Nite N' Gale - Highwood, IL

[ronnie_suburban]

On a near 90 degree day, I should have taken it as a meaningful omen when we walked into Nite N’ Gale in Highwood, IL and could feel hot furnace air blasting out of the vents. “Is your air conditioning broken?” I asked. The perky-cute but inarticulate hostess did her best “deer in headlights” impression, producing a variety of sounds and facial expressions -- but no actual words or answer. “I think we’d better come back on another night,” I said turning for the door. As we were exiting I heard “excuse me, Sir” coming from behind me. “The air conditioning is working in the back room.” A manager-type chased after us. “Oh, ok, that’s fine,” I said. He explained that yes, they were “having some problems” with their HVAC but that technicians were on the way. And, in a notable stroke of bad luck, we were seated.

Nite N’ Gale, known mostly for its ribs, has been around for as long as I can remember and, quite frankly, it feels like it. The dining room is dark and worn. It has a mildly musty smell. The carpeting is worn and the green vinyl “tablecloths” are sticky to the touch. The pepper in the shakers on the tables is a faded gray. It looks years old and has absolutely no flavor. The menus are stained with food and the hand-written list of specials has cross-outs and rewrites -- in various colors of ink -- all over it. There are a few framed news clippings on the wall, taken from the local adpaper about 20 years ago.

On our table is a basket filled with some perfunctory rolls, pre-packaged foodservice breadsticks and a few packs of ultra-stale Rye Krisps. Some butter pats, which appear to have been melted and reformed into rectangles, are also present. Eating here is clearly a bad idea but we’re already sitting down and it’s just too late to leave. Bummer.

The soft drinks are quite small, relatively expensive (no refills here, just “anothers”) and they are most definitely an “off” brand. Actually, I’m astounded by how bad the soft drinks are; flat, syrupy and bland. I order a cocktail; another mistake. My vodka collins has been blended into a frothy and iceless concoction. This place has supper club written all over it but it isn’t even that good. All that’s missing is the relish tray.

I am not a food snob. And don’t get me wrong, I loves dives. But the food served therein must be excellent and reasonably-priced. It is neither at Nite N’ Gale. In fact, Nite N’ Gale is a place -- at least in my perception -- where the food and the customers appear to be taken for granted. And its owners would probably be offended at hearing it referred to as a dive. When we arrived at about 5:40 pm, the “back room” was virtually empty. Within 15 minutes, every table was occupied and from the look of things, most of the customers in the house were regulars. Yes, it appeared that these people -- who actually knew what they were getting into -- were willingly choosing it again. I took that, mistakenly, as a positive sign.

I realized as I read it, that the menu was largely irrelevant. Hell, it’s essentially been forsaken, for all intents and purposes. It looks like it was printed at around the same time the pepper shakers were last filled. I imagine that some of the items on this menu would actually be difficult for the kitchen to rustle up. At least the scrawled-out specials list appeared current and, I thought to myself, it probably reflects better what the kitchen is actually capable of turning out. Most of the other diners in the room appeared to be ordering from the specials menu. Ok, specials menu it is.

But perhaps, since nostalgia drew me to Nite N’ Gale in the first place, I should have let it dictate my order. But ribs, steaks and burgers – the items for which I remember Nite N’ Gale – are easily made at home. Beyond that, I’m certain that my butcher is better than Nite N’ Gale’s. Friends assured me – after I told them about this lousy experience there -- that Nite N’ Gale is still strong on these items. Still, I didn’t see one slab of ribs served while we were there.

After a brief consultation with our server -- who was quick and friendly -- I decided on the Halibut With Artichokes special, which she recommended enthusiastically. My wife ordered the Lamb Chops special. My son ordered a sausage pizza from the regular menu.

With the dinners comes a choice of soup (minestrone or manhattan clam chowder on this night), salad or cole slaw. The chowder was not great but it was passable. The salad, was -- pardon the pun -- garden variety with non-distinct, industrial dressing poured all over it. “This isn’t good and it’s getting worse.” I thought to myself. I could smell cigarette smoke wafting in heavily from another part of the restaurant. I was in extreme restaurant discomfort and there was to be no early escape.

Eventually, our waitress hustled the entrees out to the table. Disappointment . . . even in the context of my continually fading expectations. The halibut was a fresh, ¾” thick filet but it had been broiled without any seasonings, placed on a plate without any sauce and covered with canned artichoke hearts (cut into quarters) and a few wedges of lemon. Yuck!

I laughed out loud -- although, I wasn’t a bit surprised -- when I looked over at my wife’s plate and saw the little, tell-tale plastic cup of green mint jelly riding shotgun to her lamp chops. That, of course, was a must. However, even though it was a bit gamier (mildly mutton-like) than I what am used to being served at this price ($18.95), the lamb chops were better than the halibut and they were cooked to medium -- exactly as ordered. By far, however, the most appetizing item on the table was my son’s sausage pizza. It wasn’t great but as I gave up on my fish (yes, mark it down, folks . . . I failed to finish an entrée) the pizza was hot and in front of me, so it met my newly-adopted standards. My son also thought it was fine.

I chose the vegetable medley over the potato option with my entree. This medley was comprised of haphazardly-prepared veggies (bell peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, red onion, carrot, celery) which were just awful. This would have been utterly forgettable except that vegetables prepared this uncaringly are a pet peeve of mine. In fact, I believe that vegetables prepared this shoddily, this unappetizingly are the main reason why people who hate vegetables hate them. These vegetables were cut into all sorts of random sizes so that they couldn’t possibly have been cooked to a uniform level of doneness. Some of the veggies were thoroughly burnt, some were burnt on the outside and raw on the inside and some were virtually raw. They had no oil, no salt, no pepper nor any seasoning of any kind. Yum! Just like mom used to make.

More so than at any other time I can remember in the recent past, this meal felt like a task which needed to be completed as quickly as possible. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. I realized that I’d made a mistake by staying but I wouldn’t be able to “get past it” until the meal was over and I was in the parking lot. Even asking for the leftover pizza to be packed up added painful minutes to our experience. And that isn’t actually meant as a slam against the restaurant, per se, I’m simply trying to describe my own personal discomfort level with the entire situation. I should have simply trusted my instincts and avoided dining there. The fact that I didn’t makes the experience my fault, not the restaurant’s.

I almost never pay with cash. On this night, I paid with cash. I simply could not endure the few extra minutes it would have taken to pay by credit card. I’m not sure why, but I realized that paying with cash also meant there’d be no electronic record of the meal. And for a moment -- for whatever crazy reason -- that thought comforted me. Until now, of course, because the cat’s out of the bag. But never in my life has the burning hot asphalt of a parking lot -- having baked all day in summer sunshine -- been so comforting to me as it was when I finally left Nite N’ Gale. I guess I should have ordered the ribs after all.

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[nr706]

Sounds very similar to a meal I had not too long ago at another venerable place - Matty's Wayside Inn on Waukegam Road in Glenview.

[ronnie_suburban]

Sounds very similar to a meal I had not too long ago at another venerable place - Matty's Wayside Inn on Waukegam Road in Glenview.

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*ding ding*

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[Fresser]

"Good Evening. My name is Rod Serling, and I will be your waiter tonight."

Nite 'N Gale truly is the restaurant that time forgot. I tumbled in there once about five years ago and was immediately struck by the avocado-green decor. Very 1960's chic.

This may shock you Ronnie, but I cannot remember what I ate there.

[elfin]

A Vodka Collins Slurpee?

[snowangel]

A Vodka Collins Slurpee?     

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Sounds like State Fair material!

[ronnie_suburban]

A Vodka Collins Slurpee?     

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Sounds like State Fair material!

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A slurpee would have been okay, by comparison. This was more of a "foamee."

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[Pugman]

Wow...Night-N-Gale is doing the FOAM thing? Maybe they're hipper than I thought! Seriously, though, how does a place like this stay in business? And there's always tons of cars in the lot. I lived in neighboring Highland Park and Lake Forest for 8 years after moving from California and tried Night-N-Gale exactly once.

I was hoping that it would be one of those so-unitentionally-retro-that-it's-hip kind of places. Instead it was just really terrible food, at high-ish prices, in a worn-out space populated by clueless North Shore oldsters and oldsters-at-heart. That was 13 years ago and it sounds like nothing has changed (not even the "vintage" pepper on the tables). But I know people who eat (and drink and drink) there at least once a week. A friend who has lived and worked in the immediate area for 30+ years says that most of their diners are either drunk, heavily medicated, senile or "D," all of the above.

It just kills me that these kind of places continue to thrive while countless other good spots never make a go of it.

[gmi3804]

You may think I'm weird, but I think it's kind of charming that places like these still exist. Not that I'd want to dine there, to be sure, but the people who go there regularly obviously don't know from good food, and they feel at home there. This sounds like the kind of place I'd like to stop by for a (very simple) drink and soak up the atmosphere and the "history", and no doubt end up smelling like an ashtray. I'll then leave to eat dinner elsewhere.

By the way, Ron, you've outdone yourself with your brilliantly-written review. John Kennedy Toole lives!

[Osnav]

Is it my imagination or do many of Highwood's restaurants seem old, musty, and out of date. Try the del Rio, it was good when my grandparents took me there in 1966, but it hasn't changed since.

I know Carlos is there, but for the most part the Highwood scene doesn't do anything for me.

[ronnie_suburban]

Is it my imagination or do many of Highwood's restaurants seem old, musty, and out of date.  Try the del Rio, it was good when my grandparents took me there in 1966, but it hasn't changed since. 

I know Carlos is there, but for the most part the Highwood scene doesn't do anything for me.

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LOL . . . and techincally-speaking, Carlos is in Highland Park. Same goes for Miramar, where I think the food is outstanding. Gabriel's seems to be the shining star of the Highwood scene, although -- I've had great meals at Froggy's too -- but it's been a while since I was last there.

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[mlarue]

The good news: Froggy's has not changed much in the past year or so. The bad news: Froggy's has not changed much in the past year or so.

The good outweighs the bad in that the food is still excellent and the service almost always good. But a bit more variety in the offering and a decor-freshening would make a good thing even better. Businesses (even restaurants) are Darwinian: Evolve or die.

[ronnie_suburban]

Was it fate, circumstance or karma which sunk its talons into the back of my neck and dragged me back to Nite N' Gale yesterday? I'm still not sure but rather than make a stink, I decided to "just go along with it" when my family told me that's where we were going for our 4th of July dinner. Most years, my folks will host a BBQ but this year, since they had just returned from a trip to Prague and Budapest, they opted to go out and they selected the venue.

It probably goes without saying that environs-wise, not much had changed at Nite N' Gale since my last visit. And again, the place was packed, with several large parties occupying 6-tops, 12-tops, etc. Ominously, we had a table for 13 in the back of the main dining room. It would be an understatement to say that they were getting slammed. 6 pm on a holiday when not many other places were open . . . and a slew of regulars lining up for their gruel.

The details of the meal are only moderately important. Yes, we waited a very long time to place our order. Yes, a few folks in our party sent their entrees back, after (privately) calling them "disgusting." Yes, the orders came out at bizarre intervals. Yes, the pizza and the ribs which I tasted were both burnt. But throughout, it was clear that all the employees were really trying hard to make it work. They were busting their asses and honestly, who knows what the origins of the massive problems really were. I had no idea who hadn't shown up for their shift or what chaos may have been taking place in the kitchen. My goal was a simple one: to get through the meal without complaining and making it worse for anyone else. Yes, I succeeded (until now, of course).

At the end of the chaotic but fun meal, which was like a scene from a movie, the host delivered the check to my step-father who was graciously picking up the tab for all of us. She made it very clear that the gratuity had not been included and that he should, under no circumstances, include one. He's a regular there and likes the waitresses. He's known some of them for decades. He wasn't about to punish them by leaving no tip. He was confused so he asked the host if she was suggesting this because the service had been so poor. She nodded.

In all my years of eating out, I'd never encountered anything like this -- a manager-type essentially encouraging a customer to stiff the help. IMO, a far more appropriate solution would have been for the host to take responsibility and make deduction off the bill. Please note that no one at the table asked for any sort of compensation at all. In fact, we were all pretty mellow and understanding about the whole matter. These are nice folks, again, working very hard and doing their best. No one was about to start harshing on the help -- especially given that it was a holiday. But I wonder if these hard-working waitrons had any idea that they were being sold out by their host. Maybe, the house would have compensated them after the fact if we had failed to leave a tip. I can only hope so. In any case, step-dad tipped 20% and off we went after another twilight-zone experience at Nite N' Gale.

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[mark922]

Wow...Night-N-Gale is doing the FOAM thing? Maybe they're hipper than I thought! Seriously, though, how does a place like this stay in business? And there's always tons of cars in the lot. I lived in neighboring Highland Park and Lake Forest for 8 years after moving from California and tried Night-N-Gale exactly once.

I was hoping that it would be one of those so-unitentionally-retro-that-it's-hip kind of places. Instead it was just really terrible food, at high-ish prices, in a worn-out space populated by clueless North Shore oldsters and oldsters-at-heart. That was 13 years ago and it sounds like nothing has changed (not even the "vintage" pepper on the tables). But I know people who eat (and drink and drink) there at least once a week. A friend who has lived and worked in the immediate area for 30+ years says that most of their diners are either drunk, heavily medicated, senile or "D," all of the above. 

It just kills me that these kind of places continue to thrive while countless other good spots never make a go of it.

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Night N' Gale lives because it's a favortie of the Lake Forest crowd that needs a place to go eat on the nights the club is closed, or when they're trying to avoid the club because they're late on last month's statement. These are people for whom exotic cuisine is Stouffer's Welsh Rarebit on white toast. They drink bullshots. Several of them. After that, the Night N'Gale seems delightful.

[LAZ]

At the end of the chaotic but fun meal, which was like a scene from a movie, the host delivered the check to my step-father who was graciously picking up the tab for all of us.  She made it very clear that the gratuity had not been included and that he should, under no circumstances, include one.  He's a regular there and likes the waitresses.  He's known some of them for decades.  He wasn't about to punish them by leaving no tip.  He was confused so he asked the host if she was suggesting this because the service had been so poor.  She nodded.

In all my years of eating out, I'd never encountered anything like this -- a manager-type essentially encouraging a customer to stiff the help.  IMO, a far more appropriate solution would have been for the host to take responsibility and make deduction off the bill. 

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That's very bizarre, Ronnie. I've never encountered anything like it, either. On the very few occasions when egregious behavior on the part of a server have led me to leave little or no tip, I've had managers agree with me (in such instances, I always explain my actions to someone in management, so that my reasons are clear), but I've never had a manager propose anything like this.

And from your account, it sounds as if the problem wasn't with the waitstaff but behind the scenes. Even if the problem had been your server, absolutely the right thing for the manager to have done if she thought anyone on the staff had delivered bad service was to take something off your check or offer free desserts or drinks or something like that.

The only thing I can surmise is that she had no authority to do so. Still....

mark922, LOL!