As I am noticing in many other threads, there are lots of hungry people out there.
Lets imagine our downtown with a new restaurant or two. Create a menu, genre, atmosphere, barbera, whatever! What a gift to the potential entrepreneurs reading this thread. Maybe we could get exactly what we want!
You know Hooters is a HUGE chain in Europe now, perhaps Bikini Bocci Ball would be perfect here in the same twisted way! (Harlem location please!)
(PS, no TIF needed for a GREAT idea!)
My old bar/restaurant/jazz club was followed at its SF location by a $2.5 mil makeover into a mini brewery, which flopped. It's now a HOOTERS. I guess people don't think chicken wings are bad for your health. Bikini Bocce would be fun in the sun.....
Gee, Spatny, somehow I don't think folks go to Hooters for the wings! Boy, you sure have had a glamorous life.
Chinese food is always a hit, so long as the place is clean and fresh. [Not prone to shutdown by the health department.] A place with half windows, dark, and a fireplace if possible, is where people want to have dinner, not next to plate glass windows. A breakfast/brunch joint would not go broke, for sure. Again, cleanliness and freshness is all. For dinner, atmosphere is key.
Well Catherine, I'm a lot older than you, and I still remember places like the Cloister on Rush when Ramsey Lewis played there and in between numbers you could hear nylons swishing as the ladies walked by. Trust me, that was much better than the spandex at Hooters.
Problem with a new buildout is the cost, and how that reflects on eventual prices. And the lease provisions - common area maint., insurance, all that. It makes it tough unless you have an established name in the area and parking, etc. for the old customers to show up. The place I mentioned on Halsted is quite nice and functions all day long - and I think is expanding into other locations. Give it a look.
Does anyone know what the monthly costs (rent and whatever else) for that corner VC space is?
I KNOW from the results of the NIU survey (over 70 pct in Riverside want something w/ food), and from 'my gut' :), that a nice informal Italian restuarant / pizzeria where families and teams can come eat would work in town. That corner VC space is nice and big it seems.
I wondered how many avg priced pizzas or dinners I'd have to make to make it there.
miket
The space at the corner is intended to be a restaurant. Whether or not that's what happens is anybody's guess.
What this town needs is a really good Kosher deli, on the order of Ada's or Braverman's. If we had fresh bagels and bialys, homemade spreads, corned beef, brisket and pastrami in the slicers, it would rival Corbi's pizzeria. With malls, the internet and the like, these are probably the only businesses that you could say with any certainty - "If you open it they will come." Catherine would have to put up a toll gate on Burlington there's be so much traffic. Sales tax revenue skyrockets, Rolaids go up, everyone's happy. Who needs a TIF?
The area used to have Steins in Lyons on 1st and Ogden, but they moved (anyone know why?). But I agree. I do like that idea. Make sure there is some space to sit and relax and enjoy that good food.
What is the 'Riverside cachet'? What do we got that the malls don't got?
charm
relaxing
quaint
Also, let me add here an attribute (for commercial/retail/food places in general in Riverside)...better hours so that you do not need a scorecard to figure out when the place is open.
One could say that if it were worth while the owners would be open more, but this night owl/odd hour person seems to always find the places in Riverside closed when I have the feeling for a tea or a whatever. Then I might not try to go to that place the next time. Anyone else find those places closed?
.
****bigger question (let me ask the naive question):
.
Can we have a nice pizzeria or a nice deli WITHOUT A TIF ?
why or why not?
.
miket
Mike - The deli will have a big "Sinai 48" sign on the outside, so we'll prbably have to have police protection. Maybe one of the new crimestopper cameras can be turned our way. No holding hands - you're on candid camera!
Do we have crimestopper cameras? We could sure use one to track the speeders on Burlington.
Well, since I don't want to eat in a building that had raw sewage in it, can you guys tell me what are the good restaurants around here. We always eat at home, but want to start eating out occasionally. But we find we have no idea what is around here that is casual and clean with good food and atmosphere! (I wish I had known about Stein's deli. Boy, do I miss the Belden deli in Lincoln Park!)
You must log in to post.