it’s taken me a long time to arrive here. i’ve heard so many good things about illium and chef ortega, that i was concerned that i might have built up too much expectation in my mind. so i told myself, “you’re only going for lunch, don’t have high expectations.”
how foolish i was to have lowered expectations for lunch. my taste buds confirmed what many others have been saying. the flavors here blend into a symphony, orchestrated by the kitchen through original compositions.
for our “andante” we started with two bowls (only size available) of the soups of the day ($4.35 each). mine was cream based with potatoes and chunks of corned beef and my wife’s was cream based with mushrooms and chevre. mine seemed a bit salty, but corned beef is going to do that, and there was certainly a lot of the corned beef spice flavors to enjoy. while my wife’s mushroom soup was less intense in flavors than mine, the chevre blended really well with the earthiness of the fungi. i guess hers was more allegro tranquillo. both came with a half-slice of very good, toasted bread that ensured that we finished our soups to the bottom of the bowls.
our “finale” was the duck panini ($12.95) for me and the special’s pulled pork quesadilla ($11.50) for her. the pulled pork quesadilla included arugula, smoked mozzarella, mango salsa, and sriracha lime aioli. the mango salsa made it a bit sloppy to handle, but it had agreatmix of flavors. half of it ended up coming home.
my duck panini included sweet red onions, chevre, and arugula. i had asked for cold slaw as my side, but received the dill potato salad instead. the potato salad was very good so i didn’t object, and the panini was delicious.
service was good, i was offered a refill on my cup of coffee ($2,50) while my wife finished her bottle of saratoga water ($2.50). acoustics reminded me of a typical diner with plenty of kitchen clattering noises. the back room probably would have been quieter, but the kitchen just added a percussiveness to the ambiance, unlike the doctor who was sitting at the table next to us talking fortissimo enough for us to hear everything he was telling his dining companion. i do want to close by mentioning how nicely appointed the restroom is. seriously!