The Palm in Northbrook

Based on my search of the board I saw that there was a thread on this restaurant in 2005. I decided instead of adding to that I would start a new one. Hope that is ok?

Six of us went to the Palm at Northbrook Court off of Lake Cook Road last night. One of the group was a member of their frequent dining club, so that may have had an impact.

We ordered 3 ($62 each for the 3) of their family style dinners. Rather than go into a lot of detail on what this is, it might be easier to go to their web page:

http://www.thepalm.com/sitemain.cfm?site_id=39

We started off with a huge plate of onion straws and cottage fries. Being 6 guys this fried food disappeared quickly. We then had 3 lobster bisques and 3 Caesar salads. I thought the Caesar was only ok. In the 2005 discussion there seemed to be some negative comments on the bisque, but the 3 in my group all said it was good.

We then had 3 fillets, 2 Veal Parmigiana, and 1 Linguini with Clam Sauce. Our sides were baked potato, steamed asparagus, fried asparagus, mushroom caps, and creamed spinach. For dessert we had one each of chocolate cake, carrot cake, and tiramisu.

Four of us split 2 fillets and the 2 veal orders. I had a fillet to myself as one of the guys was avoiding red meat, so he had a full order of the Linguini.

The fillet was perfectly cooked and looked to be 10 ounces. I thought the crust was a little too charred for me and trimmed it off. I thought it was a little dry as did one other guy, but other than that it had a nice flavor. The 4 who had the veal raved about it. I also enjoyed the creamed spinach, the mushroom caps, and the fried asparagus. None of the other five had any negative comments on the sides. All side dishes were suitable for two – three.

The 3 desserts were passed around with everyone taking some. I picked off two strawberries from each cake as my dessert, I was pretty full. Everyone liked the desserts.

There were leftovers on the desserts and some of the sides. Supposedly the family style is only offered Sunday – Thursday. We all agreed for $31 per person this was a very good deal.

D.

I've been there earlier this year and the family style menu is indeed a relatively good deal. However I wouldn't say the food was spectacular, especially compared to some other steakhouses. The price, at least for the family style, sets it apart though.

We have had this, the only problem with my family is they all want the STEAK, and we end up having to order an extra to have enough...LOL
It's amazing how 11 yr old boys can eat more than the adults...

Thought I'd add an update to this place....
Hub and I ate here again last night before a movie.
We were really blown away and had a fabulous dinner.

We split a west coast gigi salad as a starter,
it had lots of huge chunks of perfectly cooked shrimp and perfectly ripe avocados, plus crispy bacon,
all in a nicely dressed garlic vinaigrette.- Very good.

We then split the bone-in Rib Eye, and it was amazing-
Had a nice aged, but not too gamy aged taste,
perfect amount of crispy char, cooked perfectly as ordered, trimmed perfectly as well.

I'm still thinking about it this morning.

Fir dessert we shared a lovely creme brulee topped with huge delicious blackberries....

The only critique I had was the red wine was a tad warm-
room temp should really be cellar temp, not a hot indoor heated room
but being the easy going sort I am I simply plunked in an ice cube and was a happy clam in a minute or two-
(I know heresy to some... but it didn't bother me)

Our server Josey was very nice, lots of fun, but not intrusive and even Freddy the busboy was very funny and attentive...
When Hubs said he really didn't want more water, Freddy was, "c'mon, let me fill your glass, you don't want to get me in trouble with my boss..."

Actually very reasonable for such a great meal- the check came to just under $100 before tip for the two of us (3 glasses of moderately priced wine total)

A very pleasant evening overall.

The Palm in Northbrook has closed.

It was a decent joint, but nothing special in my opinion.

The last time I was there, the only other customers were a group of 3 that were loud and vulgar. . turned out it was Courtney Love and Billy Corgan with a friend of theirs.

Very sad to see them closed. We went there whenever we had a hankering for lobster, or for their weekday or Friday specials. Service was always excellent, and they cut us a huge break on corkage. I think their meat was every bit as good as Morton's or Ruth Chris.

I'm sad to see them go, but the last couple of times we went, tehy weren't very busy, and in this economy, that never bodes well.