Adelle's: Great Appetizer, Downhill from There (Chicago Area Restaurant Review No. 41)

We like dining in Wheaton because it's a lovely town, particularly in summer when we enjoy walking after dinner, and even in winter the drive there from downtown is fairly pleasant. We also wanted to dine somewhere with a fireplace on this bitter cold weekend, so Steve searched for a cozy place. He came up with Adelle's (so it is all his fault). It was immediately problematic that the main room with the fireplace was unavailable to us. Had it been available, we suspect it would have been very cold because the outside door opened right into the main room with the fireplace, with no wall or divider to shield diners from the windchill factor. The room we did sit in was small and cozy, with a faux fireplace with candles, but lacked warmth.

The meal started well enough, which has become a theme for us lately, with a Zinfandel (Red) called Old Ghost. Its flavor was very subtle, with a nice dark fruity aftertaste. It's unusual for us to finish the whole bottle, but we did. (Mostly Lisa, as Steve was driving.) The appetizers were extremely good. The cheese du jour course included a sharp cheddar, a goat cheese, and a sheep's milk cheese. The goat and sheep's milk were slightly dry but had a nice flavor, and the cheddar was just sharp enough. We suspect these cheeses might have seemed pedestrian to true cheese experts, but we really liked them all. We also really liked the mini-burgers (with goat cheese, mushrooms and onions), other than that they were bit too well done. They were still very juicy and flavorful, though, and we recommend them. But that's about all we recommend.

Lisa had the New England Clam Chowder, which tasted okay, but was watery. Steve's wedge salad tasted very ordinary and he didn't finish it, which is unusual. The buttermilk blue cheese dressing was particularly bland. But as mediocre as that course was, the main course was even more disappointing. Lisa ordered the meat loaf, which one would expect to be very good at a restaurant that bills itself as a nouvelle American comfort food place, and which the waitress touted. It looked rather scary and pale, and less appetizing to us than the average high school cafeteria meatloaf. It didn't taste rancid, but it didn't taste like much at all. The waitress said it had three meats, but it didn't have any particular flavor. Also, the alleged garlic mashed potatoes seemed to lack garlic. Steve ordered the pot roast special, again thinking it would be good comfort food. But it was quite uncomfortable on his stomach. The pot roast tasted extremely heavy and fatty. A good pot roast is extremely tender, and the meat here was very tough. He is not sure if his potatoes were supposed to be garlic, as they were basically tasteless.

Dessert improved. Steve had the coconut rice pudding with whipped cream on the side. The rice pudding was very good, and the whipped cream tasted homemade and extremely fresh, although the coconut flavoring was somewhat overpowering. Lisa had a chocolate truffle brownie. She, too, loved the whipped cream, and the brownie was also good. It was and made of fairly dark chocolate and was somewhat cakey but heavy, as she likes.

Both bathrooms were small, well-decorated, very clean, but cold. The women's bathroom did have a lovely black lacquer altar cabinet that Lisa really liked, but it was hard to appreciate while shivering. So we can only go with a mid-range rating.

Our total bill was about $225 with a bottle of wine, and would have been about $170 with wine by the glass. This strikes us as rather high for the quality of the entree, though we did enjoy the appetizers, wine and dessert (and even the atmosphere).

Our ratings for Adelle's, 1060 College Avenue, Wheaton, Illlinois:

5.5 of 10 Steak Knives. and 2 of 3 Bathroom Brushes.