Brews & burgers at Govnor's Public House, Lake in the Hills

Govnor's Pub was a Loop staple for a couple of decades. It closed in 2005, supposedly to move, but it never reopened downtown. However, its second location in the northwest suburbs is still going strong.

A full-fledged brew pub with a complete menu, Govnor's offers a half-dozen or so of its own beers regularly plus a like amount of seasonal brews. I'm not much of a beer drinker, but I enjoy some Belgian lambic fruit beers, so I tried the seasonal Framboisen. For my tastes, it was too hoppy -- you could taste the raspberries, but it tasted more like beer flavored with raspberries than the imported beers I prefer, which taste mainly like fruit. Someone who likes beer better than I do would probably enjoy it more. Himself liked the Full Moon Wit, a seasonal Belgian-style wheat beer lightly spiced with orange peel and coriander.

The large, diverse menu is full of dumb stuff like "Irish egg rolls" (I don't recall the downtown pub having had so much faux-Irish theme), but it also has steaks, chops, prime rib, salads, pastas and loads of sandwiches.

We both had the "Publican's Burger," which was terrific -- a half-pounder cooked perfectly medium rare, as ordered, coated with roasted garlic and black pepper, topped with crumbled blue cheese and served on thick slices of toasted marbled rye smeared with ale-infused mustard. The fries were hand-cut, skin-on and very good.

The space is huge and strikes me as probably noisy when full, but there are various side rooms, and the atmosphere was very pleasant. It looks like they have outdoor seating, too, and there's a kids' menu, so it's presumably family friendly. They have house-made root beer and cream soda. The menu also says you can arrange to tour the brewery.

I would certainly stop in here again when in this area.

Govnor's Public House
http://www.govnors.com
(847) 658-4700
220 N. Randall Road
Lake in the Hills

I can vouch for the fact that they also have very good fish and chips, although (slightly) not as good as the ones at the now shuttered "Claddagh" --- Just south of there on Randall Road.

Govnor's Public House in Lake in the Hills closed last week. Not really disapointing was never really impressed.

bisque wrote:Govnor's Public House in Lake in the Hills closed last week. Not really disapointing was never really impressed.

Interesting. I wonder that bodes for the future of their downtown operation, Polk Street Pub.