Maybe they were worried about Mariano's opening tomorrow - http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... 5438.story

This all may be just speculation, but I was in on Tuesday. The meat counter looked slightly empty. There was nearly no coffee (I had to go with packaged stuff). Other parts of the store looked O.K. We will know when we know. Hopefully the place can pull it together. It would be missed, despite the flaws.

DML wrote:This all may be just speculation, but I was in on Tuesday. The meat counter looked slightly empty. There was nearly no coffee (I had to go with packaged stuff). Other parts of the store looked O.K. We will know when we know. Hopefully the place can pull it together. It would be missed, despite the flaws.

I'm already missing the old F&O. Things have gone precipitously downhill in the six months since I moved in across the street. The first sign of trouble was when I saw a person there who appeared to be consulting on their cafe process. But that was at a time when they still appeared to be trying to improve matters. At a certain point, they must have given up. The staff, with the exception of a few buoyant cashiers, is down-in-the-mouth or absent. The shelves have been increasingly empty in recent weeks. Are they trying to hold on with a limited inventory, or hoping for a rescue? In the meantime, someone should reorganize and remove empty shelves or dress them up somehow.

Yesterday, on a mission to buy deli salads, I was unable to purchase anything prepared, as everything looked very tired indeed. I ended up with supermarket pre-packaged cold cuts and made my own salad from the decent lettuce and tomatoes I found. More and more shelves look empty, and the staff is spotty. I understand that they no longer have a nighttime staff, and have taken to stocking the shelves during the day. Fortunately, the butcher and baker still offer quality, and the milk is still fresh.

Although having a grocery nearby is a benefit to those who live in the immediate neighborhood, I remember when they were a destination. Over the years, I ran into a bunch of Lth-ers there, shopping for hard-to-find ingredients. Perhaps others fill that niche now, but there is still low-hanging fruit in that business, what with a corner continually supplied with tourists on their way to Navy Pier. If they were to clarify the entrance (What's the deal with the odd blocked corner?) and make use of the outdoor space along the river, they would have a business again. Of course, they need to clarify what business they are in. At this point, it's unclear that they have either restaurant/cafe or grocery business. And no one walking by would be able to tell you. I doubt anyone running the business can tell you, either.

Were I to indulge my fantasy of rescuing F&O, I would go for broke during the coming holiday season. This would involve food carts on the corner near the entrance, perhaps offering chestnuts, crepes or pretzels. Or why not the best of Chicago food? tacos, birria, isaan sausage, curry puffs, banh mi and champurado. I would fill the sidewalk down toward the river with tables and perhaps music, and heat the outdoor area near the water to permit people to gather there with holiday beverages such as hot buttered rum and glogg.

This theme would continue inside, where I would re-configure the entryway from a checkout to a place where customers can actually see and taste what delights await them. I would create a sight line from the entry to the central space around the bakery, decorate the hell out of it, and offer samples galore, as well as pre-packaged gift items (they did this in previous years). Again, live music and the sense that this place is alive and kicking. A kid-oriented feature would not hurt. Maybe find a Santa that really looks like Santa, and a kid-sized gourmet grocery where kids can shop for their parents.

I'd offer a taqueria (none in the neighborhood) and an all-day breakfast menu in both the cafe and the restaurant, in an effort to draw off some of the insane (and, IMHO unmerited) business from Yolk nearby. I would light the windows in the cafe to create some visual interest for passersby. Just think of all the dollars that walk by on their way to a dismal Navy Pier food court, or return hungry, after passing up the fast food there. Here is the place to eat and shop when you visit Chicago!

Whew. I am done now. Thanks, I needed that.

As a long time regular, my distinct impression is that they are having a hard time paying suppliers. As noted above, shelves are too often empty. Meat and fish have gone down both in quality and in quantity. Other than the bakery, it is tough to justify going in.

DML wrote:As a long time regular, my distinct impression is that they are having a hard time paying suppliers. As noted above, shelves are too often empty. Meat and fish have gone down both in quality and in quantity. Other than the bakery, it is tough to justify going in.

Agreed.

However, I am feeling better about it all since I posted my rescue fantasy above. Looking out my window at the canal next to the building, I now see a few lovely antique boats docked there. Perhaps Santa has sailed here from the North Pole (the pack ice is open now, I hear) and has brought his crew of seafaring elves to see all the good little boys and girls in Chicago. This would be a really cool Santa experience if the liability exposure could be controlled!

DML wrote:As a long time regular, my distinct impression is that they are having a hard time paying suppliers. As noted above, shelves are too often empty. Meat and fish have gone down both in quality and in quantity. Other than the bakery, it is tough to justify going in.

At least they have shorter cashier lines than Dominicks:-). One major plus - being open until midnight, even with a skeleton staff, is extremely convenient if you live on the McClurg "drag strip" and don't want to walk or drive too far later at night.

Otherwise, I'd much rather have them than not have them, but the initial promise of F&O as a high-end destination is long over. They still have things like Danish butter and various Greek-style yogurts in dairy, as well as decent special entrees in takeout for holidays and a bakery that has treats like Sicillian sun bread at times, but otherwise they're simply a more convenient place to shop within walking distance than the Whole Foods on Huron, and cleaner than Treasure Island. And if I wanted a supermarket where you wanted one-stop shopping for Mediterranean or European ethnic foods, and didn't mind the drive, Garden Fresh in Northbrook is a much better organized, and reasonably priced, location.

They've also kept the same salads and entrees in the takeout counter so long that they're predictable, with the cafe defining "tired" as a concept, and the restaurant essentially being a fresher version of the takeout (plus a wine bar that's less interesting than, say, the one on the ground floor of the Intercontinental on Michigan Av.). You know it's bad when the weekend trafffic looks like referrals from hotel concierges directing tourists on the way to Navy Pier. I think of it as West Egg without the speedy service.

I was there yesterday and they were quite busy! I did get a lovely prime rib roast.

But what's with the no white truffles? I asked them when they might get more in and the guy said "Maybe around Thanksgiving."

What?

Anyway, I was glad to see things were hopping there yesterday and they were doing a brisk business.

DutchMuse wrote:I was there yesterday and they were quite busy! I did get a lovely prime rib roast.

But what's with the no white truffles? I asked them when they might get more in and the guy said "Maybe around Thanksgiving."

What?

Anyway, I was glad to see things were hopping there yesterday and they were doing a brisk business.

DK about truffles, but they carry a hand-rolled, sun-dried couscous from Tunisia called M'Hamsa that has a unique flavor due to a little bit of olive oil coating the grains before it gets the sun treatment. Unfortunately the last couple of years, they get out of stock for increasingly longer periods (sometimes several months). This sounds par for the course.

Josephine wrote:

DML wrote:As a long time regular, my distinct impression is that they are having a hard time paying suppliers. As noted above, shelves are too often empty. Meat and fish have gone down both in quality and in quantity. Other than the bakery, it is tough to justify going in.

Agreed.

However, I am feeling better about it all since I posted my rescue fantasy above. Looking out my window at the canal next to the building, I now see a few lovely antique boats docked there. Perhaps Santa has sailed here from the North Pole (the pack ice is open now, I hear) and has brought his crew of seafaring elves to see all the good little boys and girls in Chicago. This would be a really cool Santa experience if the liability exposure could be controlled!

For all the specialty products, it would be nice if they were staffed more efficiently, or had more a buzzer system or something at the counters. About 7:30 PM today I waited almost 10 minutes for someone to notice me at the meat counter to buy 1/2 lb. of ground Tallgrass beef. And that was after a manager walked by twice.

What's even sadder is that the Dominick's a block or so away more and better quality produce, particularly organic things like peppers or heirloom tomatoes this time of year. Compared to even Whole Foods on Huron (let alone the gorgeous one on North & Kingsbury), F & O is rapidly becoming a slightly more elegant copy of the old Bockwinkel's I never thought I'd say this as an original customer, but it would merciful to see Whole Foods or Mariano's take over, and bring the store back to it's original potential.

Chicagoist is reporting that Fox and Obel fired their head baker and that paychecks are bouncing. That's too bad. She was charming and her products made the place a destination. On New Year's Eve, the fish counter was nearly empty. It seems sad but inevitable that the place will not last.
Edited to add; I forgot to attach the link to the story. http://chicagoist.com/2012/01/02/fox_an ... checks.php

DML wrote:Chicagoist is reporting that Fox and Obel fired their head baker and that paychecks are bouncing. That's too bad. She was charming and her products made the place a destination. On New Year's Eve, the fish counter was nearly empty. It seems sad but inevitable that the place will not last.
Edited to add; I forgot to attach the link to the story. http://chicagoist.com/2012/01/02/fox_an ... checks.php

Thanks, for the heads up. That's a major downhill alert, as far as I'm concerned. Their breads are far and away their best item (best in the city, IMO) and Fitzpatrick is/was directly responsible for them. With her now gone, who knows? Wow.

=R=

OK, its over. Coincidental that I was there on Saturday and asked for Pam and the person said "She no longer works here." This explains it.

Chicago needs a place like F&O. Whole Foods and Fox's own ineptitude may have buried them but Whole Foods still does not stock the hard to find and often esoteric items.

If F&O departs, there will be an opening for someone to come into this niche and do it right.

I'm sorry but not surprised. It stopped being a destination for me a couple of years ago. It seemed to have lost its way. But boy, was it amazing when it first opened -- not just for the stuff they offered, but for the energy, enthusiasm, and knowledge of the staff. Still, there were things available there that I don't think I've seen anywhere else. And I'm always sorry to see any business fold and people lose jobs.

The bouncing paycheck issue really bothers me. I go there at least once a week for my morning coffee and pastry and I've always been treated kindly by the staff. I hate to think that they're not getting paid.

I have noticed that even the quality of the bakery items has not been up to their usual standard the past few months. I used to love their croissants, but they don't seem fresh anymore.

If F&O goes, I'll be bringing my coffee exclusively from home. We really need a place in Streeterville that serves decent coffee. Cafe Descartes is terrible, and I don't even need to talk about Starbucks...

Is Cafe Descartes that place in the 680 LSD building? When it was under a prior name, it had exceptional coffee.
Too bad if it has changed both the name and the quality.

It is indeed. I believe the previous coffee shop had an Italian name...

They were great - offering several single estate estate brews as well as french press and chemex options. That place literally got me through Northwestern law school. The hipsters who ran the place were also very friendly. Descartes sucks. I wish them nothing but endless failure. And yes, F&O has some good coffee. Other things too - cheese, beer and preserved meats. It would be sad to see them go. Apparently even the money'd folks in Streeterville have no taste and would prefer to waddle in the mediocrity that is Treasure Island.

I'm not sure that Treasure Island is the real competition as much as Dominicks. The produce department at Dominicks is better than Fox in both price and quality and its only a block away.

DML wrote:I'm not sure that Treasure Island is the real competition as much as Dominicks. The produce department at Dominicks is better than Fox in both price and quality and its only a block away.

Actually, I think the downward spiral at F&O predates Dominicks by a year or two. It started when the original owner(s) sold the place.

F and O's strong suit was never produce. Even from the beginning, it wasn't that great.

If anyone cares, today's Groupon is for groceries from F&O.

DML wrote:Is Cafe Descartes that place in the 680 LSD building? When it was under a prior name, it had exceptional coffee.
Too bad if it has changed both the name and the quality.

Right. The old place was the Italian Coffee Bar, and they were great. They served Alterra Coffee. I could list my complaints about Cafe Descartes, but I have other things to do this week. Just abysmal.

If anyone cares, today's Groupon is for groceries from F&O.

Uh-oh. Ominous sign.

Evil Ronnie wrote:F and O's strong suit was never produce. Even from the beginning, it wasn't that great.

I think that is part of the problem. F&O never sold the basics (laundry detergent, etc.) so it was never a one-stop place. However, with weak produce, it often wasn't a one stop place for cooking a meal. It could be done of course (and countless times I went in there, stopped at the meat/fish counter to see what looked good, and then planned out the night's meal) but it often was a challenge. The result was that if I knew I had to go to Dominicks (or Whole Foods) to get something in particular, I often will go to the other place first. A decent number of times I end up picking stuff up at those places that F&O carries. By having a poor selection in produce, they lost sales on other stuff.

Another factor likely is that the new restaurant (I can't think of the name at this second) opened at Grand/McClurg. The cafe at F&O was good but always was slow and expensive. When a nearby option opened, that sort of killed any reason to go to the F&O cafe. I just don't see a point. The quality was not enough to make up for the price or the delays.

One last factor: the quality of meat at Costco is pretty good, and the produce is also good. The last year especially, Costco has replaced F&O as a primary source for meat and produce for my family. About a week ago, I was in Costco for steaks. They were far less expensive than F&O and the quality was very good. Other than bakery, there really is not one area where F&O was worth a special trip.

I say this in the context of the fact that I live within two blocks of the place. It would hate to see it go, but I admit that now I rarely go in there.

DML wrote:

Evil Ronnie wrote:F and O's strong suit was never produce. Even from the beginning, it wasn't that great.

I think that is part of the problem. F&O never sold the basics (laundry detergent, etc.) so it was never a one-stop place. However, with weak produce, it often wasn't a one stop place for cooking a meal. It could be done of course (and countless times I went in there, stopped at the meat/fish counter to see what looked good, and then planned out the night's meal) but it often was a challenge. The result was that if I knew I had to go to Dominicks (or Whole Foods) to get something in particular, I often will go to the other place first. A decent number of times I end up picking stuff up at those places that F&O carries. By having a poor selection in produce, they lost sales on other stuff.

Another factor likely is that the new restaurant (I can't think of the name at this second) opened at Grand/McClurg. The cafe at F&O was good but always was slow and expensive. When a nearby option opened, that sort of killed any reason to go to the F&O cafe. I just don't see a point. The quality was not enough to make up for the price or the delays.

One last factor: the quality of meat at Costco is pretty good, and the produce is also good. The last year especially, Costco has replaced F&O as a primary source for meat and produce for my family. About a week ago, I was in Costco for steaks. They were far less expensive than F&O and the quality was very good. Other than bakery, there really is not one area where F&O was worth a special trip.

I say this in the context of the fact that I live within two blocks of the place. It would hate to see it go, but I admit that now I rarely go in there.

Wow, it's sad when you're thinking of Yolk as a F&O cafe killer. It's cookie-cutter breakfast food, but prepared competently and quickly (and they do have decent Nutella crepes). I'd just stay far, far away on a weekend, and a place like Meli Cafe or even 676 Restaurant is a much better quality selection for breakfast. That doesn't mean you're not right.

Right now, I'm thinking of F&O as being a 'take it or leave it' kind of store, kind of like a big version of the old Tutto Pronto. If you see the olive oil you want, or the balsamic vinegar, or that odd hand-rolled couscous from Tunisia being carried there, buy it there if you're in the neighborhood. Or a cut of meat exactly the way you'd work at home with it. But otherwise it's basically a glorified convenience store, with a bakery that's OK if you catch them at the right time for the staples like whole wheat or their dark cider bread. And pretty pathetic service (i.e. bakery counter workers that don't know how to use the slicer) and cafe compared to the likes of Whole Foods, and not as much selection as Treasure Island on specialty products. We've actually shifted out shopping to Treasure Island and Dominicks except for the truly hard to get items anywhere else.

redhanded wrote:

DML wrote:Is Cafe Descartes that place in the 680 LSD building? When it was under a prior name, it had exceptional coffee.
Too bad if it has changed both the name and the quality.

Right. The old place was the Italian Coffee Bar, and they were great. They served Alterra Coffee. I could list my complaints about Cafe Descartes, but I have other things to do this week. Just abysmal.

The only thing they have going for them are some of their pastries (their pain de chocolate) and the oatmeal latte, and even at $6.75 for a croissant & medium espresso, it's better than Starbucks - but I agree not nearly as good as the Italian Coffee Bar. These days, they may be better than F&O for at least the croissants. But for real croissants at that price point I'd rather walk to Hendryks.

Crains is reporting that the owners say the bounced check thing was due to a change in accounting systems rather than lack of funds.

Has anybody seen changes in the bakery this week? Right now, it is the only reason I go.

DML wrote:Has anybody seen changes in the bakery this week? Right now, it is the only reason I go.

Do you mean other than the firing of their head (and amazingly talented) pastry chef Pamela Fitzpatrick?

BR wrote:

DML wrote:Has anybody seen changes in the bakery this week? Right now, it is the only reason I go.

Do you mean other than the firing of their head (and amazingly talented) pastry chef Pamela Fitzpatrick?

Was snark really necessary? That was covered above in detail, and as such, the question was asked about changes since she left.

DML wrote:

BR wrote:

DML wrote:Has anybody seen changes in the bakery this week? Right now, it is the only reason I go.

Do you mean other than the firing of their head (and amazingly talented) pastry chef Pamela Fitzpatrick?

Was snark really necessary? That was covered above in detail, and as such, the question was asked about changes since she left.

Sorry - meant really for F&O out of frustration and not for you. Please don't take offense ... none intended (for you at least).

Thanks for the clarification! Needless to say (and as I noted above) I'm very sorry to see her go. She's a charming person who made a great product.