For Jay Lovell, restaurant space - not outer space - is the big lure

It's now a decade since Lovell's of Lake Forest restaurant sprang from an empty city lot on Waukegan Road.

Owner and chef Jay Lovell spent 18 months living in the parking lot trailer watching the construction of his four level French Manor-style restaurant that opened in April, 1999.

Of course, not every entrepreneur can transform a vacant suburban lot into a successful business. Then again, the Lovell family was not entirely unfamiliar with the conquest of empty space -- Jay's dad is astronaut Jim Lovell, a veteran space explorer of two Gemini and two Apollo missions, including Apollo 13.

If the elder Lovell had aspirations for his son to inherit the family aviation genes, they were short-lived. Even though Jay (whose full name is James A. Lovell III) grew up in NASA territory (Houston) and later attended St. John's Military Academy in Wisconsin, his destiny lay firmly on the ground.

"After graduating from military school dad asked me if I wanted to go to Annapolis, where I could have become an officer, but I said no!" explained Lovell with a hearty laugh, sitting by a wall of windows in one of the dinning rooms.

Jay's passion was art which initially led to work in graphic designing, but he also enjoyed cooking, especially experimenting with new foods.

"So I enrolled in Kendall College Culinary School in Evanston and graduated in 1986 with straight A's," said Lovell.

Fresh out of college, Lovell hit the kitchens of various restaurants.

"Basically I learned how not to do things in the restaurant business. I've seen how not to treat employees. I learned not to hire an alcoholic, and not to hire a husband-and-wife team to manage a business. So when I finally got my own place, I knew what mistakes to avoid."

Jim and Jay Lovell soon began planning a family restaurant. "My dad was basically the money man," said Jay. Eighteen months and several million dollars later, father and son opened Lovell's (http://www.lovellsoflakeforest.com/) to its first customers.

Laura Williams has been a regular at Lovell's for over eight years. She works locally and makes the daily 12-mile drive from Gurnee.

"I love the ambiance and obviously the food, and I've never been disappointed" she said, while relaxing in a secluded corner of the dinning room with friends.

While the cuisine is the main draw, the space connection to Lovell's father remains a huge draw for the curious and out-of-towners. As commander of the only failed moon mission, Jim Lovell's calm leadership in a dying spacecraft made him a true American hero. He wrote of the experience in "Lost Moon," which was adapted for the film "Apollo 13," starring Tom Hanks.

Jay was briefly portrayed in the film as a student being consoled by his teacher and fellow students during the tense mission. "Actually, at the time, I didn't really appreciate how serious the Apollo 13 incident was," says Lovell. "Not until I saw the movie and realized exactly what had gone on."

Space-related posters and paintings line the walls of Lovell's four floors. Guests are free to wander, and enviably find their way to the basement where glass cabinets stretch across the room and house a treasure trove of items from Jim Lovell's personal space collection.

Perhaps most impressive of all is the massive 20 x 8 foot mural, "The Steeds of Apollo," that hangs in the entrance foyer, over the bar. Painted by the late Lumin Winters, it depicts three horses surrounded by the sun and moon and inspired the official logo for the Apollo 13 mission.

"Tom Hanks bought it at an auction and gave it to us," said Lovell. "We had to raise the ceiling three feet and redo the plans for the building to fit it in, which cost us another million dollars!"

Hanks and fellow "Apollo 13" star Gary Sinise have dined at Lovell's, and a display cabinet by the entrance contains dozens of dinner plates signed by celebrity visitors to the restaurant who have come for Jay's good food and the chance to meet his dad.

"He used to hang out here a lot for the first few years and greet the guests," says Lovell. "But then I borrowed the cash and bought it from him. He has an office upstairs and still comes by."

Jay has grown to love his restaurant.

"Being a chef is not a job, it's a lifestyle," he says. "It's hard work, but I love doing it."