Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Eviction Sign Appears on Alain's Door (1355 S. Michigan)

A reader writes:
Sloopy,
Looks like Alain's got evicted today.

This ain't good and it eerily reminds us of a similar post we did at the exact same location in April of 2011 regarding Entourage Man.

We've been happily covering the blossoming scene at 14th and Michigan and Alain's (1355 S. Michigan) was one of the places we were pretty excited about.  Maybe it wasn't meant to be?  I guess we will have to wait and see.

Yelp has given it pretty good reviews (4 stars) but the Red Eye said it was good but could use a couple tweaks.

Anyone have any more information on this one?

UPDATE:  9/26 - 9:30am
As of this morning, the green eviction sign was off the front door at Alain's.  Does this mean they're reopening?  We're not sure.  We will see.

(Hat tip: BK!)

19 comments:

ChicagoRPV said...

Not sure what happened, but is it normal to have an off duty police officer outside once an eviction sign goes up? The same guy has been sitting outside since yesterday.

Anonymous said...

Maybe the building hired him to make sure no one from Alain's tries to empty out the space?

Anonymous said...

That's really unfortunate.

Anonymous said...

i saw that guy out there as well. i thought that was i bit odd.

on another note, this does not come as a huge surprise. i have heard grumblings about employees and contractors not being properly compensated for their efforts. so the fact that this may be a rent related issue is not shocking. it appears that although the concept, intent and food were good, the business side was not

slew28 said...

It's a long-standing dispute over 13k, pending in Cook County Muni division.

Alyssa said...

Looks like it made the Trib:

http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/grizzly-detail/Israel-Idonije-Restaurant-Gets-Sacked-171186601.html

MarkChicago said...

Thanks for the link & update. Can we finally get a new reputable tenant in this space besides the guy behind both Entourage and Alain's? This is the real world; red carpet VIP DJ parties & white glove valet parking is not a sustainable business model.

Jim in the Sloop said...

Assuming it's the same Alain Njike, he's no stranger to the inside of Cook County courtrooms.

Anonymous said...

What do you mean by that??

Michael said...

https://w3.courtlink.lexisnexis.com/cookcounty/FindDock.asp?NCase=&SearchType=2&Database=1&case_no=&PLtype=2&sname=alain+njike&CDate=

https://w3.courtlink.lexisnexis.com/cookcounty/FindDock.asp?NCase=&SearchType=2&Database=3&case_no=&PLtype=2&sname=alain+njike&CDate=

Anonymous said...

I'm going to get this space, open up a place that has good burgers, sandwiches, salads and wraps. Best price on beer and drinks in the area. Deals on a kids menu and TV's to watch the Sox, Bulls hawks and Bears.I'm going to hire people that can walk to work and will be happy to be there.Now I just gotta figure out how to do this

MarkChicago said...

Anon, if you build it, they will come.

Anonymous said...

...disapointing but not surprising.

Rebecca said...

I was there on Saturday night and the service was awful. In addition the chicken was raw inside and the "halibut" was pink. It was not hard to see that this place was going down.

slew28 said...

Anon 11:59 -- it already exists, it's called Krolls. That said, we can always use more.

Anonymous said...

did anyone notice the sign was removed and the cops were gone this morning? any news on the developments?

Tony said...

According to Chicago magazine, it'll be opening again on Monday (see the end of this blog post): http://www.chicagomag.com/Radar/Dish/September-2012/Executive-Chef-and-Pastry-Chef-Leave-Graham-Elliot-Elliot-Himself-to-Head-Kitchen/

slew28 said...

According to Chicago magazine's Dish on the restaurant that's co-owned by Bears star Israel Idonije and former Charlie Trotter's alum Alain Njike:

"The fledgling South Looper Alain’s was forced to close temporarily after being served with an eviction notice last weekend. Things will be up and running again by Monday."

http://312diningdiva.blogspot.com/2012/09/alains-set-to-reopen-monday-oct-1-after.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FXCGgn+%28Chicago+312+Dining+Diva%29

Anonymous said...

Both Nijekis are scammers. They didn't pay the employees or contractors. The property got liened and the landlord got stiffed. This Alain wrote bad checks to everyone. The space is built up and hopefully will find a good tenant ,rather then a thief. the football player gave this Alain the funds needed to pay all the bills, instead, the Nijekis lived high on the hog, with an entourage, and thought they were royalty, in fact it was NOT the football players fault, as he funded the place but gave the money to Alain. One day the football player comes in to pay the contractors moneys promised. He gives it to Alain, who waves the cash and giggles at the contractors, and when they asked for it, he refused to give them the money, and says he wants them to do additional work, and after that they would get paid, so the come back the next day, do an additional $2500.00 in work, only to be laughed at. I know I worked for this scammer and never got paid.