Rock ’n’ roll restaurant backed by KISS stars coming to Oak Lawn

Bob Bong

Two new restaurants, including one affiliated with KISS stars Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, will highlight the beginning of phase two of the Stony Creek Promenade development in Oak Lawn.

Rock & Brews is a California-based restaurant chain born out of a post-concert conversation among Simmons, Stanley, concert tour manager Dave Furano, his brother, merchandising pioneer Dell Furano and restaurateur Michael Zislis.

The first one opened in El Segundo, Calif., in 2012. There are now more than 20 in eight states and Mexico.

The Oak Lawn location will be the first one in Illinois of a planned 15-20 locations.

Rock & Brews features American comfort food and craft beers.

KISS frontmen Gene Simmons (left) and Paul Stanley are official spokesmen for Rock & Brews, which has signed to open a new establishment in Oak Lawn. Supplied photo

Also coming to Oak Lawn will be the Barrel Club, a locally owned upscale restaurant, which says it will feature some of the highest quality steaks and prime rib in the area paired with a house-distilled whiskey.

Both restaurants are expected to open in 2019.

Oak Lawn Mayor Sandra Bury announced the news on Facebook last week and said the news had gone viral.

“My post just blew up on social media,” Bury said Monday. “It had hundreds of views and shares.”

“Residents asked for upscale, fine dining and that what’s we’re trying to give them,” she said. “Everything is coming up roses at 111^th and Cicero. “Please welcome them to Oak Lawn.

“The village has a great partnership with Hamilton Partners, developers of the Promenade, and this is just the beginning of phase two.”

Bury said there will also be a retail component in phase two. “I’m just not ready to make any announcements about retail,” she said.

Bury also revealed that Mariano’s supermarket, which was part of the first phase of the Stony Creek Promenade, will be adding a fuel station to its footprint at the Promenade.

“That location is consistently one of Mariano’s top locations,” she said. “It’s often the No. 1 location in the Chicago area.”

Byline closing city bank branches

Byline Bank, which has not been reluctant to close branches particularly in the suburbs, announced last month that it will close eight more locations in June.

Seven of the branches are located in Chicago, including the branch at 3435 W. 111^th St. in the Mount Greenwood community.

Remodeled ALDI opens in Hammond

The Hammond ALDI store, located at 6518 Columbia Ave., reopened June 7.

The new store is one of more than 1,300 nationwide scheduled to be remodeled and expanded by 2020 as part of a $1.6 billion plan. The company said it would invest more than $180 million to improve more than 130 stores in the Chicago area.

Stores already remodeled or expanded include locations in Tinley Park, which reopened in a bigger location in November, and locations in Bridgeview and Chicago’s Garfield Ridge community, which opened in December.

The new store will feature fresh food, produce, dairy and baked goods. Remodeled stores also feature a modern design, open ceilings, natural lighting and environmentally-friendly building materials – such as recycled materials, energy-saving refrigeration and LED lighting.

Hours for the store will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday.

DreamBikes closes in Cal City

DreamBikes, a non-profit organization that opened used bicycle stores in low-to-moderate income neighborhoods to provide hands-on, paid job training to teens, has closed its Calumet City location at 754 Burnham Ave.

The Cal City location trained 10 youth to be bicycle mechanics and refurbished 322 bicycles while it was in operation.

No reason was given for the closing.

CN train engineers ratify new contract

Canadian National Railway and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen announced that the 475 locomotive engineers on the company’s Illinois Central property in Homewood have successfully ratified a new collective agreement.

This contract, which runs through Dec. 31, 2019, provides wage and benefit improvements in each year of the agreement, in line with the national railway pattern.

“This renewed collective bargaining agreement once more demonstrates CN’s desire and commitment to work together with our employees and their representatives, in this case, the BLET, to address workplace issues, in a respectful and mutually beneficial manner,” Mike Cory, CN executive vice-president and chief operating officer, said in a release. “CN is very pleased to have renewed the collective agreement with the locomotive engineers who work on the Illinois Central, which ensures uninterrupted service to our customers and the overall North American economy.”

Clay Craddock, general chairman of the BLET for the IC said: “This deal represents the collective efforts of the officers of the brotherhood and of the company. The engineers that voted ratified this agreement overwhelmingly.”

(If you see a new business in town or wonder what happened to an old favorite, drop me a line at bobbong@hotmail.com. You can track business openings and closings at bobbongonbusiness.com.)

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Bob Bong

Bob Bong is a veteran newspaper reporter and columnist.

He is the author of "Bob Bong on Business"

Bong has covered the south suburbs and South Side of Chicago for more than 40 years. He was editor of The Daily Calumet until 1987 when he moved over to the Daily Southtown after the Cal was acquired by Pulitzer. Since 2013, he has been editor of the Desplaines Valley News based in Summit. He has been writing Comings & Goings for more than 15 years. Comings & Goings also appears in the Southtown, the DVN, the Reporter and Regional newspapers, as well as on the Tribune website.

Comings & Goings tracks new businesses coming to the Southland as well as those that are leaving.

If you see a new business in town or wonder what happened to an old favorite, drop me a line at bobbong@hotmail.com. You can track business openings and closings at http://bobbongonbusiness.com/