Less than six months after selling his namesake restaurant chain, Dick Portillo is buying back its real estate.

A venture led by the Portillo's Hot Dogs founder late last month acquired 18 Portillo's restaurants and two food commissaries, according to county real estate records. The records show that the venture paid a combined $74.4 million for 18 of the properties, all in the Chicago area; prices for the other two, in Arizona, were not available.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realesta ... lects-rent

I'm still shaking my head that Deerfield blew the chance to get a Portillo's on a piece of property that's been vacant for 10+ years. Should have bent over backwards for them, and instead made things difficult right off the bat (from all accounts I've heard). As disappointing as it is, I have nothing but respect for Dick saying "you know what Deerfield, forget it".

Tony_Spilotro wrote:I'm still shaking my head that Deerfield blew the chance to get a Portillo's on a piece of property that's been vacant for 10+ years. Should have bent over backwards for them, and instead made things difficult right off the bat (from all accounts I've heard).

Your perceptions and second hand accounts are far from accurate. In fact, the village board voted to allow Portillo's to begin construction before the final permit was approved. Sounds pretty accommodating to me. The problem was the site itself. Portillos wanted to demolish the existing structure and replace it with something much larger, and that couldn't be done quickly enough for them because of the land itself:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/h ... story.html

Thanks sand, that was the lone article I had not seen until you linked it. Refreshing to hear that the Village apparently didn't step on their own puds in this case. On the bright side, it's a nice exhale for the nearby dog joints that others mentioned.

Exactly, Deerfield finally was doing the right thing for a change and in the end it wasn't their fault. I was really looking forward to this location, but at least the company knows the area is perfect for a Portillo's. They just need to find another spot (Deerbrook Mall seems like a perfect fit - put it where Bally's was) or work out the On The Border land issues.

The shopping center on Willow Road and Waukegan Road. where the Whole Foods grocery store is Zapatistas Mexican restaurant is now out of business that would be a great spot for Portillos

Those locations suggested above are all fantastic, and would really work for them. They do need a spot in this area- it'll be interesting to see where they choose next.

Went to the Arlington Heights/Dundee Rd. location Saturday. Went thru the drive-thru...got two big beefs with sweet peppers..hot peppers and gravy on the side. Plus fries.

The drive thru was very busy, but everything went quick with the large crew taking orders, etc. as usual. The sandwiches were as good as always.

Seems to me if Portillo's is going to "sell out" they haven't done so yet, at least in Arlington Hts.

We had worse luck than you at the Vernon Hills Portillo's Saturday evening. Long line but impressively efficient order taking ... all went well til we got to the window. They seemed flustered and asked us to pull over to a side parking spot to wait for our order. We waited at least 20 minutes and watched at least 20 other cars leave with their orders before we got ours. Sweet Baboo was ready to blow his stack. They either suddenly ran out of Polish sausage (that's what one employee speculated) or decided at the last second that I would like my Polish sausage taken off the usual Gonella-type roll and put on a hot dog bun (there was a note on the receipt that said "Polish ON HD"), although I didn't want that, hadn't asked for that, and know I didn't hear the girl who called in our order say that. Alas, the other parts of the order (two other hot dogs and fries) got rather steamy and lukewarm in the 20 or so minutes it took to rebun the Polish that I didn't want rebunned.

I still like Portillo's and am glad to have one so close by. And I don't think that snafu on Saturday was at all related to the ownership change. But precisely because I like Portillo's Italian beef and Polish sausage so much, I go inside to order either of those whenever possible, because I've been disappointed with the same products on multiple occasions when I've ordered them via the drive-through.

Looks like Deerfield and Portillo's finally worked it out. It's going to be located where Bally's was in front of Deerbrook Mall. This location will have an outdoor patio that was not planned for the original site.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/d ... story.html

We visited (drive thru) the portillos downtown on Clark st about a month ago, at the request of some Canadian visitors we had staying with us...

Didn't think it was post-worthy (until I saw this thread) - but it was quite good. Beef was fresh, good hot peppers, well made/dressed dog, perfectly steamed bun, shakes were tasty ...

Not the best rendition I've had of any, but I'm always impressed at how well this machine runs... Pretty damn fine job for the volume they do, and the number of stores they now have. Proud to have them represent chicago on a national scale for beefs & dogs..

That new location in Deerfield should be perfect...lots of room in the lot with the dearth of business on that side of the mall (though it looks like a Hobby Lobby is coming in as well). Patio dining to sandwiched between Waukegan Road traffic, the Red Roof Inn, and the Edens Spur? Sounds delightful. Kidding aside, this is a welcome addition to the area and they will make a killing with all the office lunch folk in the area and harried parents looking for something decent to grab in the 35 minutes between Hebrew School and soccer practice.

rubbbqco wrote:We visited (drive thru) the portillos downtown on Clark st about a month ago, at the request of some Canadian visitors we had staying with us...

Didn't think it was post-worthy (until I saw this thread) - but it was quite good. Beef was fresh, good hot peppers, well made/dressed dog, perfectly steamed bun, shakes were tasty ...

Not the best rendition I've had of any, but I'm always impressed at how well this machine runs... Pretty damn fine job for the volume they do, and the number of stores they now have. Proud to have them represent chicago on a national scale for beefs & dogs..

The machine runs very well. For them to have maintained a consistent level of quality at the volume they do is notable (and explains why they're worth the price they got).

I was in Phoenix last week and saw a spanking new Portillos just 1/2 mile from the sprawling new Cubs training facility in Mesa.

Great news, my office is about a mile from there.

shakes wrote:Great news, my office is about a mile from there.

From Deerfield or from Mesa?

stevez wrote:I was in Phoenix last week and saw a spanking new Portillos just 1/2 mile from the sprawling new Cubs training facility in Mesa.

"New" being relative to their other stores, I guess - that's been open since 2013.

nsxtasy wrote:

shakes wrote:Great news, my office is about a mile from there.

From Deerfield or from Mesa?

Deerfield unfortunately

Noticed a sign at the register today that the grilled chicken is temporarily off the menu due to quality issues. Sign stated it is off at all the restaurants.

PreFlopRaise13 wrote:Noticed a sign at the register today that the grilled chicken is temporarily off the menu due to quality issues. Sign stated it is off at all the restaurants.

I would say that is a good thing, it shows they still care about quality.

Ram4 wrote:

PreFlopRaise13 wrote:Noticed a sign at the register today that the grilled chicken is temporarily off the menu due to quality issues. Sign stated it is off at all the restaurants.

I would say that is a good thing, it shows they still care about quality.

Yes, it is a good sign. I wasn't trying to knock Portillo's. Maybe I should have posted in a different thread.

Dick Portillo reflects on sale of eponymous restaurant chain

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... tml#page=1

The Oak Brook-based chain last week applied for a building permit at 520 W. Taylor St, city records show. If built, the restaurant would be the second Portillo's in the city, following a River North location.

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20150909 ... restaurant

Homewood Portillo's Will Open Sept. 15

The doors of the Homewood location at Halsted and 175th streets will open at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15, with a ribbon cutting ceremony to be held just prior, Portillo’s officials said Tuesday. Homewood Mayor Hofeld will be there, as will Portillo’s founder Dick Portillo.

The Homewood location marks the chain’s 40th, and the first to feature “a groovy 1970s theme, featuring a wall that looks like a 1970s VW bus. The location will also feature two drive-thru lanes to serve customers.

The company will also display a replica of Dick Portillo’s original “Dog House” hot dog cart in front of the store for the first few weeks after opening.

Portillo's plans first Wisconsin location

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... story.html

Dave148 wrote:

Portillo's plans first Wisconsin location

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... story.html

I say screw those cheesehead bastards! Until they are willing to sell their precious Spotted Cow below the border there's no reason we should allow them local access to one of our homegrown talents!

shakes wrote:I say screw those cheesehead bastards! Until they are willing to sell their precious Spotted Cow below the border there's no reason we should allow them local access to one of our homegrown talents!

Portilllo's is already in Arizona, which stole away the Chicago Cardinals football team (admittedly, with an intermediate stop in St. Louis).

Regarding Deerfield, Portillo's may be out but Josh's is in . . .

Hot Dog Joint Opening in Deerfield Square

A new place for hot dogs in Deerfield with [sic] open in January when Josh’s on the Square opens in former Tom & Eddie’s location in the southwest section of the Shops at Deerfield Square shopping center [740 N. Waukegan Road Deerfield, IL 60015].

=R=

Interesting, I guess Josh understands that it'll be 100% locals or bust because there is no signage for people driving past this shopping center to indicate his place is tucked in the corner. I work less than 5 minutes from Josh's in Northbrook. He does use natural casing Vienna and has some decent items including the burger with meat from Elegance In Meats. It was written up around 5 years ago (when Josh's was still Wolfy's) by Kevin Pang aka The Cheeseburger Show. This is an even riskier idea considering Portillo's still could happen close by (I still can't believe they are having problems with yet another location!). I wish him success.

Ram4 wrote:Interesting, I guess Josh understands that it'll be 100% locals or bust because there is no signage for people driving past this shopping center to indicate his place is tucked in the corner. I work less than 5 minutes from Josh's in Northbrook. He does use natural casing Vienna and has some decent items including the burger with meat from Elegance In Meats. It was written up around 5 years ago (when Josh's was still Wolfy's) by Kevin Pang aka The Cheeseburger Show. This is an even riskier idea considering Portillo's still could happen close by (I still can't believe they are having problems with yet another location!). I wish him success.

Josh is an old friend of mine. Great guy, glad to see his place doing well. The new place is going to be modeled after Michael's in HP. Its going to have a salad bar and a party room. Hopefully that type of expanded menu and services will set him apart from Dear Franks and any other competition that shows up.