Locations of the Damned.

I'm watching the discussion transpire about the seemingly dozens of places that have existed in the Deerfield/Northbrook world, and thinking about some of the fabled "cursed locations" for restaurants.

For me, it was the building at the corner of Schmale and Thornhill in Carol Stream, which thankfully seems to have broken the curse with a Red Apple Pancake House. They've been in business for the past few years now, but before that it was any number of restaurant attempts.

As a kid, I was taken there for more than one birthday when it was called "Wag's" and I remember really liking it - but then, I was like 5 years old. I wonder if I'd still enjoy it today, but I guess I'll never know. I couldn't name anything in between the two places - someplace called "Bulldog's" rings a bell but didn't last any longer than two seasons, I don't think.

Where's yours - and are there any places that have seemingly broken that curse?

Aigre Doux is currently in a damned location although only time will tell whether it will break the curse.

Another cursed location I recall from my Bucktown/Wicker Park Days is on Milwaukee, just south of North and Damen, where the old Deluxe Diner (then Filter, then Tre Via, and I'm sure many incarnations in between) was located. I think they've gutted the space again.

Another cursed space is the old Baccala space, also on the same stretch of Milwaukee. Even though the two locations have such heavy foot traffic, any restaurant in those spaces can't seem to make a successful go of it.

We've had a "cursed spot" in my neighborhood in NE Mount Prospect. Next to Photo's Hot Dogs is a spot that in 14 years has been Chinese, Italian, Chinese, Thai, Another Thai, [later edit] Philipino, and now for a couple years it's been Arnie Salerno's Pizzaria, which seems to be doing well.

In my hood, I'll go with the SE corner of Lincoln/Montrose. It was vacant for a few years and then both Acqualina and Block 44 shut within a year of their respective openings. It's been vacant for about a year again, but construction has begun on what is allegedly going to be the second location of Julius Meinl.

JoelF wrote:We've had a "cursed spot" in my neighborhood in NE Mount Prospect. Next to Photo's Hot Dogs is a spot that in 14 years has been Chinese, Italian, Chinese, Thai, Another Thai, and now for a couple years it's been Arnie Salerno's Pizzaria, which seems to be doing well.

I would say that they are doing well. I stopped in for lunch today and a table couldn't be found.

There's a location in Naperville (Whiskeybent -- You spent some time there if I'm not mistaken) that I always have considered "cursed." It's on the north side of Ogden, just east of Columbia Street. At one point it was an Italian place (Melanzane, I believe) that actually was quite good and seemed to have potential (it even was given a glowing review in Chicago Magazine). It closed. After that, it was a Greek restaurant (one of the few in the area) that was quite good and seemed to have a lot of potential. It closed. It has been a number of restaurants over the years (I'm not even sure what it is now -- another Italian place?), and they all have failed.

I would agree about Aigre Doux. I liked Pili Pili a lot (much more than my one meal at Aigre) and it couldn't make it in the same spot . . . It was nice knowing you Aigre.

And then there's the Acqualina, Block 44 spot, apparently soon to be taken over by Julius Meinl?

There's a location in Naperville (whiskeybent -- You spent some time there if I'm not mistaken) that I always have considered "cursed." It's on the north side of Ogden, just east of Columbia Street.

Yes! I know exactly where you're talking about. Mediocre italian (only time I went to that location), then steakhouse (?), then greek, now back to Italian, I think - all in the span of maybe 3-4 years.

Now that I think about it, this is a rather Halloween-themed topic...

Well, as long as we're talking about damned locations...and as long as we're getting close to Halloween...

The present location of Adobo Grill, 1610 N. Wells, is where the former That Steak Joynt, once stood. With all its little alcoves & so forth, That Steak Joynt was known within the Chicago paranormal society as being out-and-out haunted. Check this out:

http://www.prairieghosts.com/steak_joynt.html

I think that Adobo has pretty good fare (damn fine guac), and we dined there before a Second City show a couple months back. A few of us sat in one of the upstairs rooms, and even in the middle of summer, in an (at least) century-old building, it was downright clammy.

Another damned spot is on Diversey, next to Pars Cove on the east side. I've lived around the corner for about 6 years and there have been 5 or 6 different things in that spot in that time. I think a brickoven place just opened there recently... looks open now but there's no sign up w/ the name.

JoelF wrote:We've had a "cursed spot" in my neighborhood in NE Mount Prospect. Next to Photo's Hot Dogs is a spot that in 14 years has been Chinese, Italian, Chinese, Thai, Another Thai, [later edit] Philipino, and now for a couple years it's been Arnie Salerno's Pizzaria, which seems to be doing well.

Oh yeah, I hope they stick around! I don't think I've found something there that i haven't liked, the prices are great and the portion sizes are perfect.

One that comes to mind, though I only remember the most recent -now closed- incarnation is where Barnum & Bagel used to be on Dempster Ave in Skokie. I'm 27, so as long as I remember it was Barnum & Bagel, but I've heard about all the other places it's been. I don't know how B&B lasted as long as it did...most depressing restaurant on Earth.

I don't know if this qualifies but we have a restaurant in our neighborhood that is kind of haunted, or, just has bad luck.

It's called El Sol, and it's within walking distance of our house....actually we can almost SEE it from our house. It's called 'El Sol' but my Spanish-speaking daughter calls it "El Casa Del Muerta" (sp? I don't speak or write spanish so i'm guessing here). In our words "house of the dead".

I ate lunch there about 10 years ago and it was a buffet....as my lunch partner and I approached the buffet an employee started mopping the floor, right in front of the buffet, with one of those big buckets with the squishy mop things in it. We were totally turned off and never went back.

The reason we call it house of the dead: years went by and we never went back there but then this place was in the news! Workers were on the roof doing tarring or something, came across some concrete blocks and they tossed them off the roof into the alley, where they broke apart, revealing human bones. I've never heard of what the deal was with the bones...something about illegal immigrants and yadda yadda. My husband and I drive past the place every single day and we just wondered "what the heck"

Anyway (I'm long-winded, sorry), about 2 months ago we got curious that this place was still open and going strong and just one block away from us so we decided to try it. It was really good! Great salsa, good chips and the enchiladas I had were quite fine.

We believe the management has changed a few times in the past coupla years, which is hopeful considering that one of the last owners was encased in concrete and left on top of the roof for how many years?

El Sol is located in Morton Grove, on the Southwest corner of Dempster and Austin. It's not the absolute best Mexican food in the world but it's good in a pinch. Cast your eyes up to the ceiling and imagine that a body was encased in concrete up on the roof for who knows how long (probably about 5 years, according to police).

aschie30 wrote:Another cursed location I recall from my Bucktown/Wicker Park Days is on Milwaukee, just south of North and Damen, where the old Deluxe Diner (then Filter, then Tre Via, and I'm sure many incarnations in between) was located. I think they've gutted the space again.

Another cursed space is the old Baccala space, also on the same stretch of Milwaukee. Even though the two locations have such heavy foot traffic, any restaurant in those spaces can't seem to make a successful go of it.

Weird. I was just talking about this w/ a friend. But, the Filter space & the Deluxe/TreVia/Debonair bar are different. Filter used to be another coffee shop and had been there for at least 5 years before the landlord kicked them out to make way for the freaking BofA branch. The other space had Deluxe (which was horrible and very overpriced) and then TreVia, which got killed by Forno across the street as well as being pretty forgettable anyways. A friend who used to work at Forno says they ain't doing so hot, either.

Before Baccala there was an more conventional Italian place and then Sinibar, which was OK, I thought.

On the South of Damen survivor list, you've got Papa Jin, which probably does massive take out as it's never that full, Bin, which deserves its business and Earwax, which probably doesn't.

The Sunset/Mod/Del Toro space is also cursed. I wonder how long it will be before the novelty of the Violet Hour wears out its welcome.

The Parlor space is 0-2 or 0-3.

Whatever is going into the Scylla space is gonna have the beat the curse as well.

Outside of Wicker Park, the Fiorentino's space at 2901 N. Ashland is also doomed (tho it seems to be a very nice place according to Hammond in the Reader). It's been at least 3 or 4 other places in the last 6 or so years. It's a horrible, horrible location. Perhaps I should try it and help it stay alive !

One that comes to mind, though I only remember the most recent -now closed- incarnation is where Barnum & Bagel used to be on Dempster Ave in Skokie. I'm 27, so as long as I remember it was Barnum & Bagel, but I've heard about all the other places it's been. I don't know how B&B lasted as long as it did...most depressing restaurant on Earth.

Before Barnum & Bagel, the Gold Coin inhabited that spot, probably until at least the mid 1970's. That incarnation wasn't as good as the fantastic soda fountain-style Gold Coin that was on the SE corner of Howard & Clark, but it was decent and had many of the Jewish staples that later on were carried over to B&B.

And...this pre-dates me, but from what I understand, before the Gold Coin the location housed an (politically correct?!) Aunt Jemima's Pancake House.

tem wrote:

aschie30 wrote:Another cursed location I recall from my Bucktown/Wicker Park Days is on Milwaukee, just south of North and Damen, where the old Deluxe Diner (then Filter, then Tre Via, and I'm sure many incarnations in between) was located. I think they've gutted the space again.

Another cursed space is the old Baccala space, also on the same stretch of Milwaukee. Even though the two locations have such heavy foot traffic, any restaurant in those spaces can't seem to make a successful go of it.

Weird. I was just talking about this w/ a friend. But, the Filter space & the Deluxe/TreVia/Debonair bar are different. Filter used to be another coffee shop and had been there for at least 5 years before the landlord kicked them out to make way for the freaking BofA branch.

That's right - those are different locations. I think there was another coffee shop there prior to Filter that was short-lived and "decorated" with the very dirtiest of thrift shop furniture. As the Starbucks had just opened across the street, I thought I'd support the independent so one day I popped in there with my laptop to do some work. After I sat down and set up, the manager came over and literally kicked me out because he claimed that my laptop didn't "fit the image" of their coffeeshop. This was hysterical to me considering that Wicker Park/Bucktown was well-into its yuppified transitional stage and, did I mention, a Starbucks had opened across the street? Also, the coffee shop was empty except for two others. I told him, "okay, I'll go to Starbucks" and did just that. I felt smugly satisfied when the place closed soon thereafter.

I digress. Another cursed spot in Bucktown is Darwin's on Damen. Do you remember - about 10 years ago, it was some Mexican place, then shuttered for awhile, then a fancy small-plates place whose name I can't remember, then Darwin's, I think, and then Darwin's again.

The new brick oven place on Diversey that was formerly Scully's and Ollie's (433 W. Diversey) is called Forno Diablo. It's owned by the same people that own Cobra Lounge and Moonshine.

We had dinner there the other night. Some interesting brick oven pizzas, like one with butternut squash and brie. Not Spacca Napoli, but decent. Also, great pork chops.

jnm123 wrote:I don't know how B&B lasted as long as it did...most depressing restaurant on Earth

Because, in its heyday, the place was always packed like a schvitz in Odessa. I remember waiting in line at Barnum & Bagel with my grandparents in the early to mid 80s. I remember when they had a corral to hold you in the line and it would go back 4 or 5 people deep. We always loved B & B soups and were fascinated by the circus themed menu. Plus we thought the place was CLASSY. Later in life my parents would insist on stopping at B & B for a bowl of soup on the way home from the airport. IMHO Barnum & Bagel was superior to the Jacks, Omegas & Kappys of the world.

aschie30 wrote:
That's right - those are different locations. I think there was another coffee shop there prior to Filter that was short-lived and "decorated" with the very dirtiest of thrift shop furniture. As the Starbucks had just opened across the street, I thought I'd support the independent so one day I popped in there with my laptop to do some work. After I sat down and set up, the manager came over and literally kicked me out because he claimed that my laptop didn't "fit the image" of their coffeeshop. This was hysterical to me considering that Wicker Park/Bucktown was well-into its yuppified transitional stage and, did I mention, a Starbucks had opened across the street? Also, the coffee shop was empty except for two others. I told him, "okay, I'll go to Starbucks" and did just that. I felt smugly satisfied when the place closed soon thereafter.

Wasn't the name of the place Uncommon Grounds or something similar?
One thing I did like was their Beatles Brunch on Sundays.
With the Beatles playing on the stereo, they offered up a nice buffet-style breakfast with all the usual suspects (omelette station, French toast, pancakes, bacon, sausage, etc.)
I don't think this location was particularly cursed. Filter had been there for about five years and seemed to be doing good business. I'm sure their lease expired and a bank with deep pockets offered to pay much more for rent. It happened to my store in Wicker Park also.

tem wrote:Outside of Wicker Park, the Fiorentino's space at 2901 N. Ashland is also doomed (tho it seems to be a very nice place according to Hammond in the Reader). It's been at least 3 or 4 other places in the last 6 or so years. It's a horrible, horrible location. Perhaps I should try it and help it stay alive !

Is this the same location of the short-lived (and my nomination for worst restaurant name ever) What A Life! ?

johnny wrote:

aschie30 wrote:
That's right - those are different locations. I think there was another coffee shop there prior to Filter that was short-lived and "decorated" with the very dirtiest of thrift shop furniture. As the Starbucks had just opened across the street, I thought I'd support the independent so one day I popped in there with my laptop to do some work. After I sat down and set up, the manager came over and literally kicked me out because he claimed that my laptop didn't "fit the image" of their coffeeshop. This was hysterical to me considering that Wicker Park/Bucktown was well-into its yuppified transitional stage and, did I mention, a Starbucks had opened across the street? Also, the coffee shop was empty except for two others. I told him, "okay, I'll go to Starbucks" and did just that. I felt smugly satisfied when the place closed soon thereafter.

Wasn't the name of the place Uncommon Grounds or something similar?
One thing I did like was their Beatles Brunch on Sundays.

The Local Grind, I believe. And I agree, the thrift store decor was about 10 years too late.

aschie30 wrote:
Whatever is going into the Scylla space is gonna have the beat the curse as well.

That house is cursed. First that weird sports bar (which had the dubious honor of being the first self-proclaimed sports bar in Bucktown if I remember correctly), then Glory, which was OK. And now Scylla which was my favorite restaurant in Bucktown. Good luck to Takashi Yagihashi, he'll need it.

MJ

johnny wrote:Is this the same location of the short-lived (and my nomination for worst restaurant name ever) What A Life! ?

yeah, that's the spot.

I did get to Fiorentino's a couple weeks ago. I'd say it was good ... not great. The crab cake appetizer we had was tasty but lukewarm. I should have sent it back. 2nd course was gnocchi w/ marinara sauce. the sauce had a nice, deep roasted flavor but the gnocchi sure seemed to be outsourced/frozen as they were all identical in size and "fork" markings. My strip steak was very good and well cooked to temp but I really hate giant "Vesuvio" style potato wedges. Not a cheap evening, either. $120 for 2 w/ 1 bottle of ~$35 wine.

I digress. Another cursed spot in Bucktown is Darwin's on Damen. Do you remember - about 10 years ago, it was some Mexican place, then shuttered for awhile, then a fancy small-plates place whose name I can't remember, then Darwin's, I think, and then Darwin's again.

The curse continues - Darwins is gone (man will I miss the cheeseburger and nachos) and something called Whiskey Road is in its place...

Ron A. wrote:There's a location in Naperville (Whiskeybent -- You spent some time there if I'm not mistaken) that I always have considered "cursed." It's on the north side of Ogden, just east of Columbia Street. At one point it was an Italian place (Melanzane, I believe) that actually was quite good and seemed to have potential (it even was given a glowing review in Chicago Magazine). It closed. After that, it was a Greek restaurant (one of the few in the area) that was quite good and seemed to have a lot of potential. It closed. It has been a number of restaurants over the years (I'm not even sure what it is now -- another Italian place?), and they all have failed.

Not sure if this is the place -but in the 70's and 80's There was a place called Rascals on that corner set a ways back off Ogden. I believe it was owned by the same people that owned the Flame Steakhouse that was on Roosivelt Road in Villa Park. Rascals was extremely successful and always packed for many years. Good Onion String Loaf and Chicago Style Ribs.

Judy wrote:I don't know if this qualifies but we have a restaurant in our neighborhood that is kind of haunted, or, just has bad luck.

It's called El Sol.... The reason we call it house of the dead: years went by and we never went back there but then this place was in the news! Workers were on the roof doing tarring or something, came across some concrete blocks and they tossed them off the roof into the alley, where they broke apart, revealing human bones. I've never heard of what the deal was with the bones...something about illegal immigrants and yadda yadda. My husband and I drive past the place every single day and we just wondered "what the heck"

El Sol used to be La Bamba.... and I too always wondered what happened to its owner. The official story per NBC 5 as of 4/30/03--I couldn't find anything later.... Not sure this place belongs on the list, because one name change later and--voila--it is still an apparently thriving Mexican spot in the same location for the ensuing 12 years. Sorry for the lengthy story--I still haven't figured out how to do an external link....
>>Rooftop Remains: Cops Look At 2nd Missing Person; Haven't Identified Human Remains
CHICAGO -- The search for Enrico Martin Silva, who disappeared from his La Bamba Restaurant, at 6000 Dempster St., Morton Grove, in August 1995, intensified last week after roofers discovered human remains while performing repairs to the building. A police probe has now led investigators to search for a second man, Jose "Pepe" Posada, an assistant manager at Noa Noa, 2848 N. Broadway, who was reported missing from Chicago in January 1994, the same day that $60,000 was reported missing from the business. Although it was unclear exactly how Posada fits into the investigation, his name came up repeatedly during their interviews with Silva's "inner circle of friends."
The body parts were found in several plastic bins that were concealed under a crawl space on the roof of the building, now occupied by the El Sol Restaurant. An autopsy this week determined the victim had been fatally shot in the neck, and the death was a homicide. Though police initially believed the body was likely that of Silva, they now have "some indication that it may not be him." Investigators were still awaiting DNA evidence to establish a positive identification.
Police believe that Silva may have owed money to a number of different people at the time he disappeared, and may also have faced bankruptcy proceedings on at least one of his business interests. Police were still trying to establish a list of his debts. They did not yet know how many businesses he owned.
The morning after he disappeared, police found Silva's keys next to his Volkswagen, which was parked in an alley near the restaurant. A pool of blood was found nearby, though forensic tests established that it was not Silva's blood.
Whoever hid the remains must have been familiar with the restaurant. The crawl space did not exist until 1992, when workers constructed a mansard roof over a portion of the building, creating the hiding place. Investigators were continuing to question Silva's friends and associates, including the owner of the El Sol Restaurant, formerly Silva's live-in girlfriend and the co-owner of his restaurant. Other contacts seem to have moved to Mexico and could not be reached.<<

There was a cursed location in Berkeley, back when I lived there. A restaurant on the corner of University and...Sixth? Fourth? went through a reincarnation every six months or so. It was inexplicable to me - the location was decent, the restaurants occupying the space were generally well-reviewed, and it even had parking, a rare treat. The only thing I could figure was that next door to the restaurant was the city animal shelter, and even in ultra-PC Berkeley, there were a lot of jokes made and a general feeling of discomfort about eating there.

In my neighborhood, the former Ambala space (....sniff) can't seem to stay filled - it's just too far away from the center of the action. The space on the southwest corner of Western and Devon was cursed for a while, but it seems (I hope) that its current occupant, Khan's, has broken the curse. I hope the same for Hyderabad House Family Dining, on the eastern edge of Small Pakistan.

I can think of 2 'cursed corners':

One of them being the SW corner of the Lincoln/Montrose/Leavitt intersection(was for years, up until Bowman's Bar and Grill opened). And I agree with whoever mentioned the SE corner of that same intersection!

On the other hand, the SE corner of Clark and Bryn Mawr is still cursed. There was a butchery/meat shop that operated there for many, many years(I think up until the mid or late-90s), then some Turkish restaurant, but was NOT an earlier reincarnation of the very successful Turkish restaurant that exists(and strangely forget the name of, don't ask why) just a block north of there, briefly operated there. Most recent restaurant that operated in there was Gilly's, which advertised itself as a breakfast and lunch-type restaurant, but had really not-so-great prices. I knew walking by there before it closed, that Gilly's wasn't gonna last for long, considering the nearby competition in the area(M. Henry, Pauline's, Svea, etc., and at that time, Augie's Restaurant also was competition).

dumpstermcnuggets wrote:One of them being the SW corner of the Lincoln/Montrose/Leavitt intersection(was for years, up until Bowman's Bar and Grill opened).

I went to Bowman's once on a Sunday early in the afternoon when the other places we tried to hit in the neighborhood were closed. From my experience, you may be premature if "was for years" is to imply that the curse is "broken". I wish them no ill, but our experience was utterly undistinguished.

tem wrote:Whatever is going into the Scylla space is gonna have the beat the curse as well.

vegmojo wrote:That house is cursed. First that weird sports bar (which had the dubious honor of being the first self-proclaimed sports bar in Bucktown if I remember correctly), then Glory, which was OK. And now Scylla which was my favorite restaurant in Bucktown. Good luck to Takashi Yagihashi, he'll need it.

How prophetic we seem to be here sometimes, as Takashi is currently featured in Time Out's Save This Restaurant. Let's hope Takashi pulls through. (I remember The Silver Palm was once featured in this column, and it's still going strong even though the food has reportedly gone downhill (TPS was later part of Bourdain's Chicago No Reservations episode).)

amyliz wrote:

I digress. Another cursed spot in Bucktown is Darwin's on Damen. Do you remember - about 10 years ago, it was some Mexican place, then shuttered for awhile, then a fancy small-plates place whose name I can't remember, then Darwin's, I think, and then Darwin's again.

The curse continues - Darwins is gone (man will I miss the cheeseburger and nachos) and something called Whiskey Road is in its place...

And then Whiskey Road was gone and something called Chinaski's was there, and then Chinaski's was gone and a bar called 6 Degrees is there now. We'll see if this one finally lasts.

I just re-read through this thread and enjoyed this:

The Sunset/Mod/Del Toro space is also cursed. I wonder how long it will be before the novelty of the Violet Hour wears out its welcome.

I have a hunch that says they'll do okay.