Occasionally my wife and I still find time to sneak away for a busy workday for a nice lunch. The location for this latest dine was D. Burnham’s, which is hidden inside the recently renovated Renaissance Hotel at 4th & Walnut. The interior of this contemporary restaurant is very modern, there are even a couple of relaxing couch areas inside the dining room. We arrived just after the 11 AM opening and were the first patrons to be seated. Over the course of our meal a few more tables were occupied but there was plenty of room when we left around noon.

Inside

The lunch menu features nearly a dozen sandwiches, plus almost as many salads, several pizzas, and a few larger entrée plates. There were a few items that jumped out at me, but eventually I was sold on the chicken cordon bleu sandwich as it came on a pretzel bun. This sandwich was topped with shaved maple ham, Gruyere cheese, bibb lettuce, tomato, and garlic Dijon aioli ($12.50). The pretzel bun did not disappoint and overall the sandwich was quite good. Sandwiches are served with a choice of fries, kettle chips, or fruit. The fries were cut in-house and reminded me of those my family would make at home growing up.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

My wife ordered from the “healthy fare” section of the menu and had a marinated vegetable sandwich with grilled portabella, eggplant, roasted red pepper, zucchini, yellow squash, topped with arugula and fresh mozzarella on french bread ($11). This was served with a house salad of spring mix, tomatoes, sweet onion, and a lemon vinaigrette. That’s a whole of vegetables for me, but my wife seemed happy with her choice.

Vegetable Sandwich

Overall we were happy with our lunch selections. The dinner menu is a little more limited and much more expensive, so I don’t think we will return for dinner but a follow-up lunch is not out of the question. The breakfast menu also doesn’t look too bad, so I’ll have to remember that for our next stay downtown.