Northbrook restaurants have a not-so-secret Santa

Ian Braverman knows what it's like to miss his favorite restaurants.

With eateries in trouble due to pandemic mitigations, he's trying to lend a hand so more won't go missing.

A 2008 Glenbrook North graduate who moved back to Northbrook this summer after a spell in Chicago, Braverman started a GoFundMe account - simply titled Northbrook Restaurant Support - to aid a variety of mainstay restaurants.

The fund has proved so successful that, since he originated it Nov. 22, he's had to update it three more times.

"I was nervous starting off. Are people going to donate?" wondered Braverman, who works in finance for a Chicago real estate private equity firm.

"What I was thinking was, I'm not an organization, I'm not tax-exempt, I'm not 'verified.' My question was, are people going to trust me?

"I've been pleasantly surprised," he said.

Trust was not an issue.

Braverman first started the fund with a goal of $3,570, looking to distribute $250 to 15 different restaurants like Big Apple Bagels, Little Louie's, Marisa's Pizza, Once Upon a Grill and Tong's Hunan Restaurant.

By midday on Dec. 7, 81 people had donated $5,405 toward his new goal of $6,000. The roster of restaurants to which he'll donate now numbers 25 and is presented in full on his GoFundMe page.

"I'm really grateful for everyone's support," he said.

He plans on driving to each restaurant Dec. 18 to present this neighborly bonus along with a letter listing all the people who donated.

He realizes $200 or $250 is not a panacea for restaurants' COVID-19 problems. His main goal was to spread awareness of their straits and to engage people.

As far as the amount goes, every little bit helps.

"My end goal is just to be able to support these restaurants as much as we can, so we can make a little bit of a difference, if we can pay employees' tips or pay a utility bill," Braverman said.

"I don't want to tell them what to spend it on, but just that it takes a community and we're here to support them."

The seeds of this charity began with the women in his world.

Braverman's mother, Heide Kogan, annually picks a "person of the year" she feels is underappreciated and worthy of a stipend - "like a favorite valet guy at a restaurant," Ian said.

His wife, Northbrook schoolteacher Michele, tipped heavy at a local restaurant after the latest pandemic mitigations denied in-house seating.

"I'd like to do the same," thought Ian, who at Glenbrook North sang in the "Ow" male a cappella group and worked on the Torch student newspaper.

Restaurants have been on the mind of Ian and Michele Braverman for some time.

Shortly after he graduated from the University of Illinois, he and Michele moved to Chicago's River North neighborhood. Though there certainly are solid downtown dining options, the young couple found there's no place like home.

"When we lived downtown, we wished we could find a good downtown version of Tong's," Ian said.

His relationship with Northbrook restaurants spans years.

"I've been going to Marisa's probably since I was 5," he said. "I remember when I was really young, when I ate pizza there they'd give me dough to play with."

Now that he's older and able, with the help of his neighbors he'll give Marisa's and others some dough to play with.

"I'm looking forward to going to a lot of these restaurants and saying, this is what we did as a community, and seeing their reaction," Braverman said.