The Ideal Place: Ideally Delicious

Melissa and I attended the Senior PGA Championship, held in Benton Harbor, MI. After the matches on Saturday, we walked from the course to Downtown Benton Harbor, a mere two blocks. We strolled casually enjoying the downtown area and festivities.  After spending the entire day on the golf course, we were extremely hungry and finally decided, after much debate, on a place called The Ideal Place. This great corner eatery is located in the heart of the Benton Harbor Arts District, in a red brick building.  

The inside of the bistro is decorated with a relaxing, almost coffee house vibe, but shows elegance with the dark colored furniture, table clothes, and lighting.  The purple walls display various types of local artists work. The high open ceilings were left uncovered, exposing some of the support beams and air ducts. The room is split in two, dividing the bar and bar-tops from the larger tables. This wall division helped control some of noise from other diners and the live music that started to play during the middle of our meal. The bar was well stocked with a lot of top-shelf liquor and many wines from the many local wineries.

We were graciously greeted by the staff who quickly seated us at the window.  Our table was simple and -elegant.  There were light-weighted, white curtains over the windows, letting in a limited amount of sunlight.  There was a single white, tea-light candle burning in the center of the table, in between the cloth wrapped silver ware and bread plates.

We started our meal off with a glass of White Expression from White Pine Winery, located in Fennville, MI. We ordered our meals and patiently waited for our first course.Our server brought over a basket of rolls, butter, and our salads. The rolls had a thick, crunchy crust, yet had a soft interior. The house salad was a fresh mix of greens, juicy sweet tomatoes, and red onion served with a house vinaigrette. The vinaigrette was sweet with a tangy after bite. The salad was perfectly chilled adding to our much needed refreshment for an enjoyable meal after our day outdoors.

Ben: I ordered the Honey-Mustard Glazed Chicken with grilled vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes. The presentation of this plate was absolutely beautiful. I love grilling when I cook and I like to think I'm pretty damn good at at it.  However, I have never grilled chicken with such perfect grill marks. The chicken cooked well. The meat had an interesting balance between juicy and dry. The Honey-Mustard glaze brought a tangy sweetness to the white meat, enhancing the overall flavor. I am always a picky grilled vegetable person; most vegetables are too soggy or too crunch from not being cooked correctly. The vegetables served with this meal were seasoned lightly and not overcooked. Each vegetable was full of flavor. The perfect vegetable texture was made even more enjoyable with the flavor that the grilling added.  The garlic mashed potatoes were creamy with small thicker chunks of potatoes. I enjoyed the creamy, fluffy texture of the potatoes even more because they were not over-seasoned with garlic. The overall combination of the items within this meal complimented each other nicely.  The light crispiness of the vegetables were given more depth with the complex taste of the chicken and heavy texture of the potatoes.  I truly enjoyed this meal and would recommend this bistro to anyone in living in or passing through Benton Harbor, MI.

Melissa: After scanning the menu several times, I chose to satisfy my hunger with the Blueberry Glazed Pork Chops accompanied with grilled asparagus and an arugula salad. As you can see, the presentation was magnificent. My plate looked like something from the Food Network! My favorite part of this meal was the arugula salad. It was so simple, sweet, and yet complex.  The arugula salad was made from arugula, fresh blueberries, and sweet corn.  At first I was a bit timid to try it but I was so happy that I did.  The corn brought a starchy heaviness to the salad but added to the sweetness that the blueberries brought.  The sweetness of this salad was contrasted by the spicy, almost earthy flavors brought by the arugula.  There was no dressing or spices on this salad, just the fresh goodness of these three ingredients.  The asparagus was grilled well.  I only had a few stalks that seemed to be slightly overcooked, but had great flavor.  The Blueberry Glazed Pork Chops were delicious. The pork was not too dry and had a crispy outside from the glaze.  I could not detect a blueberry flavor from the glaze, however, I could see the purple glaze on the clean white plate.  I would have liked more of a blueberry flavor to the pork chop but overall it was a good meal, the high point being the arugula salad.

We finished our meal by sharing Vanilla Gelato, with strawberries and cinnamon sprinkled over the top and a glass of Grand Marnier. The gelato was smooth and slightly heavy.  It had a vanilla bean flavor to it.  The strawberries balanced the sweetness of the gelato as they were not quite ripe, but had a nice firm texture.  For both Melissa and I, the cinnamon did not add to the flavors, but it did make the presentation lovely.  I thoroughly enjoyed this treat, but Melissa was disappointed.  Having had gelato in Italy, Melissa has a high standard.  She stated that this gelato was more like a lighter texture vanilla bean ice cream and did satisfy her sweet tooth, but not her gelato fix.

Overall, we enjoyed our experience at The Ideal Place.  Everything from being seated, to the last spoonful of gelato made our evening more enjoyable than imaginable.  We would recommend you stop in for dinner when you're in Benton Harbor because of the creative and fantastic meals that are offered and to see the great Arts District. But keep in mind that The Ideal Place changes their menu regularly and has  special menus on occassions.  If you're unable to try our great meal, I'm more than positive that The Ideal Place will not let you down with a wonderful food experience.  As with any meal with us, an empty plate means it was great!

To learn more about Benton Harbor, Michigan, The Ideal Place or White Pine Winery, please visit their websites listed below.

Benton Harbor, Michigan
http://www.bentonharborcity.com/

The Ideal Place
http://www.theidealplace.com/

White Pine Winery
http://www.whitepinewinery.com/