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