Lake County Eateries

Having lived in the Skokie-Lincolnwood area all my life, I took the abundance of good, solid, close-by restaurants, ethnic and good ol' American, somewhat for granted.

But having moved to Lake County a few years ago, it has taken me awhile to find a handful up this way. Here are a couple places our family enjoys not mentioned often here:

Peacock India in Vernon Hills, near Milwaukee Ave & Town Line Rd. (Rte. 60). Anybody who says you can't get good quality Indian fare outside Devon Ave. is wrong. This strip-mall style restaurant serves up some authentic, killer tandoori chicken, along with yummy vegetarian naprathan curry & cauliflower naan bread. Offset the slight heat with cold raisa (yogurt dip), wash it down with a cold Kingfisher beer, and you're hooked.

Dover Straits in Mundelein, on Rte. 45 just south of Rte. 83. While their normal entrees are relatively high priced in the high teens to low twenties, their variety of 10-12 earlybird specials, mostly in the low teens, is a great deal for well-prepared seafood. Hard to beat a full dinner of Dover sole, de-boned tableside, for ~$18.95. And that includes the cheesy-looking but phenomenally-tasting Dover Straits salad boat. Yes, from 4:00-6:00, seniors pack the place, but service is very attentive & the drinks are cold.