Emerald Tea Room

Recently I had the pleasure of dining at one of my favorite lunch spots: The Emerald Tea Room, 132 McKinley Street (downtown near Long John Silver's) in East Peoria.
The rustic country style tea room offers several sandwiches and salads, soups and daily specials. And of course, delectable desserts.
On this occasion, I had a ham salad sandwich on multigrain bread served with chips and a small serving of fruit. The sandwich was good and the fruit (blackberries, strawberry, muskmelon and kiwi) stood out to me as being some of the freshest tasting fruit I've encountered in a long time. No easy feat in Illinois in February, I'm sure.
For dessert, I shared a cranberry pear crisp topped with ice cream with my mom. It was nicely warmed and packed with cinnamony goodness.
The owner served us, and was prompt and friendly throughout our stay.
The Emerald Tea Room also does catering and is available during off hours for private parties.