Dave's Italian Kitchen Closes After 44 Years in Evanston

EVANSTON, IL - If you’ve been an Evanston resident for a long time, there’s a good chance your favorite restaurant just closed for good.

Dave’s Italian Kitchen, a 44-year Evanston staple with its most recent location at 1635 Chicago Ave., shut for good on Monday. Employees only learned of the shutdown when showing up for work and finding a sign on the door, according to Evanston Now.

Even more bizarre, the shutdown came on the same day when owners Dave and Ellen Glatt were scheduled to receive keys to the city from Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl. Tisdahl was to honor the pair for their work in providing free meals to the disadvantaged, Evanston Now reported.

The website for the longtime dining favorite confirms Dave’s is “closed forever.”

“Thank you.” That’s the other other thing you’ll find on the site as of Tuesday. Everything else is blank space.

Much like the blank space the restaurant’s closure will leave at the space it occupied across the Whole Foods in downtown Evanston.

Dave’s first opened in the 500 block of Davis Street and then served the community at a building that once stood where Church Street Plaza is today.