There are never easy answers as to why a restaurant with so much potential and fanfare would fail within less than nine months of opening. I'll take a shot - John did not engage Highland Park either before he opened or after. He did not understand the demographic on which he should focus his attention. He is a gifted culinary talent whose ego outraced basic business acumen. I worry that a burger concept will support the square footage costs of that space.

Although I never made it to Moderno, I had viewed ronniesuburban's pics on page 1 of this thread, which looked great. I think a huge factor--within the Highland Park demographic & elsewhere in suburban Chicagoland--is that folks don't dine out during the week like they used to, not even close. For many of us, that kind of disposable income is a memory.

Certainly, the switch to a more casual menu might help somewhat, but maybe not. I was recently having a conversation with the owner of Chili U., a newly-opened upscale sandwich/bar/chili joint in downtown Libertyville. He was working the tables, imploring diners to tell their friends, come during the week, etc., and telling me that they do fine on the weekends but need a lot more action during the week. And this is for a place where a meal & cocktail can cost under $20.

Is the Highland Park demographic that different from the Lake Bluff demographic? I wouldn't think so, but I'm only there when going to John's restaurants, so I would really like to know. I ask because Inovasi in Lake Bluff is consistently packed, even during the week, and the food there is even more innovative than Moderno's is.

So the question is back to this: Does Italy-based cuisine mean ceasar salad and a pound of pasta to the average Highland Park (or North Shore) resident? That's the only conclusion I can come to given the differences in the reception of Inovasi and Moderno.

This menu should give HPers exactly what their tastes demand.

http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/117538 ... 0nqtnc653o

Safe and familiar rule the day it would seem.

John Danza wrote:Is the Highland Park demographic that different from the Lake Bluff demographic? I wouldn't think so, but I'm only there when going to John's restaurants, so I would really like to know. I ask because Inovasi in Lake Bluff is consistently packed, even during the week, and the food there is even more innovative than Moderno's is.

Good point. As a native Highland Parker, I am tired of the gratuitous bashing of HPers' tastes in food and restaurants as an explanation for Moderno's disappointing results to date (and as a typical commentary on LTH Forum on the clientele of other HP restaurants). There is nothing special in the water there that makes them more ignorant about fine dining or anything else than people who live in Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Deerfield, Glencoe, or any of their other neighbors. On the contrary, most of the residents of all of those communities can better afford to eat very well anywhere in the Chicago area and indeed anywhere in the world than most of the rest of the world's inhabitants. Cathy2 lives in Highland Park; Ronnie Suburban lives in Deerfield. Many other respectable, discerning LTHers live in the area. Why hasn't what's particularly ignorance-inducing about that geographic area dumbed all of them down? It's a ridiculous premise.

Blaming the consumer is always an option, and certain groups of people are more fun to make fun of than others, but serious and competititve businesses spend as much time evaluating their own performance and their own production processes as they spend evaluating the market demand for their goods and services, if not more. I haven't yet seen a convincing argument for the residents of this particular city representing a market anomaly. I suspect other explanations are more plausible. Could it possibly be that the efforts that have been put in at Inovasi haven't been put in at Moderno?

Well said, Katie. We don't need derogatory comments directed towards communities and their residents.

As for the difference in business, I think a better explanation is that Inovasi is a lot smaller than Moderno, so of course it seems fuller.

Also, there's more competition in Highland Park than in Lake Bluff.

Katie wrote: Could it possibly be that the efforts that have been put in at Inovasi haven't been put in at Moderno?

That has not been the case for the visits I've made to Moderno, which probably number five or six.

John Danza wrote:

Katie wrote: Could it possibly be that the efforts that have been put in at Inovasi haven't been put in at Moderno?

That has not been the case for the visits I've made to Moderno, which probably number five or six.

I've no idea, so I'll take your word for it. I should probably have left that bit of speculation out. Maybe it was just a combination of a large space and unfortunate timing in a bad economy.

nsxtasy wrote:We don't need derogatory comments directed towards communities and their residents.

That may be true, but communities are also a phenomena of interest, the same way, say, a trompo, griddled vs. grilled burgers, and thai-language menus are; it's worth discussing, even if the veracity of some claims remain tenuous. Highland Park(ers), be it the town or the idea, exhibits some curious behaviors: why is Abigail's successful but Moderno was not? Why do residents scoff at $16 pasta but have no problems ponying up for bad sushi? Just how many more hamburger places does a town need?

Katie wrote:There is nothing special in the water there that makes them more ignorant about fine dining or anything else than people who live in Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Deerfield, Glencoe, or any of their other neighbors. On the contrary, most of the residents of all of those communities can better afford to eat very well anywhere in the Chicago area and indeed anywhere in the world than most of the rest of the world's inhabitants.

Assuming there is a direct correlation between wealth and desire for/spending on "finer" restaurants, sure; Highland Park challenges that. As I've said before in this thread, my parents and their chums have the strangest filters: they want to eat at Balena-like places when they're in the city but Rosebud Deerfield (or Francesca North) when they're home; they scoffed at Moderno as too "pretentious," but will gladly spend more at, say, Di Pescara or some other crap place. It's this weird sort of reverse elitism, and it's worth surfacing, non? Especially now that the result is $12 griddled burgers.

How's the raw food place doing, anyway? That would be a curious study...

chezbrad wrote:Highland Park(ers), be it the town or the idea

It's a city. They are people who live in that city. It's not an idea, a concept, a manifesto, or a worldview.

why is Abigail's successful but Moderno was not?

This could be an apples-to-oranges comparison. HP is atypical in that it has two business districts. When I lived there, I lived closer to Ravinia than to downtown. It's not hard to imagine that it would have been easier to walk up to Abigails to eat than downtown to Moderno. And though I haven't eaten at Abigail's, I gather that it's in the old Ravinia Gsell's space, so, a dining room more like Inovasi's than Moderno's in size.

As I've said before in this thread, my parents and their chums have the strangest filters...

Brad, we may never solve the mystery of why your parents' tastes in restaurants and those of their friends don't match yours, but I'm not willing to concede that your parents' tastes are representative of the tastes of HP residents any more than I'd make that claim about my own parents (who very rarely ate out anywhere else but at the Half Day Inn and a few places in Highwood).

GROUPTHINK!!!

smcmahon wrote:GROUPTHINK!!!

If you go to the comment section of the Patch article I linked to above, it reflects pretty much the conversation here. Someone there linked to the same Eater article linked above, too. That was about as well received as it was here and we got a preview of his thinking.

From a Patch commenter:
"I agree with David in that it seems that they wanted the public to conform to their concept and likely blame their failure on our ignorance, lack of taste and our amazing failure to get or buy into their devine concept:)

"Meet a need, provide quality, service and price it accordingly and perhaps they will come. But always remember, it is the customer that votes your success or failure."

Regards,

I think it is telling that over half of the posts on the Moderno thread have come in since the announcement that Moderno was closing and reconcepting. My two experiences at Moderno were highlighted by excellent pizza,sardines and cannoli, but I found the service clunky and lacking in menu knowledge, which I attributed to the relative short time they had been open.
Somebody mentioned the difference between Moderno and Inovasi and for me it is the feel of warmth and care provided by
Dave, the manager and a stable of excellent, well-trained servers. One of the servers is a man that owned a Mexican restaurant in Highland Park for 17 years (?). I live in Glenview, but the trip to Inovasi is well worth the drive because they treat you like an old friend eventhough I only make it up there about every six months.

kabar68 wrote:One of the servers is a man that owned a Mexican restaurant in Highland Park for 17 years (?)

That's Jimmy, who owned Hot Tamales in Highland Park and also ran the room at Ambria back in the day. He's a consummate professional and you're right. He's one of many reasons why Inovasi is such a special place.

=R=

We were at Moderno once and my recollection is that it was "fine." I wasn't confused by big strange words on the menu as apparently Des Rosiers thinks customers are, and I didn't find the restaurant intimidating. (Gosh, maybe because I come from the sophisticated city.) I also didn't find it extraordinary.

I think he risks people rejecting his hamburger concept because the atmosphere that now exists is such that people may think that it is a condescension. I'd be willing to give it a shot the next time I'm up there for dinner, though.

ronnie_suburban wrote:

kabar68 wrote:One of the servers is a man that owned a Mexican restaurant in Highland Park for 17 years (?)

That's Jimmy, who owned Hot Tamales in Highland Park and also ran the room at Ambria back in the day. He's a consummate professional and you're right. He's one of many reasons why Inovasi is such a special place.

=R=

Sadly, Jimmy (and Dave Ligon, the manager) both left Inovasi a few months back in a bit of a staff shakeup. Elkin Chahin, who was the manager who opened Moderno, returned to Inovasi and is now the manager there and doing a really great job. Massimo, who replaced Dave initially, then went to manage Moderno. Jimmy, BTW, is now at Authentico in Lake Forest. We saw him there last night, and he took very good care of us (he even laughed and called it "Inovasi night" as apparently others of his Inovasi regulars were seated around us).

Staff and size definitely a factor here. We feel like we have a good relationship, or even friendship, with the Inovasi staff. Because Moderno was simply bigger and open seven days a week, the staff is larger and turnover faster, and we never built relationships. I often heard that it was hard to attract wait staff that were suited to the diverse menu, which would be less of a problem in the city or in a smaller suburban location.

I think there is a lot of truth to the thought that the size of the restaurant is the biggest downfall, because an Abigail's size spot with that menu probably would have done fine. The comment about a 7-day-a-week issue from the Libertyville restaurant owner is telling, too, because a smaller spot more likely could survive as a weekends-are-busy joint (and weekends at Moderno were very busy, I did takeout in November on a Saturday night and it was stuffed to the gills).

On the demographic: As regulars in both restaurants, changing individual ingredients a la Meg Ryan in "When Harry Met Sally" was something witnessed in Moderno but not in Inovasi. I guess Highland Parkers are saying "I'll have what she's having.", and Chef is responding with a build-a-burger menu

This is not to say there isn't diner tension at Inovasi - the "fish swimming yesterday" used to be a surprise dish, which I loved but apparently most diners were offended when the wait staff said "I really don't know what will come out of the kitchen,", and the current tasting menu - which reverts to being mostly on-menu dishes after the tension of the off-menu version that was in place - still generates frustration with the second course which is "chef's choice." There was never a tasting menu at Moderno, maybe there should have been. or maybe that highlights the difference.

Sorry to hear about their departure. Where in Lake Forest is Authentico - sounds Mexican. Do you know where Dave landed? I truly respected his professionalism. Elkin was a server at Inovasi and took good care of us. I feel better knowing that she is still there.

kabar68 wrote:Sorry to hear about their departure. Where in Lake Forest is Authentico - sounds Mexican. Do you know where Dave landed? I truly respected his professionalism. Elkin was a server at Inovasi and took good care of us. I feel better knowing that she is still there.

To my knowledge, Dave Ligon isn't managing anywhere at the moment, he seems to be enjoying retirement.

Authentico is indeed a Mexican restaurant that opened at 770 Western in Lake Forest, just south of the BMO Harris Bank. Jimmy said he is there Thursday through Saturday (maybe Wednesday through Saturday?) and they are open for dinner only "because nobody is sober for lunch."
http://authenticorestaurant.com/home/ It was good but not wow, but we were in a hurry and only tried a few things. The margarita flight looked interesting.

We had a great family holiday lunch at Moderno this afternoon. It's really a shame to think that these great pasta dishes are going away forever. Hopefully they'll pop up occasionally at Inovasi.

Inovasi Owner Talks New Highland Park Restaurant -- John des Rosiers took a break from overseeing the transformation of Highland Park's Moderno into the American-styled Royce to explain what he envisions for the restaurant.

Diners seem to have been less willing to go with Moderno's concept than Rosiers would have liked. But he wants those who disliked Moderno to know that he listened to their criticisms.

"In the end that's my fault for judging the market wrong," Rosiers said.

The Royce menu will be fairly straightforward, but Rosiers is quick to point out that the ingredients will be extremely high quality, with most of them coming from local, organic farms.

"We can do really cool, fancy stuff," Rosiers said, "but we can also do really really well-done straightforward things, too."

Those better quality ingredients mean a burger will cost between $10 and $12, a tad pricier than one from Norton's or Michael's. Rosiers is convinced people will be willing to drop a few dollars more in the name of quality. He points to the $11 omelettes at Walker Brothers as an example of what people are willing to spend on something they like.

John Danza wrote:We had a great family holiday lunch at Moderno this afternoon. It's really a shame to think that these great pasta dishes are going away forever. Hopefully they'll pop up occasionally at Inovasi.

John Danza wrote:Those better quality ingredients mean a burger will cost between $10 and $12, a tad pricier than one from Norton's or Michael's. Rosiers is convinced people will be willing to drop a few dollars more in the name of quality. He points to the $11 omelettes at Walker Brothers as an example of what people are willing to spend on something they like.

FYI, burgers are priced between $10 and $12 at Norton's; burgers at Royce according to the initial menu are priced between $12 and $15. Prices are actually pretty comparable when you look at add-ons. A plain burger at Norton's is $10, with cheese ($1) and bacon ($1.50) pushing the price to $12.50 . A plain burger at Royce is priced at $10, with cheese complimentary (five choices including aged gouda and pleasant ridge) and bacon only $1, making the Royce burger actually less expensive.

The food at Norton's is usually decent at best. The burgers I have found to be stunningly average. The place has a nice atmosphere, though, a friendly staff and it's open later than most places in Highland Park.

The prices at Royce seem to be in line with the other comparable establishments in Highland Park. And given the bruger I had an Inovasi, I have high hopes for the food. As much as I would have loved Moderno to succeed (I sadly never got the chance to eat there), Highland Park could really use a place like Royce as a high quality alternative to Norton's and City Park Grill.

John Des Rosiers invited me by to check out the transformation in progress today. Royce - which we'll kick off a new thread for, I guess - will open Thursday the 9th.

Clearly a different kind of place, as the restaurant will have to convince people it isn't just a rewarming. They have refitted everything - only the Edison bulbs remain from Moderno - even kitchen equipment (like the pizza oven) was sold off. The interior is much warmer, will have some carpeting to dull noise, and the bar is enclosed. The seats are plusher. The tables are stained. Reclaimed wood walls partition the dining room. There are some really nice visual touches, like a hostess stand that comes from someplace in New York in the 30s.

The staff was all there today doing some wine tastings. I saw mostly familiar faces. John seems pretty serious about getting it right -- kids menu, substitutions and a-la-carte options, 3 oz pour cocktails, a solid wine list, and even a Caesar Salad . As discussed above, I think the prices are in line for Highland Park, but John promises better quality. I swooned at "duck fat fries", which I get are kind of cliche at the moment, but am happy to see them on this menu. John also pointed out little touches like the calamari are going to be fresh, he'll have a grass-fed burger option, and there will be a daily special.

I guess we'll know in a week

AlexG wrote:The staff was all there today doing some wine tastings. I saw mostly familiar faces. John seems pretty serious about getting it right -- kids menu, substitutions and a-la-carte options, 3 oz pour cocktails, a solid wine list, and even a Caesar Salad . As discussed above, I think the prices are in line for Highland Park, but John promises better quality. I swooned at "duck fat fries", which I get are kind of cliche at the moment, but am happy to see them on this menu. John also pointed out little touches like the calamari are going to be fresh, he'll have a grass-fed burger option, and there will be a daily special.

I guess we'll know in a week

I think there is a real market here for familiar items that are done with better ingredients and more skill in the kitchen. I look at it as something akin to Real Urban Barbeque, which I know not everyone loves, but at the very least does BBQ much better than HP's other so-called BBQ restaurants (BBQ Pit, Ravinia BBQ).

John also pointed out little touches like the calamari are going to be fresh, he'll have a grass-fed burger option, and there will be a daily special.

Reinventing the wheel in Highland Park.

edb60035 wrote:JI swooned at "duck fat fries", which I get are kind of cliche at the moment, but am happy to see them on this menu.

Hot Doug has been making those for years on Fridays and Saturdays. They are not as crisp as you might suppose, I think due to frying temperatures duck fat can tolerate.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hot Doug has been making those for years on Fridays and Saturdays. They are not as crisp as you might suppose, I think due to frying temperatures duck fat can tolerate.

When trying duck fat fries, I recommend also ordering regular fries, and tasting them side by side. You might find that you prefer the regular ones. (I did.)

I'll check out Royce, it's more my style than Moderno . Plus, it's a 20 minute walk from my house, so it could be a nice option when we don't want to drive. I bet it will do better now that people will be over their "where did Rosebud go?" phase. If you get the HPers talking happily about it, it will thrive.