JoelF wrote:What is it with fires this year? Latest victim is Sakura in Mount Prospect.

Sorry to hear that Sakura was a gem.

marceretto wrote:

marothisu wrote:Sorry for the random building permit data, but Blaze Pizza was just issued a permit to build out a new restaurant at 227 E Ontario in Streeterville. If you remember, they have one right off the Belmont Red/Brown/Purple line stop and are owned by Levy with a handful of US locations.

To clear this up, it's not a Levy Restaurants venture or franchise. It is, however, a Larry Levy and Levy Family Partners business venture. There is a difference. (full disclosure: I've worked for Levy Restaurants for over 25 years.)

Interesting. I always thought it was Levy Restaurants. Whoops!

JoelF wrote:What is it with fires this year? Latest victim is Sakura in Mount Prospect.

Footage from the firefighting. Some pretty dramatic flames around the 4 minute mark.



Since they share they're on the adjacent corner, I thought I'd check Central Continental's site to see if they were affected.
They're reporting they're temporarily closed, but the bakery is OK.

Edit: Preordered cakes are being delivered to the Village Hall across the street, and thanks to the mods who fixed the Youtube tag.

I didn't see this elsewhere, but it looks like Central Standard is gone.
http://chicago.eater.com/archives/2014/ ... ership.php

Just got an e-mail blast from Shin Thompson saying that Kabocha will be closing after service on Saturday. Really bummed out, especially since I had a reservation for my birthday next Friday.

Markethouse, 300 E. Ohio, no longer is open for lunch or dinner, only breakfast as part of the Doubletree Hotel. A shame if you remember the days when Scott Walton was chef there, and did seasonal variations on his menu of locavore comfort food (heirloom tomatoes with ricotta and olive oil crisps, anyone?). But since he moved to start up Howell and Hood as executive chef, the bland factor picked up considerably, and for the price point and slow service, hasn't been the same since. If you live in that part of the River East neighborhood, that leaves us with Bellwether (the former location of PJ Clarkes), the somewhat invisible Niu next to the River East Theatres, and the ever quirky Local Root as go-to sitdown places if you don't want to interact with the tourists off of Michigan Avenue.

Banh Mi & Co. is expanding, again.

The Vietnamese sandwich shop, which started in 2012 with a spot in Lakeview, has signed a lease to move into Wicker Park's Division Street. John Sanchez, one of the chain's partners, said he hopes to have the restaurant open by April.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... icker-park

Looks like the Pasadita Empire has pulled out of the Irving Park neighborhood. Pasadita Cantina, their bizarre experiment of merging a tacqueria with a douchebag bar, lasted all of six months. No sooner did it get papered over did the Pasadita Express across Irving Park Road close up shop as well. I can't say I'll miss either; Pasadita Express wasn't half as good as the Ashland locations, and the Cantina was just plain awful.

Elsewhere in Irving Park... The Baked Tomato, a long-time Irving Park/Mayfair pizza institution, has closed. It changed hands a couple years ago, I guess the new owner couldn't breathe life into this tired old place.

Soul Surfing Pizza, the kosher vegetarian pizza place on Dempster in Skokie, appears to be closed; there is a "For Lease" sign in the window, and the phone goes directly to a generic "subscriber not available" message.

Soul Surfing Pizza
3357 Dempster St
Skokie, IL 60076
(847) 213-6666

Naansense has opened in the Loop, int he old Curried location. It's still Indian food but fairly different from Curried - it doesn't seem like just a rebranding to me. I would describe the food as seeming less greasy and healthier, kind of a cross between Roti (with Indian flavors) and Bombay Wraps.

Naansense
171 N. Wells St.
Chicago, IL 60606
Open for Lunch only Mon-Fri

The group behind River North restaurant Siena Tavern is taking its game to Randolph Street's restaurant row.
Chicago-based DineAmic Group has a deal to take over the space at 832 W. Randolph St., where longtime tenant Dragonfly Mandarin Restaurant recently closed, confirmed Lucas Stoioff, DineAmic co-founder.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... eet-market

Sticky Rice Chiang Mai is now open on the west edge of Bucktown.
They are offering about ½ of the dishes from the original, along with a few additions

1746 N. Western Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60647
(312) 818-1810

Bullhead Cantina's second location, in Rogers Park right by the Morse Red Line station, has a sign promoting a grand opening event for tomorrow, Valentine's Day. Sounds like an interesting bar/taqueria - whiskey, beer, and tacos, nothing wrong with that! This is in the old MorseL space (which came and went rather quickly).

Bullhead Cantina
1406 W. Morse
Chicago IL
http://bullheadcantina.com/

Looks like the spot at the former M Restaurant in Highland Park has been rented and actually looks close to being ready. Not sure what iit is as the sign is basically two letters that appear to resemble Kanji, so I assume it is Asian themed of some kind.

G & O is now open by the owners of Aberdeen Tap. It looks promising. Apparently, right next door on the corner of Ogden and Grand some fine dining italian restaurant is opening soon as well

G & O
459 N. Ogden
Chicago, IL
http://grandandogden.com/

Three Aces is opening a 2nd location in the old West Town Tavern space. It will be a italian restaurant, but I am not sure if it is the same concept or not

1329 w chicago ave

Does anyone have updated info on Lao Sze Chuan Evanston? Been driving by for months to the same papered over windows. Seems unlike Tony, his places usually open up in a flash.

Octarine wrote:Seems unlike Tony, his places usually open up in a flash.

Not the one on Michigan Avenue, a couple doors south of Nordstrom's. There've been blackened windows on that location announcing the opening of one of his places for months. My impression is I've been seeing it in that state for four months at least, if not six, although time plays funny tricks.

As of 3/1 (perhaps before) Goddess and Grocer at 25 E. Delaware will be "closed". The owner will be looking for a new location. They will be open through this Saturday, at least.

http://ellyspancakehouse.com/
Opening soon at:
5310 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL 60630

The longtime home of Old Town restaurant Kamehachi is going from sushi to hippie.

A venture of Carmen Rossi, an owner of the Hubbard Inn in River North and Barn & Co. in Lincoln Park, took over the space at 1400 N. Wells St., where it plans a restaurant and bar called Pomp & Circumstance that will celebrate 1960s culture.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... the-1960s#

Pearl Tavern at 180 N. Wacker just opened.
http://splash.suntimes.com/2014/02/18/p ... n-opening/

Mount Prospect roundup, courtesy of the Mount Prospect Journal:

• The outlot until recently occupied by Borders Books at Randhurst Village will become a Carrabas (meh)
• Central Continental Bakery has been given occupancy permission for their store on Main/Elmhurst/83, but they will be in temporary quarters starting Monday (they're still in Village Hall) probably for about a month until they're cleaned up. That'll take them through Paczki Day. The new location is 17 W. Prospect Ave. -- just over the railroad tracks and a short block west.

Dave148 wrote:http://ellyspancakehouse.com/
Opening soon at:
5310 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL 60630

took them a really long time to address that wretched sewer gas smell the former Blue Angel had.

http://evanston.patch.com/groups/busine ... -and-dodge

"The former KFC space at Dempster and Dodge will be turned into a Starbucks as early as this fall, according to a press release from the city. The Evanston Planning and Zoning Division approved the application Thursday.

“Not only will this addition provide residents, students and visitors with another option for coffee and snacks, it's a statement that Dempster/Dodge development is moving in a positive direction. While there is more work to be done, the addition of Starbucks will provide momentum to our continued efforts to bring high quality retail and services to the area,” 2nd Ward Ald. Peter Braithwaite said in an email to constituents."

Another Starbucks in Evanston? They are over saturated as is. I am sure that the owner of Perla Cafe is not happy about this. The Cafe is right down the street from there, and is already hurting for business. Perla Cafe is where Pick a Cup used to be, and Pick a Cup could not make a go of it.

The McDonald's at Dempster and Dodge sells a ton of coffee, because they have a senior special, where you can get a cup of coffee with a free refill if you are a senior for $.64, and no they do not check ID's.

NFriday wrote:Another Starbucks in Evanston? They are over saturated as is. I am sure that the owner of Perla Cafe is not happy about this. The Cafe is right down the street from there, and is already hurting for business. Perla Cafe is where Pick a Cup used to be, and Pick a Cup could not make a go of it.

The McDonald's at Dempster and Dodge sells a ton of coffee, because they have a senior special, where you can get a cup of coffee with a free refill if you are a senior for $.64, and no they do not check ID's.

There's plenty of business to go around. Dunkin Donuts is also at that intersection, and in the mornings there is always a line at their drive-thru, just as there is at McDonald's. I bet a lot of the coffee business there consists of people driving to and from work in downtown Evanston, and driving to and from the high school, and that mobile market is big enough to support a third coffee-focused business. Unlike those other two (and soon three) places, Perla Café/Pick-a-Cup has/had neither a drive-thru nor a parking lot; that's okay in an area that gets a lot of foot traffic (e.g. downtown Evanston), but not so much near an intersection where most of the traffic is on wheels. Those who seek out Perla Café over those other options are likely to continue to do so.

Yuki Hana
2920 N Clark St
Chicago

They took over the store next door and set it up for Korean BBQ. Tried the soon doo boo for lunch today. It was decent. I'll have to ask for it spicier next time. The BBQ prices struck me as expensive. I recall prices around $25. Did not try the BBQ yet.

Goddess & Grocer in the Gold Coast (Delaware & Wabash) closed the other day. Very weird because the place was always busy around lunch and dinner, and even moreso in the summer. If you recall, Cru Kitchen & Bar next to it, owned by the same owner (Debbie Sharp), closed a month or two ago too. I'm hoping they are just reconcepting. The location is too good to pass up and the patios there were awesome. If they aren't then this is really sad news for the immediate area

They offered this on Facebook

Sorry to say but we have closed the doors at our Gold Coast location this Sunday.
Thank you to all our loyal customers and staff. We have loved being there.
We are looking for a new space and will keep you posted.
In the meantime, you can always get Goddess delivered, as our store on Larrabee will be taking over most of Gold Coast's delivery zone. Many of our staff have transferred to our store at 901. Larrabee ph: 312.988.9870 and we hope to see you there.

- Debbie

Then in response to someone said:

Thank you so much everyone for your kind words. It really was just not the right space for us anymore, but our location on Larrabee is less than a mile away so we hope to see you there. We will be looking at other neighborhoods for new stores and continue to be active in communities throughout Chicago