Dinner at the Maestro Grill in Northbrook

My wife and I ran a little bit late for our 8 pm reservation tonight, so we phoned the Maestro Grill to inform them. We arrived about 10 minutes late and were advised that we'd have a 15 minute wait. We went to the bar, ordered two Stolis with lemon twists (only $5.50 each). No sooner did our drinks arrive than our table became available.
We decided not to order any appetizer since our waiter brought four warm rolls soaked in melted garlic butter with some hummus. A nice touch.
I ordered the house special, Maple Leaf Roasted Duck with Black Currant Sauce and my wife order the Filet Mignon. We both decided to have the lobster bisque before our entrees. House salads were the other choices with our entrees.
The bisque arrived with a toasted piece of bread and was quite nice. The entrees were served with a medley of carrots, green beans and wax beans. (First time I've ever had fresh wax beans.)
My duck was very good and rather than being served half of a duck, the order was two pieces of thigh/leg combinations. I guess that's why the duck only cost $16. The meat was tender, the sauce very nice and the veggies undercooked so they were still on the crisp side.
My wife's filet was perfect. She ordered it medium rare and that's how it came. It tried a bite and the meat was extremely tender. It came with three sauces - blue cheese butter, BBQ and pomegranate. The BBQ was a bit sweet for my taste, and the bluecheese butter was our favorite. The veggie medley came with her entree too. I thought the filet was a good value at $25.
We skipped dessert since my wife and I are both on no dairy diets and all of the desserts had some kind of dairy products in them. There's a big choice of desserts all priced at $6. Most patrons ordering desserts seemed to be sharing them.
The dining room itself is decorated nicely, but rather small. (Previous restaurants have been Ceiliing Zero and, more recently, the Sky Harbor Club.)
Maestro is on the second floor of the old Sky Harbor Airport hanger. We talked to one of the owners, Luda (short for Ludmela) and asked if they had an elevator for the people who would be unable to climb the stairs. She told us that the building had no such accommodations, since it was rather old. So please be advised.
My wife asked about lunch and Luda suggested making reservations. I think that's a good idea at any time.
Our server was friendly and did a nice job.
Overall, I'd give Maestro Grill a B to a B-plus. The food and ambiance were fine, I felt that we received value for our money and we'd probably go back again.
Looking forward to reviews by others reading this forum.
Best,
GP Bob

Maestro Seafood & Grill
500 Anthony Trail
Northbrook, IL 60062
Phone: 847-272-8111
www.maestrogrill.com

I just was wondering why Maestro didn't serve an entire half duck and charge a few bucks more. The breast meat would have been a bit more satisfying. Will someone please ask Luda the next time and report back? Maybe a suggestion would be in order.
Best,
GP Bob

I had expressed to a Russian friend of mine that I would like to share a Russian meal with him when he had the time. He suggested Maestro’s Grill, which is where we met today for lunch.

I was the first to arrive and upon being seated started to peruse the menu, which was very continental in nature but I saw nothing that was Russian. Upon my friend’s arrival, he immediately asked the waiter for the Russian menu.

Here is the lunch special menu:

Lunch Special Offer
Serving Monday true Friday 11am-3pm
$8.50 All include

Soup:
• Red Ukrainian borsch w/ garlic bread or soup of the day
Choice of salad:
• Picante salad w/ prunes and walnuts
• Russian Olivier salad
• Fresh vegetable salad w/ sour cream
Choice of main course:
• Grilled Chicken kebab
• Cutlet Pozharski with mushroom
• Tilapia filet with sweet-chili sauce
• Siberian pelmeny po derevenski
• Blini with meat
All Serving with pan fried potato and veggie
Beverage: Choice of Strawberry or Black currant compote

We both chose the borsch, which my friend likened to a borsch light as it indeed was not very heavy.

We both had the Black Currant compote, which was a tad sweet but a nice departure from my usual ice tea I order.

We had two salads: the Russian Olivier salad and the fresh vegetable salad w/sour cream.
The Russian Olivier salad is a jazzed up potato salad w/some carrot, dill, a bit of diced/chunked chicken. The fresh vegetable salad was slices of cucumber, tomato, onion, in a sour cream dressing with some dill thrown in. Both were very refreshing.

We had two entrees, the Siberian pelmeny po derevenski and blini with meat.
The pelmeny were essentially tortellini with ground meat in a light broth/cream sauce.
The blini were crepes stuffed with ground beef mixture.
Both entrees came with some roasted potato wedges and a steamed vegetable mix.

I really enjoyed both entrees as did my friend. So much so that we discussed having a catered dinner here with many dishes, he assured me he would help make sure they would be Russian dishes. I’ll be sure to post it in the events section so that others can join us.

On a side note, the table next to us ordered the flat bread pizza whiched looked very good, FYI.

Sweet Willie wrote:I’ll be sure to post it in the events section so that others can join us.

well shame on me, our group had a dinner at Maestro Grill and I forgot to post

9 of us went this past Friday night, for $65 a person planned in advance, which included tax/tip/booze, we had quite the spread.

Here is a link to some photos:
https://plus.google.com/photos/11398205 ... gOjLrMu2Zw

While $65 is much higher than the normal price the dinner group pays, the fact that it included booze (beers, wine, brandy, vodka) and the fact that there was so much food, everyone in the group was quite pleased.

The whole scene was quite a hoot as well, large groups of Russians making toasts at their respective tables, then the live music and dancing. We did have a blast, in fact dinner started at 7pm and we didn't leave until almost 11:30pm.

As our group was having such a good time I was remiss in not taking notes on what was served.
I'll try to get the menu of items served and post as the website doesn't list what is included with group meals.

--

Hi,

How loud was the music? When I have gone to White Nights (which may be closed), I deliberately came early because of their preference for loud live music. Once they started, no conversation was possible.

I look forward to seeing your menu.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:I look forward to seeing your menu.

turns out I was able to find it online: http://www.maestrogrill.com/package1.php

I noticed the booze isn't listed, but when we sat down, there was plenty on the table which we all mostly drank. My Russian bud who was handling the finances didn't request any additional funds from us so I made the assumption that they booze was included.

Cathy2 wrote:How loud was the music?

music is loud, I could talk with the immediate folks around me but those at the far end of the table I could not unless really raising my voice, which is what every other table was doing so quite the scene.

They do have tables in the far back by the bar area which is separated from the live music by wall/glass partitions (not completely but I would think more than enough to make a big difference).

We were as far back in the main room as one could be, which was just fine with our group.

This late fall/winter, if there is interest, I would like to go again. I say late fall/winter as much of the food is conducive to when it is cool/cold out.

I have lived blocks away for 14 years and never been there, seen that they have a $8 lunch and wondered about the place. Had no idea it is Russian, will try it now.

Sweet Willie wrote:I
We had two salads: the Russian Olivier salad and the fresh vegetable salad w/sour cream.
The Russian Olivier salad is a jazzed up potato salad w/some carrot, dill, a bit of diced/chunked chicken. The fresh vegetable salad was slices of cucumber, tomato, onion, in a sour cream dressing with some dill thrown in. Both were very refreshing.

Actually, Russia's Salade Olivier is the origin of all chicken salads. If you're interested in a bit of the dish's history (and a recipe), here's a piece i wrote on it a few years ago. http://worldsfare.wordpress.com/2008/03/15/chicken-salads-russian-roots/

I don't know how universally true it is to Russian traditions, but traveling in Europe, I found that pretty much anything identified as "Russian salad" involved a lot of mayo and sour cream.

I haven't been to Sky Harbor since it was home to Ceiling Zero. Sounds like it might be worth adding to the list of places to suggest when someone asks where I'd like to meet. Thanks.