Downtown Restaurant Bites The Dust

JOLIET, IL - The commercial property along North Chicago Street that served as the Tin Roof Restaurant only to abruptly change names and reopen in August as Kalypso is now permanently shuttered. On Monday, several FOR RENT signs were plastered on the front windows and the outside patio fence. The building is just up the block from the Rialto Square Theatre.

On Aug. 17, Joliet Patch interviewed the staff for the new restaurant. The Tin Roof restaurant had operated at the location for the past four years. "It's a new restaurant. It's not a name change. It is a new restaurant," representatives of Kalypso told Patch in August.

Now Kalypso has closed after being in business less than three months.

A couple of weeks ago, Patch heard rumblings that Kalypso might be on the verge of closing. But after the restaurant did not open for a couple days, a handwritten sign appeared on the window informing people that Kalypso would open for business later that week, which it did.

As the Tin Roof, the sit-down restaurant was a regular dining spot for people heading to evening shows at the Rialto. However, over the past year, a number of new restaurants have sprouted up throughout the downtown including K Ribs BBQ in October and Catrina's Mex in September inside the Olde Keg, which had been a famous pizzeria for many decades at the corner of East Jackson Street.

Last year, Chevere Latin Cafe, an authentic Venezuelan cuisine, opened near the city's Van Buren Street Plaza. And in September 2017, downtown Joliet got its first microbrewery in the city. MyGrain Brewing Company, which features an excellent menu and dining selection, opened on the lower level of the historic Union Station.

As for Kalypso, it's now anybody's guess what will come of the empty restaurant.

RELATED: Downtown Joliet Revamps Menu Becomes Kalypso

Images via John Ferak/Joliet Patch Editor