Bertucci's in Highwood

Whenever we have guests for lunch, we usually go to Bertucci’s in Highwood. They have white tablecloths, efficient servers and a hushed atmosphere. Though I have never had their red sauce, I believe this place comfortably fits into the Old School Italian-American zone often referred to here. Certainly this is reinforced by their occasional evenings of Frank Sinatra impersonators and wild game evenings, neither of which I have attended.

Recently, I went there for a quiet lunch with my Dad. To accompany our entrees, we had a choice of Minestrone soup or salad. We both choose salad with blue cheese dressing where chunks of cheese were visible. As is required in this restaurant genre, we were offered freshly ground pepper by our servers.



Where my Dad normally orders their thin crust pizza, on this occasion he ordered sausage and peppers.



I am sure there is more to like here, but I have not yet diverted from my favorite: Spinach and Cheese Tortellacci with Porcini sauce. I’m not precisely sure they offer porcini as a sauce option, I simply ask for it anyway.



As I recall from a Mike Royko column some years ago, when he was discussing how his sister loved a sauce so much she, "Skinned the cat." Later it was defined as cleaning your plate with bread, though I do have the spoon technique down pat:



I hope you will assume from my enthusiastic cleaning of my plate I found my choice quite delectable.

Bertucci's
246 Green Bay Rd.
Highwood
Tel: (847) 432-6663

I've attended their wild game evenings which offer a variety of wild game dishes in a buffet format. It's moderately priced and quite good.

Very, very sad news from Bertucci's
To my beloved customers,

After 23 years of business, it is with a heavy heart and with tears in our eyes as Lynne & I write this email that we have to inform you that Bertucci's will be going out of business. Our last day will be Sunday September 1st.

Over the last four or five years we have seen our business drop year after year. It is impossible to keep up with the ever rising overhead. What happened????

It seems like more and more people are dining in their own towns (despite the efforts of the City of Highwood special events) and each town has more restaurants. Also the driving laws have kept people in their towns. Maybe it was bad management, but I know it wasn't the food.

If you are receiving this e-mail, it's obvious you have dined at Bertucci's and we thank you for you support over the years. We have become friends with a lot of you and have enjoyed our conversations and serving you.

A few changes will be made for our last days. The nightly specials are done. We will just be offering our regular dining menus.

Please use up your birthday coupons and gift certificates by Sunday night.

We will NOT be open for Saturday lunch or Sunday brunch. Dinner only.

As of this THURSDAY we will only be accepting CASH as payment. If we know you we will accept your personal check.

We will still have our singer, country star Ricky Lee Shuttack performing Friday night and our final KARAOKE Saturday night.

In closing we want to THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for all the love and support you have given us. It has been a wonderful ride.

So long to the BERTUCCI FAMILY of Lynne, Judy, Saul, Polly, Jose. Leonel, Darci, Charley, Leslie, Nikki, Michelle, Porfirio, Francisca and more.

Happy Trails To You.

Still hope to see you soon.

Bruce

Yes gang, the property at Bertucci's is finally sold! It was bought by Bill and Kathy Barush, Kathy being of the the Eric and Kathy show on 101.9!! They plan on putting a music venue with pub style food! We wish them well!
While i am happy to have sold the property it is still bittersweet as i do not miss the the difficulty of running a restaurant, but the wonderful people i have met over the years!!
My brother jack and i have had establishments on the property since 1977! Boomers- Bertucci's-Pappagallo's-and Bertucci's
I would like to thank my dad, Bruno for lending me the money to start my career at the Hideout!!
Bill Bernstein for lending me money to complete the deal for Rainbows!
Mark Loeb former partner who's borrowing power enabled us to start Bertucci's
And most of all i would like to thank you for all the support over the last thirty seven years!!
It's been a great ride! next week i will tell you what the future may bring!