Old Skool Restaurant: Fishermen's Inn, Elburn, Illinois

This is a beautiful, beautiful place. Built on the foundations of an old barn (more about the history here), it's located among beautiful rolling farmland, quintessentially Illinoisan landscape. On the grounds are artesian-fed ponds stocked with trout, which also feature on their menu.

The main dining room is lovely--it has a nautical decorating theme that is seen through out the restaurant. We went early on a Sunday night, so we got a seat at a table right at the window, overlooking the ponds and grounds. Being winter, all we saw was grayness and honking geese, but it was still very pretty and peaceful as the sun set.

My date and I started with shrimp scampi as an appetizer (old-timey appetizer? check). It was delicious--not overwhelmingly garlicky, covered in bread crumbs, oozing butter. I loved how the meal started - you are at first only presented with a "souvenir" menu that contains only appetizers. They make no attempt to force a main dish order out of you all at once--they take your appetizer order first, then if you wish, they'll take the main dish then or allow you to order later. Fresh made bread and honey butter are brought to the table as well.

As I continue to review old-school restaurants, I've begun developing a list of criteria. Here are a couple:

• Must have creamy garlic dressing for the salad


• Must have some form of tableside preparation


• Must have a relish tray (if attempting to be like a Wisconsin supper club), or some old-timey, used-to-be-considered-très-elegant appetizers

I'm happy to report that all criteria are met here.

We had to have the trout, and it was delicious. You can tell that it was plucked out of the water only hours before--so fresh. In swanky old-school style, the whole trout (we both had ours pan-fried) is shown to you whole, then if you wish, the server debones it tableside. The fish came with a side of fresh vegetables--in this case, fresh string beans (green and yellow). Other parts of the meal, like soup, salad, and potato, are ordered à la carte, which I don't particularly like--I feel like it's a weasely way to drive up the price of your dinner. Overall, though, I don't think our dinner cost too much, even with the add-ons, and in a way, it was nice--I always feel overfed if I get bread-soup-salad-potato-side, and they grouped the sides so you could choose, for example, soup-salad-potato or soup-potato or just salad.

This is a large place that can host weddings and other parties, and has several separate dining rooms. I took a peek in the bar and it looks like a great place to get a Manhattan or maybe even a Grasshopper.

When the bill came, there was a promotional card inserted with a couple of coupons at the bottom. On one side, it promised a free bottle of wine (I don't remember what the qualifying conditions were). On the other side, it promised a free outdoor wedding. Now there's a coupon you want to make sure you're holding the right way when redeeming! I'm not currently pricing weddings, but I wouldn't really think to scout for coupons if I were! So maybe I'll just tuck that into my hope chest, eh? :-)