The Safehouse Chicago closed yesterday.
https://www.safehousechicago.com/

Jim-Bob wrote:The Safehouse Chicago closed yesterday.
https://www.safehousechicago.com/

Some concepts don't travel well.

Crain's (subscription required) reports on the upcoming Basque restaurant in River North:

Asador Bastian will open at 214 W. Erie St. in a 140-year-old townhouse known as Flair House. It's the second restaurant from Eat Well Hospitality, the group behind two-year-old Andros Taverna in Logan Square.
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Asador Bastian has begun taking reservations for the week of March 22.

This is not the first Basque restaurant in Chicago. Although Salero has closed, mfk. still serves seafood in the Basque and Catalan styles.

nsxtasy wrote:Crain's (subscription required) reports on the upcoming Basque restaurant in River North:

Asador Bastian will open at 214 W. Erie St. in a 140-year-old townhouse known as Flair House. It's the second restaurant from Eat Well Hospitality, the group behind two-year-old Andros Taverna in Logan Square.
.
.
.
Asador Bastian has begun taking reservations for the week of March 22.

This is not the first Basque restaurant in Chicago. Although Salero has closed, mfk. still serves seafood in the Basque and Catalan styles.

From the Trib:

Psaltis is particularly excited to serve a distinctly Spanish beef cut called txuleton, a very thick bone-in rib steak. (If you’re interested in learning more, I highly recommend looking up the cut on YouTube, if only to appreciate how happy the Spanish chefs look while grilling it.) Like Andros Taverna, they’ll also be importing fresh fish from markets in Barcelona and Athens.

Most of the meat and seafood will be cooked on a massive charcoal grill that was custom-made for them in Europe. “It was modeled on some of the great asadores in Spain,” Psaltis said. Along with a large area to grill food, it has multiple shelves, allowing the cooks to use it much like an oven.

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

Firewood BBQ, 1856 W. North Ave., had a soft opening a few weeks ago in the former Boxcar Betty location a few blocks east of the Damen Avenue Blue Line station.

https://blockclubchicago.org/2023/03/07 ... cker-park/

Chicago’s Incoming Guinness Taproom Opens In West Loop This Summer
The Ireland-based brewer will open the 15,000-square-foot space this coming this August.

Elliot McGowan ELLIOT MCGOWAN • FEBRUARY 20, 2023

For anybody with a thirst for that smooth, creamy, world-famous Irish dry stout, you’re in luck! Guinness is about to open its second U.S. location right here in Chicago.

The iconic Ireland-based brewer has signed a multi-year lease for a 15,000-square-foot space in the former Pennsylvania Railroad Terminal located at 375 N. Morgan Street.

Construction has been underway for some months transforming the West Loop space and, according to Guinness, it will open to the public this summer! While we won’t get to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in the space this year, the eventual opening is sure to be a hit.

The taproom will offer a rotating menu of various food and beers, including the company’s world-famous Guinness Draught Stout which will be imported from St James’s Gate in Dublin.

A 10-barrel brewing system will also make a selection of small-batch brews that will be exclusively available in the new Chicago taproom. Oh, and there will be informative tours, of course!

It’s not just beer that guests will be able to experience in the new taproom, however. The 15,000-square-foot Chicago space will also function as an events space, a venue for local artists, and will house a bakery like the one in the company’s Maryland location which opened in 2018.

The Chicago taproom will create 75 jobs and “offer rotating beers, cuisine, and events, all bringing to life the spirit of Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods and unique cultural elements” said a Guinness spokesperson in an official statement.

HonestMan wrote:Chicago’s Incoming Guinness Taproom Opens In West Loop This Summer
The Ireland-based brewer will open the 15,000-square-foot space this coming this August.

I'm curious to see what beers they serve there. I hope they have their Foreign Extra Stout which I enjoy more than their regular stout.

Funkenhausen, West Town’s Creative German and Southern Restaurant, To Close.
https://flip.it/mz--rs

Stand Up Burgers at 204 N. Wells has permanently closed, per a sign on the door.

The website no longer has a functioning link for that location, nor the Lakeview location, but it is unknown if the Lakeview location is also closed.

This concept by the Veggie Grill chain looks to have run its course here in Chicago.

polster wrote:Akahoshi Ramen: The first brick and mortar by the Chicago famous social media personae as Ramen Lord (a|k|a Mike Satinover).
[edit I]
Back in 2017, I wrote a few thousand words about how the best bowl of ramen in Chicago couldn’t be found in a restaurant. Instead, if you wanted to sample the most satisfying bowl of miso ramen in the area, you’d need to ask Mike Satinover, an amateur ramen obsessive, to make it for you.
[edit II]
Akahoshi Ramen
2340 N. California Ave
Chicago, IL 60647

Here is a potentially comprehensive array of podcasts with Mike Satinover (a|k|a "Ramen Lord"). You may stream, or download them for off-line listening.

• Way of Ramen episode 3
• Way of Ramen episode 4
• Way of Ramen episode 10
• Way of Ramen episode 35
• Way of Ramen episode 47
• Japan Eats (14 Nov. 2022)
• Ramen Hunter episode 018
• Ramen Hunter episode 028
• Will Clarke episode #44

"Ramen Lord" on Instagram.

Famous TacoBurger has opened at 2901 Central in Evanston. This is in the former Crepe place and long ago Daruma. Looks like they have tacos and burgers, but maybe not taco burgers.

Local Foods and Butcher & Larder Will Close After Five Years

https://flip.it/8lAG6m

Fatburger Is Back In Orland Park, With NBA Star Owners

Previously owned by Kanye West and shuttered years ago, the long-running LA-based chain known for serving burgers in several sizes has reopened at 15110 S. La Grange Rd., under a partnership between NBA stars Anthony Davis Jr., Derrick Rose, and Tim Hardaway Jr. The burger spot also includes a taste of Fatburger's sister wing brand, Buffalo’s Express.

Guinness is opening a brewery & taproom in Chicago

...
Guinness said late Friday afternoon that they will be opening a brewery and taproom in Chicago in Fulton Market later this summer. No official date has been set.

Per a release from Guinness, the company will be converting a former railroad depot at 901 West Kinzie Street and turning it into the “Open Gate Brewery.” The 15,000-square-foot facility will feature a full-service restaurant along with indoor and outdoor seating.
...

New Korean restaurant opened in Lakeview East, called Dong-ne Korean Snack Bar. Former home of Mortar & Pestle.

Dong-ne Korean Snack Bar
3108 N Broadway
(773) 360-8036
Open M-Sunday 11:30 am - 9:30 pm

https://www.dongnelakevieweast.com/

polster wrote:OKAY Cannabis/West Town Bakery Cafe & Lounge has opened in the former Twin Peaks Restaurant space in Wheeling which closed in 2019. This is the First cannabis store with a bar and a bakery under the same roof open in Illinois.

The first store in Illinois to combine marijuana and alcohol sales opened Wednesday in Wheeling, with its owners hoping to make it a place for customers to hang out and relax.

Okay Cannabis is unlike any other business in the state, hosting licensed cannabis sales under the same roof with West Town Bakery, which serves beer, wine and liquor as well as bakery goods and other food.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/marijuan ... story.html

OKAY Cannabis
781 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Wheeling, IL 60090
https://www.okaycannabis.com/

West Town Bakery is preparing to open a new location with OKAY Cannabis, coming to Evanston, located at 100 Chicago Ave.

https://whatnowchicago.com/west-town-ba ... -cannabis/

Yokocho, a back alley Japanese bar with some small food, is being resurrected soon in West Loop/Fulton Market at 167 N Green St. They were on Division St in Wicker Park but closed in 2019.

They applied for a liquor license recently.. Same owner

Jim-Bob wrote:

HonestMan wrote:Chicago’s Incoming Guinness Taproom Opens In West Loop This Summer
The Ireland-based brewer will open the 15,000-square-foot space this coming this August.

I'm curious to see what beers they serve there. I hope they have their Foreign Extra Stout which I enjoy more than their regular stout.

I finished a project in Baltimore late last year and stopped by the MD location many times before my flight home (very close to BWI). They always have standard Guinness Draught, Guinness Extra Stout, & Guinness Extra Foreign Stout brewed in Dublin. They also had 5 or 6 'standard' large-batch brewed in Maryland including the Blonde.

More interesting though, were their ~12-14 Experimental brewed on-site which ran the gamut from dry-hopped lagers to 1 or 2 barrel-aged beers on tap, including sours. The place is much cooler (especially for beer nerds) than it needs to be.

Willkat98 wrote:Stand Up Burgers at 204 N. Wells has permanently closed, per a sign on the door.

The website no longer has a functioning link for that location, nor the Lakeview location, but it is unknown if the Lakeview location is also closed.

This concept by the Veggie Grill chain looks to have run its course here in Chicago.

That’s too bad, that was a good spot.

Big Chicken, Shaquille O'Neal's 5-year-old restaurant chain, plans to open its first Illinois location in June at a 2,610-square-foot indoor space with an adjacent patio at 9421 W. Higgins Road in Rosemont. A Schaumburg location will follow at the northeast corner of Roselle and Golf roads.

https://www.dailyherald.com/business/20 ... t-location

Dave148 wrote:Big Chicken, Shaquille O'Neal's 5-year-old restaurant chain

He should have named it the Chicken Shaq (but maybe it's too similar to the name of the carry-out restaurant in Evanston).

Also what Shake Shack calls their chicken sandwich.

Rocket Slice Pizza, A Kosher NYC style pizza restaurant is opening in Lincolnwood in for the former King's & Queen's Restaurant space at 3918 W Touhy Ave.
https://yeahthatskosher.com/2022/08/nyc ... rmanently/

A new pizzeria will open soon in the Chicago suburb of Lincolnwood. Rocket Slice Pizza will offer New York style slices for evening and late night bites. The restaurant will be be open from 4pm to 11pm Sun-Thu, and also open Sat Nights.

The pizzeria will be Cholov Yisroel and offer delivery via food apps like GrubHub & UberEats.

Rocket Slice Pizza
https://rocketslice.space/
https://www.instagram.com/rocketslicepizza/

Also, opening in Spring 2023 Wholly Frijoles is expanding 2 doors down in the former Rong Tian Sushi and former Two Lanterns Cafe location at 3900 W Touhy Ave. as a separate catering and sweet shop.



Wholly Frijoles
https://www.whollyfrijoles1.com/
https://www.facebook.com/whollyfrijoles1/

A New Persian-Inspired Tasting Menu Restaurant Coming to Albany Park.
Maman Zari will move into the former home of Lebanon Bites and Semiramis

https://whatnowchicago.com/a-new-persia ... bany-park/

Dave148 wrote:

A New Persian-Inspired Tasting Menu Restaurant Coming to Albany Park.
Maman Zari will move into the former home of Lebanon Bites and Semiramis

https://whatnowchicago.com/a-new-persia ... bany-park/

Very intriguing. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!