Downtown Skokie – The Process of Re-Invention Part 2

Did you know we have 3 Michelin Guide restaurants in Downtown Skokie? We also have two Chicago Magazine reviewed restaurants and more great Yelps per establishment than bad? Leaders from neighboring communities that have noticed that Downtown Skokie is growing and would love to do what we are in the process of doing.

Most suburbs cannot report one Chicago Magazine reviewed restaurant and we are honored and blessed to be the home for two. First on the list is Libertad located at 7931 Lincoln Ave., and our second is Tub Tim Thai at 4927 Oakton St. Tub Tim is also Michelin Guide rated. Yolo Mexican Eatery located at 5111 Brown St. and Kabul House at 4949 Oakton St. are both “Bib Gormand” listed.

Recently Siunik Armenian Grill opened at 4839 Oakton St. and their Glenview location was featured with the same menu on Channel 7’s “Hungry Hound." Their new Skokie location was mentioned. Tub Tim was also featured by the “Hungry Hound” last year and now offers a special deal named after that show.

Downtown Skokie’s bakery is Sweety Pies. They have been featured on the WGN/CLTV show “Chicago’s Best” and continue to win accolades including the recent Skokie Patch poll asking “who makes the best birthday cake in Skokie”.

The Curragh hosts the Skokie Public Libraries book reading club and a popular karaoke night with monthly fundraisers for local organizations and shouldn’t forget the Village Inn. Randy Miles owns the place and it has been known to be the center of downtown Skokie. My bet is more deals have been made at the Village Inn than any place else in town. Randy is the President of IMODS (the Independent Merchants of Downtown Skokie) and gives his time and knowledge and support of Downtown Skokie with great energy and enthusiasm. Besides the place to watch any game they have the best tater tots in town.

The list of places to eat goes on with Annies, Pat’s Place, Subway, Eclissi, De-Jred in the downtown center. Check Yelp for any of them and note the majority of the comments are clearly positive.

On the retail side our own Bughouse Studios has won the heart of the community. Andrea has developed quite the following and commitment to the community. The center of after school action and booming on the weekends she is really a success story. As a matter of fact the building she is in can now say it is 100 percent occupied. Drive Cleaning, Bughouse, Siunik and a soon to open boutique/spa fill the building to capacity.

The Skokie Theatre is a done deal. It will have only been closed for four months. We got lucky with Gorilla Tango stepping up and assuming the responsibility and ownership for this landmark. Gutted and remodeled with over $1 million just a few years ago the Skokie Theatre closed in January. The new theatre will open in April with a variety of programming opportunities for everyone. Please, stop in. It’s not the dollar theater you remember …

The Yellow Line stop will eventually happen. We have waited this long what are a few more months after 10 years. Oakton and Lincoln will see some major road improvements and beautification of the street-scape and general environments. The pieces are all falling into place and there will be some announcements soon about new shops and a rumored big announcement is forthcoming about some new development in Downtown Skokie. Stay tuned.

Please, come downtown. Grab a bite to eat. Stop in one of our shops. Support the local economy and shop local. As for parking - 2 hours for 20 cents at the meters and ample free parking around the area. You just cant beat that!

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