e hitting up too many pub-type places, so I chose Bartolotta's Lake Park Bistro instead. Turns out it was an excellent choice!We get there and it looks like it might be part of a country club/golf course, but it is situated along Lake Michigan and it looks pretty nice. We walk in and it has a good vibe, plus there are signs announcing the chef is a James Beard Award winner. Yes – the food should be good!
When we first got there the porch-like areas were pretty full but the main dining room was practically empty. The gal took our info. and asked us to wait at the bar, but then seated several groups who came after us. Just as I was feeling feisty about it, they sat us out on the porch, and all the other groups had been seated in the main dining area. We were happy to be out on the porch with a nice view of the lake!
Once again, we were probably underdressed, but it seemed to be the theme of the weekend, so what the heck?! We open our menus and there is a short listing of appetizers and desserts, none of which have prices, and about 8 items on the entrée menu – all of which were somewhat pricey. I was starting to wonder if we had made a bad choice, since even the French toast was $22.
As luck would have it, it did turn out to be a good choice! The server came by to ask if we had been there before, and when we said no she explained that the entrée price was the price of your entire meal, which included an appetizer, entrée and dessert, as well as your choice of a bloody mary, mimosa or champagne. Suddenly this wasn't sounding bad at all!
For day three in a row, I had champagne and Josh ordered a mimosa. For appetizer Josh had a corn chowder and I had brie with grapes and toasted bagel rounds. For entrée Josh had crab cakes and I had divine brioche French toast with bacon. What made the French toast so amazing was the "syrup" - allegedly some maple and vanilla concoction, but I would have sworn it was a homemade caramel sauce. It was so good I a) considered drinking it directly from the gravy boat, and b) it instantly made my "Food that's better than sex" list. I definitely think they should consider bottling and selling that stuff, because it was awesome! For dessert, I had the profiteroles (and the waitress commended me on my pronunciation of it, which I found hilarious) and Josh had a banana bread pudding.
Overall we would definitely recommend this place to anyone, though service was exceedingly slow. Our server said the kitchen had a mix-up, but it probably took us two hours to go through the meal. We were assuaged by the extra glasses of champagne/mimosas and the fact that they served an endless supply of warm, flaky, buttery croissants.
Even though we could barely move at this point, we decided to hit up Kopp's. I was expecting more of a Whippy Dip-type corner stand, but it's a pretty big building and it was packed. Luckily, we just wanted custard and our line was short. Since we were so full we got the smallest size they had. I got cherry amaretto cheesecake and Josh got turtle. Both were very good – very creamy – but I don't know that it's something either of us would travel many miles out of our way for (unlike the stories we had heard from several friends). Perhaps we were too full to appreciate it properly!
Once again, we were probably underdressed, but it seemed to be the theme of the weekend, so what the heck?! We open our menus and there is a short listing of appetizers and desserts, none of which have prices, and about 8 items on the entrée menu – all of which were somewhat pricey. I was starting to wonder if we had made a bad choice, since even the French toast was $22.
As luck would have it, it did turn out to be a good choice! The server came by to ask if we had been there before, and when we said no she explained that the entrée price was the price of your entire meal, which included an appetizer, entrée and dessert, as well as your choice of a bloody mary, mimosa or champagne. Suddenly this wasn't sounding bad at all!
For day three in a row, I had champagne and Josh ordered a mimosa. For appetizer Josh had a corn chowder and I had brie with grapes and toasted bagel rounds. For entrée Josh had crab cakes and I had divine brioche French toast with bacon. What made the French toast so amazing was the "syrup" - allegedly some maple and vanilla concoction, but I would have sworn it was a homemade caramel sauce. It was so good I a) considered drinking it directly from the gravy boat, and b) it instantly made my "Food that's better than sex" list. I definitely think they should consider bottling and selling that stuff, because it was awesome! For dessert, I had the profiteroles (and the waitress commended me on my pronunciation of it, which I found hilarious) and Josh had a banana bread pudding.
Overall we would definitely recommend this place to anyone, though service was exceedingly slow. Our server said the kitchen had a mix-up, but it probably took us two hours to go through the meal. We were assuaged by the extra glasses of champagne/mimosas and the fact that they served an endless supply of warm, flaky, buttery croissants.
Even though we could barely move at this point, we decided to hit up Kopp's. I was expecting more of a Whippy Dip-type corner stand, but it's a pretty big building and it was packed. Luckily, we just wanted custard and our line was short. Since we were so full we got the smallest size they had. I got cherry amaretto cheesecake and Josh got turtle. Both were very good – very creamy – but I don't know that it's something either of us would travel many miles out of our way for (unlike the stories we had heard from several friends). Perhaps we were too full to appreciate it properly!
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