Moderno, the modern Italian restaurant that opened in Renaissance Place in April, will close on Dec. 22 and reopen in January as a more casual restaurant serving American cuisine.
The chef-driven restaurant led by John des Rosiers received across the board critical acclaim earlier this year, getting rave reviews from Time Out Chicago, Chicago Magazine, The Sun-Times and here on Patch.
In his glowing review of Moderno, however, Patch columnist Ed Brill predicted what may have been an insurmountable obstacle for the restaurant: its limitations on the guests control over their order.
"The success or failure of [Moderno] will depend on whether or not Highland Park diners will accept a place without a Caesar salad or fried calamari, or if they are willing to eat the dishes as the kitchen envisions them," Brill wrote.
In a press release sent out Thursday afternoon, Renaissance Place General Manager Christiane Fischer said that the transition comes as a response to customers.
"Moderno was a truly great restaurant, but the owners listened to their customers and decided to change the concept to give them what they want, which is a more family focused, affordable dining experience," Fischer said.
The new restaurant, called Royce, will be have a 1930s Art Deco influence and will use fresh, locally grown organic and sustainable ingredients, according to the release. Des Rosiers and Executive Chef Phil Rubino are calling it a chef-driven casual restaurant, with a reasonably priced menu that will include signature and build-your own burgers and a children's menu.
"Residents are looking for a more approachable, casual experience," Business and Economic Development Commissioner Alyssa Knobel said. "They wanted to address those wants and needs, and be more family friendly."
Royce will also offer craft beers, small production wines and premium whiskeys and vodkas, according to the release.
This isn't the first time a restaurant has recreated itself to survive in Highland Park. closed last year and reopened as Nieto's, a more casual restaurant. And before Bobby Dubin closed Stashs' doors for good, he tried to turn his hot dog place into a more upscale bistro.
Des Rosiers and Fischer were unavailable for comment, but Bluegrass owner Jim Lederer told Patch he thinks it's necessary for any business owner to listen to your customers and have a willingness to change in order to survive. His restaurant has been open since 2004.
"It's change or be changed in today's business environment," Lederer said. "You can't be complacent."
For more news and updates, "like" us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Amazingly, I actually have a lot of other things to do including running several businesses, raising two wonderful children, being a soccer dad, running or contemplating running for office, travelling to Europe, Russia and China for business, building tree houses and swing sets , fixing things around the house and trying to be the best husband and father I can. Somehow, I still have time to comment once in awhile on things that catch my interest within our community. However, no doubt while I am far from an expert on anything, (although some think my knowledge has some financial value), I am most certainly engaged, involved and energized by the things around me. We only get to do this once, stay involved and enjoy!
If what I have to say disturbs you, know that it wasn't my intent, and it's certainly unfortunate you feel that way.
So, Moderno boys and crackhead investors, keep working hard and mix those local beets with local farmer cheese. who gives.
. I just wanted to.say we.feel.like.we built.a great place. It just wasn't the right concept for Highland Park. That said I never received any single request for.a comment. I was never unavainable.as the article suggests. That piece is an.outright lie. I would like to say we have listened to the community over the last year and Royce has taken into consideration every issue our customers brought to us. We.are very excited for the new restaurant and look forward to its opening in a couple of weeks. We want to thank.the community for their feedback and while our idea didn't work this time we look forward to seeing everyone for Royce. We still believe in locally farmed quality foods prepared with great care and Royce will showcase that. Thank.you all for.your comments. Even not positive ones we will learn from. John des Rosiers
Finally, I want to add that from my perspective the part of the concept that was lacking was the execution....bland unexciting food combined with mediocre service and prices that would suggest better! I know several people that gave you a couple of chances and were disappointed each time. Based on that, if you are truly customer driven...you really need to do some soul searching on the basics of success. Remember the market place determines your genius index! Good luck with your burger joint.
http://glencoe.suntimes.com/news/15901050-418/destination-eatery-planned-for-downtown-glencoe.html This is by Magnetar hedge fund guy (the one who was doing synthetic CDO bets on the same side as John Paulson). Now he needs luxury restaurant, as he said 250 people six days a week. He obviously has dough to spend and it will open in February. Remaining HP high end dreams should expect hit in the teeth. More conversions into the burger joints? Or into upscale fried chicken wings and Greek? How about combine them all in one big luxury joint for needy people.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-11-15/food-reviews/33498030_1_food-restaurant-fast-atmosphere Names like Moderno, Inovasi, Wisma from J des R also suggest he was looking for suckers, opps... I meant high end customers
"I'm hungry, I have something that looks tasty, I want it a certain way - bring it that way or you don't get my money." Also undermining the value of his comment as a contribution to the conversation is the illiterate use of "could care less." Puh-leeze, don't waste our time. Mommy will prepare your meals exactly as you prefer them, Precious.
But some adults choose to own/operate restaurants to make their fare available to other individuals. If those individuals don't like what's being served, they're not going to exchange money with the restaurant owner, and if enough people don't fork over the 'dough' (yeah, pun intended), then the restaurant will go out of business. Nothing childish about that - give the public what they want, when they want it, how they want it, and they'll give you money in exchange so you can keep providing what they want, when they want it, and how they want it. Fail do do so at the peril of your business - and if that's harsh, that's unfortunate, but that's life.
If you want to price yourself higher in the marketplace than the average fare, you need to be able to attract a continuous stream of customers willing and able to pay for your offerings. You need to be easy to get to, have great parking, and other offerings that your customers may desire to frequent either before or after the meal. Take away any of those points, and it's harder to attract and retain customers. Let's review HP: * Downtown/Uptown (whatever you call it): Kinda of a pain to get to from the highway. If you get off 41 at Central - there's 5 stoplights before you get to the morass of traffic downtown if you go down Central with its 25MPH speed zone. Taking the "Bypass" up Deerfield Road/Laurel, there's 3 lights, but you still have to fool around with the right-side beatout drivers at Laurel/Green Bay, and then head into the downtown area. * Parking: It's not too horrible, but when someone is waiting for someone else to pull out of a space, traffic backs up. Parking in the underground garages is a great deal, but who really wants to walk to a high-end restaurant? Often patrons of such fare valet it. * Other: Ummm, some shops. No real theater, except maybe Ravinia, and then that's a whole different travel mess to contend with. Lots to overcome.