Healthy Food Lithuanian Closing
By Chuck Sudo in Food on Dec 9, 2009 3:20PM
Sad news out of Bridgeport this week as Healthy Food Lithuanian Restaurant (3236 S. Halsted, 312-324-2724) will serve up its final kugelis on December 15. We placed a call last night to owner Grazina "Gina" Biciunas-Santoski, who confirmed the closing. "I just feel the time is right to retire," Biciunas-Santoski said.
Healthy Food's closing marks the end of an era; they've been in business in Bridgeport since 1938 serving practically the same menu of fresh-squeezed juices, homemade soups, Lithuanian sausage dumplings (koldunai), blynai (rich Lithuanian pancakes stuffed with cheese and fruit), roast duck and the amazing potato and bacon bit pudding known as kugelis. Healthy Food also made one of the best rhubarb pies in the city. On a personal note, Healthy Food was one of the places in which we immediately felt comfortable when we moved to Bridgeport 10 years ago. Seriously, we haven't felt this sad about a restaurant closing since Wicker Park's Sophie's Busy Bee closed down, coincidentally, 11 years ago this month.
It's been nearly a year since we last visited, so we've taken the place for granted in recent years. But we'll be damned if we don't have one more order of kugelis and the veal cutlet dinner this weekend to pay our respects.