Late to the party, but still time to celebrate: The Daly Bagel made its fifth anniversary in April.
Breakfast House in the former Cozy Corner location at 138 N. Marion St., opened in late May. Owner Jaime Jara is excited to add Oak Park to his other locations in Chicago.
“Oak Park is so family friendly. That’s who we are too. We’re going to take care of customers and build slowly, slowly.” Monthly specials reflect the seasons. He is trying out chilaquiles verde right now to see if it makes it onto the regular menu.
In Forest Park The Meat Counter at 7406 Madison St. dry-ages steaks to tender perfection. Also made in-house are pork sausages and several sandwich offerings.
Joy Milk Tea, a canned, jasmine, green, milk tea was founded in River Forest in 2019. The product is on shelves at Whole Foods and other grocery chains, but now the drink is coming direct to consumers with a series of pop-up events in its hometown area.
Kinslahger Brewing Company released a new brew over Memorial Day weekend: Nelson’s Light. Not surprisingly, it’s a light beer and a summer thirst quencher. It’s a rice lager dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin hops from New Zealand with a passion fruit aroma. A great time to give it a try is on the second Thursday of each month when their taproom at 6806 Roosevelt Rd. in Oak Park hosts a book swap in conjunction with The Pile Bookstore. Bring a book, drink a beer, take a book!
On the horizon: in Elmwood Park, Ethos Greek is breaking ground at North and Lathrop. Also, returning to the area is local chain, Pompei. Its new location will open on Conte Circle in the next few weeks. A previous Pompei location was at Lake and Harlem, which became Noodles & Company (which is under construction again transforming into a new outlet of the national breakfast and lunch chain First Watch).
In Oak Park, Mira Social is in the first stages of construction at 1103 Pleasant St. – the sign on the door says, “Oak Park’s best kept secret,” but sources tell us to expect exquisite cocktails and small plates. Habib’s Chicken and Falafel will fill up the space left empty by Slice Factory pizza at 421 N. Harlem Ave., next to the AT& T store and Wild Fork.
No opening date has been set for Japanese BBQ Gyumon by the owners of Kyuramen, but its storefront is attracting attention at 105 N. Marion St. Up the block the same owners have signed a third lease for the old Luo’s Peking House space at 113 N. Marion. No word yet on the concept.
Black Fodder Coffee, which opened earlier this year at 349 Ashland in River Forest, is expanding their breakfast menu with both sweet and savory crepes. As always, all foods served are gluten-free. Bonus: their patio is now open for summer.
Stick around Marion Street for Thursday Night Out. Oak Park’s summer-long sip, sample and music series gets its 20th season underway on June 5. It runs each week until Aug. 28 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. The event takes pride in being a zero waste extravaganza.
Speaking of lowering waste’s impact, the Smart Energy Design Assistance Center at the University of Illinois is offering grants to encourage restaurants to ditch “forever-chemical,” PFAS-coated takeout containers. They provide a no-cost foodware assessment and up to $300 of complementary PFAS-free foodware products for testing. If your favorite spot is still using black plastic container and utensils, tell them about this grant opportunity.
What’s your favorite happy hour deal in the area?
Got news, questions or answers for this column? Email them to us at Eats@oakparkeats.com.