Reader's guide to Chicago's lost iconic places
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The Morton's Steakhouse on State Street was one of the restaurants that closed during the pandemic: Photo: Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images
We recently wrote about favorite restaurants and small businesses that have closed during the pandemic and asked for your feedback.
- It's not a comprehensive list, and as Jen G. pointed out last week, many of the restaurants once on the closed list have reopened. Here are some of your favorites that are still closed:
🍜 Mary H: "I'm really going to miss the Thai Room on Western. It was probably one of my favorite restaurants in the city and the first I went to when we moved here in the '80s."
🍻 Jen P: "It's a bummer to think of the restaurants/bars/breweries that have closed. In Oak Park I miss two of our four breweries, Wild Onion and Oak Park Brewing Company."
🥪 Mike G: "Bombacigno's J & C. A former bar and sandwich shop on the southwest edge of the Loop, in which an Italian family (including a daughter of Al of Al's Italian Beef) cranked out fresh things like grilled eggplant sandwiches every day, it had an old Chicago feel that cannot be recreated or simulated — when it's gone, it's gone forever."
🍗 Ian M: "SRO (Standing Room Only) Chicago. Greatest chicken sandwich and turkey chili in the city. Great, friendly place. My wife and I used to eat lunch there when we were dating. When we found out she was pregnant, we took the morning to think it over ourselves, and then sat at a corner table and decided to embark on family life almost 20 years ago!"
🍽 Jim B: "Jeri's Grill on Montrose. Toast, on Webster. Galit, not really iconic, but starting to grow, on Lincoln. Over Easy, on Damen."
😢 Katherine D: "I’ll forever miss Slippery Slope in Logan Square!"
🌭 Julia M: "Two Lincoln Square eateries I greatly miss are Chubby Wieners (great food, friendly owners, first-class food truck) and Red Lion Pub (warm and welcoming neighborhood hangout…like being in the UK)."
☕ Tim M.: "I miss the Murray's Browse and Brew coffee shop (in Evergreen Park) that had to close just after the pandemic started. It was a great place to get some work done after dropping the kids off at school. They also had some great South Side Irish Parade gear."
🍝 Eileen M: "One of our favorite Italian Restaurants, Basilico in Norridge closed. It was a great lunch and dinner spot close to Chicago, Norridge, Harwood Heights. Great family restaurant. We had our 50th wedding anniversary celebration there."
🤤 Lora P: "I Monelli (Western and Winnemac), Chez Simo (Lawrence and Damen), Zia’s Lago Vista (Ashland and Grace).