The storefront at the southeast corner of Oak Park Avenue and South Boulevard has been empty for years, but restaurateur Branko Palikuca is set to breathe new life into the location with a new high-end restaurant.
Citrine Café still has a long way to go in terms of getting permits for the build out of the restaurant at 100 S. Oak Park Ave., but Palikuca, an Oak Park resident, said he’s looking forward to getting the door open by October or November.
Palikuca also is the owner of the highly acclaimed Topaz Café in Burr Ridge, The Dawson in Chicago and Amber Café and Dolce’s Pizzeria and Wine Bar, both in Westmont. Topaz Café was named best new restaurant by Chicago Magazine after its opening in 2008.
Palikuca said he still is working on developing the menu but noted that Citrine will include a wood burning stove and offer a variety of meat and seafood dishes. He said the menu will also include Mediterranean dishes, probably at least one steak and some pasta dishes.
“If we do pasta, it’s going to be homemade pasta,” he said. “If we do burgers we are going to grind our own beef.”
Also expect a full bar with six to eight craft beers on draft and an extensive mixed drink menu.
Palikuca said the restaurant is going to be open evenings and for Sunday brunch and will be family oriented with most menu items running $18 to $25.
He said he’s excited to be opening in his hometown of Oak Park because, “I feel people support the town.”
“I know what it’s like in Oak Park, and the location is a great opportunity,” he said.
Palikuca, a Serbian native, moved to Chicago in 1988 and opened his first restaurant, Amber, in 2004.
David King, a local real estate broker who represented ownership of the building in the lease transaction, said it is a great use for the location.
“I honestly would not have been able to close this lease without the assistance of (the village of Oak Park’s) Tammie Grossman, Loretta Daly and the development team at Village Hall along with Viktor Schrader at the Oak Park Economic Development Corporation,” King said in a press release. “They all assisted in helping sell the process involved at village hall in a renovation/opening of this magnitude.”
