In Good Company

By Naperville Magazine
August 2024 View more Table for Two

By Phil Vettel

Entourage provides a place to gather for modern American food

Once upon a time (around 2006), there was a Schaumburg restaurant named Entourage. It had a front window shaped like a cocktail shaker, and its hip, beverage-focused menu offered splurges like a $75 cocktail in a keepsake glass.

Still, its contemporary American food was good enough that I hung two stars on the place in my Chicago Tribune review back then, and Entourage had a respectable four-year run.

And now Entourage has recently resurfaced, this time on the western edge of Naperville (796 Rte. 59). The principal partners remain Anthony and Michael Vai, the same duo behind Vai’s (also along Route 59). A digital rendering of the original Entourage hangs right by the host stand. “We were kicking around different names for the new place, which is not an easy process,” Michael Vai says. “Our chef-partner [Scott Wegener] suggested we use ‘Entourage,’ knowing we would do something similar with the modern American menu.”

The name agreed on, the next challenge was transforming a onetime Bakers Square restaurant into a chic, contemporary environment. “We’d throw out words like ‘cool vibe,’ ‘urban,’ ‘sophisticated’ to the design team,” Michael says, “and they’d figure it out. Eventually we all liked how it came out, how they kept it warm and approachable, and not too over the top.”

The bar and dining room feature blue and emerald tones. Prominent in the bar area is the “cobra tap,” a flared tap (calling to mind a hooded cobra) used to dispense the bar’s two draft cocktails, a well-made old-fashioned and the popular espresso martini. (The drinks are $13; no $75 cocktails here at Entourage 2.0.)

Guests walking toward the dining room pass by a built-in refrigerator whose glass doors reveal Entourage’s various wet- and dry-aged steaks. “We knew we wanted to put that upfront as a showpiece,” says Anthony Vai, “but we didn’t want it to be too big; we don’t want to be just a steak-and-seafood restaurant.”

The steaks, all heritage Angus beef from Linz, are certainly very good, but there’s a lot more of interest on the global menu, which draws from Pacific, Vietnamese, and New Orleans influences.

Appetizer highlights include the Vietnamese summer rolls, loaded with fresh vegetables and served with sweet chile and spicy peanut sauces, as well as the NOLA-inspired shrimp and grits, livened up with roasted jalapeños and spicy andouille sausage. I absolutely love the housemade focaccia, boasting a crispy exterior and delicate interior, served with olives and sea-salt butter; I’d order this every time.

Deviled eggs, five to the portion, are memorable for the squares of bacon, dusted with Kona coffee and brown sugar, sitting atop each deviled egg like jaunty graduation caps. And chunks of ahi tuna, bathed in spiced aïoli, wasabi crema, and eel sauce, perch on crispy planks of fried sushi rice—a messy dish, but tasty.

Among main courses, steaks are always a safe bet; the $59 rib eye was very good, especially with pepper sauce (one of three $4 add-ons, and worth it). There’s a lot going on with the Manchego chicken, a panko-crusted, pan-seared chicken breast topped with shaved prosciutto on a bed of cheese-filled tortellaci in pesto-Parmesan cream, surrounded by arugula and blistered tomatoes.

But in terms of sheer excess, nothing beats the wagyu meatloaf “sundae,” an entrée that was a special when I visited. It consists of two slabs of meatloaf, layered with Parmesan mashed potatoes and toasted brioche, stacked high and crowned with fried onion strings. On the bottom of the plate is a pool of wild-mushroom gravy and vegetable succotash. “It’s something chef Scott wanted to try, and we thought it’d be cool,” Michael says. “There’s a lot of food here,” adds Anthony. “It’s a great dish to share.”

If you still have room (and the odds don’t favor it), Entourage offers impressive, housemade desserts; even the ice creams and sorbets are made in-house. Selections include an excellent key lime pie with key-lime gelato, raspberry sauce, and toasted meringue as well as a very good banana cream pie with bruléed banana slices, banana custard, and white-chocolate ice cream.

Entourage is also open for lunch (many dinner items are available on the lunch menu) and weekend brunch; the latter menu is very ambitious, offering items such as chicken and waffles, smoked-brisket scramble, huevos rancheros, and blueberry pancakes. The lobster-avocado omelet is super rich and indulgent, bolstered by roasted potatoes, sourdough toast, tomatoes, spinach, and provolone; it’s a bit of a splurge at $27, but you probably won’t be hungry for the rest of the day. More budget friendly is the $18 prosciutto Benedict (a special), a classic eggs Benedict topped with thin-sliced prosciutto, along with roasted potatoes, sourdough toast, and fruit.

Entourage’s wide beverage list includes nearly 60 wines, many available by the glass (in six- and nine-ounce pours), along with craft cocktails, beers from local producers, and various whiskey, Scotch, and tequila pours.

By the time you read this, a second Entourage will have opened in downtown Downers Grove, and there may be more in the future. After all, what’s an entourage without a few extra friends?

Photos: Entourage/Cez Wegener