May 01, 2025
Business | Northwest Herald
Business

Wisconsin-style supper club coming to Crystal Lake

Montarra Grill executive chef hoping to re-create Algonquin restaurant's success

By NATE LINHART

H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@shawmedia.com The owners of Montarra Grill, the high-end restaurant on Randall Road in Algonquin, have purchased the old John Evans restaurant building at 394 W. Virginia St. in Crystal Lake and plan to open a supper club-type restaurant called M Supper Club there. (H. Rick Bamman)

CRYSTAL LAKE – Dave Perlick, the executive chef at Montarra Grill in Algonquin, is planning to open a new restaurant in Crystal Lake within the next six weeks.

The restaurant will be a Wisconsin-style eatery called M Supper Club.

“The ‘m’ is short for Montarra, because we’re trying to bring our success of the Algonquin restaurant over to Crystal Lake,” Perlick said.

The new restaurant will be at 394 W. Virginia St., the former location of London Pub & Grill. Along with Perlick, the owners of the new restaurant include George Kanellos, Jim Kanellos, Dennis Koukounaras and Niko Kanakaris.

“We’ve had a lot of success with Montarra Grill over the years and have such a talented team here, so we came to the conclusion it was time to grow,” Perlick said.

M Supper Club’s renovations are about halfway finished, he said, and the restaurant is expected to seat about 170 inside, with an additional 40 seats available during the summer hours when the patio is open.

“The goal is to take a classic dish and give it modern touches,” Perlick said. “We wanted to better the region with higher-quality dining options.”

Some menu items will include a jagerschnitzel, praline-crusted walleye, oysters Rockefeller, homemade hash browns and brandy-roasted mushrooms.

In addition to the regular menu, the new restaurant will feature a food challenge inspired by a scene in “The Great Outdoors” where actor John Candy tackles eating a 6-pound steak.

“We’re doing a 64-ounce, center-cut, bone-in, rib-eye steak and adding a couple pounds of other items on the plate for our challenge,” Perlick said.

“People also have to finish a thick, chocolate milkshake as a part of it, so the whole thing will be about 96-ounces like in the movie,” Perlick added.

Although it’s a $240 plate, Perlick said it will be free for whoever is able to complete the challenge.

“And I just want to add we’re hiring right now as well,” Perlick said. “Positions we are hiring are servers, hostesses, bussers, among others.”

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