May 25, 2019
Scott Maesel of SVN | Chicago Commercial represented the landlord and procured the tenant for this transaction. SVN is excited to see this vision become a reality and wish all parties involved much success.
Eater Chicago | Ashok Selvam | May 20, 2019
Garcia’s is from Brooklyn Bowl’s Peter Shapiro and Jerry Garcia’s estate
It’s official, as confirmed by a liquor license application: the West Loop’s getting a new jazz club-like music venue that will serve food and drink from the estate of Jerry Garcia, the late guitarist for the Grateful Dead. Concert promoter Peter Shapiro, who also owns Brooklyn Bowl in New York, is teaming up with the estate to bring Garcia’s to the West Loop inside the former Wishbone space at 1001 W. Washington Boulevard. Shapiro told Eater that Garcia’s could open in early 2020.
“We’re moving along,” Shapiro said. “We’re very excited about how the plans are coming together.”
Garcia’s will be a seated venue and host a diverse lineup of musicians. Patrons will be able to eat and drink at their tables while nationally touring artists perform. Shapiro gushed about the layout, but he didn’t want to share details. He wants to build a unique venue that will represent Garcia’s spirit, showcasing food, drink, and art that were important to the singer. Garcia died in 1995. His bandmates played a series of shows in 2015 in Chicago to commemorate the legendary jam band’s 50th anniversary. Shapiro put those Fare The Well concerts together. He graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston, and has other Chicago ties. He has fondness for the area: “Chicago is the heart of the country,” Shapiro said.
It’s still early, so Shapiro didn’t share much about what food Garcia’s may serve. He did say Garcia’s will be a place where customers will be able to eat full meals, not just bar snacks. He’s also working on a wine list with wines from vineyards near music venues where the Dead performed. He mentioned Alpine Valley Music Theater in Elkhorn, Wisconsin; and a show in Ithaca, New York — home of Cornell University. Tom Bailey, the general manager of the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, will be managing Garcia’s, Shapiro said. Capital Theatre is another historic venue and another of Shapiro’s venues.
Shapiro repeatedly said how excited he is to try something different. That should be good news for West Loopers who have seen real estate prices skyrocket. This makes it a difficult climate for independent restaurants to find success. While the former tenants of the Garcia’s space, Wishbone, had a strong relationship with its landlord and were able to find a nearby restaurant space to relocate, not everyone has those connections. The trend is seeing those restaurants close to make room for condos. Restaurant companies with deep pockets are also finding homes in the West Loop, including McDonald’s. It lends to a potentially homogeneous atmosphere that many West Loop residents worry about.
Garcia’s isn’t the first attempt Shapiro has made to open a music venue in Chicago. Plans to bring Brooklyn Bowl fizzled for Fulton Market. The plan for Garcia’s is further along. Shapiro also feels Garcia’s is even a better fit for the city: “It’s a great place for this to happen,” he said.
“It’s just a large puzzle to put together with many, many pieces,” Shapiro added. “I’m excited to complete the puzzle.”
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May 18, 2019
Chicago Tribune | Louisa Chu, Adam Lukach, Nick Kindelsperger, Grace Wong | May 17, 2019
Politan Row, the newest and one of the most highly anticipated food halls in Chicago, opened Saturday, so we ate and drank everywhere there in one day this week. Our urgency was driven secondarily by its location in arguably the hottest neighborhood in the city, West Town in the West Loop area, more precisely the ground floor of the new McDonald’s headquarters building. To be clear Politan Hall is unrelated to the fast food company, instead created by the Politan Group based in New Orleans, home to its flagship food hall, St. Roch Market.
As Food & Dining reporters, we were motivated primarily by a promising lineup of 13 vendors, some of whom had only existed previously as pop-ups or food trucks and others completely new concepts.
Hours vary but, notably, most vendors are open for dinner and weekends, unlike at Revival Food Hall, the first of the new generation of fancy food courts filled with local brands. On the fifth day of business at Politan Row, it was clear that some vendors could clearly use a little more practice in their new home, but one team performed flawlessly: the service staff. They offered ice water in real glasses and cleared tables continuously, because, bizarrely, there are no garbage cans in the new food hall, except for one small ashtray-topped trash cylinder.
Here’s everything we ate and drank everywhere in Politan Row.
— Louisa Chu
Bar Politan – politanrow.com/barpolitan
Bumbu Roux – chicago.politanrow.com/bumburoux
Clave – chicago.politanrow.com/clave
Floriole – chicago.politanrow.com/floriole
La Shuk – chicago.politanrow.com/lashukstreetfood
Loud Mouth – chicago.politanrow.com/loudmouth
Mom’s – chicago.politanrow.com/moms
Passion House – chicago.politanrow.com/passionhousecoffee
Perle – chicago.politanrow.com/perle
Piko Street Kitchen – chicago.politanrow.com/pikostreetkitchen
Smashed Radish – chicago.politanrow.com/smashedradish
Thattu – chicago.politanrow.com/thattu
Tolita – chicago.politanrow.com/tolita
Politan Row, 111 N. Aberdeen St., 312-278-3040, chicago.politanrow.com
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May 11, 2019
Eater Chicago | Ashok Selvam | May 9, 2019
Lettuce Entertain You shares opening renderings, details on RPM on the Water and Pizzeria Portofino
Chicago’s biggest restaurant group has unveiled more information on its massive multi-faceted riverside restaurant project in River North. The first phase, a pizza spot called Pizzeria Portofino, should debut in June. A private event space (RPM Events on the Water) should open in September and a seafood restaurant (RPM on the Water) is scheduled for a fall debut. The four-level space is one of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises’s most ambitious projects.
LEYE had considered several names as the project evolved. The space is the former Bridge House Tavern space at 317 N. Clark Street — on the Northeast corner of the Chicago River and Clark. It has spaces for boats in front which customers can use to arrive. LEYE has invested $50 million on the renovation. The scale of the project made it one of Eater Chicago’s most anticipated restaurants of 2019.
Pizzeria Portofino will debut first. It’s the space directly on the Chicago Riverwalk with a 130-foot outdoor terrace. The company hopes the pizzeria will transport customers to the Italian Riviera; LEYE is even giving away a trip. Besides hand-stretched pies, the menu will include vegetable antipasti and pastas. The drink list will include spritzes — ideal for the patio — and “approachable coastal wines.” It will be open for lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch.
The event space will follow in September. At 6,000 square feet, LEYE is billing it as ideal for weddings and other functions. There’s room for 250 for seated events and 425 for receptions. It can also be divided into three spaces. Staff will create the menus and bring items from nearby RPM Steak and RPM Italian. RPM on the Water’s menu will include seafood and steaks.
The space will include floor-to-ceiling windows, two private terraces on the second level, and a main floor patio. It’s designed by the Rockwell Group. They’ve designed restaurants all over the world. Locally, they’ve worked on the Virgin Hotels Chicago, Travelle, and Hotel EMC2.
RPM is the brand spearheaded by Giuliana and Bill Rancic and LEYE chef/partner Doug Psaltis. Bill Rancic, a suburban Chicago native, gained national spotlight while appearing on NBC’s Apprentice. Giuliana Rancic is a TV personality on the E! network. They’re all working with Lettuce founder Rich Melman who has brought his children R.J., Jerrod, and Molly into the fold. LEYE’s restaurants include R.J. Grunt’s, Beatrix, and Three Dots and a Dash.
The project is a major addition to the Chicago Riverwalk, an area that’s seen a large transformation in recent years with more and more bars and restaurants opening. The transformation of the river area was one of the priorities of outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration.
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May 4, 2019
Eater Chicago | Naomi Waxman | May 3, 2019
Offshore will bring an adult cocktail lounge to the kid-friendly tourist attraction
Family-friendly tourist attraction Navy Pier is getting a grownup cocktail lounge with a massive rooftop space. Offshore, a bar that management claims is the largest rooftop deck in the country, is slated to open late this month. The 36,000 square-foot bar and lounge is located on the third floor of Navy Pier’s Festival Hall at 1000 E. Grand Avenue.
Offshore’s space includes an 8,500 square-foot indoor area, a 60-foot bar that seats 100, and outdoor space for lawn games, seven fire pits, and seating for groups to drink and socialize, according to a news release. Retractable glass walls seal off the entire space from the elements and can be opened to let in the summer breezes that will hopefully arrive in the coming months. It’s more bar than restaurant and won’t serve full-service dinners, general manager and partner Bob Amick told the Chicago Tribune, but customers can expect modern American shared plates from chef Michael Shrader (Monnie Burke’s, Epic, Urban Union).
The real focus is on seasonal drinks developed by Clay Livingston, formerly of Red Herring Lounge and Kitchen in Louisville, Kentucky. These include a “lychee-style” cocktail and a fruity drink served in a bag. Wine, champagne, and local beers will also be available.
The Atlanta-based group behind Offshore is no stranger to rooftop spots. It opened VU Rooftop Bar, now one of the hottest drinking spots in Chicago, in the South Loop last year. A rooftop bar at Navy Pier was first reported in 2016, and Offshore is from the same group that is developing a Navy Pier hotel and restaurant slated for a spring or summer 2020 opening.
Navy Pier’s dining options tend to veer toward family spots rather than adult restaurants and bars, including Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Dippin’ Dots, and Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Bar & Grill. Adults at Navy Pier can currently grab alcoholic beverages at cocktail bar Tiny Tavern, the Miller Lite Beer Garden, and a number of chain restaurants, but Offshore will be the largest drinking spot by far at the popular tourist attraction.
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Apr 26, 2019
Eater Chicago | Naomi Waxman | April 23, 2019
Kitchen United will bring together 10 to 15 restaurants in one kitchen
Kitchen United, a delivery-focused food incubator chain based in Pasadena, California is expanding to a second Chicago location in Fulton Market that will house 10 to 15 restaurants. The space at 201 N. Elizabeth Street in Fulton Market should be over 10,000 square feet, and include large and small shared kitchens, plus a small front-of-house area with limited seating. The new space is slated to open later this year, but there’s no official date yet. Management is also in the process of setting up shops in Atlanta and Austin.
The business capitalizes on increasing demand for delivery dining and steep competition between food delivery apps. Sometimes referred to as a “cloud kitchen,” Kitchen United emphasizes delivery and catering through third-party providers, including Uber Eats and Postmates. Established restaurants may use the fully equipped kitchen spaces to meet high demand and expand their customer base, and emerging businesses can use the location as a launch pad. Kitchen United also provides technology platforms, facility maintenance, and storage.
The group already runs a Chicago kitchen center in River North at 825 N. Sedgwick Street, and restaurant partners include Steingold’s of Chicago, which will also be opening a location inside Fulton Galley food hall. Kitchen United’s vice president of consumer marketing Mike Mirkil wouldn’t disclose which Chicago restaurants and caterers will be a part of the Fulton Market location but said the River North kitchen has stimulated a good deal of interest from local operators.
“All that learning we put into River North is going to be translated to Fulton Market,” he said. “We’re getting smarter as we go.”
Management has plans to expand in 2019, with new sites in Los Angeles, Denver, Seattle, New York, Phoenix, and Columbus, Ohio. The company uses comprehensive data including demographics, income levels, and traffic patterns to select locations, said COO Meredith Sandland. Fulton Market’s dense millennial and Gen Z populations are predisposed to ordering delivery meals. That makes the area a prime location for the shared kitchen, Mirkil said.
Virtual restaurants are already trendy in Chicago. Lincoln Park is home to Lettuce Entertain You’s cloud kitchen inside Oyster Bah, and West Town’s WHISK offers a special menu exclusive to Uber Eats. Not all these endeavors are successful, however: a shared kitchen in Lakeview that housed restaurants including Blue Crown Wings and F.I.S.H Poke Bar on Southport Avenue closed in 2017.
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