A new sign in the window of the former George's Grill Kabob spot announces that "El Picosito Jibaro" is coming soon. According to Everyblock they have passed inspection with some caveats. http://chicago.everyblock.com/food-insp ... n-6504815/

El Picosito Jibaro (Coming Soon)
4816 W. Lawrence Ave

Don't know if these were reported but Panang Thai on Chicago & Clark closed last month (I think last month) and El Souk at 808 N State may have closed too. Anyone know? There's really nothing in there anymore and it's been dark. Not active on Seamless anymore either. Renovations or closed?

Just a progress report on the return of Pompei to the corner of Sheffield and Wellington: There are now painted words (in a delicate serif font that couldn't have been easy to paint) on the side of the building, talking about pizza, salad and pasta (with adjectives that I can't remember).

marothisu wrote:...El Souk at 808 N State may have closed too. Anyone know? There's really nothing in there anymore and it's been dark. Not active on Seamless anymore either. Renovations or closed?

Closed

Edzo's closing their Lincoln Park location tomorrow according to this Facebook post.

Drover wrote:A new sign in the window of the former George's Grill Kabob spot announces that "El Picosito Jibaro" is coming soon. According to Everyblock they have passed inspection with some caveats. http://chicago.everyblock.com/food-insp ... n-6504815/
El Picosito Jibaro (Coming Soon)
4816 W. Lawrence Ave

The link is for the El Picosito Jibaro Inc. @ 3216 W Lawrence Ave, not this location supposedly at Lawrence & Cicero. (I think the entire 4800 block of W Lawrence Ave is involved with either lumber yards or a car wash.) The ediface on the NE corner of Lawrence & Lamon was a cable TV service outlet, AFAIR.

pudgym29 wrote:

Drover wrote:A new sign in the window of the former George's Grill Kabob spot announces that "El Picosito Jibaro" is coming soon. According to Everyblock they have passed inspection with some caveats. http://chicago.everyblock.com/food-insp ... n-6504815/
El Picosito Jibaro (Coming Soon)
4816 W. Lawrence Ave

The link is for the El Picosito Jibaro Inc. @ 3216 W Lawrence Ave, not this location supposedly at Lawrence & Cicero. (I think the entire 4800 block of W Lawrence Ave is involved with either lumber yards or a car wash.) The ediface on the NE corner of Lawrence & Lamon was a cable TV service outlet, AFAIR.

Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and say he got his north and west addresses mixed up. Although I'm not sure there's anything at 4816 N Kedzie.

Pickwick Restaurant is closing its doors 12/7. Hilary's gonna be pissed.
http://patch.com/illinois/parkridge/pic ... park-ridge

Also closed: the Italian restaurants that opened last fall as part of the NMH renovation of Galter Pavillion. Ciccetti, which was initially Michael Sheerin's vision for Venetian "small plates", and the adjacent fast casual Sopraffina Marketcaffe, have both gone dark. There's a "restaurant is closed" sign on the entrance to Sopraffina inside the Pavillion.

Too bad, but with Coco Pazzo Café a half block away, and a space that wasn't particularly obvious to anyone not looking for Ciccetti as a destination, the location might have been a problem due to being hidden by the bulk of NWH on the block.

One thing that's happening under the radar is that there's a large cluster of cafes (or at least places with good to decent gourmet coffee) popping up within two blocks of the hospital. There's Stan's Donuts, the Starbucks with a Clover machine on the ground floor of the hospital's east side, Do-Rite Donuts and Coffee (which has cold brew iced coffee), the Julius Meinl Express on Ontario (which FINALLY added a nook with more seating about a month ago), and both Lavazza and Dollop are within a few blocks. Also Waffle Café, which I think serves Intelligensia, along with their "wonuts" (donut/waffle hybrid). It's almost impossible to be uncaffeinated if you live in Streeterville. But sadly only the more or less generic Starbucks on Ontario and Ohio is the only place to go after 9 PM, at least until 11, which isn't say much .

Cafe Urbano, a coffee and sandwich shop, opened last week at the corner of Elston and Avers. There is a door on Elston and another in the truncated point at the north end of the building. As of this afternoon they do not show the street number anywhere on the facade. They are just north of a wood stripping shop.

My wife and I had two of the panini for lunch: roast beef and Hawaiian. The Hawaiian includes ham, pineapple and chipotle gouda cheese, which adds a nice bite. They came with small side salads using an assortment of greens, small bits of red onion and grated cheese.

I also had a decent espresso. They use Metropolis coffee. There are a few pastry items.

Cafe Urbano
4176 North Elston Ave.
Chicago

The Pompei-to-be at Sheffield and Wellington now has colorful polka dots painted on it.

TGI Fridays at Milwaukee & Lake Ave. in Glenview is closed.
When our kids were small, it was a lazy weeknight regular for a while, but we haven't been in there in a decade at least.

Homaro Cantu's Berrista will be opening this upcoming Monday (December 8th). It will be a coffee shop featuring sugar free pastries (via the miracle berry) in collaboration with Jeffrey Mauro of Jam. Really looking forward to this!

Berrista
4219 W Irving Park Rd
Chicago, IL 60641

According to Eater, Mauro is no longer involved with Berrista.

http://chicago.eater.com/2014/11/25/7276779/berrista-coffee-old-irving-park-homaro-cantu

bfolds wrote:According to Eater, Mauro is no longer involved with Berrista.

http://chicago.eater.com/2014/11/25/7276779/berrista-coffee-old-irving-park-homaro-cantu

Good catch; somehow I missed that.

There's a sign in the window of the long-vacant Arcadia Knitting storefront (1613 W Lawrence) that says "Coming Soon: Cô Cô Vietnamese Sandwiches." The inside has been extensively remodeled and looks to have a decent amount of seating.

I have high hopes! If this place is any good, it'll definitely become my new bánh mì jam. I love Nhu Lan, but Cô Cô is right around the corner from my house. There's something to be said for proximity...

At long last, 24 Karrots is open at 2004 W Armitage:
http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20141208 ... -this-week

White Oak Tavern & Inn opening tomorrow in the old John's Place space (Lincoln Park - 1200 W Webster):

https://www.facebook.com/whiteoakchicago

http://chicago.eater.com/2014/12/8/7353 ... de#4354580

Possumlad wrote:White Oak Tavern & Inn opening tomorrow in the old John's Place space (Lincoln Park - 1200 W Webster):

https://www.facebook.com/whiteoakchicago

http://chicago.eater.com/2014/12/8/7353 ... de#4354580

The chef is John Asbaty, who you may remember from the recently closed Panozzo's in the south Loop. He has also logged time at the French Laundry and Alinea. A very talented guy and I'm excited to check this place out.

Chilibob wrote:Does anyone know what happened to Central Kitchen and Tap? They have been closed for at least a few months now. A sign says "Closed for renovations," but I don't know if that is true. They had great food and my taste buds are very sad...

Pulled out, Closed. Couldn't seem to get traction in Jefferson Park.

Per Chicago Eater, the Randhurst Village outpost of Billy Goat will be closing (could it be because you could get coke and fries?). They also lost a coal-oven pizza place in recent months, and the taqueria that's supposed to go in has been very slow to get started.

JoelF wrote:Per Chicago Eater, the Randhurst Village outpost of Billy Goat will be closing (could it be because you could get coke and fries?). They also lost a coal-oven pizza place in recent months, and the taqueria that's supposed to go in has been very slow to get started.

I wonder whether the layout of Randhurst Village works against its tenants. They have a "main street" type layout (shops including eateries such as E+O) in the middle of the mall, surrounded by the big department stores (Carson's) and movie theaters. So lots of folks head to the big store or movies, park just outside them, and never see anything along the "main street" portion of the mall. And of course there's also no visibility for those shops from those driving by on the three principal thoroughfares going past the mall, either.

Happened to walk past the new Naf Naf Grill at 28 S. Wabash around 11am, sign said OPEN. It looked open-ish, but apparently no one at all inside (couldn't see the ordering area from where I was though). Phone is (312) 726-6300 if anyone wants to check.

Looks like the Chicago Firehouse will be out of commission for a while. Glad nobody was hurt. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... story.html

Tambreet wrote:Looks like the Chicago Firehouse will be out of commission for a while. Glad nobody was hurt. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... story.html

Investigators say their current leading suspect is the concept of irony.

Looks like Goddess and Grocer will be returning to the old neighborhood - logo/name painted on door & window (which are otherwise covered with brown paper) of 1127 North State.

JoelF wrote:Per Chicago Eater, the Randhurst Village outpost of Billy Goat will be closing (could it be because you could get coke and fries?). They also lost a coal-oven pizza place in recent months, and the taqueria that's supposed to go in has been very slow to get started.

Aha, according to the Mount Prospect Journal, they've already got a new tenant lined up: Smoky Bones Bar and Fire Grill... which is described as featuring grilled meats, not barbecue.
Billy Goat will be open through the Bears game on the 15th.

Also, Ye Old Town Inn has closed suddenly (employees not warned), with the building listed for lease.

Roger Ramjet wrote:Looks like Goddess and Grocer will be returning to the old neighborhood - logo/name painted on door & window (which are otherwise covered with brown paper) of 1127 North State.

They closed the Elston store. I worked across the street from them over the summer, really enjoyed most everything I tried. They had great counter staff there.

Senza is closing January 17.

Roger Ramjet wrote:Happened to walk past the new Naf Naf Grill at 28 S. Wabash around 11am, sign said OPEN. It looked open-ish, but apparently no one at all inside (couldn't see the ordering area from where I was though). Phone is (312) 726-6300 if anyone wants to check.

Its open - I ate there last week. Its a slightly weird layout, the initial doors only lead into a kind of vestibule that you then go through a second set of doors to get to the actual restaurant, so if you just look in from the street it would look empty.