Openings, Closings, Comings & Goings - 2020

If you have something substantive or want to share an opinion, it does not belong here, so please do not post it here. Instead, please add the information to an already existing thread, or start a new one if one doesn't already exist. Because important details will almost certainly get lost and forgotten in this thread, any discussion that takes place here will be removed and relocated to a dedicated thread.

If you post about an opening, please consider also creating a new thread and linking to it for further discussion. If you post about a closing, please also link to an existing thread, if one exists, to direct further discussion.

Additionally, we want to remind you not to post about a closing without making absolutely certain that your information is correct and accurate in every way.

Please do not post rumors of closings without linking to a credible, 3rd-party source that substantiates your report. (i.e. "Eater.com reports . . ." is ok)

Please remember that per our Posting Guidelines, posts pertaining to health code-related issues are also not permitted here unless they include a link to a credible, third-party source.

Please keep in mind that it's far more important to be accurate than fast with your information. The best course of action may be to make a phone call to the establishment in question before posting anything. But whatever you do, make sure you are 100% correct before posting about a closing on this thread or any other thread in these forums. Erroneous posts about closings will be removed without notification.

Thanks again,

=R=
for the Moderators

For 2019's Openings and Closings, please visit this thread:
Openings, Closings, Comings & Goings - 2019

Happy new year!

OK I'll start:

Per Facebook post, Caravanserai Coffee will open on Thursday January 16 across from the original Kuma's Corner on Belmont. This is from Dark Matter Coffee and will focus on Mexican drinking coffee and some other Latin American things. Hours will be 6am to 9pm that day.

Caravanserai Coffee
OPENING JANUARY 16 (6am - 9am)
2901 West Belmont Ave

Drover wrote:An Indo-Pak storefront restaurant called -- wait for it -- Indo Pak Grill -- opened a few weeks ago next to the Indo-Pak Meat and Grocery on Lawrence just east of Pulaski. It's probably safe to assume there's a connection between the two.

The Indo-Pak Grill has closed. The adjacent meat market and grocery store is still open.

Two early 2020 closings in Highland Park's Ravinia District:
-- Hub & Spoke Provisions, the coffee shop/wine bar has closed according to its Facebook page. They did a beautiful rebuild of the iconic Shelton's spot, but only lasted about four months.
--Hunan Pearl, the takeout-only Chinese place further west on Roger Williams has also closed.

Drover wrote:A new sign for Aziz Cafe, offering Mediterranean/Middle Eastern cuisine, has gone up [in the former Afghan Kebab space] . . .

Aziz Cafe
4040 W. Montrose
Tel: ???

Aziz Cafe is now papered over, door is locked during erstwhile posted business hours, and they never published a phone number one could call to confirm.

Meanwhile a couple blocks north, the folks behind Golden Crust by the Kedzie Brown Line stop have opened a bar and grill called Albany Place. Looks like typical American pub fare; the pizza menu didn't carry over.

Albany Place Kitchen & Bar
4551 N Pulaski
(773) 754-7057
http://www.albanyplacebar.com

Why does this thread even exist anymore if anything that gets posted about an opening here immediately gets moved into being the first post of a new thread? There was plenty of feedback that quite a number of people liked being able to see that here, all ignored. So just fing get rid of it - or retitle it to just "closings".

Kman wrote:Why does this thread even exist anymore if anything that gets posted about an opening here immediately gets moved into being the first post of a new thread? There was plenty of feedback that quite a number of people liked being able to see that here, all ignored. So just fing get rid of it - or retitle it to just "closings".

The post you made earlier (about Sophia) had a lot of detailed, salient information, so the thought was to give it its own thread. The goal is to maintain this thread in a way that makes it more or less an index, while making detailed information easier to find later by moving it to dedicated threads.

Thanks,

=R=
for the Moderators

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Kman wrote:Why does this thread even exist anymore if anything that gets posted about an opening here immediately gets moved into being the first post of a new thread? There was plenty of feedback that quite a number of people liked being able to see that here, all ignored. So just fing get rid of it - or retitle it to just "closings".

The post you made earlier (about Sophia) had a lot of detailed, salient information, so the thought was to give it its own thread. The goal is to maintain this thread in a way that makes it more or less an index, while making detailed information easier to find later by moving it to dedicated threads.

Thanks,

=R=
for the Moderators

I don’t think that is the right approach. The original post should be left in this thread. I like to be able to see the opening and closing news in one place. I would never have clicked on the Sophia thread to see that it was a new opening. There has to be a way to balance this.

I thought the consensus was the post could stay in here but if more conversation was needed then it could go to the dedicated thread.

Perhaps the original post could remain and the mods could add a link to the dedicated thread should they feel it necessary to add.

I appreciate the work and time the mods put in to this forum, and I know it’s impossible to please everyone.

JoeChicago wrote:I don’t think that is the right approach. The original post should be left in this thread. I like to be able to see the opening and closing news in one place. I would never have clicked on the Sophia thread to see that it was a new opening. There has to be a way to balance this.

Agree and that's the point I made a few times in the 2019 thread when this idea came up. Most people are never going to click on those threads because they don't know the names of new restaurants. While this site has a wealth of information and is very useful, this type of thing will render it slightly less useful than it is now. Having summary information in 1 location is best which is also why I recommend a mod curated list based on what we post in a thread like this.

JoeChicago wrote:
Perhaps the original post could remain and the mods could add a link to the dedicated thread should they feel it necessary to add.

Absolutely!

An index is no good if many of the listings are removed. Moreover, the details may encourage a reader to go to the restaurant specific thread when they might otherwise just disregard the listing. In this case, the John Keefer name could be critical.

It may or may not make sense to create a separate thread, but it never makes sense to remove the first post from here.

JoeChicago wrote:Perhaps the original post could remain and the mods could add a link to the dedicated thread should they feel it necessary to add.

This is what we asked of everyone above:

If you post about an opening, please consider also creating a new thread and linking to it for further discussion.

We are trying to get the right balance. Help us out by putting notices here and substance in a dedicated thread.

Darren72 wrote:We are trying to get the right balance. Help us out by putting notices here and substance in a dedicated thread.

Why not duplicate whatever messages you like from this thread into a new thread, rather than moving them?

This thread is basically useless if you remove all of the information from it. I might keep up with all of the new posts in this thread. There's no way I'm reading every new thread on the board, and surely you don't expect that anyone else is, either.

leepyswetr wrote:
Why not duplicate whatever messages you like from this thread into a new thread, rather than moving them?

We can do that but we are asking you do to it so we don’t have to. A little effort on many of your parts saves a lot of effort on our part.

Darren72 wrote:

leepyswetr wrote:
Why not duplicate whatever messages you like from this thread into a new thread, rather than moving them?

We can do that but we are asking you do to it so we don’t have to. A little effort on many of your parts saves a lot of effort on our part.

In any case, there is no reason to remove the first post about an opening from this thread, regardless of the content details.

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Kman wrote:Why does this thread even exist anymore if anything that gets posted about an opening here immediately gets moved into being the first post of a new thread? There was plenty of feedback that quite a number of people liked being able to see that here, all ignored. So just fing get rid of it - or retitle it to just "closings".

The post you made earlier (about Sophia) had a lot of detailed, salient information, so the thought was to give it its own thread. The goal is to maintain this thread in a way that makes it more or less an index, while making detailed information easier to find later by moving it to dedicated threads.

Thanks,

=R=
for the Moderators

Had I known my post in Openings, Closings et al would be the initial post/thread starter I would have written it in an entirely different manner. I would also NEVER have written it until I had actually visited. This is why I requested it be deleted after I discovered it had been moved from this thread to a a new one dedicated to Sophia - WITHOUT EVEN NOTIFYING ME! It's clear there was quite a bit of feedback where people agreed with me that they don't like this new approach, much of it deleted and all of it ignored. Like I said, if this is the new approach and it appears to be carved in stone then either just f'ing kill the damn thing and put it out of its misery or at least have the transparency to rename the thread as it isn't going to contain ANY "Openings" - so some of us can stop bothering to waste our time here looking for them.

Kman wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Kman wrote:Why does this thread even exist anymore if anything that gets posted about an opening here immediately gets moved into being the first post of a new thread? There was plenty of feedback that quite a number of people liked being able to see that here, all ignored. So just fing get rid of it - or retitle it to just "closings".

The post you made earlier (about Sophia) had a lot of detailed, salient information, so the thought was to give it its own thread. The goal is to maintain this thread in a way that makes it more or less an index, while making detailed information easier to find later by moving it to dedicated threads.

Thanks,

=R=
for the Moderators

Had I known my post in Openings, Closings et al would be the initial post/thread starter I would have written it in an entirely different manner. I would also NEVER have written it until I had actually visited. This is why I requested it be deleted after I discovered it had been moved from this thread to a a new one dedicated to Sophia - WITHOUT EVEN NOTIFYING ME! It's clear there was quite a bit of feedback where people agreed with me that they don't like this new approach, much of it deleted and all of it ignored. Like I said, if this is the new approach and it appears to be carved in stone then either just f'ing kill the damn thing and put it out of its misery or at least have the transparency to rename the thread as it isn't going to contain ANY "Openings" - so some of us can stop bothering to waste our time here looking for them.

If you read the 2019 O&C thread, you'll see that here was actually feedback in both directions and no consensus. And even among those who felt the thread should continue unbridled, there was no definite agreement as to how it should be handled. That's why the Mods ultimately made the call.

We did our best in that thread to indicate that content-rich posts made in O&C could end up being moved. Our apologies for moving your Sophia post yesterday without notifying or asking you. It was only because we'd thought we'd already covered it adequately in the 2019 O&C thread.

As Darren noted above, it would be great if people making posts in this thread would also start new threads about the places they're posting about here. That would make the information much easier to search for and reference later, while also maintaining the essence of this thread for those who find it useful.

Thanks,

=R=
for the Moderators

The, IMO, common sense approach to O&C vs new thread, which Kman alludes to and I will continue to personally follow, because it is how I view what a substantive detailed post involves, is if I've been to the place and have any personal information based on experience, I'll start a new thread. If it is simply a statement of fact as to opening or closing, regardless of any factual detail accompanying it, I'll post in O&C. Personal experience including opinions is where I draw my line.

I didn't have a problem with the prior O&C, which seems like a sentiment others share. We don't really understand what the need for change was. A couple add on comments here or there, but it was still a nice thread of primarily O&C content. The mods may have a good reason for the change that has to do with the work of running the site, but it isn't felt by the users.

bweiny wrote:... if I've been to the place and have any personal information based on experience, I'll start a new thread.....

That would be great - thanks.

All we are asking is that conversations be in dedicated threads. You can always help start a conversation by creating a dedicated thread if one doesn’t exist.

Darren72 wrote:
All we are asking is that conversations be in dedicated threads.

Therein lies the rub.

A single post does not a conversation make. Therefore, there is no reason to delete an isolated post from this thread regardless of the presence of “excess” information.

It is one thing to remove “conversations”, it is quite another to remove a post because it might lead to conversation. Preemptive censorship anyone?

So I think we can agree then that if you're just posting an opening and maybe a third-party blurb or two, this is the place to put it; if it's a personal account of dining there or an extensive introduction, post those experiences in a new thread and then post the basic name/location/etc. info in here.

Does that about sum up what the readers want (an ongoing openings/closings repository) and what the mods want (extended experience/conversations elsewhere) in a way that satisfies both?

Drover wrote:post the basic name/location/etc. info in here.

I think the “etc” may be a point of contention. Apparently, the information that resulted in the deletion of the Sophia post was that Glenn Keefer of the late lamented Keefer’s was involved. That seems like an appropriate “etc” to me, but not to the mods.

Drover wrote:So I think we can agree then that if you're just posting an opening and maybe a third-party blurb or two, this is the place to put it; if it's a personal account of dining there or an extensive introduction, post those experiences in a new thread and then post the basic name/location/etc. info in here.

Does that about sum up what the readers want (an ongoing openings/closings repository) and what the mods want (extended experience/conversations elsewhere) in a way that satisfies both?

Yes.

Most of the issues we are trying to address aren’t the initial posts, but the follow up discussion that sometimes follows. In any case, let’s carry on and learn from experience.

We now resume our regular scheduled programming........

Coming soon to the Location of the Damned in downtown Skokie:

The Crazy Greek
5051 W. Oakton St.
Skokie, IL 60077

This ridiculously located spot formerly was Cravelane, and Panino Blitz. Both very short lived.

This is a discussion forum, right? Why is there this need to so tightly control where conversation happens? Let it happen organically.

The mods are creating more work for themselves, and making posters jump through hoops trying to think through compliance.

We now resume our regular scheduled programming........

Coming soon to the Location of the Damned in downtown Skokie:

The Crazy Greek
5051 W. Oakton St.
Skokie, IL 60077

This ridiculously located spot formerly was Cravelane, and Panino Blitz. Both very short lived.

Unbelievable. The Restaurant Witness Protection Program location.

Green Street Smoked Meats, Hi Five Ramen, and Sawada Coffee are all closed for “a few weeks” for renovations. So I guess wait a few weeks before heading out to any of those.

Telegram Sam wrote:

We now resume our regular scheduled programming........

Coming soon to the Location of the Damned in downtown Skokie:

The Crazy Greek
5051 W. Oakton St.
Skokie, IL 60077

This ridiculously located spot formerly was Cravelane, and Panino Blitz. Both very short lived.

Unbelievable. The Restaurant Witness Protection Program location.

I have a hard time imagining that even a pot dispensary could succeed there.

cilantro wrote:Green Street Smoked Meats, Hi Five Ramen, and Sawada Coffee are all closed for “a few weeks” for renovations. So I guess wait a few weeks before heading out to any of those.

I believe they are closed until the week of the 19th according to their voice mail message.

spinynorman99 wrote:

Telegram Sam wrote:

We now resume our regular scheduled programming........

Coming soon to the Location of the Damned in downtown Skokie:

The Crazy Greek
5051 W. Oakton St.
Skokie, IL 60077

This ridiculously located spot formerly was Cravelane, and Panino Blitz. Both very short lived.

Unbelievable. The Restaurant Witness Protection Program location.

I have a hard time imagining that even a pot dispensary could succeed there.

The amazing thing is that the landlord keeps finding new occupants for this building. It doesn’t appear that the prospective tenants are doing anything remotely resembling site research...

In the former The Biryani Place restaurant that closed on golf road in the same strip mall as Walmart (across the street from Patel Brothers) is now a Mongolian restaurant by the name Arvin restaurant.

Arvin restaurant Menu

Arvin restaurant
8482 W Golf Rd,
Niles, IL 60714