Dining Notes:
The
Deer Path Inn (Lake Forest, Ill) has been around since 1929 and has been tucked into Lake Forest’s old money community since the money was young. It’s a white tablecloth dining spot as you might expect for the North Shore. But, you don’t stay in business this long by staying to the old safe ways.
The dining room has that old classical look to it. High ceilings, dark wood, then the menu opens with not only a wide range of good entrée offerings but also an extensive sushi menu.
Who would guess?
Since we’re sausage people the sushi was a pass, but who would know about having a great sausage entrée on the menu?
Before we get to the sausage notes, lets pass kudos to our server Scott and Chef Khellil Abderezak. As we settled in Scott handed us a small but solid wine and drink list. My Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc was a good pour and my dining date had a very nice martini: The Sheridan Road.
Given the ambience and old school feel, this kind of attention to drinks and wine would be expected, but efficient and friendly service isn’t always standard these days. What I wasn’t also expecting from the Deer Path Inn was one of the best Caesar Salads I’ve had in recent memory. Not over chilled, great dressing and cheese that melted right into the lettuce and croutons, plus anchovies cheerfully served when asked for.
The lobster bisque was outstanding as was the breadbasket. I don’t chow down like I used to and I was thinking my sausage entrée was going to be too much.
I was levitating on the Caesar salad high when Scott came by and asked about wine for the entrees. I feigned with a Chapoutier Rhone but his Malbec suggestion was clearly the right red wine for the grilled sausages.
Thanks to Scott for suggesting I get two different types of sausage. Venison and Wild Boar sausage were plated beautifully. In a large bowl some airy mashed potatoes were the base and the sausages were lucky enough to be placed on top. A dark root reduction sauce ringed the potatoes.
Who can argue with sauce and sausages?
Wild game meat can intimidate some people, but this isn’t the worry with what Chef Abderezak is dishing out. The venison was perfect and had a nice back of the tongue spice to it. The wild board had a bit more texture but it was also excellent. There were two sausages of each type and this dish might be worth splitting. You don’t want to miss the Caesar salad or lobster bisque so plan accordingly for the sausage entrée.
The Deer Path Inn gets their sausages from Broken Arrow Ranch (Texas) so you’re getting free-range meat (for those who care about this thing). You can read more about them at:
www.brokenarrowranch.com.
Just to provide a balanced accounting our second entrée choice was a perfectly done salmon on a bed of pesto’d mashed potatoes. Maybe it was the Chef’s nod at St. Patrick’s Day, but green mashed potatoes (via the pesto) worked for us. The salmon disappeared and two sausages made it home with us; breakfast sausage duty calling.
Get over to the Deer Path Inn – enjoy the ambience, the old money feel and an impressive menu at prices that won’t break the bank. We hear they have sausage cookouts when the weather turns warm. Look for that news flash.
Deer Path Inn
225 East Illinois Road
Lake Forest, Ill 60045
847-234-2280
Directions:
www.dpihotel.com.
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I had a great meeting with James Fares and have tasted some of the best Italian Sausage.
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New Introduction to Sausage Artist Section
Since 1998 we have sampled hundreds of various sausage. While we remain open minded, all of this experience leads to the conclusion that its difficult to assign high quality marks to mass market commercial sausage. The operative phrase here is mass market.
Mostly through good fortune and decent work assignments I’ve been to many sausage venues. Passport in hand 
I’ve sampled sausages in far off places like the Canadian provinces, the U.K., Mexico, Jamaica, and Texas. I’ve also tasted sausages from most of the 50 states. Though I have to admit some of these tastings blur in memory due to abuse of local beverages or other stimulants.
Finding a truly outstanding artist of sausage takes some doing and usually it happens by word of mouth (the way most good news is transmitted).
It’s hard for me to write this because as soon as you mention a small high end artist, they get discovered and the weight of money and celebrity sits on them like stink on a sumo. Where once there was a good butcher you get the Jabba The Hut purveyor. I hope the artisans stay smaller and stay true to their craft.
The big exception to this rule is that special case: hot dogs. Where hot dogs are respected or revered there are often mass market emperors of their local markets. When you have many people happy with the product, its hard not to respect those purveyors who have battled the hot dog wars and win market share year in and out. There’s always exception to the rule.
With prayer and hopes for a better outcome, Sausagefest.com wants to point you to the following artisans.
Please Note: We do not taste sausages sent to us – for obvious reasons. We generally pay our way, buy the sausage then do the tasting later. In some cases we have friends and acquaintances serve us sausage or suggest we try their favorites. Drop us a note and let us know what artisanal sausage maker is your favorite. As we grow we’ll provide the world with a long list of sausage artists worth experiencing. Bon Appetite!
e-mail: kentantonius@yahoo.com
