MH Fish House in Lake Forest

Friday night, we had dinner at MH Fish House in Lake Forest, which opened a month ago. It was excellent! And it was also not your typical seafood restaurant; it's more like a creative finer-dining restaurant that happens to specialize in seafood.

MH Fish House is from the folks who also own Markethouse. Markethouse is on the ground floor and their menu leans towards American comfort foods; MH Fish House is the more upscale, seafood-focused restaurant on the second floor. When you walk in the outer door from the sidewalk, you'll see stairs on the left, and also an elevator whose door is whimsically painted to resemble a regular door with a doorknob. The space for MH Fish House was formerly the home of Bank Lane Bistro, where I had never been. It's a lovely space, partitioned into several small rooms. One has full-length glass so it looks like a balcony, but it's fully enclosed and amply heated for winter dining. Another outer room has more traditional windows (with mullions) looking off towards the town square from which the restaurant is kitty-corner. There are also a few tables in the center room facing the open kitchen; these are seated last and were empty during our dinner (while the other two rooms were both full). Noise levels are subdued.

The menu was the same as the one on their website; I think there were also one or two specials, but not many. One oddity is that as displayed on their website, the menu shows soups and salads in the "Raw" section; on the printed menu, they appear in separate unlabeled boxes. What I like about the menu is that it offers a lot of flexibility; you can compose a dinner from the "small plates" section, or you can order traditional entrees (most in the mid to upper twenties) and order small plates as appetizers, the approach which the four of us took. (Incidentally, wines are reasonably priced as well.)

We were each first served a complimentary amuse bouche of a fried oyster over tomato jam. It was outstanding (and I'm not normally a fan of oysters). We then shared appetizers, including crab cakes and also grilled calamari stuffed with chicken sausage, and both were quite good. They provided bread service, and this was the only part of the meal that was just okay rather than very good or better; it consisted of a very ordinary dinner roll, accompanied by butter sprinkled with sea salt and a sweet orange-ginger jam. Soups we ordered included a pretty good New England clam chowder and an exceptional lobster bisque, which contained small chunks of lobster and a thin disk of tarragon custard. Two of us had the "retro" Dover sole which had just arrived that day via air from the Netherlands and was fileted tableside (the one pricy dish on the menu, at $45), while the others had the pan roasted sea scallops and the grilled swordfish. All were superb.

We were then served an excellent (albeit small) complimentary mignardise of a slice of financier cake. It was delicious. Did I mention that it was tiny?

We ordered three of the four desserts, and they were quite good and quite creative as well. The best was an apple dessert featuring a terrific mild apple panna cotta, a small scoop of apple sorbet, and bits of poached apple. The lemon panna cotta was good but a bit on the strong/tart side. The chocolate dessert was a strip of chocolate cake alongside a strip of chocolate cremeaux, with cocoa nibs and a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Service was very good throughout the meal.

This was an excellent dinner, and we look forward to returning again soon.

MH Fish House
670 Bank Lane*
Lake Forest, IL 60045
847-234-8800
http://www.mhfishhouse.com

*Note - Bank Lane is a narrow one-lane one-way (northbound) side street that comprises one end of the long "town square" across the street (west) from the Metra train station in downtown Lake Forest. Just find your way to the town square and park in the vicinity. The entrance is on the Bank Lane side of the building.

I also had dinner at MH Fish House on Friday night. Enjoyed the layout of the restaurant with the various small rooms that nsxtasy described.....allows for a more intimate dining experience. We were in the "balcony" room, which had a beautiful view of a snow covered tree sparkling in the lights. Also enjoyed the food - I had striped bass in a moderately spicy red curry sauce and my companion had the "simply grilled" swordfish. He appreciated the fact that many of the seafood offerings can be ordered this way, as he is a purist where seafood is concerned!

Will definitely return and hope that the restaurant does well - nice to have a place with good seafood in the northern suburbs!

Mrs. EdB and I sat at the bar (six seats) in MH Fish House a few Fridays ago as they were fully booked up in the dining room. While the bartender's drinks were a wee bit inconsistent (one "dry martini" had a ton of vermouth and one was perfect), he was a very friendly guy and we had great great service. Most everything we ate was good to excellent.

We started with oysters, all west coast, which were great. Oddly, when we asked for tabasco, we were given two single-serve tiny bottles that had to be opened. A fish house should have regular sized tabasco bottles.

We then had some small plates, including the calamari (stuffed with sausage) and the hamachi. The garlic sausage was a little strong for me (not a garlic fan in general), but Mrs. EdB liked it a lot. The hamachi was excellent, I also liked the visual presentation of the dish.

2013-02-15 18.20.45 by ed brill, on Flickr

We then split the sturgeon dish, which was meaty and flavorful. The smoky flavor of the flesh came through. In the background (blurry) of that picture is a scallop dish, don't think it is on the online menu so I can't remember the details.


Overall I liked everything we ate a lot, except the calamari which was just too weird for me. The service was super-attentive at the bar; the manager and a woman who was perhaps the owner also were attending to us. There was also bread service, all I remember is that the butter was good, not sure why it stood out. No dessert.

We are thrilled to have a good oyster bar in shooting distance....Miramar just wasn't cutting it for us in that department. Will go back when we can get a seat in the dining room.

We enjoyed an excellent dinner on Friday evening. A very nice space, which looks more sophisticated than the previous Bank Lane Bistro and was hopping on the evening after Thanksgiving.

Started with two items from the Raw section, ahi tuna – actually seared - (with a curry drizzle and beets and compressed melon) and red snapper ceviche (Ponzu marinated, yucca chips, fried pineapple salsa, and slivers of jalapeno). We loved the bold flavors of ceviche.

Nancy wanted to split the lobster bisque (poured over a disc of tarragon custard, roasted cauliflower, and bits of lobster) and was so happy she suggested it. Fabulous…

We had grilled striped bass plated over farro, diced butternut squash, braised pearl onions, arugula, and pistachios with a bourbon cherry mostarda, an excellent dish. Also had the perfectly sautéed scallops over a puree of fennel and green apple, with preserved lemon, micro greens, toasted almonds, chervil, and three nice apple beignets.

Our shared dessert was a very pretty presentation of pumpkin cheesecake with house made graham cracker ice cream and crumbles, a drizzle of caramel, and whipped cream. We also ordered a glass of a nice 2003 Warre’s Vintage Port.

The preparations are a step up in creativity and ingredients from it’s sister restaurant, Market House. This isn’t meant as a slight to the warm and comfy Market House, which we also really enjoy, just a different vibe and focus. For the wino’s out there with deep cellars, Larry the GM is very welcoming of special bottles with a corkage.