“Arrivederci” to Ciro Parlato, owner of the self-named restaurant Ciro that was at 1048 Pleasant St. in Oak Park. I stopped by on its final day, June 20. He wants everyone to know how happy he was to be a part of this community. “Grazie mille a tutti voi,” he said. He also said if you find yourself near the Amalfi Coast region of Italy, please look him up. He hopes to reimagine his restaurant concept there, near his hometown of Corbara. One Instagram post said it best, “Coraggio, Ciro.”
Hopefully it’s not good-bye for Jay’s Backyard BBQ at 5604 W. Division St. In Austin. The restaurant was devastated by fire in the early morning of June 19. According to owner Jay Young, the fire started when an employee turned the grill on. Interviewed by Block Club Chicago, Young said, “People don’t understand how much I had to go through to have this place, just trying to keep it going. And for it to burn … I got a lot of emotions tied into that building, that restaurant, the people I employ, the customer base, just the whole community.”
Prepare to welcome Oak Park Prime Steak at 1122 Lake St. in Oak Park. Its estimated opening date is later this year. This venture is from the same owners as Hinsdale Prime Steak, Ignacio Martinez and Antonio Monroy.
Nice to see you Joy Tea! Their new brick-and-mortar location just opened at 7773 Lake St. in River Forest. This business first saw success as a mobile tea stand. Touting itself as “The Modern Tea House” and promising, “Tea in America is horrible, we fixed it,” the focus is on simplicity, using tea from estates in Fujian, Yunnan, and Sichuan China.
Twisted Cookie, 7401 Madison St. in Forest Park, has a deal for you – if you are a Costco member. On sale at the stock-up store’s Melrose Park, North Riverside and West Loop locations are two $25 gift cards for $39.99. “This past year one of their team members asked if I would cater their employee Christmas party,” owner Joana Fischer said. “They continued to order for their employee events. Shortly after, the general manager asked if I would like to offer Twisted Cookie gift cards in their store.”
Though some blocks on Oak Park Avenue in Oak Park are open again, it’s still construction season for the 100 North and 100 South blocks. I lingered over lunch with old friends at Café Cubano, 113 N. Oak Park Ave., last week and in the 2.5 hours we sat catching up, we were the only customers who sat down to eat. Please support the restaurants on these blocks. If there was no construction, you were going to have to park in the Avenue Garage (entrance at 720 North Blvd.) anyway! The first 90 minutes is free and just $2 for the next hour.
July 18 is National Sour Candy Day. Candycopia is celebrating by attempting to set a Guinness Book of World Records’ “World’s Largest Sour Candy Tasting.” They will host the free, public event at 1:30 p.m. at Ridgeland Common, 415 Lake St. in Oak Park. It will be a synchronized tasting of three intensely sour candies. Sign up to join in on their website.
In other somewhat bitter and sweet news, this is the last column for Small Bites, at least its current version. I’ll be saying “see ya” to leading Eats reporting at the end of July. More details will be forthcoming, but in the meantime, I’d like to officially welcome two new Eats reporters, Adam Siemer and Alicia Sams. They both wrote wonderful pieces for Eats Magazine that came out last week. I look forward to reading more from them!
Got news, questions or ideas for this column? Email them to us at Eats@oakparkeats.com.