Des Plaines Restaurant Guide

Café la Cave will remind diners of classic, white-tablecloth steakhouses that used to dot the city but today sadly are gone. Serving traditional dishes presented with quiet flair - where can you get Steak Diane served tableside? - and exceptional quality, this restaurant is ride to be "discovered" again by a trendy crowd. Some of that flair comes from the restaurant's unique setting: it is literally inside a cave, through the claustrophobic can opt for the more traditional seating in the La Mere room. Sounds corny? Quite the opposite: it's intimate and novel. Once inside the restaurant, you feel like you walked onto the set of "Ocean's 11" - it's modern and sexy, but with a cool, retro vibe.

Steak is obviously the main draw here and in an area filled with great steakhouses, this is arguably atop the heap. Chateaubriand and Steak Diane are among the tableside options, but the Porterhouse and Steak au Poivre have remained consistent favorites. One of Café la Cave's strongest points is the attention it gives to all its offerings.

Many steakhouses fall apart when it comes to fish or pasta, but Café la Cave's experienced kitchen, under the capable management of Executive Chef Jeff Myers, presents a superb sea bass and an exquisite Dover Sole, a dish actor and noted foodie John Travolta reviewed as "the best he has ever had."

Part of Café la Cave's current obscurity lies solely in location: For years it has been rated an A-list restaurant. That reputation has never left it, but in today's buzz-consumed climate, classic quality steakhouses have found themselves being obscured from the public eye.