John des Rosiers thought he had two good ideas for Highland Park.
The first was a chef-driven Italian restaurant. That second was a customer-driven, American place.
Neither worked out.
Last week, des Rosiers explained to Patch why he thinks both of his restaurants in Highland Park failed. He argued that that the demand just doesn't exist for a restaurant as large as Moderno or Royce in Highland Park anymore. In fact, he doesn't think the demand is there for smaller places either.
"My personal feeling it's more of the market right now," he said. "Different restaurants at different price points that do different things have all been cut down the same way."
Here's what readers had to say about the closings, and about des Rosiers' explanation.
"Face facts, restaurants have THE highest failure rates on any new business there is/are," writes Bernard Johnson on Deerfield Patch. "If there's one type of business venture to generally avoid - it's the restaurant business."
Forest Barbieri in Highland Park attributed the failures to "mediocre food and less than exciting service."
Another reader also felt like the restaurants closed because of the quality of the food and service.
"I dined at Royce a month or two ago and had the absolute worst meal of my life. Our food was horrible and the staff was even worse. I'm not wondering why this place closed," writes Lisa Hirsh.
However, others felt like the food and service were great.
"I really liked Royce and appreciated the menu and how the chef always accommodated my dietary restrictions," writes S. Goldman. "I'm sorry it closed."
Highland and Ravines columnist Ed Brill, who voiced his support for Royce and Moderno as both opened, expressed his regret that the places are closed in the comments as well.
"Every burger I had at Royce was cooked perfectly to medium rare, sometimes I marveled at just how perfect they did it," he writes. "I guess y'all can go back to eating stomach-distressing cheap burgers at Fuddruckers, I'll keep driving to Lake Bluff (where at Inovasi, Tuesday night burger night seems to be packed)."
One commenter pointed to the rent prices in Highland Park as a difficult obstacle for business owners to overcome.
"Rent is a killer in HP. No margin for error, once a place like Royce got a bad reputation, whether true or not, they were done," writes Daniel.
So what do you think is the reason Royce and Moderno failed? Do you think there's a retail and restaurant problem in Highland Park?