It's A Big Week For Chicago Restaurant News

By Anthony Todd in Food on May 9, 2017 3:00PM

Smoked fish tasting at the (now defunct) Snaggletooth. Photo by Anthony Todd.

It's only Tuesday, and it's already been a big week for restaurant news! Let's check in with the food scene.

•Last month, news broke that Snaggletooth, the acclaimed fish spot (that I had some mixed feelings about), was closing. Which was genuinely sad for the pair of owners who sank a ton of energy and money into doing some pretty interesting food. Luckily, this week we found out that there was at least some sort of light at the end of the tunnel. Bill Montagne, one of the two owners of Snaggletooth, just became Chef de Cuisine at Nico Osteria in River North. The position was previously held by Erling Wu-Bower, who is leaving Nico to open his own place. Congrats and good luck to Chef Montagne!

•Chicago has a new "Oldest Restaurant," according to DNAinfo: Daley's Restaurant in Woodlawn. It's been open since 1892. Daley's took the title after Schaller's Pump (136 years old) closed last week.

•Eater Chicago reports that yet another new poke shop is opening, this time in Wicker Park. The restaurant, at 1415 N. Milwaukee Ave., will offer poke bowls, fried chicken and some hot Hawaiian specialities (think beef patties topped with gravy a fried egg and grilled pineapple). FireFin is expanding rapidly, with five different locations either open or in the works, according to its website. Poke shops are already the donut shops of 2017; when will the inevitable crash come?