Even More Chicago Restaurants & Bars Are Closing This Year

By Anthony Todd in Food on Oct 30, 2017 4:00PM

The season of closings continues, as more and more restaurants and bars announce their end dates. Just last Friday, we covered the shut down of Johnny's Grill and Mezcaleria Las Flores, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Let's dive in.

At the top of my sadness list is the Annex at GreenRiver. This intimate, slightly secret cocktail bar attached to the Michelin-starred restaurant had an amazing view, a great vibe, and a very complex cocktail menu (which came in the form of a box of recipes). It might have been too secret to survive, however, as I never really saw anyone drinking there. Eater Chicago reports it'll be turned into a private events space.

Flirty Cupcakes in Lincoln Square closed its doors without us noticing until this week, when I walked past the space and saw ... no cupcakes! The former convenience store space was beautifully built out by the bakery, but looks like they weren't making a go of it. DNAChicago reported the closure a few weeks back.

In North Center, Knife (the sister restaurant to Fork) closed up shop. I heard rumors of this on Facebook a few weeks back, when one of the managers posted that the restaurant was closing, but it's now confirmed and the restaurant is closed. It struggled with mixed reviews early on and lost its chef, Timothy Cottini, a few months ago.

Update: 1 P.M. on 10/30: And another closing was announced just as this was published: FireFin Poke is closing all Chicago locations.