Don't know if it has been mentioned here but Bacalod Chicken Haus has opened at 6230 N. Lincoln. Appears to be Filipino style fried chicken like that of Pecking Order.

Found a website:
http://www.bacolodchickenhaus.com/

Bacolod Chicken Haus
6230 N. Lincoln Ave.

Butterfield Kitchens to open a stand at the Jefferson Park Blue and Roosevelt Green/Orange/Red stations. They'll be there for at least 10 years, unless something goes horribly wrong:
http://www.chicagonow.com/cta-tattler/2 ... -stations/

Eddie V's Prime Seafood, a fish and steak restaurant chain founded in Texas, is invading the River North turf of Joe's Seafood Prime Steak & Stone Crab.

http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/article/20130508/CRED03/130509775/look-out-joes-here-comes-eddie-vs

Zapatista has opened in Freedom Commons in Naperville, near Naf Naf.

Harry Caray Restaurant Group said it plans to open its seventh Chicago-area restaurant in the Water Tower Place mall, at 835 N. Michigan Avenue.

http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/article/20130509/CRED03/130509714/law-firm-doubles-space-at-usg-building

Saw the sign for this Nepalese/Newari place while driving down Clark in Anderson--signs say coming this summer

Scafuri bakery, at 1337 W. Taylor, which has ben closed since around 2007-2008(right when I moved close by) is about to be fully open again. As I walked down Taylor this morning with my son we saw new neon lights on and people inside so we stopped in. They told us they were just doing a sneak peek to let the neighbors know they were opening soon(Thursday is what they told me). The menu items include fresh bread, Italian pastries and pizza bread(which will hopefully help ease the sting from the loss of ISB).

We only tried the cookie they gave my son.

Excited to have this bakery in the neighborhood open again and I can't wait to report back on their food. The early hours(6am Open) also have me hopeful.

Scafuri Bakery
1337 W Taylor
http://scafuribakery.com

Double Li (228 W Cermak) has ceased to exist, and it's been replaced by another Sichuan restaurant. The waiter said that yesterday was their grand opening. In my rush to get my hands on some water-boiled fish, I didn't get a good look at what the new name is, so I'm not much help. But it's definitely a good spot for tasty traditional Sichuan cuisine.

Goodbye Harley-Davidson. Hello Shake Shack.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20130510/BLOGS09/130519979/shake-shack-coming-to-chicago

That's some news!

Stopped by the Damen/Division Chase ATM tonight and noticed this sign in the window next store at 1951 W Division.



No additional info available other than this tease of a sign.

Crossing my fingers that it's good and opens soon; middle eastern food within quick walking distance from home would certainly be a welcome addition.


-B

There were giant signs in the windows of the former Red Hen Breads spot on Diversey announcing "Great Flafel Coming Soon" in that old-school grocery store sale window poster style. No name given, and doesn't appear to be a chain.

Have heard this morning that Royce in Highland Park closed. I know that John Des Rosiers hadn't been doing anything there for the last several months. I liked the burger joint concept, thought it got a little unfocused when they backed away from that into a more supper-clubby environment. More to the point, I can't figure out why Highland Park can't sustain some of these restaurants.

blipsman wrote:There were giant signs in the windows of the former Red Hen Breads spot on Diversey announcing "Great Flafel Coming Soon" in that old-school grocery store sale window poster style. No name given, and doesn't appear to be a chain.

I love that the signs say "all vegetarian felafel" and "no gelatin", because now I really want to find meaty gelatin-filled felafel

leek wrote:

blipsman wrote:There were giant signs in the windows of the former Red Hen Breads spot on Diversey announcing "Great Flafel Coming Soon" in that old-school grocery store sale window poster style. No name given, and doesn't appear to be a chain.

I love that the signs say "all vegetarian felafel" and "no gelatin", because now I really want to find meaty gelatin-filled felafel

Yeah, my Israeli wife pondered that, too. She asked incredulously, "Does that mean some places do put gelatin in their falafel?!?!"

blipsman wrote:

leek wrote:

blipsman wrote:There were giant signs in the windows of the former Red Hen Breads spot on Diversey announcing "Great Flafel Coming Soon" in that old-school grocery store sale window poster style. No name given, and doesn't appear to be a chain.

I love that the signs say "all vegetarian felafel" and "no gelatin", because now I really want to find meaty gelatin-filled felafel

Yeah, my Israeli wife pondered that, too. She asked incredulously, "Does that mean some places do put gelatin in their falafel?!?!"

Yuck...

Well, we could use a "falafel hagadol" (the Great Falafel LOL) or "falafel achla" (roughly, "awesome falafel") ....as long as they have all the proper salads to go with the falafel! There's always room for one more falafel place in the area...

I would kill for Israeli-style, properly spiced turkey shawarma in the city. We're getting a Naf Naf on Michigan Avenue this summer, but they're just doing steak & chicken AFAIK. However, they definitely win style points for baking their own pita and having Yemenite-style green hot sauce ("zhug"). But for the Israeli turkey/lamb mix, driving up to Highland Park to go to Mizrahi Grill is a bit of a pain for us lakefront types.

Extra credit if they also have kibbeh in multiple forms like they do in Jerusalem...

leek wrote:

blipsman wrote:There were giant signs in the windows of the former Red Hen Breads spot on Diversey announcing "Great Flafel Coming Soon" in that old-school grocery store sale window poster style. No name given, and doesn't appear to be a chain.

I love that the signs say "all vegetarian felafel" and "no gelatin", because now I really want to find meaty gelatin-filled felafel

Both of these signs indicate that they are trying to reassure vegetarians, since gelatin is typically not vegetarian.

My wife forwarded this to me:

"'Hoppin' Hots' Gourmet Hot Dogs Replacing Great Lake Pizza in Andersonville"

The folks behind popular Ravenswood breakfast and brunch destination Over Easy Cafe are opening an upscale hot dog joint in Andersonville at the former location of Great Lake Pizza.

thaiobsessed wrote:Saw the sign for this Nepalese/Newari place while driving down Clark in Anderson--signs say coming this summer

More here: Nepalese and Newari Cuisine Coming to Uptown

I'd like to see Great Flafel (if that's their name) succeed in that location, primarily because I'd like to see something succeed in that location.

riddlemay wrote:I'd like to see Great Flafel (if that's their name) succeed in that location, primarily because I'd like to see something succeed in that location.

That spot has actually been fairly stable... there was that Cameron's ice cream parlor there for many years, and then Red Hen had been there for 7-8.

So the reassurances of 100% vegetarian falafel probably isn't a good sign in terms of shwarma also being available... too bad. While I, as an American, can enjoy the U.S. shawarma my wife always bitches that it's not authentic like the turkey/lamb shwarma back home. And when we went to visit her parents in Haifa a few years ago and visited her old local stand, I fully understood what she was talking about...

blipsman wrote:

riddlemay wrote:I'd like to see Great Flafel (if that's their name) succeed in that location, primarily because I'd like to see something succeed in that location.

That spot has actually been fairly stable... there was that Cameron's ice cream parlor there for many years, and then Red Hen had been there for 7-8.

That's true. It seems to me like there's been more turnover than that for a couple of reasons. One, time flies. Two, I wish Cameron's were still there! (I know they're at Diversey and Southport now, but I don't get over that way as much.)

Chick-Fil-A in the loop (State & Lake) is going to open on June 20th according to their webpage.

According to a post on their Facebook page today, Parson's Chicken and Fish is now open for business.


Parson's Chicken and Fish
2952 W. Armitage
Chicago, IL 60647
773-384-3333
http://www.parsonschickenandfish.com/

sdrucker wrote:I would kill for Israeli-style, properly spiced turkey shawarma in the city. We're getting a Naf Naf on Michigan Avenue this summer, but they're just doing steak & chicken AFAIK. However, they definitely win style points for baking their own pita and having Yemenite-style green hot sauce ("zhug"). But for the Israeli turkey/lamb mix, driving up to Highland Park to go to Mizrahi Grill is a bit of a pain for us lakefront types.

Extra credit if they also have kibbeh in multiple forms like they do in Jerusalem...

It's not Turkey, but IMO the best fast food "middle eastern" place in the Loop/Near North is Benjyehuda, who has two locations. Their boxes with everything piled into it - awesome. Not enough places in town give you pickles either and they do.

http://www.benjyehuda.com/
10 S LaSalle and 212 W Van Buren

Some other openings

* Centro Ristorante | 6 W Hubbard | May 20th
* El Hefe Super Macho Taqueria | 15 W Hubbard | May 22nd

I found myself at Nordstrom recently (Michigan Ave. location) and thought I'd get one of those tasty turkey sandwiches from Jaffa Bakery (in the food court), only to find that it's now gone.

Those of us who work in the West Loop have a new lunch option w/ today's opening of a Pret a Manger at 120 S. Riverside Plaza.

I just heard the Peotone Bierstube has closed.
I called the number and it is disconnected.
That sucks...

Tony Hu will open a branch of his Lao Sze Chuan in Evanston (at 1637 Orrington) this August, according to Evanston Patch:
http://evanston.patch.com/articles/lao- ... his-summer

There is much spicy chili chicken in my future. And no more Red Line trips down to Broadway & Lawrence.