By Tommy GiglioContributing Writer
The restaurant business is a risky business. In Evanston, it is even riskier.
With more than 100 restaurants in the area offering everything from Ethiopian to American cuisine, catering to Evanston’s sometimes selective clientele isn’t easy.
“The palates of the people who live and visit here are pretty sophisticated,” said Jonathan Perman, the executive director of the Evanston Chamber of Commerce. “We see ourselves as a dining Mecca, as a place where people have a lot of choices and have some very memorable dining experiences.”
The saturation of restaurants in the area, as well as the general sophistication of Evanston eaters, can make starting and sustaining a successful restaurant difficult – as some area restaurateurs have learned.
A restaurant must differentiate itself from its competition because Evanston offers diners many options, Perman said, calling the creation of a unique service, theme or atmosphere a key to a restaurant’s success.
Franchise sandwich shops Subway, Quizno’s and Potbelly Sandwich Works were all within one block of each other until recently, when Quizno’s closed, Perman said.
“(The restaurants) saturated the market,” he said. “They cannibalized themselves.”
Down the street, Narra, the Hotel Orrington’s upscale restaurant, closed Jan. 1. While its fine dining brought hotel guests to its tables, the cuisine wasn’t enough to entice Evanston residents away from dining elsewhere.
“Narra was way too stuffy and formal, making it more of a special occasion restaurant. … We cannot live on birthday parties and anniversaries alone,” said Russ Abell, general manager of the Hotel Orrington. “We thought the food at Narra was very good and very consistent, but it wasn’t fun.”
The Hotel Orrington plans to reopen a new restaurant in the space. By June 1, Blu Coral, a “fun” sushi restaurant with two other Chicago-area locations will open in Narra’s place. Evanston is home to five other sushi restaurants -three within two blocks of the hotel.
“We don’t think there is an overabundance of sushi in town,” Abell said. “We’ve thought that the style of restaurant would fit quite well into the cross-section of restaurants in greater Evanston. It’s upscale. It’s a high energy restaurant.”
The same area that once had three sandwich shops will now have four sushi restaurants. However, Abell said Blu Coral’s menu and ambiance will differ from its local competition.
“The restaurant business is a tough business, and sometimes it’s almost mystical to try to understand what makes a restaurant succeed or not,” Abell said.
The sushi market has shrunk in Evanston over the past few years – New Japan, 1322 Chicago Ave., and Sushi Arigato, 822 Clark St., two other sushi joints, also closed recently.
Aladdin’s Eatery and Olive Mountain both offered Middle Eastern cuisine within a block of each other until two years ago when Aladdin’s, a chain based in Lakewood, Ohio, closed its Evanston location. Now Al’s #1 Italian Beef occupies the space at 622 Davis St.
Joe Alongi, owner of the Evanston Al’s #1 Italian Beef, said he realizes how competitive the Evanston dining scene is, but he believes offering a unique Chicago-style sandwich sets him apart from other shops.
“It is a very saturated area, but I think what we have here is something that not too many people offer and that we have a little niche,” he said.
Al’s has been open for seven months. Alongi said he opened his restaurant in Evanston because of the people and because the area did not offer Italian beef before.
Although he said it will take at least a year until he can tell what his restaurant’s fate will be, he said he is optimistic.
“Every month seems to be getting a little bit better, and we’re pretty well received out here,” Alongi said. “Every day we get new people coming in and everybody seems to like it.”
Reach Tommy Giglio at [email protected].
