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northbrooktower.com Life & arts
the northbrook tower | January 24, 2019 | 41
Grandpa’s Place still growing after 122 years
Jason Addy
Contributing Editor
When the Middletons
purchased Grandpa’s Place
in 2003, the family immediately
got down to work
modernizing the 106-yearold
fixture of Glenview’s
culinary scene.
They updated the original
bar area, redid the
walls, added modern
touches and built a small
parlor inside to open up
some elbow room and
create a space to host live
music, said Rory Middleton,
who runs day-to-day
operations at Grandpa’s
with his brother, Kevin, on
behalf of the family.
Middleton said his family
first started looking into
purchasing the property at
1868 Prairie St. around
the turn of the century,
“but the original owner
wouldn’t sell it without the
business,” which started
as Lang’s before becoming
Grandpa Rugen’s and
finally Grandpa’s once the
Dwyer family moved in
nearly 50 years ago.
A decade after taking
over from the Dwyers, the
Middletons completed a
major expansion project at
Grandpa’s, adding a downstairs
room for live music
and private catering, converting
what was once an
off-track betting room and
apartments into an upscale
space to host corporate and
family events, and opening
a patio and second-floor
terrace for patrons to enjoy
in the milder months.
Though Grandpa’s had
more than a century of
success under its belt by
that point, the expansion is
breathing new life into the
restaurant and bar by giving
it a unique “something
old, something new vibe,”
Middleton said.
GRANDPA’S PLACE
1868 Prairie St., Glenview
(847) 724-1390
grandpasplace.com
11 a.m.-2 a.m. Monday-Saturday
11 a.m.-midnight
Sunday
“We wanted it to be a
place where your parents
can go and remember their
time when they were your
age at this bar — because
it’s that old, it has that
much history — but at
the same time make new
memories for the new generation
of people that are
coming in to continue that
legacy,” Middleton said.
Though the Middletons
have drastically revamped
the establishment that first
opened in the late 1890s,
they’ve been careful not
to change the tried-andtrue
recipe for success too
much.
Grandpa’s menu “has
grown with age,” Middleton
said, with the menu
featuring bar-food staples
like burgers, sandwiches
and wings, as well as some
newer dishes like chicken
kabobs and calamari.
“It’s always a matter of
keeping it local, keeping
that sense of history, while
always keeping it relevant,”
Middleton said, noting
Grandpa’s gets much
of its ingredients from local
shops and producers
like Reagan Meats and
Harrison’s Poultry Farm in
Glenview, Gonnella Baking
Company in Schaumburg
and Harrington’s Catering
and Deli in Chicago.
A group of 22nd Century
Media editors stopped
by Grandpa’s last week to
try out some classics and a
few “sleeper” dishes flying
The Grandpa Burger ($11.90) is a half-pound burger served on a toasted bun with a choice of traditional toppings.
Photos by Michal Dwojak/22nd Century Media
The Reuben ($12.95) sandwich is tender corned beef
served with homemade Thousand Island dressing,
sauerkraut and melted Swiss cheese on rye bread.
a bit under the radar.
After a tour of Grandpa’s
many versatile spaces,
we tried calamari ($13.95
for full serving), a dish
Middleton said people always
order again after trying
it once.
“(The calamari) is better
than it has any right to be,”
Middleton joked, adding
many of the restaurant’s
recipes are something of
a mystery as they’ve been
handed down across the
generations.
The simple appetizer
dish of lightly breaded
squid is served with cocktail
sauce and lemons to
add a little zest.
Next, we sampled the
The chicken kabobs ($15.95) is grilled chicken served
on a skewer with tomato, onion and peppers atop a rice
pilaf with Grandpa’s homemade peanut dressing on the
side.
classic Grandpa Burger
($11.90), a half-pound
burger served with Merkts
cheddar cheese and traditional
toppings on a toasted
bun, with a side of fries.
Grandpa’s Reuben sandwich
($12.95) pairs Harrington’s
corned beef with
homemade Thousand Island
dressing, sauerkraut
and Swiss cheese on rye
bread.
To cap off the meal, we
tried Grandpa’s chicken
kabobs, featuring two footlong
skewers loaded with
grilled chicken, onions,
peppers and tomatoes over
a bed of rice pilaf with a
homemade peanut dressing
on the side.