Slice of Life: Living Off The Land

A group of people sift through the leaves underneath a tree in a Chicago public park.  There are probably lots of things you can eat in the city's parks.  In New York, the city actually had tours that show you all the edible things in Central Park.  I don't know if there's a similar tour available in Chicago.



I also don't know what kind of nuts or fruits or berries they were gathering.  They didn't speak any English.  Here's a picture of the tree's fruit.  If you know what it is, post it in the comments section of this page, or in our Chicago discussion forum.

Goodbye Arby's. Hello, Arby's.

A couple of weeks ago I headed down to Clark Street with a fist full of newspaper coupons, ready to do something gluttonous at Arby's.  Instead, I found this:

The sign says the Arby's in the parking garage next to the Chicago Title Tower (161 North Clark Street) is closed.  In fact, the entire mini-food court with the Sbarro and everything is gone.  A note on the door says the proprietors lost their lease.  It must have been a surprise since the Christmas decorations were left behind when this picture was taken on December 23rd.

The sign also notes that there's another Arby's across the street at the Thompson Center (100 West Randolph Street).  But somehow I was so disappointed, I ended up at Wendy's instead.

Crappy Restaurant Less Crappy Now

One of downtown Chicago's least pleasant looking McDonald's looks much better these days.

The restaurant at 230 South State Street has been given something of an exterior makeover.  There are clean new awnings, a light grey McDonald's banner wraps around the corner of the building, mimicking its structural stripes, and even the marquee looks a lot better than it used to.

Other people seem to have noticed, too.  When this picture was taken, people could clearly be seen eating in the second floor dining room, something I haven't seen before.

It's another positive step forward for the revitalization of State Street.

Club Lago Open Again

If the giant "We're back!" sign on the side of the building isn't enough of a hint, we'll say it again -- Club Lago (331 West Superior Street) is once again open for business.

We talked about the disaster that befell the venerable eatery in the spring, and it reopened for business in early October.  But this was our first chance to stroll by the place to see how it looks.  Unfortunately, we were there a little early in the day and it wasn't open, but from what we hear, the food is just as good as it's always been.

Orange You Glad Something New Is Opening?

Saw this sign in the 700 block of North Clark.  It looks like the Orange restaurants that have sprouted all over the north side are branching out to downtown. Orange's web site (be careful-- it's ugly, not standards-compliant, and running a 2005 version of phpNuke) says the location at Clark and Huron will open next month.  Welcome to the neighborhood!

Slice of Life: Tattooed Bricks

If you were going to give an old building a tattoo, what would it look like?  In our opinion, the wall of Scoozi (410 West Huron Street) in River North has it exactly right.  A little exotic, a little classy, a little adventurous.  Like "The Most Interesting Man In The World" from the Dos Equis commercials.  Except the food here is Italian, not Mexican.

New Food on State Street

There are a couple of new quick-eat options available in the Loop.  After months of anticipation, and renovation, the Page Brothers Building (177 North State Street) which used to just have an OTB, now has a deli and an ice cream shop on the ground floor.

The sandwich joint is called Halsted Street Deli.  Sharing space with HSD is South Side favorite, Rainbow Cone.  Rainbow used to have an outlet in Union Station, but that closed years ago.

A Chinese restaurant is still to come.  The person who sent the picture in didn't notice an opening date in the window.

Club Lago Reopening Party

Earlier this week we told you about the unfortunate destruction of Club Lago (331 West Superior Street) back in March.  I'm glad to say that I got an e-mail from Jennifer Little this morning telling us that Club Lago will have a grand re-opening party Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 5:00pm.

But wait -- the news is even better.  You don't have to wait until next week to get your Club Lago fix.  It's already open and serving customers, so you can head over there now to check out the new and improved restaurant, and then go back again on the 7th for the big welcome back party.

Missing Lago (Updated)

Update (October 2, 2009 @ 9:22am): We got an e-mail from Club Lago letting us know that things are back to normal and there's going to be a grand re-opening party.  Check this blog post for details.

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It's been almost a year since the first time I stumbled across Club Lago (331 West Superior Street) in River North.  The eatery was a great find -- basic Italian food served by people who seem to enjoy their jobs to people who live and work in the area.  A true neighborhood joint.

You may have noticed the word "was" in there.  That's because this past March, the place was destroyed.  Photos posted in the windows of the building document the carnage.

Here's the summary from one of the bigger ones:

"On March 18 just after 7 am, the chimney of the neighbor's building exploded.  Collapsed masonry fell on the parking lot, alley, and Club Lago.  The damage is extreme: at the very least our roof, second floor, and kitchen are destroyed.  The Fire Department arrived to find an empty restaurant.  The chef arrived late that morning; no one was hurt.  But for the first time in our history, Club Lago is closed for business."

I've been out of town most of this month and last, so I haven't had a chance to check on the recovery process, but these pictures are from August and a peek inside showed there was still quite a lot of work to be done.

If you're nearby, pop over. And if the place looks like it's open, have a drink and some pasta.  You'll be glad you did.  Any place that has its customers writing sweet nothings on the door after its destruction must be special.

Video: The New FlatTop Grill, Plus Q&A

Earlier this week we published an article about the new FlatTop Grill location that opened up in the Sullivan Center (30 South Wabash Avenue).  While we were there during a practice lunch, we shot some video of the inside.  It's presented below so you can get an idea of what the place looks like.



Also, in the previous article about FlatTop Grill we mentioned that we asked FlatTop's PR firm to explain a few things.  The questions and answers are as follows:

• Why did FlatTop choose this location?
• It was a perfect spot for us. There’s a vibrancy to FlatTop which makes it a fun place to meet people for breakfast, lunch or dinner. We’re also a neighborhood concept and the Loop is very much a vibrant neighborhood that combines a working crowd along with residents. This location allows us to cater to both groups as well as visitors to Chicago.
• Were there any special challenges working with this space?
• There have been no real challenges. Because the Sullivan Center is a historic building, we did need to follow certain guidelines though. And in this Loop location we expect large daily lunchtime crowds each day, since we are in walking distance of many large office buildings. Yet, we are also a neighborhood restaurant and are community focused. Because of this we are able to service both the weekday office workers and the Loop residents. 
• The Sullivan Center is a very historic building, yet I saw no effort made to highlight, preserve, or show off its history. In fact, the interior could have been any building anywhere.  Is there a reason it wasn't tailored for the Sullivan Center?
• Due to the historical nature of the building, we followed specific guidelines; and, because the Sullivan Center is such a wonderful historic site we wanted to highlight Chicago’s history in the space. Guests will see pictures depicting some of Chicago’s iconic images throughout the restaurant.
• FlatTop is one of several eateries that have opened in the Wabash corridor over the last four months.  Why go there instead of another place?
• FlatTop is a neighborhood type of restaurant and the Loop is a great example of one of Chicago’s downtown neighborhoods. It’s an exciting place to be and it’s the same energy guests find at a FlatTop restaurant. We fully expect that the new FlatTop Grill in the Sullivan Center will develop its own loyal legion of fans, just as all of our other FlatTop Grill restaurants have done.
• Does FlatTop plan to have business hours that work with the people who live in the Loop and encourage continued residential growth there, or will it only cater to the lunchtime suburban office crowd?
• We are catering to everyone who is in the Loop: residents, office workers and visitors. The restaurant will be open seven days a week, opening at 8 a.m. every day and closing at 9 p.m. Sunday – Thursday, and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. FlatTop guests will be able to eat breakfast, lunch & dinner at this location; in fact, it’s the only FlatTop that is serving breakfast seven days a week, and the downtown residents are the reason we chose to make breakfast available at this location every day.  

Sweetwater Flowing at Illinois Center

One of our alert readers e-mailed us some camera phone pics of the new Sweetwater Grill in the Loop (225 North Michigan Avenue).    It looks like it opened in the last couple of days, and fills the space vacated by the collapse of the Bennigan's restaurant chain.

Status Update: Sweetwater Grill at Illinois Center

The "Sweetwater" signs are up at the Illinois Center.  It's a good sign of progress and nice to see something taking the space that was once a Bennigan's restaurant, then a massive advertising billboard for Snickers.  I don't know if anyone from Sweetwater will ever read this, but if someone does -- tell your employees to stop picking their noses in public; at least while they're in uniform.

FlatTop Grill Opens at the Sullivan Center

The re-inventing of Chicago's venerated Sullivan Center takes another major step forward today (Monday, September 21, 2009) with the opening of FlatTop Grill.

Many people will remember the Sullivan Center (33 South State Street) by its previous name -- the Carson Pirie Scott flagship store.  When Carson's pulled out of the Loop it was the latest in a series of devastating retail moves that continue to slowly turn Chicago into a generic Anytown, U.S.A.

But more importantly, it left Mayor Daley's favorite retail drag with a gaping cavity across the street from one of Hizzonor's recent successes, and down the street from another project that faces an uncertain future. Early notions of filling the huge space with a supermarket or other large-scale retail replacement for the department store failed.  Now, behind the scaffolding and plywood, the Sullivan Center is slowly being re-born one storefront at a time.

But the action isn't on State Street.  It's around back on a newly reborn section of Wabash Avenue.  A recent streetscape upgrade has done wonders for Jeweler's Row and businesses are responding.

The latest opening is the aforementioned FlatTop Grill.  It's moved into the Sullivan Center's storefront at 30 South Wabash.  Last week, the eatery's public relations company invited me in for a preview meal and to take some photographs.  I'm still wedded to my J-school ethics, so I declined the meal; but I'm always up to a sneak peek of anything new, so camera in tow I popped by on a glorious autumn afternoon.

Although many of the storefronts on this block are celebrated for the intricacy of their cast iron decorations, FlatTop landed in one of the more plain bays, with sadly boring brown rectangles beneath a tangle of fire escapes.  Perhaps it's Prairie School elegant; but I never really understood or appreciated the Prairie School aesthetics the way so many others do.

Inside, the 4,000 square-foot restaurant is a riot of red paint and chrome accents.  It has the feel of a darkened space, but everything is quite clearly visible.  Maybe it's the same red light trick that astronomers play on their pupils in order read their charts in the dark.  Though the impression is of darkness, it is very clean, inviting, and modern.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, FlatTop is a D.I.Y. stir-fry joint.  Think of it as the stir-fry bar at Big Bowl, but large enough to take up an entire restaurant.  You pick your meats, your sauces (who knew there were 20 sauces in the world?), and vegetables -- then bring them to the grill where they're prepared for you and delivered to your table.  I recommend forgoing the table entirely, and cozying up to the row of stools that run alongside the prep area so you get lunch and a show.

The space is divided into three areas:

• A welcome center which contains the maître d's station and a small but efficient bar where you can have a drink while waiting for your friends.
• The main room where two parallel self-serve bars funnel you toward the cooking area.
• And a back dining room, which is considerably more intimate, welcoming, and tranquil than the cacophony out front.

If you're with someone you want to actually talk with, I recommend asking for seats in back.  When I was there, the place was packed with a practice lunch and I could tell that the din of people and preparation was making it hard for some diners to hear their companions.

This is FlatTop's 14th location in Chicagoland and beyond, and the first that I know of that was built in a historic property.  In fact, the press release for the opening proudly touts the Sullivan Center location as a selling point.  Yet, inside I saw no evidence that any effort was made to preserve this architectural legacy.  The ceilings have some services exposed, but the entire area is painted black so if there are any architectural details up there to witness, you'll need a flashlight to see them.  The space is certainly slightly unusually shaped, but that can happen with any restaurant in a competitive market and isn't specific to this location.

Still, Flat Out Crazy's C.E.O Frederic Mayerson said, "Being in the newly renovated Sullivan Center ramps up the energy and excitement that already surrounds a FlatTop restaurant. Guests in the Loop will discover it's a fun and friendly restaurant to hang out with friends over breakfast, lunch or dinner."  That's all well and nice, but exactly how does being in the Sullivan Center "ramp up the energy?"  FlatTop spent two years prepping this location, so I asked its PR company to elaborate on why all signs of this location's history appear to have been obliterated.  When I get an answer, I'll post a follow-up report.

If you live or work in the Loop and are looking for a good, quick, different lunch, then FlatTop Grill seems like a great option.  I'm not a restaurant critic, so I'm unqualified to comment on the quality of the food (another part of the reason I refused the meal mentioned above).  But everything looked fresh and smelled delicious.  The space is like Ikea meets Kate Spade meets Big Bowl -- but in a good way.  Service seemed prompt, but of course at a lunch where all of the managers are watching, of course it is.

Still, I think FlatTop Grill will be great addition to the neighborhood, and I plan to stop by for lunch in the next few weeks.  I recommend everyone else do the same to welcome this business to the neighborhood, and support more businesses in the Loop.

• Open for dinner starting September 21st.
• Open for lunch and dinner September 22nd.
• Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner September 23rd and onward.
• Vegetarian-friendly
• Allergy-friendly
• 8:00am-9:00pm Sunday through Thursday
• 8:00am-10:00pm Friday, Saturday

More photos below:

Things Getting Harry on Navy Pier

We were disappointed when Joe's Be-Bop Cafe closed at Navy Pier before the season even began.  Workers at nearby restaurants told us it was going to be replaced by a BW3 (Buffalo Wild Wings and Weck) franchise.  But that failed to materialize.

Now, with Summer 2009 but a memory, there may actually be a restaurant finally about to fill the Be-Bop space.  It's a branch of River North mainstay Harry Caray's restaurant.  Signs at the pier proclaim that it's under construction, and as far as our untrained eyes can tell it could be opened soon since we saw what appeared to be wait staff inside getting ready for something.

It will be nice to have this in the neighborhood.  We used to go to Harry Caray's on Kedzie once a month for about four years until there was a very disturbing incident in the women's restroom, and when it was brought to the management's attention we were blown off.

But we're not much on grudges, so we'll check out the Navy Pier eatery once it opens, and hope that the food is of the same quality as the mothership.

Hotel Cedar Open Again

After what seemed like an eternity of sitting empty and abandoned, the Gold Coast's Cedar Hotel (1118 North State Street) is open once again.

Not too long ago there were grand plans for the Cedar, but then economic realities caught up with the owner, and one thing failed to lead to another.

Now the place is open once again as a restaurant, and not a bad one, either.  I had the best ruben I've ever had in Chicago here.  It's a dry, barely-krauted sammitch that's billed as Chicago style.  My wife had nothing but good things to say about her fried chicken sandwich.  And this is the first place we've found in Chicago that offers cheese curds as an appetizer.  We ordered them, but it turned out that the kitchen was curdless so we did without an appetizer.

The Cedar Hotel used to be a hangout for some of the worst sort of people who gravitated to the Viagra Triangle area trying to prove that age hadn't affected their manliness.  The Cedar Hotel management has stated in the past that it's interested in being a neighborhood joint, not a haven for cruisers.  They might go a long way toward discouraging the misogynistic douchebag crowd from returning if the waitresses were dressed a little less like Hooters girls, and didn't have "Vacancy" stamped on their uniform shirts just above their butts.  Some of us don't require the services of the neighborhood's eponymous pharmaceutical, so having a dozen muffin tops bouncing around while we lunch is unnecessarily sleazy.

Not Much Information: That Honkeytonk Place

From the Not Much Information file: Remember that honkeytonk-looking joint on the corner of Chicago Avenue and Dearborn Street?  Remember how it closed about a year ago?  Well, it's back -- this time as a pizzeria.

Taste Testing Chicago's Riverwalk

This past weekend, Chicago's Riverwalk officially opened.  Those who supped there at any of the half-dozen pioneering restaurants that set up shop last year will wonder exactly what "officially open" means.

Basically, you can now walk from Wabash Street to Lake Michigan uninterrupted by the Michigan Avenue bridge.

Some better signage and a critical mass of restaurants and retail will go a long way toward making the riverwalk a destination for locals and tourists.

I went there this week and had a very nice lunch at the riverwalk outlet of downtown staple O'Brien's pub.

Though Chicago is nearly 80 years behind places like San Antonio when it comes to riverside dining, the design of Chicago's is far superior to what exists in The Alamo City.  Chicago's riverwalk is wide and inviting, with good (though inadequate) landscaping.  The San Antonio original can be very crowded to the point where you'd afraid of tripping over a luminaire and falling through a tree beard (local lingo for Spanish moss) into the river.

In Chicago, there are no such fears as there is plenty of space for both restaurants and rollerbladers.  The railing helps, too.

If you haven't been, it's worth spending at least one sunny summer afternoon having a late or light lunch on the riverwalk.  The city has a long way to go, but at least it is going -- full steam ahead.

A Bit of Country in the City

When I moved to the Midwest six years ago I expected one benefit would be greater access to Dairy Queens.  After all, Chicagoland abuts "America's Dairyland" so it only made sense that there would be one on every corner, just like there's one in every small town in Texas.

Alas, it was not to be.  Being a Looper, my choices were the limited hours of the DQ in the basement of 69 West Washington Street, or hiking up to North Southport and hoping my trip didn't coincide with a game at Wrigley Field.

Now, there is a third choice.  A full service Dairy Queen has opened in the heart of Columbia University's campus in the same Wabash Street building that houses Chicago's American Youth Hostel.

It had a soft opening in May, and is now fully operational.  Best of all, it's a Midwest-flavored Dairy Queen, not the East Coast variety I grew up with.  That means burgers and other hot food, and not just ice cream.

Coffee Shop Replaced by Coffee Shop

When the Ethel's chain of coffee/chocolate houses abruptly pulled the plug on its Chicago operations, several spaces were left vacant.

Some, like the one on Lake Street, are still empty.

The one in the Shops at 900 North Michigan Avenue has been converted into an awkward seating area for weary shoppers.

As far as we can tell, only the one at the Shops at North Bridge ("the Nordstrom mall") has found new life.

A Whispers cafe has opened in the prominent space right in front of the Michigan Avenue entrance.  If the name sounds familiar, it should -- it's the same as the intrepid Gold Coast kiosk coffee shop that operates in the center of Viagra Triangle (also known as Mariano Park).

Though Whispers has a loyal following in its home neighborhood, we can't help but feel bad for it during Chicago's long winters.  Hopefully having this location available year-round is the start of better days for the operation.

New Restaurant Pops Up In Viagra Triangle

 Over the last couple of months, we've watched with interest as people with a purpose set about fixing up the ground floor of the old Hotel Cedar at the intersection of Rush and State Streets.  Now, thanks to an article in Crain's Chicago Business, we now know what they've been up to.

It will very soon be a restaurant called "Cedar Hotel" -- named after the flophouse whose neon sign still stands on the site.  The Crain's article says the place will serve American comfort food and try to be more friendly to the regular people in the neighbor, and not just a hangout for drunken 50-somethings trying to pick up a silicone-augmented one night stand like so many of the other eateries in Viagra Triangle.

Crain's also details the mess that led to the restaurant's opening.  Apparently plans to demolish the existing building and put up a new hotel fell through because the banks are still refusing to lend to businesses the billions of tax dollars they were given specifically to lend to businesses.