Grace O'Malley's Owners Mum on New Concept

Yes it's the Sloopin retail week and thus far everything we've posted about seems positive. Although this news from the Chicago Sun-Times isn't negative...it ain't positive and it doesn't tell us much of anything new:

The owners of Grace O'Malley's, a South Loop restaurant that closed Feb. 1, decline comment on Friday about the future of the site at 1416 S. Michigan Ave. The restaurant owner, Mainstay Hospitality LLC, issued a written notice to employees at its other eateries - Wabash Tap and The Chicago Firehouse - notifying them of Grace O'Malley's closing but revealing no other plans.

So no news on this front. We've been asking around and it seems like the employees are obliging their owners and not offering up any details on future plans for the building.

Wait and see...wait see...

For those of you who don't regularly read Sloopin we had a post about Grace O'Malley's closing a couple of weeks ago.

The Great Trader Joe's Dig Begins?

Retail week on Sloopin wouldn't be official if we didn't have at least one post about the Trader Joe's that's going in at the corner of Roosevelt and State. As you may or may not remember, one of the "contingencies" for TJ's to come to this location was that they could build a parking lot (beyond what was already there).

In a newsletter from Alderman Fioretti, it sounded like the plan was to build a parking garage underneath the building. As we said then and will say again, we're not really sure how (or if) that's really going to happen but it appears some form of construction project is beginning:

After we snapped these pictures they put up a green construction fence which has a sign for Bovis on it. So it looks official in our mind. As always we will keep our eyes fixated on this project and try to monitor updates accordingly.

Finally, it also appears that the inside has been cleaned out and some contsruction has begun there as well (we noticed one of the backwalls has a huge hole in it). Besides that nothing major at this point, but good to see some movement within the building.

Guy Fieri Brings Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives to Panozzo's

If you were looking for some solid Italian food yesterday, you were out of luck according to this picture a reader sent to us: Good to see a solid South Loop business/restaurant get some national attention. For more background here is what Panozzo's emailed us a couple of weeks ago about the show:

The Food Network Show 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives' starring Guy Fieri has picked Panozzo's Italian Market to be featured in a new Chicago-centric episode. They'll be visiting and shooting the first week of March (actual air date TBD) and the subject will be Porchetta, Meatballs and True Bolognese.

Should be a fun episode to watch. If we get additional information we will pass it on!

Also, the reader also took this picture yesterday. Guy's facny red car parked outside of the store:

(Hat tip: JG & DL!)

Intriqued by Brandon Baltzley, the New Chef at Tribute

We were excited to hear about a new restaurant called Tribute coming to the Essex Inn last month. We're also excited about recently stumbling upon more background on the executive chef, Brandon Baltzley, who has had spent the last year in Chicago bouncing around hot spots.

A site called rock and roll ghost has a great post about Brandon's background and the rocky relationship at his last stop Mado:

The space where Chicago restaurant Mado stands will not be going to Chef Brandon Baltzley after all. In a Rock ‘n Roll Ghost exclusive, Baltzley states that there were differing opinions on what the space was worth.

Now that Baltzley’s efforts to take over Mado have ended, he’s focusing on searching for a new space, private functions and seeing what else is out there for him in the culinary world.

Baltzley came to Chicago earlier this year from New York City, getting his feet wet at Grant Achatz’s three Michelin starred Alinea and then at Schwa before taking over the Executive Chef role at Mado that was vacated by Rob and Allie Levitt, (Rob Levitt’s The Butcher and Larder is due to open in the very near future). The 25 year-old chef overhauled Mado’s menu, opening up the Levitts’ Mediterranean small and large plates to a more global reach.

There is more to the story, but this was published before the news that he found a home at Tribute in the South Loop. In another interesting article, we found out that Baltzley "wowed" the owners of Tribute with some of his trial dishes:

Baltzley’s tryout, now public in the wake of his hiring, wowed Tribute‘s partners, particularly Lamb. “Great ingredients treated well – you could sense the depth of flavor and technique. An exceptional blend of creativity and approachability. You could taste the passion in his food. Truly an expression of Brandon’s personality,” Lamb told The Gluttonous Ghost.

Even better yet, Tribute seems to be active in the social media space. So if you want to follow the restaurant as it prepares to hit it's open date of May 1st, check out their facebook page, twitter page and blog.

Should be a big improvement for this space. We're really looking forward to this one!

Finally, if you're like us you can't get away from the antics of Charlie Sheen, well it appears that the team at Tribute can't either. The provide some excellent commentary on the situation while at a tasting for their own coffee blend that we presume will be offered at the restaurant:


(Image from Eater Chicago & The Gluttonous Ghost)

The Man Above Sends the South Loop "Pita Heaven"

Your prayers have been answered Sloopers!

It appears that the man above is listening and has decided to bestow us with Pita Heaven. Readers might remember that there was a sign claiming that Pita Corner would be opening in August of 2010 at 1250 S. Michigan. Well that didn't happen supposedly due to an investor dropping out of the project. Last we heard the others involved with the project were seeking other investors.

Call it divine intervention or whatever you want, but we recently noticed that new signs have appeared:All I can say is that I've been praying for falafel and it appears that someone is listening.

Enough of the religious jokes, but we couldn't help it...all we can say is Pita Heaven.

(Hat tip: ND!)

Sloopin's Retail Week

So after getting a lot of emails and talking with a variety of people recently, it seems like there has been a lot of action on the retail scene within the Sloop.

With that in mind, we're going to have a lot of posts this week about the retail scene in the neighborhood. Maybe some of the news will be new and some will be old, but it's been fun to see watch.

So stay tuned this entire week for at least one retail post a day (maybe even more if you're lucky). If you've seen something or have a question please send it our way and we will post.

Best,
Sloopin Crew

Lights Help! The Scout Shows Off a Subtle Improvement

Call it insignificant, call it beautiful or call it crazy...but in our opinion a subtle lighting addition to the old Opera restaurant at 1301 S. Wabash has us excited about what could be going on inside. If you're a reader of the Sloopin you probably know that Opera served it's last meal on December 31st of 2010 and that a new concept called the Scout is planning on moving in this spring (last we heard in May).

The windows are papered up and last we saw the entire place was gutted. But last week when strolling past the building at night we noticed the addition of new lights which do an excellent job of accentuating some of the buildings character. It seems like a simple yet impactful improvement to the building and with this type of attention to detail we're excited to see what they have in store for the inside.

It also appears that the vintage, translucent glass near the corner of the building might be coming down. A couple days after we took the picture above we noticed that plywood boards have been put over these tiles. We can only assume that means they're coming down. Maybe we're wrong.

Or maybe we're just crazy and shouldn't be looking so hard for signs of life at places like this.

Epic Burger Continues to Expand in Chicago

Yes, Epic Burger (517 S. State) started in the South Loop so naturally we feel a strong bond with the burger joint. And that's why we're happy to see that it appears that they're doing pretty well:

Epic Burger is opening its third location this summer in the heart of the Chicago’s West Loop. Epic’s inaugural location launched in Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood in May 2008. Shortly after, a second location was launched in Lincoln Park in June 2010.

As we've said in the past, it's good to see them doing well. They're usually pretty busy when we walk by. Best of luck to a South Loop original.

Everyone Can Use More Energy...Try Crystals

Yes, you read the headline correctly. The Sloop has an energy solution for you and it's in the form of Crystals. Some people rely on working out or sleeping or coffee, but now you have another option.

Located in a small retail space that isn't visible from the street, the space share a lobby with one of our favorite asian restaurants Ma & I (1234 S. Michigan). We've never seen anyone in the mysterious Crystal Energy. However, we've been intriqued by the store and we have some "far-out" friends who've jumped on this train before. Regardless, it's been open for a couple of months now and we recently took a quick phone image.

We couldn't find a website for this store, but did find a website talking about the benefits of crystals.

Maybe this is the answer to all of our problems?

Not Your Typical Landmark

We've posted about the renovations at Chef Luciano's and Gourmet Chicken before, but yesterday we read an article on WBEZ's website about the process underway to make part of the building a landmark:

If the Chef Luciano & Gourmet Chicken place in the South Loop looks like a white castle, it's with good reason: The 80-year-old building was originally a White Castle, one of the earliest built by the world-famous restaurant chain.

And tomorrow, city staffers will seek preliminary landmark status for the building at 43 E. Cermak, saying the 80-year-old building is the city's best surviving example of an original White Castle restaurant. Built in 1930, the building, originally White Castle #16, was among scores of first-gen White Castle restaurants that made eating hamburgers acceptable--it was low-brow carny food before then--and created a construction and business model that paved the way for modern post-war franchise systems like McDonalds and others, according to a city report.

The city's landmarks division will make its case before the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.

ABC7 also did a little piece about the process and sums up the story well:


(Hat tip: LR3 & RG!)

What's Going on with the TIF?

If you're like us (and we assume others) you arrived home one day recently, checked your mail and saw a mysterious large envelope with a bunch of papers that appeared to have something to do with a revision to TIF boundaries in the neighborhood.

Actually, we received about four of these envelopes and for some reason one of them was sent through priority mail (why? we have no idea). Throughout all of this mail, the purpose wasn't very clear and we've been meaning to follow-up as to what this might mean. Unfortunately, we haven't gotten to the bottom of this and as a result are relying on someone better versed in the subject to shed some light on these documents and what they might mean for the neighborhood. If you received these papers, PLEASE help explain.

A reader had similar concerns and questions:

Hi Sloopin!
I just got a notice in the mail concerning a "TIF" hearing that was happening for the south loop area. My brief reading about the topic was insufficient to come to any real conclusions about this new development for the neighborhood.

• First, did everyone in the neighborhood get this notice?


• Second, I think you would do a fantastic job of discussing this issue and what it means for residents! I'm a bit worried about if this will increase property taxes.

Also, it appears that a neighborhood gets TIF designation if its 'culturally important' or its 'blighted.' Which of these designations would the Sloop fall under? I think the city's designation could have serious ramifications.

The city's website for this topic is: http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dcd/provdrs/tif.html

Much appreciated!

(Hat tip: RP!)

Dreaming of Interesting Things for a High Profile Lot in the Sloop

It's fun to dream. So put on your step outside of your box and go with us on a completely hypothetical exercise of creative thought.


We recently read that a very high profile piece of land in the South Loop is going up for auction:

Offering 837 feet of river frontage and 216 feet of frontage on Roosevelt road, this 5+acre site is bordered and ties together some of Chicago’s most recent high profile developments. With its immediate neighbors, such as
Roosevelt Collection and old-line destination properties, such as Soldier Field, the Museum Campus, University of Illinois/Chicago (UIC), the parcel is ideally positioned for city support.

Obviously it's going to come at high price, but put on your city planner hat or developer hat and let us know what you would like to see in this space.

We're going the ridiculous "but wouldn't that be interesting" route with our dream. We would like to see a one of a kind championship golf course built by Tiger Woods that links this property with the larger vacant property south of Roosevelt. For good measure we would also like to build a platform over the train tracks west of the river to afford more land for our golf course. Realizing this isn't very feasible we would like to utilize some unique golf design attributes like greens with two pins and holes with multiple tee boxes to utilize the most of the land. Yes, it's crazy, but it would be unique and showcase golf in a unique, urban way. Oh and we would be able to play golf without driving to the suburbs and waiting in that annoying traffic for hours.

So what are your ridiculous thoughts/dreams for this property?

It will probably end-up becoming a Wal-Mart, but it's fun to dream...sigh.

Eating for the Sake of Eating at the Chicago Firehouse

Restaurant week is a funny thing. On one hand it's a good reason to go out, try a new restaurant and splurge on some new eats. On the other hand it's a little glutinous. While I love to eat, I very rarely need to eat an appetizer, entree and dessert...but it's restaurant week...so I eat.


On the last night of restaurant week, some friends suggested going to the Chicago Firehouse (1401 S. Michigan) for a night of sophistication, friendly banter and large cuts of steak. Who can pass that up?

We've been to the Chicago Firehouse a couple times and tend to have a good time. The food is great and classic, but the building, mood and ambiance is something that always impresses. Anyway, we're not talking about the building anymore. We like it. It's cool. End of story.


Today we're focusing on restaurant week. If you've participated in restaurant week you know that you can order off the normal menu, but that's not very fun. It's restaurant week, so you have to order off of the 'special restaurant week' menu, right? The CF restaurant week dinner menu consisted of two price points and both had three courses (where you had to pick one from each course):

$33 option

Appetizer

• Firecracker Shrimp
• Lobster Bisque
• Baby "iceberg" wedge

Entree

• Roasted Amish Chicken
• Skate Wing
• 10 0z Flat Iron Steak

Dessert

• Pumpkin Pie
• Callebaut Chocolate Brownie

$44 Option

Appetizer

• Charred Baby Octopus
• Steak Tartare
• Lobster Bisque
• Caesar Salad

Entree

• Roasted Pork Chop
• Atlantic Salmon
• 12 0z Rib-Eye Steak

Dessert

• Key Lime Pie
• Callebaut Chocolate Brownie
• Raspberry Cheesecake

So we had a decent sized party and all I can say is that I didn't hear many complaints about the choices the group made (all the choices are italicized above). If there was one complaint it was that my flat iron steak was a little more rare then I liked (and I asked for it to be medium rare). Being the carnivore I am, I still ate the whole thing...and it was still delicious.

Anyway, our experience for restaurant week at the Chicago Firehouse was good and would recommend it. Yes, we ate a little too much, but hey, restaurant week only comes once a year.

Did anyone else go to any South Loop restaurants that participated in restaurant week? If so, speak up and let us know your experiences. Some people are cynical towards the whole week, so we would be curious to hear how it's perceived in the Sloop.

(Hat tip: PSC!)

Video of CTA Map Coming to Life

Randomly found this via CTA Tattler blog and thought you might enjoy it. We love the Chicago grid and this does an interesting job of illustrating how that grid is serviced via the CTA:

The Sloop seems to have a lot of activity (which you probably already know)