Is This Libertyville, Illinois or New York City?

Pin It

When my daughter Kara flew in for my birthday this past weekend from her home in New York City, we decided to have dinner one night at our newest restaurant in Libertyville, Shakou SushiAs I mentioned in an earlier blog, our little downtown has become quite the restaurant row in our area north of Chicago with many cuisines from which to choose, all wonderful, but nothing like Shakou Sushi.  First of all, Libertyville is not Chicago, and valet parking signs are an anomaly, not to  mention free valet parking.

Sushi dinner valet parking

Sushi window flowers 2

The restaurant entrance has a beautiful hand-painted window.

Sushi flowers on window 1

Sushi window with flowers very close up

My husband, Bill, Kara, and I walked into the restaurant.  Kara stopped in her tracks and looked around in awe.  “This can’t be Libertyville,” she claimed.  Kara thought it looked like an impressive New York City restaurant, even with a club area upstairs.  After we took in the quiet elegance, we were escorted to our table.

Sushi restaurant interior

Beautiful, we all agreed!

Sushi dinner Dragon cocktail

 Since we were celebrating my birthday, I decided to splurge and have the “Dragon ” cocktail with passion fruit and other wonderful flavors topped with a blackberry, my favorite.  It was delicious.

Sushi dinner champagne cocktail

Kara ordered the champagne martini with edible flowers.  Also delicious.

Sushi chopsticks

 There was so much to choose from, we didn’t know where to start.  Besides sushi, there are other items such as Bul go gi, Sweet and Chili Chicken Katsu, Sambal Shrimp, and Salmon Teriyaki.   We decided to make the entire meal sushi and come back another time for the entrees.   We began with three appetizers: Ahi Tuna in Phyllo, Bacon-Wrapped Scallops, and Asparagus Beef Rolls.

Sushi dinner ahi tuna in phyllo

Sushi dinner bacon wrapped scallops

Sushi dinner beef and asparagus roll

For some Signature Maki, we decided on the “Crunch Punch,” which consisted of spicy tuna, crab, salmon, and avocado, topped with tempura and unagi sauce; Maki with shiitake mushroom, and a spicy salmon, all presented beautifully.

Sushi crunch punch

Sushi dinner variety 2

Sushi dinner variety 2

When the waitress discovered it was my birthday weekend, here is what she brought me.

Sushi dinner chocolate cake long view

Sushi dinner chocolate cake

It was unanimously decided that we would return to Shakou Sushi and recommend it to our friends.   As we left the restaurant in the still chilly air, we agreed that a warm fire in our fireplace would be in order for the evening and time to rest our full bellies.  I still had my cell phone in my hand as we were driving home and couldn’t resist quickly snapping a photo of the pretty sky out the front window of the car.

Sushi dinner, sky driving home

And now for that cozy fire…

Sushi dinner afterward fireplace

It was a nice way to end the evening!

, ,

2 Responses to Is This Libertyville, Illinois or New York City?

  1. April 25, 2013 at 4:43 am #

    Looks good. Tsukasa is our favorite–may have to try this. Can”t believe how many sushi places there are now in Vernon Hills and Libertyville.

  2. April 28, 2013 at 12:36 pm #

    that champagne martini looked like fireworks in the flute–gorgeous

Leave a Reply