Bang Bang Pie Is Opening A Second Shop In Lincoln Square This Year
By Mae Rice in Food on Mar 10, 2016 4:30PM
The rumors are true: Bang Bang Pie is coming to Lincoln Square. Owner Michael Ciapciak told Chicagoist that the shop's second location, which will replace Dolce Casa at 4947 N. Damen Ave., could open as soon as May.
The new Bang Bang won’t be a “cookie-cutter duplicate” of the Logan Square one, Ciapciak said. The locations will have their own unique pot pie and biscuit specials. However, guests in Lincoln Square will be able to order most of Logan Square’s “super-popular” dishes.
“People want what they want, you don’t want to change it up too much,” he said.
Ciapciak opened the Logan Square Bang Bang in March of 2012, and said he’s run across several opportunities to open a second location since then—but this is the first one that felt right.
“It was just kind of a gut reaction,” he said.
Ciapciak used to live on the North Side, and said that Bang Bang's new location will be on a stretch of Damen “right in the center of all these North Side neighborhoods”—Uptown, Andersonville, Ravenswood—”without being on a retail strip.”
He knew the particular storefront he chose well. “It was a cafe for 10 years, and one that I used to frequent,” he said. “It’s rustic, but refined.”
Located in a century-old building, the space has exposed-brick walls (like the Logan Square Bang Bang), and its original tin ceiling, complete with a skylight that will “allow all this beautiful natural light in,” Ciapciak said.
Opening a new location felt like the right move for the whole Bang Bang team, too.
“I have the strongest team I’ve ever had,” Ciapciak said. "I owe all of my success to how friendly and talented they are, and [the Logan Square Bang Bang is] such a small place there’s only so much room for growth.”
The new location will open up new professional possibilities for his team, though; several Logan Square staffers will transfer to the new location and receive much-deserved promotions in the process, Ciapciak said.