5 Best Restaurants in Galena, Illinois

The 1855 Victorian-style DeSoto House Hotel provides a fitting backdrop for any meal in history-laden Galena, but the Sunday brunch buffet in the Courtyard's four-story atrium gets most of the attention. For under $10 (less for kids), you get a sumptuous spread, replete with carving station, made-to-order omelets and waffles, biscuits and sausage, pastries, fruit, french toast, and more.

Though this downtown Italian spot bears no relation to the 1991 movie, it does offer the chance to try the eponymous appetizer, here done up with a melted cheese topping. It's a fitting way to start your meal here. Follow it up with expertly done espresso-encrusted filet mignon, seared jumbo sea scallops or a duck osso bucco over mashed potatoes. The tin ceiling and exposed-brick walls bump up the charm in the restaurant's setting in the historic 1838 Dowling building.

When Galena residents Warren and Kathy Bell began a local beer label in 2009, the beer was actually brewed in Wisconsin. Now made locally, the beer has won several awards including a silver World Beer Cup Award for their Uptown Nut Brown Ale. Pair that with an Italian roast beef or pulled pork sandwich, a few tastes off the tapas menu or some simple bar food goodness like beer cheese nachos. Ask about brewery tours, catch a game on the four 55-inch HD TVS, and hear live bands most weekend nights.

Dan Wentz and John Slimp ditched their corporate jobs to open this cheerful, low-key breakfast and lunch spot. They named it for Otto Sallman who built the building in 1899 and had planned for, but could never open, a restaurant of his own. We're pretty sure Otto would be pleased with the changing menu of home-cooked, locally sourced dishes such as whole wheat pancakes, spinach salad, and biscuits and sausage gravy made with Arnold's Farm organic pork sausage. There are gluten-free and vegetarian options, too, plus made-from-scratch desserts (like pineapple upside down cake, made-to-order), and lovingly crafted dinners every Friday and Saturday night.

Chef-owner Steve Dowe explains that the name of his restaurant is a play on words and relates to the monumental brasses that hang majestically on the walls of this romantic spot about a block from the Galena River. Making brass rubbings—and teaching others the craft—has been a longtime hobby of the native English man and his wife Renee. Another side love? Making his own organic spice mixes. Dowe has used the blends in his recipes for nearly 45 years and is now bottling six varieties under the name AcroAma Inc. But you'll be happy you left the cooking to chef Dowe when you taste his spot-on petite beef tenderloin, paired with quail; or grilled lamb with homemade lamb sausage; or his sautéed Gulf shrimp with olives in a Provencale sauce. Top it all off with the signature chocolate cup dessert: a bowl of solid Swiss chocolate filled with creamy dark and milk chocolate ganaches.