tcdup wrote:Updates in Aurora:

Thomas' BBQ on New York Street just west of Eola Road looks to be moving further west down New York to an old Ace Hardware building. It will be a big increase in space. No word on when the move will occur.

A new restaurant in downtown Aurora is U Samba, a Brazilian restaurant. Don't know if it's open yet, though. It's also on New York Street, across from Bally-Doyle.

Nice to hear! My brother works at the Paramount, and I am occasionally gifted with tickets, it would be nice to combine Brazilian with a show.

knitgirl wrote:A new restaurant in downtown Aurora is U Samba, a Brazilian restaurant. Don't know if it's open yet, though. It's also on New York Street, across from Bally-Doyle.

I believe its grand opening is today. (March 6th)

http://www.usambacafe.com/

Make sure your speaker volume is turned down.

Pie Lady wrote:I hope David Hammond gets this in time: the White Castle at Addison and Kedzie is closed for remodeling.

I live next door. Remodeling is putting it lightly. The gutted the entire place, only thing left standing is the steel beams.

I was really hoping it would close and something good would come in, but my guess is that we'd end up with 2nd Olive Garden within walking distance! Hey, if we can have 2 Little Caesars within 4 blocks of each other, why not another Olive Garden.

Not sure if someone posted this, but the Toon's connection makes this place promising:

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20141218 ... h-broadway

shakes wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:I hope David Hammond gets this in time: the White Castle at Addison and Kedzie is closed for remodeling.

I live next door. Remodeling is putting it lightly. The gutted the entire place, only thing left standing is the steel beams.

You're not kidding! I went by the other day and thought remodeling and razing are not the same thing.

If you live next door, you may inhabit my husband's grandmother's former place. Small world!

The Halal Guys, the popular Middle Eastern food cart in New York, is opening its first restaurant in the Midwest in the Gold Coast. Halal Guys Chicago plans a June opening date near Clark and Division in the old Empire Restaurant space. "Just like the carts in New York, it will be open late on the weekends for the night crowd," the company said in a statement.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... t-location

Velvet Taco (mentioned as "going to open" in a couple of June 2014 posts here on OCC&G) has now opened.

1110 North State St., (312) 763-2654, "call for hours".

Si Fu Chino Latino Kitchen, 2116 W. Roscoe St. has its windows papered over, scrawl promising a remodel & new concept opening soon. That was a pretty short initial run--as I remember it they opened late last fall.

The Giordano's in Evanston and Morton Grove have closed. The reports are that owner Ted Mavrakis lost his franchises due to owning and operating competing operations. Giordano's corporate says it will reopen in both locales at some point.

http://dailynorthwestern.com/2015/03/08 ... ot-reopen/

Roger Ramjet wrote:Velvet Taco (mentioned as "going to open" in a couple of June 2014 posts here on OCC&G) has now opened.

1110 North State St., (312) 763-2654, "call for hours".

It's been open for a few weeks. I've been in there a handful of times and it's pretty decent. Good late night option in the area too.

Two new places in Albany Park.

Salsa & Chips ("Coming Soon" for a few months now)
3358 W Montrose
(872) 806-2587




Avanti Ristorante, "Italian and Mexican Cuisine", now open
3200 W. Lawrence (former Bagdhad Kabab / Al Amira / ZuZu Wraps spot)
(773) 754-8777

Let's hope they can make a better go of it than the revolving door of previous tenants has...

The Las Asadas location in Brookfield (Ogden ave) appears closed - it's empty now.

According to today's Trib local, Beelow's Steakhouse in downtown Highland Park is having it's grand opening today.

Beelow's Steakhouse
1850 2nd Street
Highland Park, IL 60035

847-780-3300

AlexG wrote:According to today's Trib local, Beelow's Steakhouse in downtown Highland Park is having it's grand opening today.

Beelow's Steakhouse
1850 2nd Street
Highland Park, IL 60035

847-780-3300

Ah yes, the cursed former location of Rosebud, Moderno, and Royce! (Sounds like a law firm!)

Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises will team with Juno owners Jason Chan and B.K. Park to create Nishiguchi, an intimate and innovative sushi restaurant. Nishiguchi (2300 N. Lincoln Park West, no phone yet) will be built into a former private dining room next to Intro restaurant, which LEYE opened in February. Nishiguchi is shooting for a spring debut.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertain ... story.html

Dave148 wrote:

Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises will team with Juno owners Jason Chan and B.K. Park to create Nishiguchi, an intimate and innovative sushi restaurant. Nishiguchi (2300 N. Lincoln Park West, no phone yet) will be built into a former private dining room next to Intro restaurant, which LEYE opened in February. Nishiguchi is shooting for a spring debut.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertain ... story.html

This sounds interesting, especially because I have relatives who are also sushi fans who live nearby. But I am confused about the address information. My pushpin map shows 2300 N. Lincoln Park West as the location of Mon Ami Gabi. Is Nishiguchi going to be in the same building?

The building is the Belden Stratford--it used to be an unusual combo of hotel, extended stay efficiencies and co-op apartments. At some point it ditched the hotel part and appears to now be just rental--not sure what happened to the co-ops-there weren't a lot of them but they were rumored to be very grand. I lived there for a year (2000-2001) and it was a very interesting place. The ground floor of the building includes Mon Ami Gabi on one side and the space that has housed Ambria, L20 and now Intro on the other. The space that they refer to above, where Nishiguchi is going, was banquet/private dining space that they're converting into a restaurant now.

Ah, thanks for the detailed explanation.

The Rogers Park location of Bullhead Cantina is no more, after a year at this location. The follow-up posts indicate that 1) it didn't take credit cards, and 1) that it charged six bucks for a bottle of Miller Lite. In Rogers Park.

We've gone ahead and split off the digression about credit cards into its own thread, which can be found here.

Thanks,

=R=
for the Moderators

The owner of the Bullhead Cantina said that the rent was killing him. I'll take him at his word. Richard Melman, the impresario of LEYE discussing the "restaurant rules of the road" years ago said the most important thing you can do when opening an establishment is negotiate a favorable lease. I was surprised that" location" wasn't at the top of the list.

Looks like they spruced up Family Palace at Harlem & Lawrence, and split it in half: dinner on one side, breakfast and lunch on the other.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/harwood-restaur ... od-heights

OK, NOW I'm really confused. So, we have Curt's Cafe AND Des Rosiers La Taqueria AND Heavenston Eatery, all in the same space as a place that failed for lack of adequate parking? And this is the opinion of an actual neighbor (I live on Dewey Avenue and Dempster Street, a block away). Baffling business decision, particularly since there is a great big 3/4 empty strip mall a half-block away on Dodge (California Ave.), that the City of Evanston is literally giving away money to lease space in. Really, really weird.

sundevilpeg wrote:OK, NOW I'm really confused. So, we have Curt's Cafe AND Des Rosiers La Taqueria AND Heavenston Eatery, all in the same space as a place that failed for lack of adequate parking?

As noted in the articles which you linked, Curt's Café will operate as a café during the morning and lunch hours; in the evening, it will operate as a dinner place - opening as Heavenston, changing to a taqueria concept in May with Des Rosiers's assistance.

It's also clear that part of the attraction of the former Perla/Pick-a-Cup space to Curt's Café is the hope that people will go out of their way to support a good cause, as they have at their first location on Central Street (which will continue to operate). And I bet they're right.

sundevilpeg wrote:there is a great big 3/4 empty strip mall a half-block away on Dodge (California Ave.), that the City of Evanston is literally giving away money to lease space in.

That entire strip mall was purchased last year by Valli Produce. They will be opening a large supermarket there this June or July, with significantly more space than the Dominick's previously on that site. Their store's portion of the space is not exactly empty; they're busy working on building out the store. You can view the plans for their store here. Once Valli Produce is open and (presumably) doing a big business, the vacant spaces will be a lot more attractive to prospective tenants. I'm sure that's a big reason they bought the entire property, rather than just leasing the space for their own store.

Lots of information about the development of those properties has been presented at Alderman Braithwaite's ward meetings and on his website. You can sign up for his e-mailed ward newsletter on his website, here. If you attend his ward meetings - the public is welcome - you can view presentations by the folks who own these businesses and are making these plans, ask whatever questions you like, and chat with them at the end of the meetings.

As noted, I live a block away. Valli didn't purchase all of the satellite buildings. I'm very familiar with what the situation is at this perennially-failing strip mall. I LIVE IN THE WARD. Please don't lecture me.

Worker bees at our beloved Family Fruit Market (Six Corners) have told us the cousin to Family Fruit Market is Valli Produce the one opening in Evanston. Our store is closing here in Six Corners but Valli is giving jobs to the displaced worker bees in Evanston. Supposedly all of them from here are going to Evanston.

sundevilpeg wrote:As noted, I live a block away. Valli didn't purchase all of the satellite buildings. I'm very familiar with what the situation is at this perennially-failing strip mall. I LIVE IN THE WARD. Please don't lecture me.

You said you were "confused" and find the situation "baffling", and you seem to be unaware of the business strategy and plans as well as of the opportunities to meet and discuss your concerns with those actually involved. You also erred in describing the status of the mall, and you continue to do so; for example, Valli Produce bought the entire shopping center, including all three buildings - the south building with the former Dominick's, the west building with Panino's, and the outlot building with Dunkin Donuts. Valli has presented to the city their plans to develop all three of these buildings in that order, as Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III, respectively.

I wasn't lecturing you; I was helpfully making you aware that you could easily overcome your confusion by taking advantage of these opportunities, so you could become better informed and correct your apparent misunderstandings. Of course, no good deed goes unpunished around here.

ROWRR!

I just checked the Bonnie Management website, and they no longer own Evanston Plaza, where the new Valli is opening up. It looks like Valli is taking over the Radio Shack location too? I was in Radio Shack last month for their going out of business sale, and it was a total waste of my time. I'd be surprised if Valli is able to open up by July. When I peaked inside the old Dominick's store, while I was visiting Radio Shack last month, it looked like they had barely started on the new interior.

kenji wrote:Worker bees at our beloved Family Fruit Market (Six Corners) have told us the cousin to Family Fruit Market is Valli Produce the one opening in Evanston. Our store is closing here in Six Corners but Valli is giving jobs to the displaced worker bees in Evanston. Supposedly all of them from here are going to Evanston.

I see. Is this place similar to Harvestime/Edgewater Produce?