RIP: Galway Tribes, Frankfort, Il closing saturday nite. Taxes, debt, and overhead too much for owner. I will surely miss the great beer, great music, and lambpop appetizers with parsnip fries.

What's going on with Rustik in Logan Square - there are a couple posts on Yelp saying that they're closed.

I called their number and the recording says they're closed from Memorial Day thru June 2...

Anyone got the scoop?

honus wrote:What's going on with Rustik in Logan Square - there are a couple posts on Yelp saying that they're closed.

I called their number and the recording says they're closed from Memorial Day thru June 2...

Anyone got the scoop?

It sounds like you do. Check back on June 2 and let us know how it goes.

Dave148 wrote:

whiskeybent wrote:

Dave148 wrote:Skokie Pita & Pizza at the infamous corner of Skokie/Lincoln/Howard has closed. To be replaced by the creatively named Coffee Beanery. I'm taking bets on this one.

Are you saying it could be a Location Of The Damned?

You betcha!

I would have ate there at least once a week for lunch but after I gave it five trys in two different months they could never get their timing down. I could never get out of there in under 50 minutes for lunch. Forget trying to have gotten something to go.

[post deleted -- I was worried I was brushing up inappropriately against the 'no health violation reports' rule. Sorry if I had.]

John des Rosiers new restaurant, Inovasi, has opened at the old Holly's bistro spot in Lake Bluff.

http://www.inovasi.us

-Will

Borincuba is being replaced with another rotisserie chicken outfit as I noted in the Borincuba - Puerto Rican & Cuban Cuisine thread.

I wonder if there is enough business to sustain the number of places in a relatively small area of Irving Park and Albany Park once the next ones open. Offhand I can think of six Peruvian or Columbian plus a Mexican one with char grilled chicken.

stevez wrote:

honus wrote:What's going on with Rustik in Logan Square - there are a couple posts on Yelp saying that they're closed.

I called their number and the recording says they're closed from Memorial Day thru June 2...

Anyone got the scoop?

It sounds like you do. Check back on June 2 and let us know how it goes.

The sign out front says they're on vacation until mid-June.

Ronna

REB wrote:

stevez wrote:

honus wrote:What's going on with Rustik in Logan Square - there are a couple posts on Yelp saying that they're closed.

I called their number and the recording says they're closed from Memorial Day thru June 2...

Anyone got the scoop?

It sounds like you do. Check back on June 2 and let us know how it goes.

The sign out front says they're on vacation until mid-June.

Ronna

While on my way to a terrific dinner at Hachi's last night, I did see someone inside Rustik doing what seemed like a restocking of the bar.

ab wrote:

TomH wrote:The spot formerly housing Phlair/Darwin's/Whiskey Road/Chinaski's at 1935 N Damen
(a Location of the Damned ) is set to re-open as 6 Degrees on June 8th.

Hopefully they will have more success than the previous occupants.

I still lament the version #1 of Darwins - had big hopes for that before it went through that initial closing. Opened up a completely different place.

Chinaski's had a great name, and not much else. Good luck to 6 Degrees.

Perhaps if it's under new ownership? Apparently the last five ventures didn't hold out long. Maybe it's a self-fulfilling prophecy as they seemed to express a lot of internal paranoia about publicity based on the turnover rate whenever myself and a few other food journalists tried to obtain information solely for write-up purposes.

Another cursed location, 2165 N. Western (formerly home to Ixcapuzalco and Karma Crossing) is getting another chance as Siboney, a Cuban restaurant, according to the new signage up today.

Bread Basket at 4725 W. Belmont Ave opened this weekend.

Ursiform wrote:Another cursed location, 2165 N. Western (formerly home to Ixcapuzalco and Karma Crossing) is getting another chance as Siboney, a Cuban restaurant, according to the new signage up today.

I thought Izcapuzalco was on Milwaukee?

trpt2345 wrote:

Ursiform wrote:Another cursed location, 2165 N. Western (formerly home to Ixcapuzalco and Karma Crossing) is getting another chance as Siboney, a Cuban restaurant, according to the new signage up today.

I thought Izcapuzalco was on Milwaukee?

It originally was. Once it moved over to this addy and Geno handed the reigns over to a relative, it went the way of the dinosaur.

While staring out the #22 (Clark St.) bus window on the way to work this morning, I noticed that Mambo Grill's windows were all papered up. A visit to the restaurant's website reveals that they closed their River North location on March 31, and will be reopening in a "50% larger" location a few blocks west (410 N. Wells St.) "sometime this summer".

Past LTH impressions weren't exactly glowing (and seem to match what little I remember of my 2 or 3 dinners there, a few years back)...maybe new surroundings will provide them with some motivation/inspiration.

A sort of an opening: I stopped at the Des Plaines outpost of Las Asadas on Thursday of last week and commented on the driving gymnastics required to get to the parking lot with the street construction going on right in front. I was told that the street work was supposed to be done in another week, so, any day now.

David Hammond wrote:

Panther in the Den wrote:Just noticed a sign in the windows announcing the opening for Chicago's Home of Chicken & Waffles‎ on Madison just east of East Ave.

Sign said Fall 2009. Why so long? Peeked inside and there is nothing going on other than the signs.

There is another location at 3947 S Dr Martin L King Jr Dr. that used to be infamously named Rosscoe's Chicken and Waffle's.

PitD, I walked by yesterday and there is now construction taking place. It seems, in fact, that there may actually be two levels of dining planned, which is ambitious, to say the least.

I happened to also be walking by today and the 2 level construction is a carryover from the insurance company that used to reside in the space.

No new construction as of yet...

Panther in the Den wrote:
On Roosevelt in Berwyn

Perhaps a relocation of...


... further west?

Drove by today and the interior is almost finished. No notice on an opening though (all signs were removed from the windows)...

Panther in the Den wrote:Eastgate Cafe
102 Harrison St, Oak Park
(708) 660-9091




Giving the stalwart Buzz Cafe some competition?

Not exactly brand new but not checked out on the forums as of yet. I have some friends that meet with a local ukulele group here. There is a guy making ukuleles to the west a block or so before Ridgeland.

Stopped by the other day so my coffee hound friend could grab a cup-o-joe and he mentioned the coffee was nothing special or peticularly strong. The nod goes to The Buzz Cafe for coffee.

Awesome looking and fancy pastries though!

On the other hand, over the weekend I was talking to a friend who has a gallery in the area and she mentioned that Eastgate is a great place to sit and surf the Internet. Less kids than Buzz (quieter) and a touch more cozy.

Buzz Cafe
905 S Lombard Ave, Oak Park
(708) 524-2899

WillG wrote:John des Rosiers new restaurant, Inovasi, has opened at the old Holly's bistro spot in Lake Bluff.

http://www.inovasi.us

-Will

Glad to see it. I've exchanged email conversations with John since he left Bank Lane and was looking for backing for his new thing, but lost track of him about 6 months ago. I'm glad that he's got a new place firing up. Can't wait to try it.

There is a 2nd location of Sarkis opening up in Lincoln Park on July 1st. Sarks in the Park will be at Clark and Fullerton next to or where House of Hunan used to be. According to the facebook page "Look for all of your favorites as we are bringing the same great sandwiches, omeletes, and hash browns that you grew up with." Not a bad addition by any means. Beats another Cosi or Caribou.

My Bride and I had a hankering for a different kind of pizza last week and decided to call...

Pizza Palazzo
314 Madison St, Oak Park
(708) 848-6600

And we were dismayed to have our calls answered by a fax machine.

Happened to be strolling by today and there was a sign in the window stating...

Closed for Repairs
Open April 23rd

Over a month overdue.

Not great pizza but they have been there forever and used to be the king of offbeat pizza's. Hawaiian, chicken with ranch, BBQ and a whole menu of nonstandard ingredients. This was way before some of these pizzas became the norm.

Recently they simplified the menu but still held on to the most popular ones.

I wish them luck!

PITD, I tried PP once, and thought it was just OK.

Per today's issue of Dish:

Cafe 36 (22 Calendar Ave., LaGrange), after getting a temporary shot in the arm courtesy of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, has closed.

sundevilpeg wrote:Per today's issue of Dish:

Cafe 36 (22 Calendar Ave., LaGrange), after getting a temporary shot in the arm courtesy of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, has closed.

(This is a very parenthetical thought about the above--hence the parentheses--but I often have wondered when watching Kitchen Nightmares just how permanent will be the changes Gordon Ramsay puts in place. It has always seemed to me, just as with those shows in which a crew comes in and cleans up a messy house for someone, that things are going to be back to the way they were within six weeks--because there's a reason they were the way they were in the first place. Not saying any learning was unlearned by Cafe 36, because Lord knows every business these days is under multiple pressures beyond its control, but I wonder. This is more a comment about Gordon Ramsay's show and shows like it than it is about Cafe 36.)

Well, the original British version of the show has a number of "Revisited" episodes. I would say it's about 50/50, places that really did get his basic message (which you've probably noticed is always the same: simplify the menu, cut the pretensions, serve fresh local produce instead of frozen crap) and places that waved goodbye and went back to their old habits.

Khan has reopened as of last night.

Mike G wrote:Well, the original British version of the show has a number of "Revisited" episodes. I would say it's about 50/50, places that really did get his basic message (which you've probably noticed is always the same: simplify the menu, cut the pretensions, serve fresh local produce instead of frozen crap) and places that waved goodbye and went back to their old habits.

Here is a site that tells what happened to the UK Kitchen Nightmares restaurants.

http://mangatower.com.au/2008/03/life-after-kitchen-nightmares/

Wolfie's has opened in the old Ira's Red Hots space in Northbrook.

Wolfie's
873 Sanders Road
Northbrook, IL
847-272-1177

Looks like someone else is going to try to make a go of the cursed space in Northfield that was last occupied by MK North and before that Brasserie T. Sounds like a pretty strange eclectic menu, but who knows.

Link:

http://www.northshoremag.com/cgi-bin/ns ... taste.html