By Dennis Getto
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

After two visits to the charming new Point Comfort Place, I have a gripe:

I never got to sit in the room with the view.

The restaurant, which Mike and Lois Bertrand opened last December, has two dining rooms. The one in front, where I was seated for both of my recent dinners, is comfortable, with hardwood floors and paintings of outdoor scenes on the wall and the feel of a friendly pub.

In back, there's a dining room that looks like a lodge in northern Wisconsin, with a huge fireplace and windows that look out on Okauchee Lake.

I'll admit it was my own fault. I could have asked for a table in the other room. I just wasn't willing to wait.

And even though the view wasn't as exciting as it might have been, most of the dishes I tried at Point Comfort were so good that I'll keep it in mind when I'm in Waukesha County's lake country.

The latest chapter in the 110-year-old Point Comfort Place's history began in the fall of 1997 when the Bertrands began remodeling what Mike Bertrand called a "run-down bar."

Mike had worked for years as a manager for Cousins Subs, but found that the limitations put on him by a franchise organization to be too constricting.

He and his wife spent 14 months turning the restaurant into a casual but classy lake country showplace. The old building needed a new foundation, a new heating and air conditioning system and a whole new interior. The Bertrands accented that interior with a gas-burning fireplace made of field stones recycled from the old building's foundation.

With its lakeside location, Point Comfort appeals to the water sports crowd: There are 10 boat slips at the restaurant's dock for diners who arrive by boat. And an extensive line-up of sandwiches, burgers and salads would suit folks who don't want a full meal.

I wasn't one of them; I ordered full dinners, which come with both soup and salad, on both visits.

There were two things that I liked about the Point Comfort menu right away. The first was a section of "smokehouse favorites" prepared in the restaurant's own smoker. The second was a combination dinner special, which offers samples of two entrees for $14.95. A friend and I each ordered the special, and got to taste four entrees.

Of those four, barbecued ribs were the best -- chewy and charged through with a flavor that only smoking can give. The spicy sauce that covered them moved them even higher on my all-time list of good ribs.

Regular readers of this column may remember that I've never been a big fan of meat loaf: I've suffered an aversion to the dish ever since a remodeling project in my college cafeteria condemned me to eating the stuff twice a week for a year.

But I have been known to heap praise on well-made meat loaf, and these two thick slices qualified as such. The dark gravy that covered them was a trifle too strong for the mild meat, but tasted quite good on homemade mashed potatoes.

And I liked the four grilled shrimp that my dining partner ordered with her meat loaf. They had been basted with a wine sauce before charbroiling and the two flavors had come together nicely.

	"...most of the dishes I tried at Point Comfort were so good that I'll keep it in mind when I'm in Waukesha County's lake country." Dennis Ghetto The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

I don't think I really was sold on Point Comfort Place until my second visit, when I ordered chef John Richter's signature dish, a stuffed tenderloin ($17.95). Filled with blue cheese, green onions and bacon, it was done to a perfect medium and every bite oozed with flavor. If you're one of those who like the taste of steak and blue cheese combined, plan to make a pilgrimage to Point Comfort Place.

My dining companion wanted something lighter, ordering the chicken version of a dish called the Garden of Land or Sea ($11.95). It was a three-layered dish that started with a bed of fresh spinach topped with a layer of sauteed vegetables and a grilled chicken breast. (The sea version was topped with baked cod.)

The chicken had a nice charbroiled flavor and the vegetables (zucchini, broccoli, carrots and mushrooms) still had a lot of their crunch. The problem was the whole spinach leaves, which were hard to cut.

Salads were a nice mix of romaine lettuce, red cabbage, shredded carrot, cucumber and tomatoes. And two of the three soups we tried -- smoked turkey and vegetable -- were quite good. The cream of mushroom was dark and a bit unpleasant. Rolls were pretty average and of the potato choices, we liked the mashed and baked versions best.

For appetizers, a blooming onion ($4.95) had been cut, battered and fried to look like a flower and it was fun to break off pieces of it and dip them into the accompanying ranch dressing. We also liked Nate's Favorite Fries ($3.95), which were flavored with sour cream and chives. For dessert, it was hard to beat creamy, homemade baked cheesecake ($3).

Service at both meals was outstanding: Our waiter paced the meal well, made suggestions and wasn't flustered when we forgot to ask for refills on drinks, making an extra trip to the bar for him. For now, the restaurant serves only dinner and Sunday brunch, but the Bertrands hope to add lunch in the near future.

I've already made up my mind to go back to Point Comfort Place this summer, on a warm evening when I can watch the sun go down over the lake. And I won't even ask for a seat in the room with the view.

I'll wait for a table on the patio.

THE TAB: The first dinner for two at Point Comfort Place cost $48.19 for two dinners, an appetizer, three glasses of wine and a soft drink. The second cost $49.45 for two entrees, an appetizer, three glasses of wine, a soft drink, a dessert, tea and coffee.