chicagojim wrote:

blipsman wrote:Sad news as whole Pastoral chain is shutting down

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

No no no no no. This can’t possibly be true. Why??

I love wine and cheese, but they always seemed like they were in bad spots, or too pricey for the stuff around them. Like in the french market, I'm not going to buy fancy cheese and bread to go for lunch at work. Sad, but I'm not surprised.

Dave148 wrote:

Two modern Chicago icons, Big Star and Half Acre, coming together for new kitchen at the Balmoral Avenue taproom

https://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/d ... l#nws=true

I mean, I move and in the two years since Half Acre and now Big Star have opened a couple blocks from my old condo. Sigh.

Chitown B wrote:

chicagojim wrote:

blipsman wrote:Sad news as whole Pastoral chain is shutting down

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

No no no no no. This can’t possibly be true. Why??

I love wine and cheese, but they always seemed like they were in bad spots, or too pricey for the stuff around them.

Not necessarily disagreeing, but how many times have businesses failed because they located in spots where the rent was too high for their revenue? (The answer: lots.) Part of the reason my heart goes out to Pastoral is that I don't see any way a small business owner can know what's going to work and what isn't. What a gamble small business owners take.

Ex-Alinea Group Chef to Open a ‘Throwback Neighborhood Restaurant’ in West Town. Andrew Brochu is taking over the Natalino’s space which has been vacant for seven years

https://chicago.eater.com/2019/12/18/21 ... inea-group

riddlemay wrote:

Chitown B wrote:

chicagojim wrote:

blipsman wrote:Sad news as whole Pastoral chain is shutting down

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

No no no no no. This can’t possibly be true. Why??

I love wine and cheese, but they always seemed like they were in bad spots, or too pricey for the stuff around them.

Not necessarily disagreeing, but how many times have businesses failed because they located in spots where the rent was too high for their revenue? (The answer: lots.) Part of the reason my heart goes out to Pastoral is that I don't see any way a small business owner can know what's going to work and what isn't. What a gamble small business owners take.

Pastoral has been around for a long time. They had their chances.

B2B wrote:Finally an Aldi will be opening soon in Glenview. In strip shopping center on south side of Willow Road between Ravine Way and Old Willow Rd, it will be on the east end of the center, next to Kohls. Couldn’t find an opening date on line but space looks close to done and Aldi is advertising they are hiring.

Open

A restaurant with the strange name of 016 Restaurant has opened in the space where Kiko's was. Kiko's was Bosnian while 016 is Serbian with resulting menu overlap.

016 Restaurant is a Serbian-American Restaurant focused on classic dishes from the city of Leskovac, Serbia with emphasis on midwest seasonality.

The restaurant is named after the area code of that city, 016, located in Southern Serbia. The city of Leskovac, for those who are not familiar, is known for hosting one of the largest grilled meats festivals in the world. Serbia’s very rich culture of food, family and tradition brought on the need for a restaurant that reflects those same values for the Serbian (and American) community of Chicago.

We are known for creating beautiful and exciting experiences through the food and drinks that we prepare. Our food is prepared with traditional methods and local midwest ingredients. Some of these items include charcoal grilled and smoked meats, savory pastries (a.k.a Burek) and very popular Cevapi (grilled beef sausage). Our beverages stand out too, from Serbian imported beers, wines and brandies (a.k.a Rakia).

016 Restaurant
5077 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL 60625
Email: info@016restaurant.com
Phone: +1 (773) 271 7006
http://016restaurant.com/

ekreider wrote:A restaurant with the strange name of 016 Restaurant has opened in the space where Kiko's was. Kiko's was Bosnian while 016 is Serbian

So what the Serbs couldn't accomplish in the Bosnian War, they've accomplished in one restaurant in Chicago.

Little Madrid Coffee Shop opening soon at 5661 N Clark in Andersonville. Not much online about them minus an Instagram account and the fact that they got their business license issued the other day. They're saying they will offer "Spaniard Style Breakfast"

OPENING SOON
Little Madrid Coffee Shop
5661 N Clark St
https://www.instagram.com/little_madridcoffee

Filipino restaurant chain Max's Restaurant opened yesterday for soft opening at the Seafood City complex at 5033 N Elston. They have locations in California, Hawaii, Houston, New Jersey, Las Vegas, Washington, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg..and now Chicago.

Max's Restaurant
5033 N Elston unit 102
773-830-2065
https://www.maxsrestaurantna.com

marothisu wrote:Filipino restaurant chain Max's Restaurant opened yesterday for soft opening at the Seafood City complex at 5033 N Elston.

That chicken looks great as does the fresh lumpia and pancit canton. They even have crispy pata. I used to like kare-kare until a run-in with medium intensity k-k related food poisoning, at a long closed restaurant, about a dozen years ago.

Just squeeking in to shutter their doors before year end is Costa Vida in the Loop, 218 W. Lake.

It was okay at times, but what started as promising quick Loop spot had been more hit and miss in the latter half of the last 2 years.

The rebirth of LaCocina across the street and Chipotle down the block for at least a consistency level, made Costa Vida a risky proposition for your $10+ lunch.

Dos Toros in Wells Street Market block up didn't help either

Willkat98 wrote:Just squeeking in to shutter their doors before year end is Costa Vida in the Loop, 218 W. Lake.

It was okay at times, but what started as promising quick Loop spot had been more hit and miss in the latter half of the last 2 years.

The rebirth of LaCocina across the street and Chipotle down the block for at least a consistency level, made Costa Vida a risky proposition for your $10+ lunch.

Dos Toros in Wells Street Market block up didn't help either

Yeah, I went there a couple times, really wanted to like it, but I was not impressed with the food, especially for the price point. Hopefully something else takes that space and does something good with it.

Hi everyone,

Some of you may have noticed that we Moderators have moved a few recent posts from this thread to dedicated threads. Our goal in the new year is to de-emphasize this thread because so much information posted here -- often useful -- becomes very hard to find and reference as the year goes on.

So, even though we will be starting a new O&C thread for 2020, we'd like to see it used as infrequently as possible; only in instances that really makes sense (e.g. confirmed closings of places that never had their own dedicated threads). Since one of LTH's primary objectives is to be a living resource, we hope that this change will produce the intended result: content posted in dedicated threads is much easier to search, find and reference in perpetuity.

If you have news about an opening or a confirmed closing, we hope that you'll take the time to start a new thread about it, if there isn't already one going. The 'old site search' is quite helpful in locating existing threads. But if you have any trouble using it, we Moderators are here to help. Additionally, Cathy plans to post a brief tutorial on how to use this function. And, worst case, we Moderators will prune the O&C thread and relocate applicable content posted there to more suitable threads.

We truly appreciate the content posted here and we want to make sure that it's as easy as possible to find it.

Thank you, for your understanding and cooperation.

=R=
for the Moderators

Part of what made this topic difficult to sort through for reference is you guys extended it through the whole year instead of breaking it down into quarters like you used to. Maybe reverting back to quarterly threads would help. And IMO it's easier to have one landing spot for this particular topic than to go gallivanting all through the individual threads to see what's closing and what's still open.

Drover wrote:Part of what made this topic difficult to sort through for reference is you guys extended it through the whole year instead of breaking it down into quarters like you used to. Maybe reverting back to quarterly threads would help. And IMO it's easier to have one landing spot for this particular topic than to go gallivanting all through the individual threads to see what's closing and what's still open.

Agreed. I find it an easy way to see what is coming and going, and then go to an individual thread for more detail.

JoeChicago wrote:

Drover wrote:Part of what made this topic difficult to sort through for reference is you guys extended it through the whole year instead of breaking it down into quarters like you used to. Maybe reverting back to quarterly threads would help. And IMO it's easier to have one landing spot for this particular topic than to go gallivanting all through the individual threads to see what's closing and what's still open.

Agreed. I find it an easy way to see what is coming and going, and then go to an individual thread for more detail.

Appreciate the feedback. What we have found is that regardless of the time frame of the O&C thread, if one doesn't read the thread regularly, information posted there is often never seen. The thread becomes something a junk drawer -- filled with useful things that one might not even know are there . . . and that are difficult to find, even if one does know they're there.

The easiest way for the maximum number of people to search for and actually find information -- in the days, weeks and months after it has been posted -- is via dedicated threads. And by coming to the forums via View Active Topics (try using this as your landing spot), one can easily see every thread that has been posted on since their last logged-in visit, in descending chronological order.

Thanks,

=R=
for the Moderators

ronnie_suburban wrote:

JoeChicago wrote:

Drover wrote:Part of what made this topic difficult to sort through for reference is you guys extended it through the whole year instead of breaking it down into quarters like you used to. Maybe reverting back to quarterly threads would help. And IMO it's easier to have one landing spot for this particular topic than to go gallivanting all through the individual threads to see what's closing and what's still open.

Agreed. I find it an easy way to see what is coming and going, and then go to an individual thread for more detail.

Appreciate the feedback. What we have found is that regardless of the time frame of the O&C thread, if one doesn't read the thread regularly, information posted there is often never seen. The thread becomes something a junk drawer -- filled with useful things that one might not even know are there . . . and that are difficult to find, even if one does know they're there.

The easiest way for the maximum number of people to search for and actually find information -- in the days, weeks and months after it has been posted -- is via dedicated threads. And by coming to the forums via View Active Topics (try using this as your landing spot), one can easily see every thread that has been posted on since their last logged-in visit, in descending chronological order.

Thanks,

=R=
for the Moderators

A lot of us DO read and follow this thread regularly, especially in lieu of having to sort through other "active" threads for this specific piece of information. I don't see why we can't have this thread for this specific topic AND running threads for individual restaurants including posting closing information in those too (where relevant). It's not like there's some either/or technical limitation here.

I don't think either is the way to go TBH *but* the single thread is definitely superior over what's being proposed for sure. Things will become even more buried if you don't put things in a dedicated thread. You'll have a million threads now, and all in all, people will not know what's new and what's closing. An active thread really doesn't tip off any of us as to anything about what's new and what's closing. It'll become a mess if you go this way. With a single thread, you can easily read 10 pages and know for 100% certain that what's being posted in these places is new or closing up. Sometimes you don't know exactly what you're looking for other than new places - which makes it easy coming to 1 thread. Haven't been paying attention for a few months? Easy - come to this thread and read the last few pages. So if you have a thread buried 3 pages down for "Max's Restaurant", you might just bypass the entire thread thinking it's not a new place. Now, you are going to essentially force people to click into every thread of restaurants they don't recognize by name to see if it's new or if someone just reviewed it 4 months ago and maybe the reader totally forgot about the restaurant entirely. It's going to be a waste of the readers' (our) time if I'm being completely honest.

I recommend keeping this thread and also creating a simple page with a list of openings and closings that people can go to and easily see the places that are opening and closing - based on what people post. Split it up into 2 sections (places closing and opening). Date each item, and maybe put the name as a link to their website (if they have one) and address. Put the type of food too. Link to the page - easy.

For example:

Openings:
* Little Madrid Cafe - 5661 N Clark St, Chicago - Spanish, Coffee - 12/7/2019
* Max's Restaurant - 5033 N Elston Ave, Chicago - Filipino - 12/6/2019
... etc ...

The problem with Active Topics is that they don’t work well for topics that aren’t very active unless you log on quite often. Since many opening or closing announcements don’t get a lot of responses, separate posts would disappear quickly from the Active Topics.

I suggest that O&C continue as the preferred spot for opening information until after the restaurant is actually open, at which point a separate topic makes sense. Many of the announced places never get reviewed here and who needs a separate topic that doesn’t discuss the operating restaurant.

For closings, there should be a post here and on any existing topic with discussion continuing there.

Drover wrote:It's not like there's some either/or technical limitation here.

No, just clutter, which is exactly what we are hoping to mitigate.

=R=
for LTH

scottsol wrote:The problem with Active Topics is that they don’t work well for topics that aren’t very active unless you log on quite often. Since many opening or closing announcements don’t get a lot of responses, separate posts would disappear quickly from the Active Topics.

30 days is the current range for Active Topics (and it could be extended), which seems plenty long enough for those who come here even less than frequently.

=R=
for LTH

I think the fact that many of the users of this site are chiming in and saying it's a not a great idea should tell you something.....

I already posted on it - maybe you missed it. It's not a great idea - over complicating of a simple thing.

marothisu wrote:I don't think either is the way to go TBH *but* the single thread is definitely superior over what's being proposed for sure. Things will become even more buried if you don't put things in a dedicated thread. You'll have a million threads now, and all in all, people will not know what's new and what's closing. An active thread really doesn't tip off any of us as to anything about what's new and what's closing. It'll become a mess if you go this way. With a single thread, you can easily read 10 pages and know for 100% certain that what's being posted in these places is new or closing up. Sometimes you don't know exactly what you're looking for other than new places - which makes it easy coming to 1 thread. Haven't been paying attention for a few months? Easy - come to this thread and read the last few pages. So if you have a thread buried 3 pages down for "Max's Restaurant", you might just bypass the entire thread thinking it's not a new place. Now, you are going to essentially force people to click into every thread of restaurants they don't recognize by name to see if it's new or if someone just reviewed it 4 months ago and maybe the reader totally forgot about the restaurant entirely. It's going to be a waste of the readers' (our) time if I'm being completely honest.

I recommend keeping this thread and also creating a simple page with a list of openings and closings that people can go to and easily see the places that are opening and closing - based on what people post. Split it up into 2 sections (places closing and opening). Date each item, and maybe put the name as a link to their website (if they have one) and address. Put the type of food too. Link to the page - easy.

For example:

Openings:
* Little Madrid Cafe - 5661 N Clark St, Chicago - Spanish, Coffee - 12/7/2019
* Max's Restaurant - 5033 N Elston Ave, Chicago - Filipino - 12/6/2019
... etc ...

marothisu,

Let me tell you sincerely that the decision to completely shut down O&C was made by the Moderators several months ago. However, your outstanding recent posts, for which the entire community is most grateful, were the single reason we changed our minds and have tried to find a middle ground, where the O&C thread could still live on in some useful, streamlined way.

And what you have laid out is essentially what we'd like to do. However, the there are technical limitations that prevent us from creating a universally accessible thread in which replies are not possible. So, a simple O&C index thread, without cooperation from our members and/or Moderator intervention, cannot exist here.

What will likely end up happening, as I described above, is that the new O&C thread will be aggressively pruned by the Mods. We may or may not choose to move and/or copy posts made there to dedicated threads, depending on specific circumstances. It's pretty certain, however, that any post that spurs any sort of substantive discussion will be split off to form a new thread.

We're not asking for much . . . only that our members consider not automatically posting something on O&C that could easily and justifiably be the start of a new thread. We know it will require a bit more effort but we're quite confident that it will make the site better and easier to use for a greater number of readers.

=R=
for the Moderators

ronnie_suburban wrote:marothisu,

Let me tell you sincerely that the decision to completely shut down O&C was made by the Moderators several months ago. However, your outstanding recent posts, for which the entire community is most grateful, were the single reason we changed our minds and have tried to find a middle ground, where the O&C thread could still live on in some useful, streamlined way.

LOL that's interesting, and good to know some people have taken notice. Thanks for that.

And what you have laid out is essentially what we'd like to do. However, the there are technical limitations that prevent us from creating a universally accessible thread in which replies are not possible. So, a simple O&C index thread, without cooperation from our members and/or Moderator intervention, cannot exist here.

I don't know what software this site uses, but I'm pretty sure you're hosting it yourself based on the URLs. It's easy for me to say it's easy as I manage (and do) enterprise web application development for a living for a Fortune 50 company. I understand the software might not allow you to do what you want to do though. I do see, however, that you have a section where you can post articles.

My suggestion is to keep O&C the way it is, and harvest the information that people post to update an article showing the openings and closings in a structured, easy to read and get to format. Link to that article in the first post of the thread and make people understand that it will be updated periodically (every week, day, etc - up to you).

It's pretty certain, however, that any post that spurs any sort of substantive discussion will be split off to form a new thread.

That is a good idea.

We're not asking for much . . . only that our members consider not automatically posting something on O&C that could easily and justifiably be the start of a new thread. We know it will require a bit more effort but we're quite confident that it will make the site better and easier to use for a greater number of readers.

I think the issue with this is what I detailed before. Things will be lost in the fold and it will make it harder for people to find what's truly been opened and closed. Not everything gets discussed right away either. For example, I posted about the opening of Chicago's only Cameroonian restaurant in the South Loop a month or two ago. It has a really general name that would not tip anybody off to that it's even an African restaurant. Nobody responded to it, but that doesn't mean nobody could eventually find it in this thread. If it was given its own thread, then it would have already been lost a few pages deep in this forum and not very findable.

ronnie_suburban wrote:

scottsol wrote:The problem with Active Topics is that they don’t work well for topics that aren’t very active unless you log on quite often. Since many opening or closing announcements don’t get a lot of responses, separate posts would disappear quickly from the Active Topics.

30 days is the current range for Active Topics (and it could be extended), which seems plenty long enough for those who come here even less than frequently.

=R=
for LTH

I was referring to the list on the home page. The entire list is long enough to not be very useful.

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Drover wrote:It's not like there's some either/or technical limitation here.

No, just clutter, which is exactly what we are hoping to mitigate.

=R=
for LTH

The best way to mitigate clutter? Keep a consolidated thread for openings and closings, which is by far the most active topic in the forums. Wanna create MORE clutter? Force people to open a brand new thread every time something opens.

Just imagine how much MORE clutter there would be if every single opening announcement in this thread alone were instead given its own thread. The "Active Topics" side board would be inundated with openings to the detriment of bringing attention to pretty much anything else.

As for my part, if you go through with your proposed de-cluttering I'll probably just go to Eater for my opening/closing information.

Drover wrote:As for my part, if you go through with your proposed de-cluttering I'll probably just go to Eater for my opening/closing information.

Eater is great for that info. When you read something there (or elsewhere) about an interesting restaurant that's opened, please open a new thread here so the rest of us know about it. And when you read that a place of interest to LTH has closed, please post in that restaurant's thread here so people know it's closed.

MarlaCollins'Husband wrote:Eater is great for that info.

They can be, but they are also slow on many things. I am 99% certain they read this site for info sometimes. I have posted about "interesting" openings here before but sometimes weeks after the actual opening and then magically Eater has an article a day or two after my post. I'm sure it's happened with others. For example on here, someone posts about 016 Serbian restaurant on 12/19 and then I post about Max's on 12/22. On 12/27 Eater has an article mentioning both.

marothisu wrote:I am 99% certain they read this site for info sometimes. I have posted about "interesting" openings here before but sometimes weeks after the actual opening and then magically Eater has an article a day or two after my post. I'm sure it's happened with others.

Not exactly the same but I'm always happy when I post about a restaurant I like and one of the mainstream outlets pick up on the place. More business for them, less chance of the place appearing in ~closed~

One thing that bugs the living sh*t out of me in junk drawer threads, as Ronnie calls them, such as openings/closing or Oak Park is where there's multiple pages of different restaurants and a poster simply refers to a place as they/them/their etc.