fairly relaxed, tranquil and quiet, perhaps with comfortable seating, and an inviting decor, or at least a few candles. Instead, Eno struck us as extremely loud, with uncomfortable seats and crowded tables. We actually couldn't wait to leave.

The bathrooms, which are in the lobby of the InterContinental Hotel where Eno is located, were as nice as would be expected from a top level hotel bathroom. They were a bit out of the way, and the Men's Room was not quite spotless. Nonetheless, they were the highlight of the evening.

The total bill at Eno for three cheese flights, two wine flights, and two chocolate flights was $115. This seemed way too much to us, especially since we were still hungry, and ended up eating donuts at the Friday's down the street (which we won't rate, but which were better than anything we had at Eno).

Our ratings for Eno, 505 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Illlinois:

4 of 10 Cheese Boards and 2.5 of 3 Bathroom Brushes

Tavern at the Park: Touristy but Above Average (Chicago Area Restaurant Review 23)

We wanted to go to a restaurant in the downtown Chicago area and to walk through Millenium Park, so we chose to dine at and review Tavern at the Park, which just opened about a month ago. This restaurant caters to tourists, and we basically got what we expected, decent food, nothing spectacular.

We started with a warm goat cheese appetizer with tomato fondue. This was probably the highlight of the meal. It was just the right mix of tomato sauce and goat cheese and was almost as good as our favorite goat cheese appetizer at Wildfire in Oakbrook. Steve also really loved the soft rolls, which were fresh and tasty, and he asked the waiter for a second basket. (Lisa did not eat any of them.)

For salads, Steve ordered a wedge. The lettuce was crisp and the dressing, served on the side, was a perfect accompaniment, but it was not inspired. Tavern at the Park's menu did not include any sort of mixed green salad, so Lisa requested one. The waiter seemed a bit confused about what a mixed green salad might be. He eventually brought a plate with fresh spinach leaves, arrugula, and sliced tomatoes and onions. It was a bit too heavy on the spinach and the tomatoes did not have much taste, but it was okay.

For our an entree, Lisa decided to try something different, and got whole wheat pasta with artichoke, red pepper, and cream sauce. The sauce was good, but the pasta was very grainy, which she probably should have expected with whole wheat. Steve ordered the short ribs, which came with mixed vegetables, plus a side of shoestring potatoes. It is very sad when Steve likes the vegetables more than the meat, but that is what happened here. The meat was tough and tasteless, but the veggies were great. The shoestring potatoes were average.

LIsa had triple chocolate cake for dessert. It had fairly dark chocolate frosting and chocolate ganache filling and was served with a fresh mint leaf that gave a nice flavor to the cake. The frosting was a bit too sweet, however, for a dark chocolate lover. Steve ordered the apple crisp with vanilla ice cream. The ice cream was good, but the apple crisp was grainier than Lisa's pasta, which gave it a rather weird flavor. He also would have liked more caramel, since the menu advertised that the dish would be drizzled with caramel and instead it was dotted, at best.

We ordered an excellent Etude Pinot Noir, which set off the meat and pasta perfectly. Initially, Lisa thought it tasted a bit tart, but it had a wonderful fruity, grape aftertaste and really grew on her.

In keeping with the touristy ambience of Tavern at the Park, the restaurant is noisy and has many TVs, though not one directly in our line of sight. Which was too bad from Steve's perspective since the Cubs actually won a game. There is seating upstairs that overlooks Chicago's Millenium Park, but we were seated downstairs. If you make a reservation, you might want to ask for the upstairs seating.

The total bill at Tavern at the Park was about $215 with a bottle of wine. It would have been about $150 with wine by the glass, which seems overpriced to us for what we got.

Steve, as is often the case, was a harder critic of the bathrooms than Lisa. First, both of us found it challenging to even locate the restrooms. Lisa asked a busboy where they were and thought he said to take the elevator downstairs. But the lower floor doors opened to a kitchen and a storage area. Another wait staff person boarded the elevator and told her to take it up to the second floor, where it was still difficult to find. Steve had similar adventures, even though Lisa gave him directions on how to get there by staircase. As to to the bathrooms themselves, the Women's Room was fairly clean, with nice dark marble counters. The Men's Room, unfortunately, was a bit grimy, with towels on the floor.

Our rating for Tavern at the Park, 130 E. Randolph St., Chicago:

6 of 10 Steak Knives; 2 of 3 Bathroom Brushes