Darn good old school Italian, Via Veneto at 6340 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, is closing per their email:

Announcement

Via Veneto will be closing it's doors on November 3rd. Stay tuned for our new locations. Thank you for your 35 years of patronage.
(Building sold)

jbwheel wrote:The Dickens Street Public House
Featuring Spider City Brewing Company
At Four Farthings....

...and yes, this has been their real name. As if it were the McDonald's Turf featuring bluegrass at Soldier Field...

...Has closed. There was a green sign on the door today that the business license had been revoked this afternoon.


While Four Farthings was never great - for the food, at least - the bar had old charm and lots of character. The most recent ownership had ripped out all the existing built-in furniture, closed the dining room for 3+ years, and replaced with dinky ikea-like furniture. I'm surprised the bad management had held the place together for this long.

This space was beautiful, it had potential as a neighborhood joint, and it was completely squandered. Here's to hoping that the Lincoln Park community can revitalize a neighborhood bar (has lost a series of them in the past few years).

Speaking of revitalizing a neighborhood bar.
There is local neighborhood spot that is re branding called The Sedgwick Stop 1612 N Sedgwick. I use to frequent this place when they 1st opened years back and everything was great. Past few years things got pretty bad not sure exactly what was going on as the food was bad and you never knew what time the place was closing. But I recently stopped back in with a friend and they have new management and a new chef. Not going lie since then I stop in 2 or 3 times a week now. They have brought on Kevin not sure what his last name is who use to run the neighborhood late night spot Drop that recently closed to run operations. The food there is really really good and some nights their kitchen is open to 2am(they have the best carnitas tacos I ever tasted.) If you live in the neighborhood and are looking for a cool divey neighborhood spot I'd check them out.

Depaulgirl wrote:

jbwheel wrote:The Dickens Street Public House
Featuring Spider City Brewing Company
At Four Farthings....

...and yes, this has been their real name. As if it were the McDonald's Turf featuring bluegrass at Soldier Field...

...Has closed. There was a green sign on the door today that the business license had been revoked this afternoon.


While Four Farthings was never great - for the food, at least - the bar had old charm and lots of character. The most recent ownership had ripped out all the existing built-in furniture, closed the dining room for 3+ years, and replaced with dinky ikea-like furniture. I'm surprised the bad management had held the place together for this long.

This space was beautiful, it had potential as a neighborhood joint, and it was completely squandered. Here's to hoping that the Lincoln Park community can revitalize a neighborhood bar (has lost a series of them in the past few years).

Speaking of revitalizing a neighborhood bar.
There is local neighborhood spot that is re branding called The Sedgwick Stop 1612 N Sedgwick. I use to frequent this place when they 1st opened years back and everything was great. Past few years things got pretty bad not sure exactly what was going on as the food was bad and you never knew what time the place was closing. But I recently stopped back in with a friend and they have new management and a new chef. Not going lie since then I stop in 2 or 3 times a week now. They have brought on Kevin not sure what his last name is who use to run the neighborhood late night spot Drop that recently closed to run operations. The food there is really really good and some nights their kitchen is open to 2am(they have the best carnitas tacos I ever tasted.) If you live in the neighborhood and are looking for a cool divey neighborhood spot I'd check them out.

The only complaint I have about Sedgwick Stop's new menu is that they have no salads or other healthyish menu items available that my girlfriend would be interested in.

Also want to reiterate that Dickens Street Public House has NOT closed. The sticker on their door referenced in the quoted message was due to someone reporting them to the city for selling illegal beer, but the complaint was unfounded and resolved quickly.

Big, brand new Patel Brothers opening soon at 9555 Milwaukee Ave in Niles!

https://www.patelbros.com/specials/9555 ... -ave-niles

Dos Riccios in Northcenter recently shut down. It's successor appears to be open. It's called Transilvania (sic) Grill. A cursory glance of the menu when walking by showed a couple shawarma dishes, burgers, and cabbage rolls.

4046 N. Lincoln Ave.

Greenleaf Thai noted here as closing for remodeling and maintenance through September 23 was open when I drove past this afternoon. Finally somebody was honest about closing for remodeling.

They have a special on noodle dishes after 3 pm through September 30.

Greenleaf Thai Cuisine
4658 N. Western Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625
http://greenleafchicago.com/

I've resisted speculating on the closing of the Bullhead Cantina at 1143 N. California Ave. Chicago, IL 60622 since there has never had an official closing statement and didn't know if it was going to re-open. It now says 'Imbibe' on the windows above the brown paper.

Bakers Square at 7131 N Western Ave closed sometime recently. The last time we went there was right before a snow storm a couple years ago, and it was bad. Even the slices of pie were disappointing. That's a prime piece of real estate there at the corner of Western and Touhy, so I wonder what its future holds.

Pie Topic

https://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=545695#p545695

mchodera wrote:Big, brand new Patel Brothers opening soon at 9555 Milwaukee Ave in Niles!

https://www.patelbros.com/specials/9555 ... -ave-niles

Thursday

Hey!

How come no one told me...

Lincoln Tavern
1858 W Wabansia Ave, Chicago

... closed 5 years ago?

Good burgers and chili.

Stopped by and even they were closed had a nice chat with a gal who was related while sitting on the curb.

Nice gal. She’s still making the chili.

In another example of Chicago's south side getting ignored here on LTHF , Johnny O's Hot Dogs closed {there's your proof, admins } on 21 September.
I actually got there back in April, and so I may as well post these photographs.

Affiliated with this, on this past Saturday, I rode the CTA route #12 Roosevelt bus eastbound to Beer Hoptacular. I dare scribe that Roosevelt Rd. is gentrifying. The above article mentions that Dave's Red Hots (3422 W. Roosevelt Rd.) is now the oldest hot dog stand in the city. There are other intriguing fast-service restaurants, especially Mexican cuisine, along Roosevelt. This could work as an eating crawl.

Roots Handmade Pizza has opened in the old Adobo Grill space at 1610 N. Wells.

https://chicago.eater.com/2019/10/2/208 ... dering-app

pudgym29 wrote:[color=#8b0000] In another example of Chicago's south side getting ignored here on LTHF , Johnny O's Hot Dogs closed {there's your proof, admins } on 21 September.
I actually got there back in April, and so I may as well post these photographs.

In a strange turn of events, the food service portion of Johnny O's has reopened, while the associated convenience store remains closed.

I have no idea if the reopening is meant to be permanent, or if it's just till the building is sold or what.

Coogles wrote:Roots Handmade Pizza has opened in the old Adobo Grill space at 1610 N. Wells.

https://chicago.eater.com/2019/10/2/208 ... dering-app

Seeing that it's gettin' to be that time of year, I wonder if Roots has realized what they're getting into...

https://ghost.hauntedhouses.com/illinois_chicago_steak_joynt_bldg_adobo_grill#

Dave148 wrote:

mchodera wrote:Big, brand new Patel Brothers opening soon at 9555 Milwaukee Ave in Niles!

https://www.patelbros.com/specials/9555 ... -ave-niles

Thursday

Yeesh, give it a couple days before you try to get in. I thought, "hey, maybe they've got grand opening specials, maybe I can grab lunch there!"
It was 45 minutes+ to get in, and the police at the door said that the checkout lines were over an hour -- they ran from front to back of the store such that you really couldn't get down the dry goods aisles at all.
Prices on produce looked fantastic: 59¢/# for fresh ginger, 79¢/# for red bell peppers... but I wasn't going to try that line. Prices on other things didn't look significantly awesome. I left without buying anything (I could have used some paneer and chana masala).
In terms of ready-to-eat food, it's only the bakery, and all I could see through the scrum was cake.

All the people on the left by the refrigerator case? They're all in line for checkout for the one register that is by the back door.

Joel,

How was the parking lot? Does it make Jerry's seem tame?

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:Joel,

How was the parking lot? Does it make Jerry's seem tame?

Regards,
Cathy2

Niles police were keeping it civil: one way from Golf to Milwaukee, no circling, no left turns from westbound Golf into the lot. There's more space in the back lot behind the strip malls, and a tiny entrance to the store back there.
Overall, it's not a huge store, smaller than a typical Jewel. Nice big produce section (tho smaller than Niles H-Mart or Assi by far), and only four (five?) other aisles. The Golf-facing retail slots must be pretty deep.

Rick Bayless to debut Tortazo restaurant in Willis Tower food hall

https://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/c ... story.html

The former Sarpino’s Pizza at Oakton & Wolf in Des Plaines has a banner for a ramen place coming soon.

Sorry, no other details- I was just driving by.

Serves them right for dropping Coca-Cola products.

JoelF wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:Joel,

How was the parking lot? Does it make Jerry's seem tame?

Regards,
Cathy2

Niles police were keeping it civil: one way from Golf to Milwaukee, no circling, no left turns from westbound Golf into the lot. There's more space in the back lot behind the strip malls, and a tiny entrance to the store back there.
Overall, it's not a huge store, smaller than a typical Jewel. Nice big produce section (tho smaller than Niles H-Mart or Assi by far), and only four (five?) other aisles. The Golf-facing retail slots must be pretty deep.

Giant Indian supermarket Patel Brothers opens in Niles with Hindu blessing and much-needed crowd control

https://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/c ... story.html

One of my customers was a daily visitor to the now shuttered Big Top restaurant on Higgins. He tells me this morning that a restaurateur from Lake Zurich is in the process of renovating the space and hopes to open in November 2019. I’ll update as I hear more.

Chicago Tribune wrote:Blaze damages Gene & Georgetti restaurant in River North

No one was injured during an early morning grease fire that forced the temporary closure of a popular River North Italian steakhouse until further notice, officials said.

link

And speaking of blazes, the high visibility Blaze Pizza location at the corner of Central and First in Port Clinton in Highland Park has closed. No idea why...seemed like it was doing well and was a decent, quick fast-casual option on busy weeknights.

Fritzy's at 723 W. Armitage has closed and is soon to be replaced by a barbeque place called Ella's BBQ.

https://chicago.eater.com/2019/9/23/208 ... rk-chicago

AlexG wrote:And speaking of blazes, the high visibility Blaze Pizza location at the corner of Central and First in Port Clinton in Highland Park has closed. No idea why...seemed like it was doing well and was a decent, quick fast-casual option on busy weeknights.

This one I will miss. I like Blaze but I remember seeing the owner there and she seemed concerned if the place would last. They also seemed to have major turnover in the employee department. One that didn't and I am not surprised is Papa John's Pizza in Highland Park near Jewel and Petco. Closed months ago. I was shocked it lasted longer than 6 months.

nsxtasy wrote:

Chicago Tribune wrote:Blaze damages Gene & Georgetti restaurant in River North

No one was injured during an early morning grease fire that forced the temporary closure of a popular River North Italian steakhouse until further notice, officials said.

link

I hope they recover soon - we've had many good meals there (and a few non so good).

I do chuckle at the phrase "temporary closure until further notice..." how many times have we heard that, but in this case the damage seems relatively minor.

Looks like an outpost of Lao Sze Chuan will be opening in Highland Park at the corner of Sheridan and Park where a sushi place used to be. Doesnt have any timeline but looks like just getting started on the buildout.

-Will

WhyBeeSea wrote:

shakes wrote:

WhyBeeSea wrote:Hahaha. Yeah it's overpriced for sure but beats any other burger option in the area. That includes five guys and Kumas which just opened in that same shopping center

Did you really just say that Shake Shack has better burgers than Kuma's?

I take back what I said about people having different tastes, turns out some people just have bad taste

Hahaha i know I'm in the minority here. But Kumas is vastly overrated imo. I hate burgers that are unnecessarily large and throw a whole bunch of stuff on them.

And more importantly, they use pretzel buns probably to hold all the ingredients together. Pretzel buns have no business being a vehicle for a burger. I hate them so much.

I'm sure now it's trendy to hate on Kuma's. But those same people were probably standing in line for an hour in 2005. I still love it. And their pretezel buns are perfect for their type of burgers - because they hold up to the massive amount of toppings. A brioche would just fall apart.