Golden Bear

[shsilver]

On March 29, a local restaurant, Woodfire Chicken, closed, in part, perhaps even in large part, due to on-going construction on Lake-Cook Road. We've been going to the restaurant for years, although usually my family refers to it by a different name, which really annoys Elaine, since it is a name that hasn't been on the restaurant since 1984

Comments

[daisy_knotwise]

It's kind of like "Turn left where the Shell Station used to be."

How long is the construction sheduled to go on?
it might not make any sense to open something new until that is cleared up.

GHR

[shsilver]

Construction ran last year from March to November. It will continue (in limited form) this year starting last week. They will be doing it again, full blown next year until November 2013.

One restaurant (that reported last month as its best since it opened in 2008) lost between 20 & 30% of their business during last year's construction.

[tlunquist]

I make it a point not to learn the new names of iconic skyscrapers in downtown Chicago. There are three that matter to me: The Sears Tower, The Standard Oil Building, and the John Hancock Building. Those are the only names those buildings have ever had, and the only names they ever will have. Do not encumber my ideology with nonsense about acquisitions or other forms of so-called "evolution." I'm not summarily opposed to change, but certain things are sacrosanct.

[pheltzer]

We only ever ate there once... it has to be at least 7 or 8 years ago. I was underwhelmed at best.

The construction is awful. I have stopped frequenting businesses along that stretch of Lake-Cook. I either use Deerfield now to get to that area, or I head further north. Which may be part of the issue as well. Was that restaurant considered cook county or lake county as far as tax purposes. I know that drives a lot of my spending these days.

[shsilver]

North side of the street, so Lake County.

Because of the construction, I've been trying to frequent those businesses since I know they need it, usually I'll come up with odd routes to help, Deerfield to Waukegan to Kate's and then cutting through the Demetri's parking lot.

Apparently last month, before the new construction started, locally owned Teddy Fabz had their highest month of sales ever, about 10% higher than their average month. It doesn't make up for them being down 20-30% during construction of course. They've also added to their menu to add some items they didn't previously carry but Golden Bear Woodfire Chicken did.