Celebrity chef working to elevate fine dining at Primo in Gurnee
Primo in Gurnee recently took over the former In-Laws space and amped up the interior to a high-class lofted wine cellar aesthetic. Warm muted tones, dark wood and exposed brick are met by a space-enlarging light wood floor. The restaurant seems more European now, offering a heightened level of cuisine from an a la carte Italian American menu with grilled items, steaks, pasta and sandwiches; a sparkling water option rather than just still; and a high-tech iPad wine menu that shows wine notes, suggested pairings and information about Primo's wine club. House wine comes from barrels on display in a side room.
The entire waitstaff wears chef coats, possibly in homage to the new celebrity chef, Bloomingdale resident Richard Mancini from Food Network's “Chef Wanted” with Anne Burrell and Fox's “Hell's Kitchen” with Gordon Ramsay.
Unfortunately, service is a little slow, adding to the feel of a leisurely dinner abroad, but also frustrating because used plates littered the table for too long.
On to the fare: For appetizers, we ordered the crispy herbed goat cheese, stuffed meatballs, shredded Brussels sprouts salad, tableside Caesar salad and minestrone soup. The salads were great — the shredded Brussels sprouts are served in a chilled bowl with grilled pancetta, grated Parmesan and avocado cream dressing, and the Caesar salad is made from scratch at the table, dressing included. It was a fun show and with good flavor to match.
The crispy herbed goat cheese was a table favorite: a breaded and fried wheel of cheese served with smoky charred bread slices. One cut into the crisped outside and the cheese spilled out in a gooey waterfall, ready to be spread on the toast.
The stuffed meatballs (full of ricotta, breaded and fried, served with caps of tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese) and house Minestrone were both decent, but needed some minor improvements. The overcooked meat made the meatballs difficult to cut, and the minestrone was lukewarm.
Our dinners were the lobster risotto with grilled asparagus, shrimp gigli with vodka sauce, and lemon coconut Alaskan halibut with jasmine rice and cognac cream. Good news first: the halibut was light and flaky, and the sauce and rice were a perfect complement to the coconutty lemony flavor. The other two dishes fell victim to some minor problems. Although the risotto itself was cooked quite well, the lobster was overdone and chewy. The shrimp gigli's sauce was disappointingly bland and, if you don't like shrimp tails, be warned that they're left on. We ordered the Gorgonzola roasted cauliflower and roasted Brussels sprouts sides, and those were both cooked to a perfect al dente and delicious, making up for the subpar entrees.
We closed the meal with Nutella-smothered banana tiramisu; a cannoli flight of plain, chocolate and banana tiramisu; and champagne-poached stone fruit panna cotta, which seemed to have only berries rather than any actual stone fruit. My tiramisu was nice and creamy, almost like a banana bread pudding, with a slight kick of Nutella. The other two desserts were mostly good but needed a few adjustments — the cannoli shells were slightly stale and the panna cotta was too thin.
Overall, chef Mancini would probably make Gordon Ramsay mostly proud. With a few minor flavor and temperature tweaks, Primo could become Lake County's premier fine-dining establishment. I'll definitely be back to see it happen.
• Restaurant reviews are based on one anonymous visit. The Daily Herald does not publish reviews of restaurants it cannot recommend.
Primo
720 Milwaukee Ave., Gurnee, (847) 336-3166, <a href="http://www.primogurnee.com">primogurnee.com</a>
<b>Cuisine:</b> Italian American
<b>Setting:</b> Contemporary European
<b>Entrees:</b> $11 to $65
<b>Hours:</b> 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday