A Sign of the Times . . . Don Roth’s Blackhawk will close at the end of the year in Wheeling, ending a 90-year run of a Blackhawk restaurant in the Chicago region.
The Blackhawk is closing at 61 N. Milwaukee, Wheeling, because owner Ann Roth, Don Roth’s widow, concluded it was time. “With my 90th birthday on the horizon and none of my children in a position to assume responsibility for the family business, it will be better to close Don’s last restaurant while it is still a going concern,” she said in a press release.
The original Blackhawk on Wabash was where Roth introduced his “spinning salad bowl.” It also was known for hosting Big Bands, such as the orchestras of Les Brown, Bob Crosby and Kay Kyser, with some performances broadcast nationwide on WGN Radio.
The downtown restaurant closed in 1984 and its Big Band memorabilia moved to Wheeling. Some of the restaurant mementos will be given to longtime patrons when they come by for the last time.
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Nick’s Fishmarket, which has been in the Loop for 32 years, closed after serving dinner on Friday 30 October 2009. The owner of the restaurant, who could not re-negotiate his lease at a lower price with the bank who owns the property, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., said that if he finds a new location it will be focused on grilled items as he thinks fine dining will not make a comeback until 2011.
