A restaurant that closed after more than 40 years in Northbrook is once again serving diners under a new name and new owners — a Glenview couple who had been longtime fans.
Scot Castellaneta and his wife Ewa Castellaneta opened North Shore Bistro, a successor to Next Door Bistro, on Oct. 27. Scot Castellaneta said it was his dream to own the restaurant where he and his wife had been regulars, ordering branzino and martinis and meeting some of the staff under the restaurant’s previous ownership. Having previously worked in the restaurant business, Scot Castellaneta said it would have been tragic for the restaurant’s food and workers to vanish without a trace.
North Shore Bistro will keep most of the former Next Door Bistro’s menu and most of its staff, including its chefs, to keep the spirit of the previous restaurant, Scot Castellaneta said. The menu still has classic Italian-American items such as pasta dishes, seafood, gnocchi, lamb and steak.
“The menu was kind of a legacy for this area, and we wanted to continue the legacy,” Scot said. “That’s why we actually got this place, because the food was exquisite.”
Scot Castellaneta said the couple made $400,000 in upgrades and rehabilitated the restaurant’s interior, paying it out of pocket with 0% interest credit cards.
“Thankfully, I have good credit,” Scot Castellaneta quipped. He said he has until March to pay his loans back. He also runs a power washing company, he said.
“I put my heart and soul into it,” said Ewa Castellaneta. She said she planned out all of the decorations in the dining room and selected decorative stones imported from Poland and Italy.
“There’s so many repeat customers from the former restaurant,” said Scot Castellaneta. Ewa Castellaneta, who also works in a dental office, said she has had patients cry tears of joy upon hearing about North Shore Bistro.
Chef Marciano Taboada, who worked at Next Door Bistro for 15 years, is continuing to work at North Shore Bistro. The menu is largely staying the same, but had a tweak in its ingredients to allow for more flavorful menu items and to keep up with modern palates, he said.
“People are just holding my hand and saying, ‘This is so wonderful. This is one of the (best) places (and) you put a new twist on it. The food was so good.’ And that makes us feel really good,” Scot Castellaneta said.
Scot Castellaneta, who has experience at the famed Excalibur night club in Chicago, Morton’s and Ala Carte Entertainment Restaurant Group, said he wouldn’t have opened a full service restaurant if it hadn’t been this one.
“I felt like the way the business profile was presented to me — it looked positive for the community, positive for the staff and positive for us as owners to actually provide a service and retain a business.”
The restaurant is planning a grand opening in the coming month, Scot Castellaneta said, and is planning on having live music for it. Scot Castellaneta said he also is focusing on the restaurant’s bar, curating it for nightlife experiences. According to him, North Shore Bistro will be Northbrook’s only restaurant with a liquor license that allows the sale of alcohol until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
North Shore Bistro is located at 250 Skokie Blvd., Northbrook. The restaurant is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. and Sunday from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
An earlier version of this story misstated who the owners of the recently opened North Shore Bistro purchased their lease from. They purchased it from a private individual not affiliated with the restaurant next door. The article also should have clarified that even though it offers a similar menu, North Shore Bistro is not related to Next Door Bistro, the restaurant that previously operated at the site.
