Lucille’s Tea Room

February 10th, 2008 at 07:58pm Emily Johnson

 On Saturday we went to Lucille’s Tea Room on Newburg Road. This adorable tea room is located in a Victorian-style house that is well over a century old! When we went it was decorated in a “Victorian Valentine” style, which included a lot of themed antiques with hearts and other Valentine’s Day accents.

 Upon first arriving, we were asked to choose a hat that we liked. All of the hats were sanitized between uses, so no worries! This added to the “tea party” feel. Once we had picked our fancy hats, we sat down and were introduced to the different ways to drink tea. My style is “tiffy queen, ” meaning I put the tea in first and then add milk, while Cathryn’s was “boring”, meaning she drinks it black.

 We were then served a 3-course lunch. It began with roasted red pepper soup in a tea cup. Then, we tried a variety of tea sandwiches, roast beef croissants and cream cheese and cucumber. We then sampled many different desserts. Our favorites were a cranberry scone with apricot jam and the lemon tarts. The delicious lunch was finished with a brownie topped with whipped cream and raspberries. It was all very tasty and we left the tea room completely stuffed! The cost of this amazing meal is $20 per person. 

 Since Lucille’s is first and foremost a tea room, a large focus of the lunch is the tea.  In the spirit of trying new things, we decided to experiment with how we drink our tea.  I always use milk, so I tried different sugars.  They had cubes of plain cane sugar and brown sugar. Cathryn tried as hard as she could to like tea any other way besides boring.  She tried milk, sugar, and even lemon, all to no avail.  I guess she’s just a boring tea kind of person…

 If you don’t like tea, we kind of wonder why you would be going to a tea room, but if you really wish to, they do serve another drink.  It is always a cold drink to accompany the hot tea.   For our lunch, it was a delicious raspberry beverage.

 After your meal, make the journey out of the house to the garage area – the location of Nooks and Crannies.  Nooks and Crannies has an antique store feel and sells an eclectic variety of gifts.  Some are tea related like cups and pots, but others are more inside and outside home décor, including candles and a variety of bath products.

 This was such a unique experience. We felt like we were in England in the olden days having a quaint lunch with the queen. All of the guests who were with us really made the afternoon! It was such a great way to meet new people, and to have fun in an enjoyable atmosphere. Unfortunately, they are closing in May by choice of the owner so that she and her husband can move in to the adorable house. So visit it while you can. It will definitely be missed!

 [To eat lunch at Lucille’s, you need to make a reservation.  They have two lunch servings at 11 and 2 Wednesday through Saturday.  Call them at 815.484.9906.  They are located just east of Perryville at 7066 Newburg Road.]

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