“Hey Nonny” Live music- Local kitchen

[rating=5] In October, Arlington Heights had an opening in its beautiful “downtown” area. I wrote about this new venue, “Hey Nonny” and said I would return to see what the kitchen and the cabaret had to offer. Last night, Jane and I  went to Hey Nonny with our friends, Marty and Shelle for dinner and the show. What a dinner! First, I must explain that the menu is definitely not your everyday suburban eatery menu. Hey Nonny is a farm to table dining experience, for sure.

The menu is made up of many dishes that are very sharable, offering a great opportunity for diners to try new things. For our small plates ( appetizers) we chose Edamame hummus served with pita bread , of course, the exquisite Char-Grilled chicken wings that were as juicy as I had ever tasted. The last of the small plates was the Crispy Calamari ( zesty and flavorful).

We had three salads: the beet salad with roasted hazelnuts, baby arugula, apples, sunchoke chips and mint- divine and the other, BIBB & Blue salad- candies walnuts, blue cheese, golden raisins ,chives, and green goddess dressing. The Duck Confit was as succulent as one could imagine. Served with sweet onion jam, cornichon, mustard seeds and pickled Chioggia beets. This is one of the items that is served in a jar ( there are others on the menu)  To compliment the salads we all tasted the wonderful Michigan Sweet Potato Bisque (  do not miss , even if you are not a bisque lover, this one is terrific!).

The entrees selected to share: Steak Frites served with nonny fries, the Brick Chicken and the wildly delicious seared sea scallops. These are served on chorizo polenta, braised local greens, purple cauliflower, golden tomato coulis, red peppers and rye read crumbs. Another amazing presentation. In fact, every plate served looked as delicious as it tasted. I have had experiences where the plates look good, but the dinner, not so. At Hey Nonny, NOT A PROBLEM. In fact, we found ourselves digging in before we took the pictures so we had to slow down.

The dining room is a comfort zone and very attractive. The staff is caring and efficient as well as knowledgable about the food they serve. Considering the short length of time they are in business, it appears that the GM has it all under control.

The other side of the venue is the cabaret nightclub adjacent to the dining room. We moved to the showroom where they had two folk singers/songwriters on their stage. Both were terrific, and while I am not into that type of music, I found them to be solid performers who played to the audience. To see the show schedule visit www.heynonny.com where you can also see the menu and make a reservation. The dinner and show are separate so you can just go for the show and/or dinner. By the way, they have some unusual specialty drinks and a fine wine list. Downtown Arlington Heights has great parking ( the garage is free BUT watch the signage) and the street is easy to find spaces on.

Hey Nonny is located at 10 Vail Street ( around the corner from the Metropolis Theatre. The phone number is  1-224-202-0750

Hey Nonny is from a Shakespearean play. “Much Ado About Nothing” and means to forget everything around you and have a great time- that is exactly how we felt upon leaving our evening at this new venue. Four well-fed and happy people!