M Highland Park

M restaurant in Highland Park is now open. Anyone been yet? Originally, iirc it was supposed to be a southern food concept, but it seems that has morphed into a down-home more American comfort food menu, as opposed to strictly southern.

M
675 Central Ave
Highland Park, IL 60035
(847) 748-8954

Not yet, but there are already 2 shill-riffic postings on Yelp. In particular, the photos by "Greg" appear to be professionally taken, and are also on their Facebook page. Seems to be the norm in HP, lately -- for a good laugh, read the ridiculously effusive Yelp review of Benjamin, also in Highland Park. According to the reviewer, the only negative was the fact that she lives in the city, and Benjamin is on par with the very best restaurants in the city. But thankfully, she adds, it is so convenient to the Metra station that she will be back!

Anyway, back to the subject at hand, has anyone been able to find an online menu?

I'm doing a demo at the Botanic Garden with the chef on Sunday. They were a last minute sub for Abigail's Bistro. I'll post what I find out - evidently, they have no website, so info on the place is pretty slim.

*fingers crossed*

I contacted the chef via his Facebook page to try to get some scoop for my column in Highland Park Patch, but no response. They do have a facebook page, hard to find
http://www.facebook.com/pages/M/129703610446176

Trying to find time to get over there in the next few weeks.

Re Benjamin, I heard the other night that startup isn't going very well so far, and they have indeed been trying to keep a tight leash on online commentary. But I want to see both these places succeed, we can always use more variety in HP.

Interesting. Not much to go on there re: the focus of the menu. I can understand why they decided to go with Facebook for cheap promotion, though; Yelp evidently Swiffered ALL of the reviews posted on that site. There's now nothing left but some random pictures, and the location/hours of operation. Still no menu to be found anywhere.

Idle Thought: Wonder who the heck decided that M was a good name for a restaurant, in a market where the heaviest hitter going already has a CHAIN incorporating the letter incorporating the name?

HI,

I drove by this morning to see if there might be a menu on the window. None. I thought if I took a picture, at least there would be some menu online.

Regarding Benjamin, I am not quite sure how anyone can leash in online commentary of a new restaurant. In Highland Park (or most other places), there is a new place in town rush to visit. Once the dust settles, they stay or move on. If you dampen this period of enthusiastic interest, how do you get it back later when you want it?

Regards,

I’ve been to “M” 5 times since they opened 7 weeks ago. So far I’ve been very satisfied. Their menu is a nice change from other restaurants in Highland Park. The owner is Missy “M” and she is very friendly and welcoming. Chef Brian came from Abigails. His dishes are wonderful. They have a nice mix of beef, chicken and fish entrees. Appetizers include fried green tomatoes with a creamy catfish/tomato sauce (yummy) and steamed mussels. They also have nice salads and delicious homemade desserts. You need to try Brian’s peanut butter pie!

Here's a menu - http://www.idine.com/details.htm?merchantId=111317

M Restaurant opened for lunch starting on Tuesday of this week, and as I had a lunch appointment in town today, we decided to try it. Since we were one of two tables during the lunch hour today, it will be obvious to the restaurant staff who I am, so be it...

First, the space is nice but simply decorated. Light and bright. The bar appears well-stocked and has a nice flat-screen in the middle. The music was a little loud, I guess it wouldn't be if the place were full. The patio, obviously not where we wanted to be today, has been re-furnished with more appropriate furniture than Lincolnshire Gourmet had out there.

There was one staffer in front-of-house today who performed all tasks - waiter, busboy, runner - for our table. He was very nice and genuine, though he did a little too much multi-tasking at first and we had to interrupt his inventory work in order to get our order placed. For being the only order in the kitchen, I felt like the speed to serve us was slow. The waiter+ offered us bread at one point, which didn't end up coming much before the food itself (he said he would put it in the toaster oven first, which was a good decision, but something that could/should have been done when we walked in). And then our food itself didn't arrive all at once... my soup first with the salad (which I had said could come together) a moment later, my friend's sandwich first with the fries about five minutes later.

I had a cup of today's soup - "Loaded baked potato soup" - and the Bibb Salad. The soup was perfect for a colder day like today, with richness and chunkiness but not heavy. It had bacon and scallions along with the potato chunks. The salad was very nice, with the green Goddess dressing tossed in perfectly but not overpowering. It also had bacon, corn, tomato, and one or two other ingredients. My friend had the steak sandwich with fries. He said the sandwich was very tasty, but it was difficult to eat without making a mess out of it. I didn't look at how the steak had been sliced to figure out what could have been done to avoid the mess factor. I tried one of the fries, served with simple ketchup, and it was tasty and crisp.

By this point another few people were in the restaurant, and the woman who appears to be the owner was in the front of house pouring her friends shots of Maker's Mark. Maybe this contributed to a more relaxed attitude, because she then admitted that since it was day 3 of lunch they were "still winging it". I wasn't at all offended by this, we knew it they had just started lunch service. The waiter then described the desserts, including a peanut butter pie ("the chef's grandma's recipe") which sounds delicious, two pot-au-creme flavors, and a berries-and-cream. We were full but now we know. He encouraged us to come in for dinner, and offered the dinner menu which, understandably, looks a bit more interesting and creative. They also have a decent, affordable wine list and the bottle prices are very reasonable. My friend commented how he had read the menu on their website, and the waiter+ guy said "oh, you found it -- we had a typo when we first put it up, we spelled 'restaurant' wrong." That explains some of the confusion we all had in earlier posts. As long as we were laughing at their spelling, I told him "you also spelled 'mussels' wrong on the lunch menu" which he immediately got out a pen to correct.

My net, I want this place to succeed. I think they are still suffering some breaking in, not just lunch but generally getting the rhythm down (whether it was lunch or dinner, having only one ticket in should not have meant a long wait for food). The food is good, if not pushing boundaries; the prices seem a little high (a curse that Lincolnshire Gourmet also had in this space). I'll certainly give it another try.

As it happens, today was also a day to try another first in downtown Highland Park - Frost Gelato had its opening night party. I am *so happy* they are opening. This is the most authentic gelato I've had in the area since Pomodoro closed in Northbrook Court decades ago. It looks, smells, and tastes like a true Italian gelateria. They have a ton of flavors, all made in house, and the banana (e.g.) genuinely tasted exactly like a ripe banana. I also enjoyed the salted caramel and cheesecake flavors. I'll be writing more about Frost in my Highland Park Patch column either next week or week after.

M Restaurant - now with website!
http://mrestaurant.net/

Frost Gelato
617 Central Avenue
Highland Park 60035
http://www.facebook.com/Frost.Gelato.Chicagoland

As it happens, today was also a day to try another first in downtown Highland Park - Frost Gelato had its opening night party. I am *so happy* they are opening. This is the most authentic gelato I've had in the area since Pomodoro closed in Northbrook Court decades ago. It looks, smells, and tastes like a true Italian gelateria. They have a ton of flavors, all made in house, and the banana (e.g.) genuinely tasted exactly like a ripe banana. I also enjoyed the salted caramel and cheesecake flavors. I'll be writing more about Frost in my Highland Park Patch column either next week or week after.

Sort of unfortunate timing to be opening a gelato shop in November. I hope they make it.

My wife and I had an absolutely delightful lunch today at M. We had been meaning to visit M for quite some time, but never got around to it, and we were glad we finally did. I guess I should first discuss the service. Patrick and Missy were the only ones on the floor as I assume they keep staff light for lunch. They couldn't have been better hosts, as both spent a nice amount of time with us discussing the food (while listening to our comments), the wine list, Highland Park, horses, and bourbon.

Our first course was the mussels with lemongrass, ginger, basil, and chiles which was perfectly fresh and vibrant. A really nice starter that if I must critique was a hair shy on seasoning, but we fixed that with literally a pinch of salt in the sauce, but I would much rather do that than have an overwhelming sauce with such a delicate dish. Needless to say every mussel (and there were 20 at least) met its fate with out bellies. Our wine accompaniment was a well-balanced rose' cava which paired well with the shellfish. I will comment more about the wine list below.

We then shared the pork confit salad and the Hot Brown sandwich. The salad had delicious and plentiful pieces of well cooked and seasoned pork in addition to some type of chestnut dressing over endive, radicchio, and another green whose name I can't recall. The overall flavor of the salad was wonderful, though I will say that the temperature of the confit mixed with the green made the greens wilt a bit too much for my preference - a sentiment I did share with the chef, who was a delight to talk to. However, overall the salad was excellent and quite satisfying.

The Hot Brown, for those unaware, is a Kentucky specialty consisting of an open-faced turkey sandwich topped with Mornay sace and tomatoes. There are quite a few variations, but I will say, without a doubt, that M's is the best I've ever had, and I've had the one at the Brown Hotel in Louisville. M's Mornay sauce is a bit darker and deeper and they add some type of oven-dried tomatoes which gives the sandwich much more depth and a slightly sweeter finish (though it is certainly NOT sweet). They then brown the sandwich in an oven for a bit of crispiness that gives the sandwich more texture. I could have eaten another one, even as I was full, and I plan to do so very soon. Quite a pleasant surprise.

Another surprise was the most reasonable and creative wine list. First of all, almost every wine they stock was not only available by the bottle, but by the glass as well, save the reserve list. That means 8-10 whites and about 15 or so reds. Each around 7-12 dollars a glass, certainly reasonable for the quality of the wines. By the bottle it is even more reasonable. For example they have a 2009 Aubert Chardonnay on the reserve list for 90 bucks a bottle. Yes, 90 bucks. While 90 may seem like an expensive bottle of wine overall, you must understand that the wine is available from the winery for just under that price, meaning there is almost no markup! That is not to say that every wine is available for cost, but you get the idea when I tell you that the wine list is VERY reasonable and well thought out in my opinion. This is the type of situation that doesn't make me yearn for a BYO situation at every meal. Well done Patrick!

On the way out, while having a lengthy discussion with the owners I took a gander at their bar. They have a very nice array of libations, including quite an assortment of bourbons. I am under the impression that they will be getting Pappy Van Winkle 23 year old bourbon soon, so you can expect to see me at the bar on a late weekend night. They also mentioned possibly doing a late-night menu down the road.

Overall I have to say that I was quite pleasantly surprised by M and will without a doubt be back. It is really a nice value and the overall quality of the ingredients and preparations exceeded my expectations. I would recommend that everyone on LTH in the northern burbs give M a shot.

mattshafferHP wrote:. . . Overall I have to say that I was quite pleasantly surprised by M and will without a doubt be back. It is really a nice value and the overall quality of the ingredients and preparations exceeded my expectations. I would recommend that everyone on LTH in the northern burbs give M a shot.

Very encouraging, especially the information about the bourbon, as most north-suburban bars usually offer nothing more than Jim Beam and Jack Daniels (which isn't even bourbon, though it's often listed as one). Thanks, for the intel.

=R=

On spur of the moment last week, Mrs. EdB and I popped into M on a Wednesday evening at about 7:30. It was empty except for one other table finishing up.

The waiter/bartender/maitre'd, different than the previous visit, was also super-nice, and made a great Manhattan for Mrs. EdB. Chef Brian himself brought out bread from the kitchen, two different kinds.

We weren't that hungry, so we ordered a few things to share. As a first course, we ordered one of that night's specials - Crispy Pigs Ear, which was served with toasted kale, persimmon, and a sunny-side up egg. Mrs. EdB doesn't think the egg was cooked quite right, but the dish overall worked well - the persimmons were a nice seasonal stroke of genius, offsetting the salty/umami tastes. We also ordered a bibb salad, which I had tried at lunch, but somehow our wires got crossed, and the server thought we hadn't wanted it. In the end it would have been unnecessary anyway, so let's call that serendipity.

The second course we shared the mussels and the arancini. The arancini might have been a special; don't see them on the current menu on the website. They were OK; they were served atop pesto sauce that helped add a zip. The mussels, though, were awesome. The menu says the broth is lemongrass, cilantro, and Thai chiles; it was delicious and really added to the mussels themselves. More bread was provided to soak up the broth, but in the end we both were drinking it from soup spoons, too.

We were pretty happy at this point but when they brought the check, the waiter also brought a chocolate pot-au-creme which was really nice, not too heavy. I believe this is a regular dessert item. The whole thing came to about $50 for the three dishes, cocktail, and a soda, so I felt OK about the prices on the apps (still think the mains look expensive).

If...if...I had a complaint, it would be that nearly the entire time we were in the restaurant, the owner Missy was seated at the bar, talking on her cell phone. I don't expect her to "work the room", and it would potentially feel intrusive with just one table around anyway. We talked with Chef Brian a couple of times during the evening, and he was really friendly and helpful with suggestions and details, as was the waiter/bartender/maitre'd. The background chatter of someone on their phone would probably be no biggie if the place was fairly full; on an empty weeknight, it was noticeable. Sorry Missy, I know you guys are watching LTH and other places for feedback; I would have said something at the time, but...

We'll definitely give it a third go.