Abt Electronics expands its empire with Jolane's Cafe & Wine Bar

If you've ever shopped seriously for major appliances or electronic gizmos, chances are your search took you to the giant Abt Electronics store. From its humble beginnings in Logan Square in 1936, the company has expanded to a huge complex in Glenview with outbuildings featuring specialty showrooms and, now, its own restaurant, Jolane's Cafe & Wine Bar, a pleasant stop for a bite before or after shopping.

Named for the late Jolane Abt, matriarch of the family who launched the massive appliance store, the nicely appointed Jolane's honors her birthplace on the Austro-Hungarian border with European menu items as well as coffees and pastries from Austria's Julius Meinl. Jolane's cooks up some nice, light meals, worth a stop if you're shopping for a new stove or otherwise in the area.

Heartier dishes include Austrian-style beef goulash, braised short ribs and a selection of burgers, but overall, Jolane's menu has a "ladies' lunch" quality, styled for dainty palates, with an emphasis on salads, sandwiches and crepes, plus an extensive menu of sweets from Meinl and Chicago's JR's.

Appetizers are limited to a pair of soups: a soup of the day and "traditional Austrian soup," an insipid beef broth filled with "crepe noodles" - sliced-up crepes. The vegetable soup that was the alternative when I visited was fine, but nothing special.

The salads and sandwiches are the strengths of the menu. Jolane's chopped salad, for example, offers a pleasing but unchallenging mixture of bits of roasted chicken, avocado, tomatoes, broccoli, green onions, sweet corn, mild blue cheese, bacon, crisp tortilla strips and roasted almonds tossed with mixed greens and a light sesame dressing. Other salad options include a harvest salad with turkey and dried cranberries, a Mediterranean salad featuring feta and olives, and roasted-chicken salad served on Bibb lettuce. You can get a half a salad or half a sandwich with a cup of soup.

On the sandwich list, the beef and cheddar sandwich stacks thinly sliced, house-roasted beef with cheddar cheese, lettuce and tomato on a pretzel roll, served with a side of mixed greens. We had to ask for the creamy horseradish sauce that's supposed to accompany it - and I'm glad we did, because it really elevates the sandwich. Vegetarian choices, such as pear and brie and vegetable focaccia sandwiches, also feature among the 10 offerings, and a pair of paninis supplement the mainly cold choices.

Hot entrees seemed less successful. If you like white meat, then the chicken skewers might be just your thing, alternating chunks of boneless breast of chicken with peppers and onions, brushed with a sweet soy sauce. For my taste, they were somewhat dry.

The so-called "crepe pasta" could have been tasty, with its sun-dried tomato garlic sauce, bits of prosciutto, chives and ring of halved grape tomatoes, but the "pasta," which is apparently sliced-up leftover crepes, was mushy and bland.

For strong flavors, turn to dessert. Rich, gooey, chocolate cakes abound. My favorite was the Mozart torte, a symphony of dark chocolate cake sandwiching chocolate and pistachio cream, glazed with more dark chocolate and finished with a sprinkling of caramelized pistachios; however, the Vienna torte, a flourless chocolate-almond cake, spread with apricot jam, marzipan and dark chocolate ganache, was lovely, too. Lighter options include cookies and strudels.

Wash dessert down with a selection from the long list of coffee-based drinks, teas and infusions or a dessert wine.

Jolane's global wine list includes a number of Austrian bottles. The wines, all available by the glass, can often be ordered in small tasting portions, as well. They'll also sell you a bottle to take home at 25 percent off the menu price.

The cafe's teas, coffees, juices and other goodies are also for sale as packaged goods.

I wouldn't call Jolane's a destination by itself, but it's a fine place to cap a visit to the impressive Abt store with a glass of wine, a cup of coffee or a snack.

• Restaurant reviews are based on one anonymous visit. Our aim is to describe the overall dining experience while guiding the reader toward the menu's strengths. The Daily Herald does not publish reviews of restaurants it cannot recommend.

Jolane's Cafe & Wine Bar

Where: 1100 N. Milwaukee Ave., Glenview, (847) 375-6986, jolanescafe.com

Cuisine: American with an Austrian influence

Setting: Nicely appointed, casual cafe in the strip mall outside Abt Electronics at the Glenview/Des Plaines border

Price range: Appetizers $3.50 to $3.75; sandwiches and salads $7.95 to $9.95; entrees $9.50 to $15.95; desserts $1.50 to $6; wine $5 to $16 by the glass (less-expensive "tasting" glasses of wine available, too), $15 to $156 by the bottle

Hours: 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday (lunch menu starts at 11 a.m., dinner at 4 p.m.)

Accepts: Reservations, major credit cards

Also: Full bar; free parking; breakfast