We weren't going anywhere, but we'd read the review of Pilot Pete's in the Chicago Tribune and figured we'd head out to the Schaumburg Regional Airport and give it a try.

The decor includes a corrugated tin ceiling ("Look! Quonset the Hut!"), vintage posters, and large airplane models hanging from the ceiling. The menu is good-sized, with a number of sandwiches, salads, and entrees. I had the meat loaf with French onion soup, while daisy_knotwise had the cranberry-orange pork chop special and a salad. The soup was excellent as were the pork chops; the meat loaf was a bit salty -- not a surprise given the cheddar cheese and olives in the mix -- and might have been improved if I'd chanced trying the portobello mushroom gravy that it's normally served with. The twice-baked and garlic mashed potatoes were both just fine, while the steamed broccoli and carrots had been steamed a bit too long, but no more than I've seen at a lot of places.

Gretchen took one pork chop home so that she'd have room for dessert. The creme brulee was ok, but the warm apple crisp and ice cream was excellent, with signs of actual apples in its ancestry and not too sweet.

With tax, tip, and non-alcoholic drinks, we were just shy of a $50 tab, but it was a good meal. And you get to watch the light planes taking off and landing, which is a novel floor show.