Restaurants & Bars
Urban Kitchen Restaurant Off To Good Start: Manager
Urban Kitchen Restaurant opened in late April at 2424 Plainfield Road in Crest Hill. It filled the Russo's Italian Deli vacancy.
CREST HILL, IL — Several months after Russo's Italian Deli went out of business in Crest Hill, there's a new sense of optimism at 2424 Plainfield Road as Luis Gachupin has opened his Urban Kitchen Restaurant.
He's open seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Urban Kitchen opened April 24, Gachupin told Joliet Patch during Tuesday's interview. It's off to a good start with a total of eight Google Reviews, averaging 4.8 stars out of 5 stars. Gachupin said he plans to rotate his menu throughout the year.
Find out what's happening in Jolietfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
"Urban Kitchen, we don't have just one style," Gachupin told Patch. "Our goal is for Crest Hill to have something unique. The menu is based on every season of the year."
Gachupin said he tried to keep his menu prices very affordable for people in the Joliet area, and he's also trying to gain a reputation for providing large size portions to customers.
Find out what's happening in Jolietfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
There are only a couple of items on the menu that are more than $10 —the Urban Style Burger is $11, and the BBQ ribs are $11 for a half-slab and $22 for a full slab.
"Big portions, small price," he remarked.
Gachupin said the BBQ ribs have generated a good response from his new customer base. The BBQ ribs are Southern style and served with Kansas-style barbecue sauce and coleslaw.
"The ribs are cooked for 12 hours, and we smoke those in house as well," Gachupin said. "Everything on the menu is made in house."
The manager of Urban Kitchen said The Market Salad is another crowd pleaser.
It's $9 and includes spinach, red cabbage, quinoa, avocado, cucumbers, carrots, candied pecans and salmon, and it's tossed in a housemade Balsamic fig vinaigrette.
Urban Kitchen's manager said his new Joliet area restaurant is also known for its Latin food, most notably the steak tacos and birria queso tacos.
Urban Kitchen has a large dining room and there's an outdoor patio with seating. Urban Kitchen also focuses on takeout orders, and it works with DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats for deliveries.
"Facebook has been a really good marketing (place) for us," Gachupin said. "We are very unique."
The phone number for Urban Kitchen Restaurant is 815-782-6417.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
