Benjamin Restaurant to Reopen as Tapas Place

Downtown Highland Park's Benjamin Restaurant closed this month, and will reopen in May as something very different.

On April 4, Benjamin Brittsan wrote an email to Patch to announce the closing of his Benjamin Restaurant, after almost two years in downtown Highland Park. Ten days later, he wrote back with some promising news: instead of closing altogether, Brittsan has decided to re-conceptualize his restaurant. Beginning the first week of May, Benjamin Restaurant will open as Benjamin Tapas. "I want to give the local community something I feel like it has been missing," Brittsan said on Monday. "Some place that's fun and relaxing and not pretentious." The restaurateur spoke with Patch in January about learning from his customers. At that time, he hoped that small tweaks to the restaurant's ambience and menu would make up for what he said was a bumpy …

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Lake Forest Millionaire Sues Highland Park Restaurant

Marcus Lemonis agreed to buy In the Raw, the downtown Highland Park vegan restaurant, last December. After he says he spent over $100,000 paying its past-due bills, the owners told him he didn't own anything. Now, he's suing them.

For the past six years, Marcus Lemonis' relationship with small businesses has been fairly simple. He spots one he likes and, just when it seems to be on the verge of shuttering, he buys it. Now, he finds himself in a less typical, more frustrating situation with one Highland Park business: a lawsuit. Get local news in a daily email from Patch. It's like getting a free newspaper. Learn more.  Lemonis, the Lake Forest millionaire who has breathed new life into about 50 businesses in the past six years, is suing In the Raw, a vegan restaurant in downtown Highland Park. He says that after he invested more than $100,000 in the restaurant, its owners reneged on their deal. Lemonis shared with Patch legal documents as well as email …

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Highland Park's Benjamin Learns from its Customers

The American-cuisine restaurant Benjamin, located in downtown Highland Park, has spent the past year and a half learning from its diners, and changing accordingly.

Benjamin Brittsan opened his first restaurant in downtown Highland Park in August of 2010. Nearly two years later, the chef says he continues to learn what his customers are looking for in a dining experience. Brittsan sat down with Patch at Benjamin Restaurant this week over soft pretzels, Cuban sandwiches and crispy frites to discuss what he's learned in his year and a half of serving North Shore residents. The learning began, he says, when he realized that his restaurant, which serves seasonal, contemporary American cuisine, was coming off as less approachable than he would have liked. "We came off a little pretentious at the beginning," Brittsan said, "I don't want it to come off that way because that's not how I am." To change that …

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North Shore Foodie Finds

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.

Over the sounds of drilling, moving wood and shuffling feet, John des Rosiers is explaining what's next for his Highland Park restaurant. The owner of Inovasi in Lake Bluff and Moderno in Renaissance Place in downtown Highland Park decided recently to close Moderno, an upscale Italian restaurant, and reopen it as a more approachable, family-friendly spot serving American cuisine. "We built a really good restaurant with Moderno, and we were really proud of it," Rosiers said, "but it wasn't the right thing for Highland Park." Moderno, the modern Italian restaurant that opened in Renaissance Place in April, closed on Dec. 22. It will reopen Jan. 10 as Royce, a chef-driven casual restaurant, with a reasonably priced menu that will include …

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Central Avenue Becomes Cupcake Central

Turtle's opened April 30; Sweet Bites to open May 25.

Highland Park residents can enjoy the sweet taste of competition, with two new cupcake stores setting up shop on Central Avenue. Turtle’s Cupcakes opened April 30 at 469 Central Ave. and Sweet Bites is expected to open May 25, just across the street at 478 Central Ave. Turtle's Turtle’s co-owners Max Tempelmann and Stacie Foster have always loved baking, but this is their first time doing it professionally. “We decided to quit our office jobs for something sweeter,” Foster said. Before opening the store, they worked baking for parties, starting with their friends but building a client list by word of mouth. “For the past year we’ve been trying recipes, experimenting with ingredients until we got it right,” Tempelmann said. While Turtle’s …

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Michael Hunter

8:30 pm on Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Baker Boys is the best of the 3 in my opinion. Beth is right the red velvet really is the best!   more ›