Glory Days Bar & Grill Takes Over Former Front Street Cantina Space

PLAINFIELD, IL — At the latest bar to open in downtown Plainfield, staff members hope to transport patrons back to the glory days.

"Our goal is to bring everyone back to their glory days," Eva Guttosch, Glory Days Bar and Grill's general manager, told Patch. "When they come in they have good food, good drinks and just a good time. We want to create an atmosphere that's just fun and welcoming and exciting to kind of get away from everything else and have happy thoughts while you're here.

Glory Days, located at 15120 S. Des Plaines St., took over the space that once housed Front Street Cantina, which closed earlier this year. Guttosch is one of the staff members who stuck around to transition from one eatery to the next.

"It's nice to have some of the same faces with us, and we have some of the same regulars popping in to check us out," she said. "We have definitely gotten away from the Front Street vibe; that is not our vibe at all anymore. ... We really freshened up the space where it doesn't look the same."

With its soft-opening on April 13, using only word-of-mouth and social media advertisement, the restaurant unveiled its signature wings, handcrafted cocktails and new interior decor.

"The word-of-mouth has been traveling really fast, and we have been hearing great things around town," Guttosch said, adding "the feedback on [the food] has been phenomenal."

At Glory Days, customers should expect bar food but taken up a notch because the restaurant knows anyone can do bar food, according to the general manager.

She explained: "Things are made in-house daily; we're not just pulling items from the freezer and popping them in the fryer. ... All of our sauces for our wings are homemade, there's a whole pepper-fermenting process that the chef is doing, and all the rubs for the sauces are made in-house. ... We're serving typical food that other places are serving, but we are hearing, 'This is better than up the street' or 'This tastes even better than what I've gotten at this restaurant.'"

The mentality also applies to the cocktails, which are made with homemade syrups and freshly squeezed juices.

The menu features appetizer classics including cheese curds and sliders, entrees such as seared salmon and pork chops, and a variety of burgers, sandwiches and wings. It's a set menu, but Glory Days will unveil specials, too.

"We want our wings to be the main attraction," Guttosch said. "The crispness on the wings, we really want to draw attention to that and the homemade sauces and rubs with it."

Besides dishes, Guttosch said something else that distinguishes Glory Days is its weekly specials. For example, kids eat for $1.99 any day of the week. Other days' specials include $5 wine every Wednesday and $2 draft beers and half-off wings every Thursday.

Going forward, the grand opening date has not yet been established, but what's in the works is an outdoor patio set to open once warm weather sticks around.

"I think it's going to be great once all our information is out there and everybody knows about us because I know the food is wonderful," Guttosch said. "I know this staff is wonderful; I know that the drinks are wonderful."