Buffalo Grove Arboretum Club's new restaurant, Vin 90, aims to become area destination
As the entrance doors to the Arboretum Club clubhouse slide open, the eye instantly leaps to the spectacular view of one of the greens at Buffalo Grove's village-owned, high-end golf course.
But now there's a new eye-catching sight inside the club at 401 W. Half Day Road, with the addition of Vin 90 Kitchen + Bar.
The full-service restaurant and bar, which held its grand opening over the weekend, complements WJ Golf, a golf simulator business that took over the former banquet space at the Arboretum.
“We want to be the new hangout for Buffalo Grove. We want to be the new fine dining venue for Buffalo Grove,” said Won Cho, founder and owner of WJ Golf and a Buffalo Grove resident.
Vin 90 and the indoor golf facility promise to give the Arboretum Club a bit of a new lease on life.
“For the first 20 years, we were really a banquet facility that had a small restaurant,” in which “the food and beverage didn't meet the golfers needs,” said Geoff Tollefson, the village's head golf professional.
WJ Golf partnered with Yoon Jae Kim, owner of Kansaku Japanese restaurant in Evanston, to offer a varied menu that includes standard American staples such as hot dogs and chicken wings, as well as Asian specialties like sashimi, edamame, poke and sushi.
The golf simulators enhance the outdoor golf experience, since the Arboretum doesn't have a driving range. Now golfers have a chance to warm up before or tune up after a round.
The new Vin 90 space reflects some big changes made by WJ Golf. Cho said a conference room was completely demolished to give a better view of the new bar. The liquor display is strikingly lit by a “smoky light” that shines into the clear bottles from beneath them.
Another novel touch are the robots that transport plates to the kitchen.
“Cloud lighting” overlooks the dining space, and at night, when the glass pane doors are opened and the breeze steals inside, the lights rotate so “it feels like you're outdoors looking at the stars,” Cho said.