Benjamin Restaurant - Highland Park, IL

The last time we were in the Highland Park area Benjamin's was not open, so we were pleased to see it as a choice when we were looking for restaurants on OpenTable.  The menu piqued our interest so we made our reservation and jumped in the car for a drive.


Benjamin's is located in the old Mimosa restaurant location at 1849 Second Street in Highland Park. We were very disappointed when Mimosa closed, but we hoped that Benjamin would surprise us.

When we arrived we noticed the entire restaurant had been changed, the basic structure was the same, but it had more of a European flare.  It reminded us of a recent restaurant we visited on our last trip to Copenhagen.  We were greeted at the door and shown directly to our table.  Most of the tables are against two benches that follow the wall on both sides of the restaurant.  For the most part we detest this type of seating, we want to enjoy each others company, not be bombarded by the people sitting next to us.  On this occasion we were not so annoyed since they put plenty of space between the tables.  Unfortunately the two people to our right were having a rather heated, loud discussion during the entire meal.  Don't let this stop you from enjoying everything else this restaurant has to offer, it is really just our pet peeve.  Our word of advice is to request a table in the center of the restaurant (which are made for four people) or request a corner table against the wall.  At least then you can only be annoyed with the people to one side of you.

The menu is creative and fresh.  Even if you did not read the write-ups on the restaurant you could tell that they had to be using only the freshest ingredients.  After our dinner we did some more research on Chef Benjamin Brittsan and found that he has a "farm to fork" philosophy and it really shows in the menu selections.

For our first course we had Veal Sweetbreads and a Chilled Crab Salad.  The sweetbreads were cooked just right and the pairing of flavors and textures were right on.  The Crab Salad with the accompanied mango gellee was shockingly good.  If you had to pick between one of the other I guess we would go for the crab.  I hope we can get back before the chef changes the menu, because we would like to try the Gnocchi starter (Small Plate).

For our main course, we chose the Local Whitefish and the Pan Roasted Maple Leaf Farms Duck Breast.  It has been hit or miss lately with whitefish, it is hard to get fresh this time of year, but we were hoping that the mild winter allowed the restaurant to get something good.  We were not disappointed, it was by far the best whitefish we have had all season and we would highly recommend choosing this entree.  Matched with the purple potato puree, fennel and everything else, the flavors just exploded in your mouth.

The duck was cooked perfectly and we loved the celery root puree.  The only complaint would be with the chutney.  It was just too cold and it cooled down the duck too fast.  Also, the nuts on top, were just too hard for me, my wife loved them.

We did not go for a desert,  but from what we saw on others plates they looked great.

If you really want to experience a different flare to fine dinning and get it all for a reasonable price, then don't miss another opportunity to enjoy Chef's Benjamin's fabulous restaurant.

http://benjaminrestaurant.com/

Reservations can be made on OpenTable, or by going to Benjamin's website.

Inovasi, Lake Bluff, Illinois

If you have noticed, we have not been posting much. The reason for this is the restaurants we have been going to have been mediocre at best. Almost all the restaurants we have been going to have cut back in some way to keep their heads above water during these tough economic times, and we don't want to kick someone when they are down. That being said, Inovasi is not one of these restaurants. We have known about the restaurant for some time, but it is not exactly easy for us to get to, so we have put off going. We are sorry we did.

We have gone to Inovasi twice in the last month, once on our own and the second time with a guest, who is a fantastic chef in his own right and basically just loves to eat. During both visits we order the tasting menu for the table.

The ingredients are fresh and seasonal, they even take flowers from their outside pots to put in the food as garnish.

The tasting menu consist of five courses and when we were two people, we received a total of ten dishes to share. Some of the portions are quite large, so don't eat everything or you will go home stuffed.

Some of our favorites are:

Pork loin carpaccio

Walleye carpaccio
Braised pork belly
Baby radish bake
Grilled cook’s ranch bison

Interestingly enough, after our first visit, the chef was planing to have a new menu the following week, which our server told us happens often. Between the two visits the area got hit by a storm and they lost all the food in the kitchen. When we returned the menu was not very different, but we enjoyed it all the same.

Chef John des Rosiers should be proud of what he has created here and we are looking forward to enjoy many of his meals in the future. We will wait till the seasons change, but rest assured, we will be returning!

http://inovasi.us/
Reservations
More on Open Table

Chez Jacques - Milwaukee, WI (Return Visit)

It was just after the holidays and frankly we were tired of cooking, so we wanted to go somewhere with a nice warm atmosphere on a cold night. We have been here before http://foodwarriors.blogspot.com/2009/04/chez-jacques-milwaukee-wi.html, so we were pretty sure we could not go wrong.

We were right, and this time the service was perfect as was the food. I had the veal stew special and my wife had the Coquille Saint-Jacques, AKA scallops over saffron rice. My wife is not a big fan of saffron, since most chefs use way too much of it, but in this case she thought it was perfect and would recommend it to anyone that likes scallops.

My veal stew was extremely hearty and rich. It could have been easily served to two people. I took half of it home, but the cream sauce did not hold up well when reheated.

Overall, we still think this is a great place to go. Before you get in your car, make sure you go to their website and read about their history and take a look at the menu.

http://chezjacques.com/

Pier West - Twin Lakes, WI

We stumbled across this restaurant because we just discovered www.restaurant.com. This is where you can purchase discount certificates for many retaurants for a reduced price. For example, we purchased a $25 certificate for $2. The only restriction is that we had to spend $50 total. That is never hard for us to do.

You can search by restaurants in your area and that's how we found Pier West. We were excited - something new to try and it's open on Monday. It's located on Lake Mary, which is small, but it was still a good view.

We were seated right away and offered drinks by the person who sat us. A great start! When she came back with our drinks, we were not quite ready to order, so she said she would return. We kept seeing her waiting on people who were seated outside on the deck, people who came after us. We got to the point where we finished our glass of wine and she still had not come back. Literally it was 20 minutes. Finally we grabbed another server and she apologized, said she didn't know that she was supposed to take care of us. She took our order right away.

We ordered an appetizer, salad and entrees. She brought our salads out first. I hate that! And it happens more and more often. I don't get it. There are supposed to be rules to follow. Appetizers should come first!

We ordered the Seafood Feta Bruschetta, which was shrimp, scallops, lobster (don't really remember seeing the lobster) sauteed with garlic, feta cheese, olive oil, tomatoes and white wine served with french bread. We expected it to come on the bread, like bruschetta normally does, but we had to make our own. No big deal. It tasted great and at least it was more creative than the norm.

For our main course, I ordered the grilled shrimp and my husband ordered the grilled scallops. I'm not sure you can do much to screw up grilled shrimp, so it was as I expected. However, my husbands scallops seemed very bizarre. They were the whitest looking scallops I'd ever seen. They looked boiled rather than grilled. Very unappealing.

We both had the roasted sweet potato which was ok.

I doubt we will ever return.

www.pierwest.net

Ashling on the Lough - Kenosha, WI

If you look at our previous review, you can see that we liked this restaurant, but things have changed.

We don't know if it is the economy or just the lack of traffic in the Kenosha area, but this place is going downhill. I hope they can save it.

Our last three visits to Ashling have been miserable and we are taking it off our list. Two of the last times we went on a Monday since they are one of the few restaurants open on Monday and I seriously was looking for Gordon Ramsay. I figured he must be filming a version of Kitchen Nightmares!

Two visits ago we came in and were seated right away. There were only about five tables total with people at them. Our waiter took over 10 minutes to come and ask us about drinks, then we did not see him for another 10 minutes when he came back with our drinks and took our order. It took 15 minutes more to get our first course, which was a salad. The bad this was this was before our appetizer which showed up while we were eating our salad. During this time we ran out of drinks and we could not get the attention of our waiter and he never returned. Our main course arrived 20 minutes after we finished our appetizer and the bad thing was both meals were cold. We assume it had been sitting at the pass too long.

On our next and last visit we had fairly good service for a change except the food took a long time to come out, but at least it was hot so we know our server was doing her job well. The disappointing aspect was the food quality. My filet was over cooked and my wife;s risotto was not even risotto, it was plain white rice. We complained to our server and we were told that they ran out of risotto and the chef decided to replace it with white rice and he did not tell anyone.

In the first instance we were given a round of drinks at no charge because it took so long for the food and in the second instance we were not charged for the risotto. I can't imagine how they can stay in business if they have to keep comping items to make up for mistakes.

Basically from our observations management of the restaurant has dropped the ball. Serving staff is not trained and the kitchen is out of control.

I hope they get their act together, because this was a great restaurant and they could not ask for a better location. We wish them luck.

http://www.ashlingonthelough.com/home.html

Ten at the Eldridge - Lawrence, KS

Ten is a contemporary American restaurant located in the historic Eldridge hotel in the downtown area of Lawrence Kansas.

We ate here several nights and each night was a little different. This was due to a major change in the menu and the fact we never had the same person waiting on us twice. The last night we went there I was fairly disappointed, the waiter was not very attentive and we had to keep chasing him down. The food that night was good, but not exceptional. I blame this one the waiter for letting our food sit and get cold.

Our other two experiences here were great and no complaints. We had a variety of things to eat, so I'll just list our favorites;

Crab Cake Appetizer was cooked perfectly

Pan Seared Walleye with crispy pasta & mozzarella cake and lemon pesto sauce was probably one of the best Walleyes I have ever had.

Garlic & Thyme Rubbed Bison Short Ribs were very tender and flavorful (told to me by my guest)

Vanilla Poached Sea Bas with Lemon Risotto and Saffron broth, to die for...

I was told by people that go here often to make sure I order the Filet Mignon, they said it was the best steak in town. I had it the night with the bad waiter and it was over cooked and cold. I should have returned it, but frankly I was tired of arguing with the guy.

Regardless of the last night, two out of three stellar performances are not bad. I will return here the next time I am in town.

http://www.eldridgehotel.com/restaurant_bar.htm

Twin Oaks Country Inn - Wilmot, WI

We have dined here many times - I'm actually surprised we've never reviewed it before.

This place can be hit or miss, more hit than miss, but the misses are not bad enough to cross this restaurant off our list. Sometimes the service is slow to start, but once they get started, it's usually pretty good after that. This particular visit we had great service and they became quite busy while we were there.

We started with a crab cake appetizer, which was served with a red pepper sauce, yellow pepper sauce and a bernaise sauce. The crab was very good and the sauces went well.

For my main course I had the Pesto Chicken, which was a seared breast of chicken on top of a portobello mushroom. It was to be served with a red pepper sauce and a pesto sauce. I asked for the sauces on the side and they were both good individually, I'm just not sure how they would have been on the plate. It came with a Three Cheese Polenta Cake which was very good, I didn't really notice the cheese.

My husband had a special which was pork lightly breaded and sauteed stuffed with provolone cheese and smoked chicken served over fettucine. He loved it. I had a couple bites too and really liked the flavors together.

No complaints this visit.