zoid wrote:

BR wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:Penzey's in Oak Park is closed according to their website.

According to this article, they are searching for a different location in or around Oak Park.

I really hope they find a spot, losing them would sting.

Agreed. I do make a trip to The Spice House from time to time, but Penzey's has been invaluable in allowing me to source great spices close to home. I very much hope they relocate nearby, soon.

Edwardos is owned by Bravo Restaurant group not the same as Bravo Italian Restaurant.

Another Mediterranean food joint in Albany Park, this time at the western edge:

Rotana Grill
4825 N Pulaski Rd
Chicago IL 60630
773-267-8888

https://www.facebook.com/RotanaChicago

I pass by the Brickyard frequently, yet I had never noticed until now that Pollo Campero has permanently closed. According to Yelpers, this location closed back in December. Lawrence & Pulaski outpost remains open (I think...)

King Crab on Halsted was papered over when I drove by today.

cito wrote:I pass by the Brickyard frequently, yet I had never noticed until now that Pollo Campero has permanently closed. According to Yelpers, this location closed back in December. Lawrence & Pulaski outpost remains open (I think...)

Oh yes, very much so.

pizano345 wrote:King Crab on Halsted was papered over when I drove by today.

Both King Crab and The Black Duck were closed due to the property owner not renewing their leases.

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140523 ... s-proposal

King Crab is moving to 691 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Coogles wrote:

pizano345 wrote:King Crab on Halsted was papered over when I drove by today.

Both King Crab and The Black Duck were closed due to the property owner not renewing their leases.

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140523 ... s-proposal

King Crab is moving to 691 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Despite living not too far from there, had never been to Black Duck or King Crab, but pretty impressive that these places had been around for 34 and 32 years, respectively -- quite long runs in that business. Shame it seems they were forced out in connection with a redevelopment plan that was ultimately axed/blocked.

Anybody know what's happening to the Subway at the Viagra Triangle (1110 N State)? The two outside signs were taken down last Friday and the windows are completely papered over now. So much that you can't even see through the tape to see what's going on. They really did a good job of making you not be able to see in there.

There's a building permit issued a few weeks ago for it to the tune of $575,000 in the name of a guy from Addison, TX. The address listed in the address of a Twin Peaks restaurant and the guy's name turned up a guy in the Dallas area who is the SVP of Development for Frontburner Restaurant Group (also based in Addison) that owns brands such as Melting Pot, GrillSmith, and Burger 21. Furthermore, the building permit mentions renovations to a 2 story restaurant whereas Subway is just 1 story. The second story is an Astrology shop.

This will be interesting to see what goes in there, but unfortunately it looks like a Chain, unless they will do something more concepty.

marothisu wrote:Anybody know what's happening to the Subway at the Viagra Triangle (1110 N State)? The two outside signs were taken down last Friday and the windows are completely papered over now. So much that you can't even see through the tape to see what's going on. They really did a good job of making you not be able to see in there.

There's a building permit issued a few weeks ago for it to the tune of $575,000 in the name of a guy from Addison, TX. The address listed in the address of a Twin Peaks restaurant and the guy's name turned up a guy in the Dallas area who is the SVP of Development for Frontburner Restaurant Group (also based in Addison) that owns brands such as Melting Pot, GrillSmith, and Burger 21. Furthermore, the building permit mentions renovations to a 2 story restaurant whereas Subway is just 1 story. The second story is an Astrology shop.

This will be interesting to see what goes in there, but unfortunately it looks like a Chain, unless they will do something more concepty.

That's some good detective work.

marothisu wrote:There's a building permit issued a few weeks ago for it to the tune of $575,000 in the name of a guy from Addison, TX. The address listed in the address of a Twin Peaks restaurant and the guy's name turned up a guy in the Dallas area who is the SVP of Development for Frontburner Restaurant Group

Twin Peaks is a chain. There is already a branch in Wheeling. The peaks do not refer to a mountain range. Think Hooters/Brick House/Tilted Kilt, etc. BLECH!

Twin Peaks Website wrote:Twin Peaks is the ultimate man cave; everything is rarefied to make you feel special. Our entire menu is prepared in-house and to order, and endowed in generous portions to satisfy the healthiest appetites.

stevez wrote:

marothisu wrote:There's a building permit issued a few weeks ago for it to the tune of $575,000 in the name of a guy from Addison, TX. The address listed in the address of a Twin Peaks restaurant and the guy's name turned up a guy in the Dallas area who is the SVP of Development for Frontburner Restaurant Group

Twin Peaks is a chain. There is already a branch in Wheeling. The peaks do not refer to a mountain range. Think Hooters/Brick House/Tilted Kilt, etc. BLECH!

Twin Peaks Website wrote:Twin Peaks is the ultimate man cave; everything is rarefied to make you feel special. Our entire menu is prepared in-house and to order, and endowed in generous portions to satisfy the healthiest appetites.

Yeah, I know what Twin Peaks is. I doubt they'd put one in there but you never know. I'm really hoping that if it IS that restaurant group, that they put something good in there. The area does not need a f'ing chain.

I don't see any reason to doubt that they'd put one there. It would fit right in with the rest of the bar scene in the immediate area and there's certainly enough out-of-town business traffic around there to support this kind of establishment.

Twin Peaks Website wrote:Twin Peaks is the ultimate man cave; everything is rarefied to make you feel special. Our entire menu is prepared in-house and to order, and endowed in generous portions to satisfy the healthiest appetites.

The incredibly bad writing is enough to turn me off.

Thai Ginger across from the Webster Theatre is no more. New awning proclaims Thai Cafe offering sushi, thai, etc.

riddlemay wrote:

Twin Peaks Website wrote:Twin Peaks is the ultimate man cave; everything is rarefied to make you feel special. Our entire menu is prepared in-house and to order, and endowed in generous portions to satisfy the healthiest appetites.

The incredibly bad writing is enough to turn me off.

Wow. On the other hand, the servers are tastefully attired.

Seriously though - for all the "Viagra Triangle" "humor", the existing restos around there are at least not total schlockfests.

TPeaks seems like the kind of place that would attract Big Ten alums in pop-collared polo shirts & Cubs hats, and we all know what that means.

Maybe somebody can bribe the alderman. Uh, I mean express their concerns to the alderman.

Drover wrote:I don't see any reason to doubt that they'd put one there. It would fit right in with the rest of the bar scene in the immediate area and there's certainly enough out-of-town business traffic around there to support this kind of establishment.

First of all, no way. While Cedar Hotel is certainly douchey on the same level, the other establishments are douchey on another level and above what a Twin Peaks is (though I would certainly not call Osteria Nico "douchey" and not to mention the Thompson Hotel renovation, which is now a 5 star nice hotel there).

Second of all, there's no way something like this is going in there. The entire building has 2400 sq feet on 2 floors - 1200 sq ft on each floor. It's not a big building and you can't put anything large in there.

Thirdly, the address was put as a Twin Peaks, but I think more importantly the guy with the name could possibly be the SVP for a restaurant group. If it's the same guy, I could see them putting in a Burger 21, but not a Twin Peaks.


http://www.chicagoarchitecture.info/CAI ... 1-001a.jpg

http://www.jbrealty.com/properties/inde ... PERTY_ID=6

Apparently Telegraph is closing 6/7 and reconcepting and reopening in July.

Source

Cup & Spoon Coffee is open at 2415 W North Ave. Cute space, friendly folks, Metropolis coffee and fab homemade pop tarts, all in a coffee-desert. Nice addition!

marothisu wrote:Apparently Masada is opening next week. There is a tasting dinner next Wednesday (May 28th) and I think it opens to the public the following day. I have to say, when I heard about this I thought it would be just another Middle Eastern restaurant with really standard stuff you'd find in anywhere America. After reading this article, I'm really excited. I see some stuff on there you won't find at tons of places in town like Koshari and Jew's Mallow Soup.

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140519 ... are-may-28

This area is getting very interesting of late. It will also have a basement lounge, a dance floor, and 3 few bars. Open until 2am everyday and 3am on Saturdays.

Masada
2206 N California Ave

I wonder if it's open for this weekend...from the menu description and comments on the DNA website, the tacky names of drink aside, they certainly are going for a different take on Middle Eastern than the standard kabob stuff. Wonder if they're going to have Musakhan...I miss that after the demise of Chickpea. The vegan Koshari sounds amazing as well....and does the tomato soup have frikeh, with that comment about "Roasted baby wheat"? Yalla...

It would be nice to have a Middle Eastern restaurant that actually resembles the modern take on the region's food that you can find in Beirut...or some restaurants in Israel for that matter.

I just wish that the name was different, since Masada has a different connotation to some of us that's rather non-culinary. OTOH, the owner's mom is named Masada, so at least they come by it honestly....

sdrucker wrote:I wonder if it's open for this weekend...from the menu description and comments on the DNA website, the tacky names of drink aside, they certainly are going for a different take on Middle Eastern than the standard kabob stuff. Wonder if they're going to have Musakhan...I miss that after the demise of Chickpea. The vegan Koshari sounds amazing as well....and does the tomato soup have frikeh, with that comment about "Roasted baby wheat"? Yalla...

It would be nice to have a Middle Eastern restaurant that actually resembles the modern take on the region's food that you can find in Beirut...or some restaurants in Israel for that matter.

I don't think they're open this weekend, but they just had two nights of preview dinners. While it's a different take on the standard kabob it's still pretty traditional stuff but stuff you won't find everywhere in the states. I mean stuff like Mulukhiyah is pretty traditional in many countries. Koshari is always great

I just wish that the name was different, since Masada has a different connotation to some of us that's rather non-culinary. OTOH, the owner's mom is named Masada, so at least they come by it honestly....

LOL yeah. I was thinking of the fort where almost 1000 people did a mass suicide back in the day. Of course yeah, the guy's mom's name is Masada. Very interesting.

Max’s Wine Dive
1482 N Milwaukee Ave
(at Honore)
Chicago, IL 60622
773-661-6581
official website

Appears to be opening where the old Native Foods Cafe location was. This inspired a meditation on what constitutes a dive bar, as a dive bar should not have the following:
a website
multiple locations
accept credit cards
an executive chef
foie gras on the menu

Kids these days don't know what a good dive bar is (see Home Tavern in Lakeview for one example).

lodasi wrote:Appears to be opening where the old Native Foods Cafe location was. .

This is not the address for Native Foods nor is it closed/closing--their address is 1484 N Milwaukee Ave.

From Crain's Chicago Business:

"The developer of a new 80-unit apartment building in Evanston brought in a 3,500-square-foot restaurant to anchor the project's retail space. The Wood Shed, featuring a wood-fired pizza oven and smoker serving American fare and smoked meats, will open this fall at Central Station, a building at 1720 Central St. that opened late last year. “We feel that area is underserved and something we want to be a part of,” said Unite Urban Grill owner Joe Krouse, who is opening the Wood Shed with partners Robert Lapata of Forefront Hospitality and Frederic Gale."

tarte tatin wrote:From Crain's Chicago Business:

"The developer of a new 80-unit apartment building in Evanston brought in a 3,500-square-foot restaurant to anchor the project's retail space. The Wood Shed, featuring a wood-fired pizza oven and smoker serving American fare and smoked meats, will open this fall at Central Station, a building at 1720 Central St. that opened late last year. “We feel that area is underserved and something we want to be a part of,” said Unite Urban Grill owner Joe Krouse, who is opening the Wood Shed with partners Robert Lapata of Forefront Hospitality and Frederic Gale."

Artisanal wood-fired pizza and barbecue? Does this signal the beginning of the end of these trends?

ld111134 wrote:

tarte tatin wrote:From Crain's Chicago Business:

"The developer of a new 80-unit apartment building in Evanston brought in a 3,500-square-foot restaurant to anchor the project's retail space. The Wood Shed, featuring a wood-fired pizza oven and smoker serving American fare and smoked meats, will open this fall at Central Station, a building at 1720 Central St. that opened late last year. “We feel that area is underserved and something we want to be a part of,” said Unite Urban Grill owner Joe Krouse, who is opening the Wood Shed with partners Robert Lapata of Forefront Hospitality and Frederic Gale."

Artisanal wood-fired pizza and barbecue? Does this signal the beginning of the end of these trends?

LOL, they seemed to purposely called them smoked meats but you sussed them out!

=R=

The trend is now to call it smoked meats instead of barbecue. Right, Brendan?

HomeMade Pizza Co. appears to have ceased operations. Calls to the Chicago-based company's take-and-bake outlets in Winnetka, Glencoe and Evanston yielded no answer.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... -shuttered

Portage Park, Northwest Side of Chicago:

Tea'se Tea Shoppe

5755 W Irving Park Road, Chicago, Illinois 60634

https://www.facebook.com/teaseteashoppe

(When this place gets reviewed where should the review go? Besides loose tea and supplies they'll also be selling tea to drink there too, so to me could go under various topic categories here on LTH)

kenji wrote:(When this place gets reviewed where should the review go? Besides loose tea and supplies they'll also be selling tea to drink there too, so to me could go under various topic categories here on LTH)

Something To Drink seems like the best place for it.

Thanks,

=R=