Restaurant News: Dillman's Opens, The Story Behind West Town Tavern

By Anthony Todd in Food on Aug 5, 2013 6:40PM

- We first learned about Dillman's, Chef Brendan Sodikoff's (Au Cheval, Maude's, Gilt Bar) take on an old-fashioned Jewish Deli, last December. News has been trickling out over the past several months about the construction, and Chicago Magazine's Penny Pollack tweeted a few days ago that the restaurant had quietly opened. Eater confirms that the restaurant (located at 345 W. Hubbard) has soft-opened. They've got a couple of yelp reviews, though no website yet. Chicago Mag has the menu.

- We gave you our favorites for Lolla's Chow Town last week, but we were just guessing based on our past experiences. Want to find out what food actually lived up to expectations? Serious Eats Chicago has rounded up their favorite dishes of Lolla 2013. These included donuts from Glazed and Infused, a bacon mac-n-cheese dog from Franks 'n' Dawgs and the jalapeño popper chicken puff at Puffs of Doom. Check out the whole slideshow if you missed out on the fun.

- After following the story of West Town Tavern's closure and transformation into Chicago Taco for two weeks, we were on the verge of giving up. What the heck was going on? Phil Vettel talked to owner Susan Goss and got a little more of the story, though things are still confusing. Goss claimed that, after a few days of crunching the numbers, they realized that the taco concept wasn't going to work. Why did they close in the first place?

As to the West Town Tavern closing, "There wasn't enough money coming in," Goss says matter-of-factly. "Drew and I have been supporting the business ourselves for a while. But we took a look at our goals, our age, our savings and decided this was the best thing to do.

Goss did say that she didn't think their time in Chicago was finished yet. We'll see if there's still another chapter to this story.