NT_091919

northbrooktowerdaily.com dining out
the northbrook tower | September 19, 2019 | 41
Ten Ninety opens new kitchen on the fly
Nick Frazier
Contributing Sports Editor
If you want something
done well, you’ve got to do
it yourself.
That’s why Glenview’s
Ten Ninety Brewing Company
recently started serving
food made from scratch
in their own kitchen, a
change owner Brian Schafer
says has been well-received
among North Shore
residents.
Ten Ninety was originally
founded in 2012 in Zion
but moved to Glenview
four years later. Schafer,
a former CFO, was determined
to bring the food inhouse.
That meant building
a brand new kitchen, hiring
chefs and trying out new
recipes.
A brewery first, Schafer
said the company keeps the
flavors of the food in mind
to best accompany the beer.
“A lot of beers that
we’ve brewed in the past
and in the current and the
future, we think about flavor
profiles first and brew
the beer, where a lot of
breweries brew the beer
and think about what food
to pair it with,” Schafer
explained. “A lot of our inspiration
comes from food
when we’re brewing. It’s a
natural progression that we
have the food now.”
Previously, Ten Ninety
was serving traditional bar
food. Now, the restaurant
wants residents to know
they can order food off a
diverse menu to pair with
their favorite pints.
“We want to let people
know that we’re not just a
brewery serving bar food,”
Schafer said. “We have
salmon, we have mussels,
we’ve got different salads.
We still have a mighty tasty
burger, we’re doing pizza,
because we don’t want to
turn our back on some of
the biggest sellers and most
popular foods in the country.
We’re doing it with
unique twists; we incorporate
our beer in every menu
item.”
Ten Ninety began rolling
out a food menu a few
months ago on the fly. A
few dishes, like the Ten
Ninety Burger and the Beer
Tachos (tater tots, beer
cheese sauce, crumbled bacon,
and chive with a fried
egg on top) are already fan
favorites.
There are a few constant
staples in the menu, but
there’s also a lot of experimenting
with dishes to find
the next crowd favorite.
“We’re a brewery, so
we like to experiment,”
Schafer said. “I tell everybody
here, ‘If you’ve got a
good idea and people like
it, we’ll go with it.’ Good
ideas can come from anywhere
at any level in the
organization.”
The cooks in the kitchen
have free range to come up
with new ideas, and if it
passes the taste test, it will
end up on the menu.
“That gets people excited
about the job,” Schafer
said. “More ownership.
There’s pride because they
know this is what I’m doing,
there’s a little bit of me
going out in every dish.”
A few lucky 22nd Century
Media editors got to
sample a wide range of Ten
Ninety’s new dishes.
We started with the
famed Ten Ninety Burger
($15), which features two
grass-fed beef patties with
sharp American cheese,
cucumber and diced white
onion. The burger is cooked
with Rancorous III, a craft
beer brewed at Ten Ninety.
Next up were the Drunken
Mussels ($15), with
P.E.I. mussels sauteed in
Ten Ninety Brewing
Company
1025 N. Waukegan
Road, Glenview
(224) 432-5472
www.ten-ninety.com
4-10 p.m.
Monday-Friday
12-10 p.m. Saturday
12-6 p.m. Sunday
Juice God, a New Englandstyle
IPA. Included were
spicy chorizo and lemon,
and the appetizer was
served with crostini.
Another popular dish
the 22CM editors tried was
The Roosevelt pizza ($16),
a dish Schafer’s daughter
came up with. The dough
is made with one of Ten
Ninety’s lagers, and The
Roosevelt is a white pizza
made of gouda, caramelized
onions, sauteed mushrooms
and olive oil.
The next dish was the
Buffalo Chicken Sammich
($13), an 8-ounce fried
chicken breast with crumbled
blue cheese, tossed in
MPF Buffalo sauce with
mixed greens and ranch
dressing on the side.
Lastly, we enjoyed the
mixed greens salad ($8),
which featured cherry tomatoes,
cucumber, blue
cheese crumbles, croutons
and the Rancorous III vinaigrette.
The salmon on top
of the salad was a classy
touch.
Ten Ninety is now open
seven days a week, and
the taproom hosts trivia
on Thursdays and even offers
bags lessons. Schafer
enjoys getting to show his
creative side at the restaurant.
“I’ve always had that.
It’s something you’ve got
to suppress a little more as a
CFO,” Schafer said. “Coming
into work in shorts and
a T-shirt is pretty nice.”
The seared salmon dinner ($20, here shown as a salad) is a healthy option with a
6-ounce pan-seared salmon filet served on field greens, quinoa and brown rice,
drizzled with a blackberry sharp wit and butter emulsion and finished with fresh
parsley and lemon. Photos by Michal Dwojak/22nd Century Media
ABOVE: Ten Ninety’s
Drunken Mussels ($15) are
P.E.I. mussels braised in
Juice God butter sauce with
spicy chorizo and lemon
served with crostini.
LEFT: A fan favorite, the Ten
Ninety burger ($15) consists
of two grass-fed hormone/
antibiotic-free beef patties,
Rancorous III dijonnaise,
sharp American cheddar,
house-pickled cucumbers
and diced white onion.