Portillo's, Pop's, Raising Cane's: 'Joliet Is A Good Place To Be'

JOLIET, IL — If it seems like Joliet is constantly celebrating new restaurant openings that create strong appeal across social media, that's because it's true. In January 2021, Joliet opened its first Chick-fil-A, and the place was slammed with new orders for months at 2705 Plainfield Road.

Now, in a matter of days, Joliet area residents will be going crazy once again as the first Portillo's Pick Up in the entire nation —that's right — opens in Joliet, at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 1.

Joliet's new Portillo's is at 1444 N. Larkin Ave. in the North Ridge Plaza. Last August, demolition crews knocked down the IHOP restaurant building that closed in June.

"I think Joliet is a good place to be, and I think people in this restaurant business open places where they believe they're going to be successful, and we concur with their assessment," Joliet City Manager Jim Capparelli told Patch.

Capparelli said he's certain the Portillo's will be a tremendous success on Larkin Avenue.

"And it's only offering drive-thru pickup, which is a first for the chain," he said.

On Jan. 24, Joliet gained another boost for West Jefferson Street as Joe Haberkorn II opened his Pop's Italian Beef & Sausage at the old Boston Market restaurant.

The new Pop's at 1866 Jefferson St. offers indoor dining, a drive-thru window and outside patio seating during the warm weather months.

Haberkorn's goal is to get every customer in and out of the drive-thru in three minutes or less.

In addition to the new Pop's Italian Beef and the Portillo's Pick Up hysteria, the first Raising Cane's to open in Joliet will occur in several weeks, probably in March or April.

The Raising Cane's will feature a double-drive thru, adding yet another high-traffic fast-food restaurant to the Louis Joliet Mall area along Plainfield Road.

"We've certainly had a lot of restaurants open up in the past two years," remarked city of Joliet economic development director Derek Conley. "I think all of those locations have heavy traffic and should work out for each of them."

Chick-fil-A has a double-drive thru, Portillo's will have a triple drive-thru, Pop's has a drive-thru and the new Raising Cane's will have a double-drive thru.

"It's almost a requirement for most restaurants opening up,"Conley said.

Along the Jefferson Street corridor, Beef Shack opened in November 2018. Amigeaux's Sophisticated Street Food opened last July. Red Crab Juicy Seafood opened in December 2020 at the former Wildhorse Grill & Saloon, 2314 W. Jefferson St. In February 2020, Panera Bread opened a sit-down restaurant with a drive-thru window at the former Applebee's, 2400 W. Jefferson St.

And there's been a lot more Joliet restaurant news to celebrate:

At 1522 Route 59, Joliet's new AMBA Mediterranean Grill opened in October.

At 1511 Plainfield Road, Mike Villarreal, the long-time owner of Jody's Hot Dogs on Republic Avenue in Joliet, opened The Grill inside Fritz's Pour House in November, a month after Chefy's announced it was closing.

At 30 Ohio St., Tamales Korinna opened for business in November.

Louie's Waffle House opened in December at the former Bob Evans Family Restaurant, just days after the 73-year-old owner of Louis' Family Restaurant retired at 1001 West Jefferson St.

At 345 Collins St., Shark's Fish and Chicken opened in December at the former Church's Chicken that closed in 2020.

On Jan. 12, the Whiskey River Bar & Grill opened in the Clarion Hotel, at the corner of Larkin Avenue and McDonough Street, near Interstate 80. "It's a whiskey-inspired kitchen, and it's all scratch cooking," Posh Hospitality Group vice president Dan Scott told Joliet Patch. "Literally, everything is scratch."

Next week, Joliet's mayor will review a liquor license application from Mariscos El Pulpo. The new sit down Mexican seafood restaurant aims to open in February at 808 West Jefferson St., which was the former Truth restaurant from 2003 until May 2020.

In the city center, Joliet's downtown, well-known Joliet restaurant owner Bill Dimitroulas acquired the shuttered Juliet's Tavern last March, reopening Juliet's with an American, casual-dining menu in June. And one block away, Dimitroulas' shining star, CUT 158 Chophouse, is in the midst of quadrupling its restaurant and bar space by relocating a block away into the Bays Rialto Square Building, hopefully in March.

And although many Joliet residents were saddened when Barolo's Italian restaurant sold its business in September, an expanding West Chicago restaurant called Mariscos El Vallartazo intends to fill the vacancy at 2765 Black Road in the coming months, once renovations are complete.