New Owner to Take Over Just-Closed Lindy's Chili/Gertie's Ice Cream

is gone, but the U.S. 30 storefront where it was located will not be empty long.

Judi Adams, who has worked at Lindy's and the two previous fast-food restaurants that have filled the same spot over the last several years, closed this weekend on a deal to buy the 15932 S. Lincoln Highway restaurant. Adams and her daughter plan to reopen as Just Judi's sometime in mid- to late-May, Adams said.

Lindy's owner Jayme DelGrosso said she had no plan to sell her operation until she learned her husband was being transferred by his company. Although she doesn't yet know when they'll be moving or where they're being relocated to, she said she needed to start preparing for the move.

In fact, DelGrosso said, she'd never have closed otherwise. Business was quite steady, she said, unlike the economic conditions that have forced other restaurants to close in the last year or two.

Ironically, most people didn't even realize her business was a franchise of the famous Lindy's/Gertie's restaurant that's been in business on Chicago's South Side since 1924, DelGrosso said.

"(The customers) just liked the food," she said.

Adams will pick up where DelGrosso left off, but has opted not to keep the franchise, she said. Most of the menu, however, will remain the same: burgers, hot dogs, Philly steaks and fries. She'll like name one of the restaurant specialties -- maybe the kettle chips -- after herself, she said.