Zingelman's Closes Its Doors After 26 Years

By noon Saturday, temperatures in downtown Hinsdale were in the 70s and the line at Zingelman’s nearly reached the restaurant’s entrance.

“That’s why we came early,” customer Cori Hamilton said from a table full with her husband Brady, 5-year-old daughter Mae, and 3-year old son Mack.

The Hamiltons were among the throngs of Hinsdaleans that flooded to Zingelman’s on its final day in business. The local eatery served hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, gyros and the famous and colorful “Rainbow Grilled Cheese” from its 13 W. 1st St. location for 26 years. Owners Bob and Herb Roth—ages 69 and 77, respectively—are turning in their aprons for family reasons.

“Time has come and we want to spend more time with our grandchildren,” Bob Roth said.

About four weeks ago, according to Bob, the brothers made the announcement that they’d be closing.

“Our customer friends and ourselves, we have to pull up our pants a little bit because the tears are flowing so much we feel we’re going to be flooded right out,” he said.

Bob said the technology of today means less interpersonal communication and has made the Roths feel a little left behind by the local kids who were always the foundation of Zingelman’s business. It was that technology, though, that allowed Jenny Lyons, 25, to take a picture of the place from her table in the back on her phone and share it on Facebook.

Lyons is a grad student in Boston but happened to be home in Hinsdale for the weekend. She started coming to Zingelman’s in fourth grade, met her best friend there in seventh grade, and heard about it closing from several sources.

“My parents told me; I saw it on Facebook; my friend sent me some article on it. It was just all over the place,” Lyons said.

She said she’s sad the restaurant is closing, but happy it’s not being continued on without the Roths. It would lose its “unique spirit,” Lyons said.

“I can walk in here after not being here for like five years and still have someone be like, ‘Wow you look exactly the same.’”

The Hamiltons moved to Hinsdale from Minnesota about five years ago. Brady Hamilton said he and Cori went to Zingelman’s to get food for their movers the first day they arrived and have tried to come every Saturday since. He said they were “devastated” when they heard the restaurant's days were numbered.

“Not growing up here we can only look at the walls to imagine how big a part of a lot of people’s lives this place was,” Brady said, pointing at the comic-book murals that line the building's interior. “It’s got a nice little ‘Happy Days’ feel to it.”

Bob Gerth sat at the next table with daughters Elizabeth, 9, and Kathleen, 10. The father of four, who has a 21-year-old and a 16-year-old as well, said his young daughters' order has gotten repetitive.

“It’s been the same since we’ve been coming here—‘Rainbow Grilled Cheese,’ plain hot dog, and for dad, a grilled chicken sandwich,” he said, looking at his own plate. “I don’t know what we’re going to do next Saturday.”

Herb Roth said that in mid-June, the Zingelman’s space will re-open its doors as Doggy Diner, a chain that has multiple locations, including ones in Aurora, Romeoville and Woodridge. The Gerths and the Hamiltons both said they'll give the new place a chance.

Bob Schmieder didn't sound so certain.

“It’ll never be the same,” Schmieder said. “The atmosphere, the locale—people have a lot of personal memories about this place.”

Schmieder, 60, said he’s been told he’s the longest-running Zingelman's customer. He started coming with his now-grown-up sons when the place opened in 1986.

“Besides the good food and the atmosphere, it’s the local tradition of coming to Zingelman’s,” Schmieder said. “It’s been a local tradition for over 25 years.”