Madeleine What’s For Dinner

The dishes I have had are great. It’s convince and perfect when you don’t want to cook!

Madeleine’s is located in the same place as a previous «cook-​and-​carry» dinner, but in my opinion, much better! Madeleine («Mad») is an enthusiastic experienced chef and focuses on fresh ingredients. While she has a featured menu (
) she also has daily specials. We tried the Turkey Cutlets and the Cabernet Beef. The Turkey Cutlets were generous portions of turkey, sweet potatoes, thin stalks of asparagus and a sauce for the cutlets ($ 11) The Cabernet Beef, marinated chunks of beef (tasting like sauerbraten almost!) came with barley/​mushrooms and asparagus ($ 11). I loved this dish and my hubby loved his turkey cutlets. The dishes quickly reheat in a microwave and are packaged in compostable containers. Some may get two meals out of one dish – but I ate every bit of the Beef! Each dish comes with a dessert of three French madeleines (cookies).
I would definitely recommend Madeleine’s. Call ahead and order or stop in. Mad is open to suggestions and also does catering. She is definitely an asset to Lisle’s food scene!

Very good food. Recipes I would never take time make for myself. And convenient!!!

It’s decent. I’d have it again, I’m curious to try the other dishes at some point, and it’s nice to support your local small businesses.
So, Wednesday’s special was Derby Pork Loin, I think it was called. For $ 11.80 (with tax), I got two slices of pork loin with a sauce, an oven baked potato and some carrots, and my choice of different flavors of madelines. These were in a fridge waiting, it’s all fairly grab-​and-​go. At home, you microwave it for 2 – 3 minutes. I was a bit skeptical, mostly concerned it was going to be dry, but it worked out. It was all cooked just right and reheated surprisingly well. The pork loin was moist, the potato and carrots cooked properly (solid but not too solid, not mushy). The madelines were also quite good, but I don’t know that I’ve had enough of such things to say with much authority, but I have a decent baseline now. Portion size may be a bit of a concern to some. I didn’t feel like I was going hungry, but it’s more in the realm of the amount I _​should_​be eating, I expect, as opposed to when you go to a restaurant and you could happily have some and a decent amount remaining for leftovers. Part of me wanted the potato and carrots a bit more seasoned or complex or something, it felt a bit plain, but it was all very tasty, and I never did feel like I needed to add extra seasoning while I was eating it.
How does this differ from the kind of similar seeming place that preceded it? Admittedly, I never quite went there. The closest I got was my wife and I were in the area and we were like «Let’s get something for a quick lazy-​take home dinner and finally try that place.» We get there and we learned it was all made to order and it’d be about 30 minutes at the least. There’s a lot to be said for doing it that way, but it didn’t lend well to being impulsive about dinner. It’s just there and ready (although I had inquired at some point earlier about vegetarian meals, and getting that would entail planning a bit ahead).