Moderno - Highland Park coming in May

This has been discussed a bit in the Inovasi thread but as the progress moves forward on the new restaurant I thought it was worth creating a new thread.

John Des Rosiers is opening another restaurant in May, in the former Rosebud space in Highland Park. The new restaurant is called "Moderno" and is going to be a modern Italian theme.

I sat down with Chef to talk about the new restaurant last week and wrote my Highland Park Patch column on it today. But since the column is mass-market, I left a lot of details out.

Des Rosiers' vision for Moderno is, as the name suggests, a modern interpretation of Italian food. He gave me a draft of the menu and it's pretty cool. There will be pizzas, but they will be things like manilla clams with san marzano tomatoes, leek threads, and sheep's cheese. There will be pasta, but it will be "guitar cut spaghetti" with veal meatballs, red wine, and thai chile. There will be salad, but not a Caesar in sight...instead it will be arugula with grilled olive, onion, and "lambrusco vinaigrette".

Now, I'm not putting too much stock in the draft menu, because I know Des Rosiers well enough to know that over the next four months, he's going to evolve this thing a ton. He's in Italy now on a research trip, and then he'll just change things because of seasonality or new ingredients or simple restlessness. But the conceptual ideas are there -- some shared plates, some not-shared plates, pizzas in a 900-degree oven (they can't do wood-burning in that space with a movie theatre above them), some kind of wonder machine for gelato/ice cream/custard, and, as the draft menu does say, "everything by hand, everything from scratch." He had the standard line about using the best ingredients etc., but I believe him as an Inovasi regular.

John also realizes that the Rosebud space is huge, and he is going to have to operate five different styles of restaurant. They are cutting down the space by building two private dining rooms; the one at Inovasi is often busy. They are also going to have something of a chef's table, where you can see that Des Rosiers is paying attention to Next and other innovations. He said the table is inside the front door but will have curtains around it, and that when you book it, you get it for the whole night. The price will be different for different days of the week, but for whatever the price is, that table will also get extra courses, wines, etc. throughout the night. He does some of this with his tasting menu and special events at Inovasi, but this is taking it up one level. He suggested that the table would seat six people. Additionally, he wants to have a decent carry-out business, and of course in the summer there will be the patio.

Interestingly we did not talk about the bar, which I think is a signature at Inovasi where they don't have Absolut, they don't have Patron, and they definitely don't have Budweiser. A point to discuss on next meeting.

One surprise to me is that the manager at Moderno is going to be Elkin, one of the staff from Inovasi. So we are losing a favorite waitress, but I guess we'll always be able to get a table at Moderno. Unless my neighbors come in and act like they own the joint.

There are to my mind three challenges for Moderno to be successful - 1) that John keeps his game up as he expands to another full-service restaurant; 2) that they can manage the size and volume in Highland Park, and 3) that they can convince my friends and neighbors in this town to just trust the menu, and not be, well, high-maintenance. He deliberately rails against Italian standards like fried calamari, minestrone soup, caesar salad. Will Mr. Self-Important walk in the front door and say "what kind of Italian joint doesn't have a Caesar salad?!?!" and walk out? Or will they try the sicilian white anchovy pizza with homemade gin cured bacon, mahon cheese, and evoo and say "this guy's good!"

My bet's on the latter. I know they will run into the former. Let's hope it doesn't happen too often.

Moderno - opening May, 2012
1810 Second Street
Highland Park 60035
http://www.modernohp.com

edb60035 wrote:There are to my mind three challenges for Moderno to be successful - 3) that they can convince my friends and neighbors in this town to just trust the menu, and not be, well, high-maintenance. He deliberately rails against Italian standards like fried calamari, minestrone soup, caesar salad. Will Mr. Self-Important walk in the front door and say "what kind of Italian joint doesn't have a Caesar salad?!?!" and walk out? Or will they try the sicilian white anchovy pizza with homemade gin cured bacon, mahon cheese, and evoo and say "this guy's good!"

Have you been to Rosebud in Deerfield? It's without question the worst restaurant to open up in the Chicago area in 2011, and it is mobbed--no-parking-on-Central-Ave. mobbed. I can't begin to tell you the look of incredulity I had when the first notice about Moderno came out on here and Des Rosiers mentioned butchering whole animals at the whole: here? in Highland Park?

I take guff every time I hate on HP, and I get it: the recent wave of higher quality eats in the area is promising, and I'm probably prone to hyperbole because I'm a native son and have a soft spot for the place (save for the food). But I consider my folks to be emblematic of the challenge facing Des Rosiers: they'll go there in the first month because everyone is talking about it, ask for absurd modifications to menu items, and then complain to me that the place is pretentious--this while gleefully joining me for repasts at Vera, Maude's, and Avec in the last month. See, this isn't about people; it's almost...environmental? I dunno, I've been struggling for years to get it.

I don't remember reading about whole-animal butchering at Moderno. Where's the "rubbing two hands together" smiley?!

chezbrad wrote:Have you been to Rosebud in Deerfield? It's without question the worst restaurant to open up in the Chicago area in 2011, and it is mobbed

Have you read the reviews on Yelp? Yikes!
http://www.yelp.com/biz/rosebud-deerfield#query:rosebud

sandman wrote:Have you read the reviews on Yelp? Yikes!
http://www.yelp.com/biz/rosebud-deerfield#query:rosebud

Even on Yelp? That's encouraging, actually.

What's Yelp?

Restaurant is opening on April 30.

Last night, Ronnie Suburban and I and our better halves had the opportunity to attend a pre-opening dinner at Moderno. Ron has the photos and will certainly post his impressions, and I'm working on my weekly Highland Park Patch.com column as a more extensive preview/review from the pre-open. But for LTHers, the goods are:

- The space is beautiful. It seems like it should be far noisier (the old Rosebud certainly was) but it was very pleasant and we never had to strain to hear or be heard, yet I couldn't hear other conversations at all. The interior is lighter than I expected, but it works really well. There are a few high-top tables in the main dining room as well as at the bar, a couple of private rooms, and a "chef's table"-like booth that they haven't started to book out yet.
- The food was great. As with Inovasi, the concept is sharing small plates. Over a two-hour period, we tried two pizzas, two pastas, two starters, a salad, a 'shareable', and two desserts. Not everything was perfect - no surprise on a pre-opening - but many of the dishes sang reliably of the creativity of Desrosiers and the execution of Rubino. Some particular stand-outs for me were the sardines with pickled leek, the "chitarra" pasta with veal meatballs and thai chile, the wild boar papardelle, and the standard tomato/mozzarella pizza. There was a surprise element to almost every dish we were served, like the strawberry shortcake with balsamic glaze, but the restaurant has a "5" theme where there are no more than five main ingredients in any given dish. Interesting.
- Pizzas cook and are served very fast - they can be considered for any course, not just a main, but even a snack to start. They're going to be great for takeout.
- The wine list is extensive and, like Inovasi, very well-explained
- We liked the staff. Elkin as general manager (she was on staff at Inovasi) seemed confident and was always visible in the room. Andrew the other manager seems like a great guy who is as excited about the food as we are. There is so much MORE staff than Inovasi, since the space is so much bigger, it's a little hard to get used to the feel. I said to Desrosiers that we will have a hard time deciding which place to eat on any given local night out, and his response (this is so John) was "eat out more often". But for sure we will continue to be regulars at Inovasi, it's a different feel.

The official opening is Monday and tables are plentiful on OpenTable. I know other LTHers are booked to go in the next couple of days.

The question for the restaurant once open remains the same as I wondered when I first previewed it - will Highland Park diners accept a chef-driven restaurant? Will they demand their Caesar salad and that the anchovies or bacon be left off the anchovy and bacon pizza? On a preview night with a house full of friendlies, this wasn't an issue, but it certainly will be as they open up.

Congrats to John, Elkin, Phil, and the team. This is a great addition to Highland Park and the north shore...and for sure you'll find us on the patio many times once that opens in June

Thanks, Ed, for inviting us along on Wednesday night. Given that it was Night #2 of their pre-opening, Moderno was impressive. But since they weren't really open and our food was comped, I don't feel right going into great detail about the meal. However, I will say that most of what we ate was great and I'm very encouraged -- though not surprised at all -- by what we experienced.

Here are glimpses of a few dishes, which may or may not be the same or around once Moderno officially opens . . .


Pickled Sardines | fennel, preserved lemons, toast
Meaty and wonderful, and the pickled fennel was a great touch.



Pappardelle | wild boar bolognese, currant, grana padano
I loved every component of this dish. The noodles were really nicely cooked.



Arugula | crispy country ham, pine nuts, pickled red onion, farmer's cheese
A great salad. I loved the mild bitterness of the arugula. The dressing was brightly acidic and was foiled beautifully by the farmer's cheese



Pizza | fresh mozzarella, puglia tomatoes, thai basil, e.v.o.o
Lovely. I thought the roasted tomatoes were gloriously intense



Chitarra | veal meatballs, tomatoes, thai chile, ricotta
Another great pasta dish . . . cooked al dente with a touch of heat and very flavorful, tender meatballs.

I think Highland Park is very lucky to have Moderno. Of course, we'll see what Highland Park has to say about it.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:I think Highland Park is very lucky to have Moderno. Of course, we'll see what Highland Park has to say about it.
=R=

We'll only complain about the lack of nearby street parking because we're too damn lazy to remember to park in the Renaissance garage - free for the first three hours!

Dave148 wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:I think Highland Park is very lucky to have Moderno. Of course, we'll see what Highland Park has to say about it.
=R=

We'll only complain about the lack of nearby street parking because we're too damn lazy to remember to park in the Renaissance garage - free for the first three hours!

edb60035 has a very informative piece about Moderno, posted today at Highland Park Patch . . .

at HighlandParkPatch.com, Ed Brill wrote:Four months ago, I wondered aloud whether Highland Park was ready for Moderno. Today, we begin to find out, as Chef John des Rosiers and his crew officially open their doors at 1850 Second Street.

Des Rosiers boasts that Moderno is part of a "revolution" in North Shore restaurants, one he is personally leading. The word "revolution" even appears in neon, backwards, on the south wall of the new restaurant as well as the staff uniforms. His goal is to raise expectations among area diners, where -- if they leave themselves in the hands of the chefs -- our expectations of a nice meal out will be transformed and elevated to expect fresh, flavorful and creative meals.

Patch Gets An Exclusive Look at Moderno

=R=

I had my first regular meal at Moderno last week, and things seemed to be running very smoothly, despite being almost full on a Wednesday night. I had eaten here once pre-opening, and again the food was fantastic. The highlights for me were the pickled sardines (see Ronnie's picture above), the carpaccio, which was sliced thick so it had a more meaty mouthfeel, and the walleye pike. The pike was in the share section of the menu, so I was expecting a decent portion, but I was stunned to see what had to be well over a pound of fish, enough for 2 entrees, for $24. It was cooked perfectly, with delicious crispy skin. The thin sliced raw artichokes, crispy potatoes, and tomato and olive ragu complemented the fish, while letting its freshness shine through. My kids particularly enjoyed the pizza and the chitarra and meatballs. The only miss for me was the "modern misu" for dessert. While I wouldnt expect a traditional tiramisu from John, this tiramisu soup, while interesting, didnt really do it for me. Fortunately the tartufo and gelato were both great.

In comparing Moderno to Inovasi, I would say that Moderno has a bit more casual feel, and the food is a little more straightforward (I like the 5 ingredient concept). My 12 year olds preferred Moderno, so we will probably eat there more often, but Inovasi will likely remain our adult night, special occasion choice, though you really cant go wrong at either place. Fortunately I live right between them, 5 miles from both!

-Will

Has anyone else been to Moderno since it opened two weeks ago? I've heard mixed reviews.
Looking forward to some replies.
Best, Grandpa Bob

I have been. I have enjoyed my time there, but I'm not sure about your likes or dislikes. I'm not a fan of CDI, so you may not like my taste. Also, the restaurant is so different than what Highland Parkers are used to, a mixed bag is the best one could hope for.

My favorites are the beet salad, sardines, carpaccio, octopus. I'm not a huge (unsauced) pizza fan, so I can't comment on those. I had a couple pastas, but my personal preference with pasta is more sauce.

I will try some of the entrees next time I'm there.

I think it is definitely worth a try since you live in the neighborhood. You could sit at the bar and have a single dish or two.


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I am here: http://tapatalk.com/map.php?fs0k22

I haven't been back to Moderno since the pre-opening dinner I briefly described above because I'm waiting for the crowds to die down a bit. But I chatted about it with my stepfather (he lives in HP) and he's exactly the kind of prospective customer that already has a problem with the place, even though he's never actually eaten there. Of course, he misses Rosebud. His list of criticisms about Moderno were uncannily predictable: "the menu doesn't interest me, there are no dinner salads, it's not really Italian food," etc. Other relatives were also lamenting the loss of Rosebud. These are some of the people who Moderno will have to win over to establish their regular customer base. It's a big, affluent suburb and I have no idea how big a percentage my stepfather (and his viewpoint) represents. If anyone can win them over, it's des Rosiers. But yes, some folks are writing it off before they even eat there. Shame.

=R=

I actually laughed myself to sleep last night reading Ronnie's post. It's exactly what we have been anticipating. "No dinner salad" - hysterical.

I have been back once so far as has my wife on a separate occasion, and I will be there twice more yet this week. On my second visit, I learned one word that matters - Risotto. OMG good. The manager Elkin had recommended it on facebook, and I loved it. The two kinds of asparagus (green and white), lemon oil, and the toothy rice were just unbelievable. The couple at the next table heard me talking to Natasha the waitress about it and decided to order it, and they loved it too. I had the sardine again, and it was great, but I think it is too strong a dish for one person. Definitely meant to share. We also had one of the pizzas which was less successful. On my wife's return visit, she loved the papardelle again as well as the caponata, and they really enjoyed another pasta dish and the tomato/mozz/evoo pizza.

Lunch started this week and I'll be trying that out on Friday. The menu isn't online yet. There are sandwiches, not sure what else.

I'm ok if there are mixed reviews. I want the place for myself Meanwhile, I agree with milz50 - go sit at the bar and try something. They have some nice wines by the glass, too.

Based on evening drives past Abigail's, I do think Moderno is having an impact on Abigail's.

I love risotto and cook lots of varieties myself. Just curious as to what price Moderno is charging for their aspargus risotto mentioned above in edb60035's post? Might give it a try at the bar this weekend since my girlfriend will be in Long Island.
Regards, Grandpa Bob

According to their menu, the risotto is $12.

They need someone to run an Italian spell check on that menu.

Darren72 wrote:According to their menu, the risotto is $12.

Does that come with a salad?

rickster wrote:They need someone to run an Italian spell check on that menu.

A fast scan of the Italian only and I spot seven misspellings (the menu artist got "carnaroli" wrong two different ways), plus what I can only guess is a grammatical error. And I'm not counting "parmesan," "pepperoni," or "linguini" against the menuist, since mmericane have widely adopted those solecisms (Irregardless!). I pray i Moderni do not interpret my remarks here as being in any way "calabrasive." I prefer to characterize this post as postmoderno.

I had lunch at Moderno today, which they started serving on Monday. The lunch menu is not online yet.

The biggest difference is that they have sandwiches and additional salads. The sandwiches (which come with chips) include fried bologna, veal meatball, modern chicken club, a vegetarian, and a few others. We had the veal meatball sandwich, layered with cheese and house-made giardiniera, which my buddy called "the best sandwich I've eaten in Highland Park". It was really nice. We also split a walleye salad, which was a standard kind of salad but with a really nicely cooked piece of walleye pike. For dessert we split the tartufo, which again was delicious.



The lunch vibe was interesting. The restaurant was pretty busy, though the bar was completely empty. When they open the patio next month, it's going to be really busy. Jimmy from Inovasi is waiting tables, along with several other wait staff that I'm getting to know, and Andrew was in front of house. I was kind of surprised they put the puffs on the table at lunch (these are small triangles of herbed pizza dough), I don't know if those are needed. But I was happy to see large groups, and tables sharing, and all the same things going on at lunch that are going on at dinner. I chuckled when the table across ordered my favorite risotto, and then asked "what are these?" about the white asparagus as if it was an invasive species. I never checked back if they ate it Both chefs were in the dining room at various points, first chance I've seen Chef Rubino since they started build-out. He's pretty happy with how things are going, and modest about the dishes he's putting on the table.

I happen to be going back for dinner tonight, and Chef Rubino mentioned he just got in some soft-shell crabs

As fans of Inovasi, we just knew we'd like Moderno. Can't believe we just had such a disappointing meal. The sardines and fennel were OK, definitely not noteworthy. The octopus was a similarly unremarkable. The waitress warned us that chitarra with veal meatballs would be spicy, so we asked her to up the spice level since we like heat. She must have asked them to eliminate any touch of warmth. The meatballs were tasty but the pasta and sauce were average at best. The blueberry crostata was all crust with a couple of tablespoons of filling. At least the wine was good and reasonably priced.

We didn't even finish our small plates before the pasta was on the table. Plates and silverware were cleared before both of us were done and the silverware wasn't replenished for the next course. Back to Inovasi for us.

We ventured to Moderno last night for our inaugural outing and quite enjoyed our experience. We've been fans of JdR, since we stumbled into Bank Lane several years ago and for lack of anything better to do, ordered the tasting menu and proceeded to be shocked that an adventurous, sometimes uneven, but always creative meal could be found on the north shore.

Overall, we really enjoyed the Moderno experience. We did have a chuckle on the way in as two of HP's more typical diners (read older bland food enthusiasts) were out front discussing how they really didnt like their meal. Shocker!

As for the food, for the most part it was quite good. We started with drinks, a sav blanc for my date, and Tanq 10 Mart for me. Our first course was a good charcuterie plate and the carpaccio plate. The charcuterie was very good, but the carpaccio, my God, the carpaccio was stunning! A little more thickly sliced than typical and perfectly seasoned it was tender and delicious. Mains were the arugula salad and the above mentioned chitarra. The salad was terrific, while the chitarra was pretty good. Unlike the above poster I found the chit area sufficiently hot, although were I to quibble I'd say the sauce was a bit thick.

Our only disappointment of the night was the service. While they clearly are trying to be very attentive, our experience was that it was somewhat bizarrely uneven in the sense that we'd see our guys (we had two, one a trainee) in bursts that did necessarily correlate with anything that was going on at the table. In addition, I noticed that prior to finishing our first course, our mains were headed to the table. When the guy noticed we weren't done he did an about face into the kitchen. Upon finishing our apps, the mains were immediately served, which tells me they sat a bit. This might account for the. Thickness of my pasta sauce. Worse, it also meant that nobody ever asked me if I wanted a little wine with my meal until I was nearly done with my pasta.

None the less, we'll return. The food was quite good, and as the team gets their sea legs I'm confident the service issues will improve. We look forward to our next Moderno experience!

A few days ago at Moderno, we ate a lot of good stuff, but when I think back to what I really liked most*, the pizza with spicy lamb, yogurt sauce with goat cheese and arugula is what I think about.



Arugula is probably my favorite topping for pizza. With the standard meat and cheese, I don’t think there’s any additional element more complementary than this slightly peppery, maybe slightly bitter leaf. In Rome, I ate a lot of arugula with brasiola (dried beef, not the stuffed and tied flank steak which sometimes goes by the same name) – it’s a fine way to make salad more interesting.

Arugula is excellent with cheese, but it also holds its own against meat, and I think it’d be excellent in a toasted cheese sandwich, or maybe just sprinkled over the meat in a sandwich (kind of like papalo in cemitas – not crisp or watery like lettuce but offering a slight vegetal note).

Plus, arugula looks great on pizza.

* Clausewitz popularized “fog of war” as a situation where the reality of a dynamic battlefield situation is uncertain, and when I’m eating I sometimes feel myself in a “fog of food” where the data is coming in fast and there are a number of variables to take into account, leading to momentary uncertainty about what’s really the most satisfying thing we’re eating. Then sometimes, after a dinner, I’m overthinking what I ate and I may not actually recall what I liked best at the moment of eating. So, I ask myself, “What did I have seconds of?” That’s the key to what was actually most appealing at the moment. At Moderno, I had seconds of the pizza and I probably would have had thirds (if there were any left).

Pursuit wrote:Overall, we really enjoyed the Moderno experience. We did have a chuckle on the way in as two of HP's more typical diners (read older bland food enthusiasts) were out front discussing how they really didnt like their meal. Shocker!

I guess I'm not typical.

ronnie_suburban wrote:I haven't been back to Moderno since the pre-opening dinner I briefly described above because I'm waiting for the crowds to die down a bit. But I chatted about it with my stepfather (he lives in HP) and he's exactly the kind of prospective customer that already has a problem with the place, even though he's never actually eaten there. Of course, he misses Rosebud. His list of criticisms about Moderno were uncannily predictable: "the menu doesn't interest me, there are no dinner salads, it's not really Italian food," etc. Other relatives were also lamenting the loss of Rosebud. These are some of the people who Moderno will have to win over to establish their regular customer base. It's a big, affluent suburb and I have no idea how big a percentage my stepfather (and his viewpoint) represents. If anyone can win them over, it's des Rosiers. But yes, some folks are writing it off before they even eat there. Shame.

=R=

Observations about local push-back notwithstanding, there did seem to be a lot of locals there the night we were there: couples, girls night out crowd, families with a few kids in tow, big range.

I wonder what the "we miss Rosebud" crowd actually misses? What is "really Italian food" by their interpretation? Large steaks, steaming bowls of pasta, what?

David Hammond wrote:I wonder what the "we miss Rosebud" crowd actually misses? What is "really Italian food" by their interpretation? Large steaks, steaming bowls of pasta, what?

They miss the familiar.