Monday, January 11, 2010

Life After All at A'Cappella Bistro

A couple of weeks ago we had a post about the mysterious A'Cappella Bistro on the Southeast corner of Michigan and 13th street. Every since we can remember, this place looks like it could open any day, but for whatever reason sits dormant.

Anyway, late last week a reader tipped us that there were new signs up in the window at the restaurant. As a result, we recently strolled by and sure enough there are three new signs announcing that the restaurant will finally be opening soon. It even directs you to go to their website, www.acappellabistro.com.

Although the website is a work in progress, you will get a sense of what they're trying to do. As of now, it looks like it's going to be a BYOB place with traditionally and supposedly reasonable prices:

Yes, believe it or not, we're going to open...just after we take care of a few minor details. Then the South Loop will be able to find comfort in reasonably priced delicious home-style meals.

A'Cappella is located at 1301 S. Michigan Avenue, snuggled between the condo towers of the South Loop and right next door to Chicago's infamous Panozzo's Italian Deli.

We will take pride in offering good simple food with a familiar taste. Our dinner menu will provide you with basic yet flavorful entree selections of either Beef, Chicken, Pork or Fish and then you will choose the sides that you like best. This allows you to create an uncountable number of classic meals to your own liking.

So there you have it. Progress at A'Cappella. Although we're still a tad skeptical, we're excited that this place might open soon. Stay tuned.

11 comments:

Jim in the Sloop said...

Hmm.

The way they describe their dishes as "beef, chicking, pork or fish" without a clue as to their preparation does not exactly give me hope for this place.

Also, they might like to know that being "infamous" is NOT a good thing.

Jim in the Sloop said...

Oh - I looked at the webpage, and the phone number they give for their administration offices is "Storage management Inc. on South Wabash", which also seems to serve as a mail drop. Who ARE these people?

Another hint for them, if you want to be a restaurant, don't serve your pot pie in a TIN, invest in little ceramic baking dishes. Thanks.

Andy Sites said...

No idea what to expect in terms of ambiance and food quality, but there does seem to be promise for good prices. The website however looks like it came from the 1990's.

David Trang said...

Looking at their site, it screams "FILLER." Just look at their application sign up page, it is literally a Word document pasted into HTML with no sort of way to submit or follow-up.

And when did Beef, Chicken, Pork and Fish become proper nouns? They must be preparing some special kind of meat there.

Anonymous said...

"Storage Management"..... really? AKA, "waste mgmt"..... Might as well be the Bada Bing.

Anonymous said...

I think the best think about the entire website is the "custom cakes" section. Check out the Turkey Cake. My 6 year old could make one more professional looking.

Tim said...

I'm glad they offer true "pies," but I'm worried that their truth is nullified by the following quotation marks, resulting in pies destined to remain fictitious.

Anonymous said...

I hope this place does well, however as a consultant in this field I have my concerns. I am not sure this concept will work. I hope they are going for the pizza parlor type of establishment, with a couple of other italian favorites. Simple food done well. I like that it is BYOB. I think since South Coast went full bar this will be the only one in the neighborhood.
In addition like another post mentioned, being infamous is not a good thing. The rumors about why this place never opened reflect poorly on the establishment. I think they should clear the air and let everyone what happened.

c said...

I have lived a block away for about four years and for three and half this place has been set up and ready to open. We notice every few months they add some new decorations, fake fruit etc. what the heck?! About two months ago I saw a woman go in the back door, into the kitchen and pop open a bottle of champagne before even removing her coat. This place is truly a mystery...how can they afford to keep it empty? Aren't they paying rent every month??

Anonymous said...

A' Capella is owned by a miserable "connected" Chicago cop. He hogs 2 parking spots on the north side of 13th, just east of Michigan. When he moves one car he slides the other into 2 spots to keep anyone from parking. He also has his other car sticking out into the alley. Other cops won't ticket him of course and Fioretta is in bed with him. His family has owned the building for years and i think he is entitled to whatever he wants because of it. Don't patronize the place. The BYOB is due to the fact that he didn't play ball with the city when they wanted to buy his place. They offered him other options but stubbornly said no.

Anonymous said...

Is there any updated info on A'Capella? They've been open for a couple years now and seems there is never any business in there.