The GP wrote:[cross posted in First Slice Cafe thread]

I'm sad to report that the First Slice Cafe location in the water tower pumping station has closed. It was one of my regular lunch spots.

First Slice Pie Cafe [CLOSED]
811 N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611

BUT they are opening a new location! Or so I read on their blackboard on Thursday.

The GP wrote:[cross posted in First Slice Cafe thread]

I'm sad to report that the First Slice Cafe location in the water tower pumping station has closed. It was one of my regular lunch spots.

First Slice Pie Cafe [CLOSED]
811 N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611

Bummer. I tried the Montrose and Ravenswood location recently, and both the chocolate peanut butter and sour cherry pies were delicious. And because the profits go to charity, I can justify my indulgence.

PortPkPaul wrote:Bummer. I tried the Montrose and Ravenswood location recently, and both the chocolate peanut butter and sour cherry pies were delicious. And because the profits go to charity, I can justify my indulgence.

It's only the Water Tower location that closed. You can continue your supportive indulgence at the outpost at the Lill Street Center.

Surprised I haven't seen it in this thread yet (or maybe I missed it?) but Pasteur (French-Vietnamese) in Edgewater has re-opened after a several-year hiatus.

Pasteur
5255 N Broadway
773-728-4800

Re-opening discussed at some length here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=33965

Surprised I haven't seen it in this thread yet (or maybe I missed it?) but Pasteur (French-Vietnamese) in Edgewater has re-opened after a several-year hiatus.

Man, I gotta get to writing up my visit to Pasteur last month - everything was so beautifully executed on every level, and the space is jaw-droppingly lovely. Interestingly, it is possible to have an exclusively French meal there, too, if one is for whatever kooky reason not in the mood for Vietnamese food. I assume that the latter will be the case as long as Eric Aubriot is in residence, so go soon.

More on this ASAP, I swear!

sorry for the bad details but a Mariano's Fresh Market is to open in Elmhurst

Pekin House on Devon (near Western Ave.) is closing this month.

http://chicago.everyblock.com/announcements/mar01-pekin-house-chinese-restaurant-closing-4782080/

This was my family's go-to Chinese restaurant when I was growing up in the late 70's and 80's. Very typical American-Chinese fare. I loved it! I still get a craving for food like that, now and again.

It has been a long time since I have eaten there. The egg rolls were excellent but the quality of the food dropped off so badly that the last time we ordered delivery, the food was nearly inedible. I have heard quite a number of stories about what went on there, in terms of ownership, but I have no idea what is true.

Parking also became impossible around the restaurant but that was actually after we had stopped eating there.

At any rate, I wish them the best for the future and if they do re-open in another location (as mentioned in the link), I might try them for egg rolls again.

Bonnie_Blue wrote:Pekin House on Devon (near Western Ave.) is closing this month.

http://chicago.everyblock.com/announcements/mar01-pekin-house-chinese-restaurant-closing-4782080/

This was my family's go-to Chinese restaurant when I was growing up in the late 70's and 80's. Very typical American-Chinese fare. I loved it! I still get a craving for food like that, now and again.

It has been a long time since I have eaten there. The egg rolls were excellent but the quality of the food dropped off so badly that the last time we ordered delivery, the food was nearly inedible. I have heard quite a number of stories about what went on there, in terms of ownership, but I have no idea what is true.

Parking also became impossible around the restaurant but that was actually after we had stopped eating there.

At any rate, I wish them the best for the future and if they do re-open in another location (as mentioned in the link), I might try them for egg rolls again.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! That was the first Chinese restaurant I ever went to as a child. I went back with my wife not long after we were married (in the 80's) and it turned out that the food wasn't all that good, but the vibe was right.

spinynorman99 wrote:

Bonnie_Blue wrote:Pekin House on Devon (near Western Ave.) is closing this month.

http://chicago.everyblock.com/announcements/mar01-pekin-house-chinese-restaurant-closing-4782080/

This was my family's go-to Chinese restaurant when I was growing up in the late 70's and 80's. Very typical American-Chinese fare. I loved it! I still get a craving for food like that, now and again.

It has been a long time since I have eaten there. The egg rolls were excellent but the quality of the food dropped off so badly that the last time we ordered delivery, the food was nearly inedible. I have heard quite a number of stories about what went on there, in terms of ownership, but I have no idea what is true.

Parking also became impossible around the restaurant but that was actually after we had stopped eating there.

At any rate, I wish them the best for the future and if they do re-open in another location (as mentioned in the link), I might try them for egg rolls again.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! That was the first Chinese restaurant I ever went to as a child. I went back with my wife not long after we were married (in the 80's) and it turned out that the food wasn't all that good, but the vibe was right.

I'll miss those egg rolls! But, like Bonnie_Blue said, the rest of the food was pretty much inedible for the last several years. I'm kind of surprised this place has hung on as long as it has. It used to be owned by the same people as Far East on Diversey, but it seems once Far East burned down and was replaced with its present incarnation (is that place still open?), the food at Pekin House started to decline as well.

I'm also really surprised it hung on so long. We lived right around the corner from it for six years, and walked past it multiple times a week - always peeking in the windows, to see zero customers and a bored-looking waitress lounging around.

Wow, Peking house has held on a long time. They are the last of the original 3 Chinese restaurants on Devon Ave. (Kumoon, Kow Kow, & Peking House). My uncle and later my Father owned Kumoon on Devon & Richmond, my best friends aunt & uncle owned Kow Kow (and still do) and a friend from grammer school's parents owned Peking House at one time.

Sadly I have worked in all 3 restaurants, Kumoon when my father owned it, Peking House after we sold our restaurant, and Kow Kow after it moved to Lincolnwood. Lot's of good memories, sad that the end of an "era" is closing.

Kow Kow has great egg rolls! If only they delivered, we would order from there, I'm sure.

I think I remember Kumoon. Was it the place that became halal Chinese?

Bonnie_Blue wrote:Kow Kow has great egg rolls! If only they delivered, we would order from there, I'm sure.

Sad to say, but in the last 6 - 8 months, Kow Kow's eggrolls have changed...and not for the better, either. They still look more or less the same on the outside, and to look at it the filling appears similar, but the taste is not the same as it once was. My guess is that someone new has taken over making them and they just don't have the same touch. I've stopped ordering them completely, which breaks my heart. Like you, Kow Kow is an early childhood favorite, and I hate to see it change after all these years.

That is a shame. Their eggrolls were high on my list to try.

From this thread...

Mike G wrote:It is well known that the filmmaker David Lynch is a longtime fan of the famous Bob's Big Boy in Los Angeles, even using it in a pivotal scene in his Mulholland Drive.

Less appreciated is the role played by one of Chicago's venerable restaurants in his earlier film Dune. From its clientele of elderly, Bene Gessarit and Baron Harkonnen-like patrons to its dimly baroque interior, Kow Kow, a Chinese restaurant at Pratt and Cicero, is unmistakably the inspiration for his adaptation of the Frank Herbert novel.



The Kow Kow egg roll was the obvious design inspiration for the blobbish Spacing Guild creatures. Especially in the Lynchian way G Wiv eats them, splitting them open and filling them with entrail-like chow mein noodles:



Like the baby in Eraserhead, not a sight one soon forgets.

Kow Kow
6755 N Cicero Ave
Lincolnwood, IL
(847) 677-7717

According to the Edgeville Buzz, Lovely Too, a bake shop will be opening in the old Flourish Bakery location at 1138 W. Bryn Mawr. That's excellent news for us in Edgewater!

Pie Lady wrote:
Have they tried Sanders on Touhy or Sally's on Harlem?

Sanders is one of our go to as well. Though have not been there in a while. I don't live to close unless I hop on the 90/94. I think they used to be good, but I think the quality has died for me or maybe since I got married and actually started cooking at home, their food seemed less interesting. But that place is still great to take my parents to. And I think they still serve a very well done fluffy feta cheese omelette. Looks like I need to get my butt over there soon. Been dying for a feta omelette since I heard What's Cooking closed down.

Sally's I have only been to once. Must been about seven or eight years ago. I thought it was good, but I had dinner not breakfast. Maybe one day I will reput it on my radar. There is a place in Elmwood Park/River Forest near Johnny's on North Ave. called Grandma Sally's. Is there a relation? I am guessing no but I am up that way with my husband a lot and always wondered about it.

Bonnie_Blue wrote:Pekin House on Devon (near Western Ave.) is closing this month.

http://chicago.everyblock.com/announcements/mar01-pekin-house-chinese-restaurant-closing-4782080/

This was my family's go-to Chinese restaurant when I was growing up in the late 70's and 80's. Very typical American-Chinese fare. I loved it! I still get a craving for food like that, now and again.

It has been a long time since I have eaten there. The egg rolls were excellent but the quality of the food dropped off so badly that the last time we ordered delivery, the food was nearly inedible. I have heard quite a number of stories about what went on there, in terms of ownership, but I have no idea what is true.

Parking also became impossible around the restaurant but that was actually after we had stopped eating there.

At any rate, I wish them the best for the future and if they do re-open in another location (as mentioned in the link), I might try them for egg rolls again.

Funny, my husband I just drove by last week and I pointed out that fantastic vintage sign to him. I had wondered about Pekin House for a while and a few weeks back we went to Orange Garden and Pekin popped in my head as another old school type of Chinese place. Anywhere else I can get some good old school Chinese a la Orange Garden?

There's Wing Hoe.

5356 N Sheridan Rd
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 275-4550

Bonnie_Blue wrote:Kow Kow has great egg rolls! If only they delivered, we would order from there, I'm sure.

I think I remember Kumoon. Was it the place that became halal Chinese?

Yes, We had a very similar sign like Peking House. The owners that purchased it after us took it down and renamed it New Kumoon, then sold a couple years later to the owner who after a couple of years of using just the kitchen for their food trucks until the city banned food trucks at O'hare, then opened the dining room again under the name Jumbo House and offered Halal Chinese food. They eventually sold the restaurant to open Jumbo Buffet and a Thai place took over and closed. Now the Music House Inc, has expanded into the former restaurant. Sad to see it gone....

Cross-Post:

I couldn't find a mention of this elsewhere, but Huaraches Dona Chio has opened a new outpost in Albany Park. I've never visited the original location, but I can say I just enjoyed the best huarache (Tinga + Huitlacoche) I've ever had!!

Huaraches y Quesadillas Dona Chio - Estilo D.F.
3119 W Lawrence Ave
Chicago, IL 60625
773.353-5000
Open Daily 1000A - 900P
Dine In and Carryout

Bona Cafe, 5211 N. Harlem, closed and is now something called Alibaba I think.

It's Alibaba Retro, and it's open. This reminded me of it's former days as Jerry's Sandwich Shop, and I got lonesome for eggs and "meat".

Pie Lady wrote:

The GP wrote:[cross posted in First Slice Cafe thread]

I'm sad to report that the First Slice Cafe location in the water tower pumping station has closed. It was one of my regular lunch spots.

First Slice Pie Cafe [CLOSED]
811 N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611

BUT they are opening a new location! Or so I read on their blackboard on Thursday.

Their new location is off Andersonville's main drag, on Ashland at Balmoral -- and is opening imminently (or has already opened):
http://www.avilledaily.com/2012/03/07/f ... ng-up-pie/

From today's Dish...

In the wake of Bradford Phillips’s announcement of plans to leave his post at the Pump Room to partner with the LM Restaurant owners for two new projects, Jean-Georges Vongerichten has promoted the Pump Room’s former sous-chef, Moosah Reaume, to executive chef.

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:There's Wing Hoe.

5356 N Sheridan Rd
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 275-4550

Oooh forgot about Wing Hoe. Thanks, Suzy!

"Troquet, a Neighborhood French Bar by LM" has opened at 1834 W. Montrose.

I love First Slice. I have a friend who lives in Bronzeville who drives up to Ravenswood for their quiche.

A Mariano's is going up at Monroe and Halsted, northwest corner, kitty-corner from Dominick's

Also, Edwardo's Pizza in the 500 south block of Dearborn has finally closed. The sign says "closed for remodeling but delivery still available" There never seemed to be more than 2 tables filled at any given time.

Maria is back at Maria's in Highwood. All's right with the world! I don't think she's the owner but she's running the show, even brought back some of the old staff. The place was once again brimming with life.

Marija wrote:Maria is back at Maria's in Highwood. All's right with the world! I don't think she's the owner but she's running the show, even brought back some of the old staff. The place was once again brimming with life.

WOW! that is great news!!!!

HI,

She was there last weekend according to my sister.

Is she there to get the bakery back on track, then go back to working her business?

Clearly, we are all delighted to see her back in saddle.

Regards,