Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Addios to Cuatro: Part Deux

So it appears that the reopening of Cuatro (2030 S. Wabash), dubbed "The Miracle on 21st Street", was short lived. Late last week a reader wrote:
I walked by Cuatro last night and noticed green stickers on the windows noting that their licence had been revoked. It wasn't clear what licence, but the restaurant was definitely closed for the evening. What's the scoop?
We also had a friend of the blog mention the same thing. Since this was perplexing to us (being that it closed for a couple days, opened for a couple days and now appears to be closed again), we thought we would wander down to Wabash and 21st to take a look for ourselves.

As reported, there were multiple green stickers plastered on the windows with "Revoked" in big letters (in reference to a business license). And after peaking in to the restaurant it appears that almost all of the tables, chairs and artwork are gone. Does anyone have anymore background?

Although this has been an weird story, we think it's safe to say adios again to Cuatro.

(Hat Tip: EJM & LR!)

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

These recent developments pretty much sum up the sad South Loop dining scene. Lose a unique restaurant; gain a second subway sandwich joint. Bon Appetit!

Griffin said...

3 weeks ago I went after their first closing and talked to our waiter. Apparently, Cuatro was severely behind on their tax payments and the city was revoking their liquor license because of it. Without liquor, there was no hope to make back the funds needed to pay the past taxes. The last ditch prayer was for some new owners to take over and infuse the place with some cash, but out waiter wasn't optimistic. Sad, the place was amazing. Unlike the defunct Room 21 next store, it wasn't prohibitively expensive to just head to on a weekday night.

Anonymous said...

Our waitress, a few days after they reopened, said that they had gotten a new investor, and that's what allowed them to reopen. Wonder if that fell through.

Anonymous said...

The new investor did not fall through. The new investors have infused some smarts into the business plan; first order of business: better location. This restaurant is going to reopen . . . in Wicker Park.

Anonymous said...

Fact or speculation?

Don R said...

Wicker Park! How bout open closer to Roosevelt? I never got to eat at Cuatro. Main reason, I never walked past it. The farther you are from Roosevelt the less foot traffic you get. One thing wicker park has is plenty of foot traffic. Cuatro's owner has one thing right its location was bad.

Jacquelyn said...

Wicker Park? No thank you! That's precisely why I live in the South Loop--so I don't have to deal with places like that. Such a shame--Cuatro was fantastic the one and apparently only time I got to dine there.

Anonymous said...

These recent developments pretty much sum up the sad South Loop dining scene. Lose a unique restaurant; gain a second subway sandwich joint. Bon Appetit!

Yes, the S. Loop keeps getting more and more depressing on both the dining and retail fronts. Frankly, the sentiment that a Subway is better than an empty building seems wrong to me. Having lots of Subways, Dunkin' Donuts, and so on pushes us further and further toward becoming the wrong kind of neighborhood, making us ever less attractive to the kind of places we would like to have move in.

Anonymous said...

More info and interviews in the new Chicago Journal:

http://chicagojournal.com/News/05-12-2010/Why_Cuatro_closed

Anonymous said...

"Yes, the S. Loop keeps getting more and more depressing on both the dining and retail fronts . . ."

Don't forget the Real Estate front as well! Auctions, condos going rental, big empty holes where buildings should be, projects going bankrupt, buildings falling apart and special assessments becoming the norm, skyrocketing foreclosure numbers, home values dwindling, etc., etc.

Becoming a neighborhood of "warring fast food sandwich shops," multiple Dunkin' Donuts, shuttered restaurants, and vast vacant commercial fronts is a HUGE contributing factor to the real estate woes of the south loop. Who wants to invest in a property surrounded by these types of commercial prospects?

Anonymous said...

Come on guys...where's the optimism. I don't come on this blog to read about all the depressing news of the South Loop. I agree things aren't as bright as we all hoped for, but I don't see a few chain businesses opening the end of the world. Every neighborhood has them, and I bet they're often the first to open because they have the cashflow.

So we've got some empty lots and empty store fronts. Big deal, and yes there are some buildings that don't look that great, but really that's to be expected in any neighborhood.

What about all the great things the South Loop has - the people, the lake, the location. I for one don't regret moving to this area. It will rebound, and as the saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Don R said...

That article by the Chicago Journal was great. It's interesting that that Cuatro was so up front about all the financial issues. It seemed to me that the owners really loved the neighborhood, but it wasn't meant to be.

About this new subway. I'm all for new businesses of any kind, but please no more sandwich shops. Jimmy Johns, Potbellys,and now 2x Subway. I can only do so many sandwiches. Thou for all the complaining that has been made over the subway, there wasn't equal amount of rejoice for our new pizza place Flo and Santos. I think that place is gonna do very well.

Anonymous said...

I think they could have used a Groupon.

Anonymous said...

I don't remember ever seeing a Groupon for Cuatro, but they did have reduced gift certificates available through other sites.

DJA said...

LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION! Cautro was in the deep south on the wrong street. Were they trying to cater torward the Long Grove House and ICkes... Not going to happen

Anonymous said...

I don't see how we can have nice things with the HilLIARd Homes run by Peter Holsten in the hood. Tare it down!

DJA said...

Don't forget the Long Grove House on 20th street, but I believe that is owned by a private company called the Habitat company... But at the long grove House they are all section 8 housing.

Anonymous said...

Ickes, Hilliard, Long Grove, etc. Again: this neighborhood will NEVER flourish as long as these places remain. It doesn't matter if they are in the "deep south" of the sloop or not.