Info on Maestro Grill in Northbrook

My wife and I heard about the Maestro Grill in Northbrook but I can't find a link in this forum. Anyone have any experiences (good or bad) to share?
Thanx,
GP Bob

Grandpa Bob wrote:My wife and I heard about the Maestro Grill in Northbrook but I can't find a link in this forum. Anyone have any experiences (good or bad) to share?
Thanx,
GP Bob

If you go, be sure to post about it.

The latest "What's Happening" free local newspaper that arrived in the mail last week has a review of Maestro in it.

I drive past it almost daily, don't know a soul who has been there.

sujormik wrote:I drive past it almost daily, don't know a soul who has been there.

Ditto. I drive by it almost every day. Menu is on-line:
http://www.maestrogrill.com/homeM.php

Wow, I live less than a mile away and had no idea there was a restaurant down there.

I will have to give it a try.

Looking at the menu online, it looks very, very similar to the menu at Mocha www.mochahighwood.com in Highwood, which closed a few months ago. The interior looks familiar as well. Wonder if the chef/owner closed shop at Mocha to move to Northbrook? I went to Mocha once, enjoyed the atmosphere and wine selection. Food was ok, dressy salads, sandwiches were a bit complicated. BTW, Erik's next to Mocha closed last week as well, I never went there though.

One of my biggest granite suppliers is a block south of there. I had NO idea there was anyhting north of there other than office space.

I saw the "What's Happening" review recently too and that's why my wife and I are planning to go to Maestro Grill. Besides they have duck on the menu and I just love duck, but sadly don't see it on too many menus. (It's cool enough now for me to enjoy duck which just doesn't cut it for me in the warmer months.
Yesterday (Wed.) I phoned for a Sat. reservation at 8 pm for two and had no trouble getting one. When was the last time anyone called a restaurant for 8 pm reservations just three days before a Saturday night and were told, "We can only seat you at 5:30 or else 9:30?" I now have reservations about making that reservation. Let's just hope that they had a cancellation and that's why they could accommodate me so readily.
I'm amazed that with all the foodies reading and belonging to this forum no one has ever been to the Maestro Grill. I seem to recall they've been open for about a year. I will dutifully report back on our experience.
Regards to all,
GP Bob

I accompanied a small group of friends to Maestro Grill last Friday night; I'd never heard mention of it before nor did I recall this particular discussion (or this one: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=15711&hilit=Maestro). None in the group had been to the restaurant before, nor had they heard of it until the week prior - even though they frequently dine in the vicinity. I spotted the hangar building from a block away - and had forgotten that Sky Harbor Airport was at that site years ago. It's a bit of a hike up the stairs to the second-floor location and I'm surprised there's no elevator.

It was about 7:15 pm and the restaurant was getting busy; a line of about 7 or 8 people preceeded us up the stairwell. i didn't like the decor the moment I saw it - over the top Russian. Not Russian as in Russia, but Russian as in Russian decor one often sees within some of the immigrant community here and elsewhere in the USA. Cheap is how it looked, felt to me.

The manager/hostess/host, whomever, seem surprised at the arrival of a couple of groups of diners totaling probably 12. A hostess had to explain to two of the waitstaff where to go, what to do, etc. It was an odd scene. We had difficulty understanding the waitress, and she didn't seem to understand us very well - but we got through the preliminaries and started to order.

I don't recall if the dinner came with salad and soup, but I do remember the soup the waitress recommended - a large bowl of New England-style clam chowder which was good. The soup portion was a bit too generous, though. The bread rolls with warmed garlic on top and with hummis on the side was unusual - as unusual as the menu offerings - but was enjoyed by everyone in the group - so much so the waitress brought another plate for us to devour.

Early in the meal, one in our group - someone who eats at Zhivago a couple or more times a week - noticed a man walk through the room - one of the co-owners of Zhivago - and called the man over to the table. It turned-out the man not only is a principal co-owner of Zhivago but a - or the - principal owner of Maestro. He said he also owns a restaurant in Rolling Meadows.

We had a couple of rounds of drinks and I thought the pours were short - skimpy.

For my main course I ordered the skirt steak special. It took forever for our orders to arrive - maybe 45-minutes. We were starting to get antsy. The room was about 1/2 full at the time and the restaurant seemed to have developed a group of "regular" customers, judging by conversations I overheard. My skirt steak could have been seasoned better (for my palate). Several in the group ordered fried shrimp which were served 6 or 7 large ones to a plate and those who ate them liked them a lot. Two in the group had sliced veal with cooked apples on top, or some such preparation and those folks liked what they ate.

I didn't like the restaurant - except for the architecture of the old hangar building - but that particular dinner group gets into a rut from time-to-time and it was good to be stretching our legs someplace new to us.

The day following the visit to the restaurant I did some online research to refresh my recollection about Sky Harbor Airport, reading which I enjoyed.

Maestro Grill
500 Anthony Trail
(about 1/4 mile W. of Pfingsten Rd., 1/4 mile N. of Dundee Rd.)
Northbrook, IL 60062
(847) 272-8111
www.maestrogrill.com

If I remember correctly, there used to be a restaurant in the hangar many years ago called "Ceiling Zero" -- never ate there.

JoelF wrote:If I remember correctly, there used to be a restaurant in the hangar many years ago called "Ceiling Zero" -- never ate there.

Yep. I used to go there in the early '90s and liked it a lot, but I never would have remembered the name without your post.

Octarine wrote:One of my biggest granite suppliers is a block south of there. I had NO idea there was anyhting north of there other than office space.

Damar?