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Sometimes, a restaurant closure is part of an establishment’s natural progression. Perhaps it’s outgrown its current space or a lease has run out. Other times, closure is a marker of more macro changes afoot, such as shifts in Americans’ dining out habits. In other instances, sometimes an establishment is forced to close out of safety concerns. Recent Chicago closures illustrate both such instances, with the shutter of a Midwest-style supper club founded by the Alinea Group, a longtime pizza chain with roots in suburban Chicago, and an iconic chain of gastro pubs that long had a spot in Printer’s Row.
The Shutter, a regular roundup of Chicago’s restaurant closures, is your resource to find out what’s on its way out. The list is by no means comprehensive. Have information on another closing? Send all tips to chicago@eater.com.
March
UKRAINIAN VILLAGE — The license for Lyon’s Den Hookah Lounge (2123 W. Division Street) has been revoked by the city, about eight months after police ordered the establishment temporarily closed following a July 2024 shooting. Neighbors and public officials had called for the lounge’s closure when a bouncer was shot and killed outside of the establishment on January 1, 2023. Another shooting took place on July 19, 2024, after a fight broke out inside the club, prompting the temporary closure ordered by police. Members of the group Ukrainian Village Safety Advocates pushed for the shutter to be permanent.
FULTON MARKET — St. Clair Supper Club (951 W. Fulton Market) — a project from the Alinea Group — has closed permanently as of Saturday, March 29. The Midwestern-style supper club opened in July 2019, occupying the basement that most recently housed Alinea’s casual offering, Roister. The announcement was made on social media but teased the possibility that the shutter isn’t a “goodbye forever” and that the eatery deserves a larger footprint.
SOUTH LOOP — Bar Louie (47 W. Polk Street) — with locations in 19 states — is shedding stores, including Chicago’s South Loop outpost, which Block Club Chicago reported took place over the weekend of March 22. Citing financial and operational challenges, the gastro bar chain has filed for bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, just after more than a dozen locations across the country were closed abruptly. Bar Louie was founded in 1991 in Chicago, and according to USA Today citing a court filing, the Addison, Texas-headquartered company operates 31 company-owned locations and has 17 other franchise locations.
