Cafe Lucci, Glenview?

Anyone been to this place? I need to eat dinner in that area and I'm almost embarrassed to show up at Periyali again; it's only been a few days.

In the late 80's or early 90's it had been written up by lots of magazines, but it's faded from the limelight. I have never been, but my parents were there years ago and didn't enjoy it much. I've heard the same from a couple other people, all a long time ago.

But it's been a long time, it probably needs a new review.

Other things in the area worth eating at:
Johnny's Kitchen & Tap at Euclid and Lake. The ribs are nothing to write home about, but good steaks and grilled chicken.
Daori, right next to Periyali: High-end Korean. Very nice presentation, excellent food, but somewhat more expensive than other places in the area.
Seoul Garden, on Milwaukee just north of the light at Sanders. The place I usually go to for Korean (which isn't all that often, mind you). Menu is not especially western-friendly, though (meaning my kids always get the Bul Go Gi).

About two weeks ago we ate at Lalo's in Carillon Square. I'd definitely go back. Although I realize it's a chain, it doesn't feel like a chain at all. Mr. kwe had a terrific seafood stew with octopus, shrimp, crab, lobster and a nice piece of red snapper in it.

Lalo's
1432 Waukegan Rd.
Glenview

Have you thought at all about Flight? I haven't been there but what I've read has been favorable.

Kim

Thanks for the tips.

I had hesitated to try Daori because of the appearance-- same reason it took me until forever to try Periyali.

I will have to see what my friends was to do as well. Anyplace we end up, I'll report back.

Johnny's Kitchen & Tap at Euclid and Lake. The ribs are nothing to write home about, but good steaks and grilled chicken.

I usually get the chicken with their garlic mashed potatoes. If and when I go it is usually after 8:30 PM, there is one menu item which is always sold out: a stuffed pork roast. It used to be a weekend only item, then it became a standard menu item. No matter to me, it is never available whenever I want it. So if you are privileged to try it, then please do tell me about it.

Johnny's Kitchen & Tap
1740 Milwaukee Avenue
Glenview, IL 60025
http://www.johnnyskitchen.com
847-699-9999

Seoul Garden, on Milwaukee just north of the light at Sanders. The place I usually go to for Korean (which isn't all that often, mind you).

Steve Drucker finally got me to try this place; who was recommended by David Hammond. Seoul Garden serves a rather good Korean seafood pancake, which is an appetizer. However, if you are dining solo is a meal by itself.

Seoul Garden Inc
3416 Milwaukee Avenue
Glenview, IL 60025
847-390-8390

An earlier post on Daori

Daori Restaurant
9870 Milwaukee Ave.
Glenview, IL 60025
847/296-6355

Cathy2 wrote:Steve Drucker finally got me to try this place; who was recommended by David Hammond. Seoul Garden serves a rather good Korean seafood pancake

re Seoul Garden. The service is engaging. There was little to no language barrier, despite my shameful knowledge of Korean which is limited to 'Hello' and about 4-5 menu items.

The food, btw, is quite good. The decor restrained modern.

Most definitely chow recommended. Suitable for a business meal too.

Thanks, everyone. All the places are now on our list for future meals in that area. I like Korean better than L. does, so I'll stop at Seoul Garden for lunch sometime and then try to drag him to Daori. His tastes are kind of plain and he tends to get into restaurant ruts.

We have been to Johnny's a couple of times, but not lately. I'll see if I can get L. to try the pork roast.

Flight does look interesting; I have been a fan of Le Colonial in the past.

So, we went to Cafe Lucci last night. I liked it a lot. The service was very good and seemed very Italian to me. You're waited on by a waiter and a guy who is either the maitre d' or the owner who comes around to suggest specials and wines. It's a little hard to write a useful review because we both had specials of the day. (It was a long list.) No one ordered pasta for a main course; the only pasta we had was a plate of penne with marinara sauce that came as a side dish. (It was fine.) I had a sea bass with a white wine, shallot and morel sauce. Very generous on the morels. L. had something that looked like veal piccata but had grappa in the sauce. I don't like to eat veal but I tasted the sauce and it was very good; the grappa was discernible to about the right degree, I thought. I often find sauces with capers too salty but this one wasn't at all. Both sauces were quite rich and there was alot of sauce. There food wasn't swimming, but there was a lot. (This is not in any way a place to go when you're on a diet.) Salad and minestrone soup were very good. The salad tasted very fresh and had a lot of different greens in it. Before the meal they give you a loaf of crusty bread, a spread made of roasted garlic, and a bowl of olives and pickled carrot slices.

L. wanted to order a bottle of Chianti with the meal and blindly pointed to something in the $30 range; the maitre d' suggested a Sangiovese in the same range and it was fine; I've made a note to look for it in the stores. It's refreshing that they tend to make suggestions without upselling you at all. The sea bass with morels was suggested as an alternative too. I was really prepared for it to be more expensive than the dish on the specials list, but it was the same. We finished up by splitting a creme brulee, again very rich. We asked for two glasses of dessert wine. They said they had no dessert wine by the glass; only by the half bottle. We should have just ordered a half bottle but I'm paranoid about drinking and driving so we followed yet another suggestion and each had a port.

Entrees ranged from $14-30. The specials menu was in the same range. You can see the regular menu at cafelucci.com.

Thanks for the feedback! Sounds like you had a great evening. Even better, you now have some alternatives in that area to Periyali.

Kim