Which Restaurants Rake It In?

Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »

These are not the best of times for Chicago restaurateurs. Most are struggling to attract customers by adjusting their menus and lowering prices. Even so, some spots are doing millions of dollars worth of business In fact, eight Chicago-area establishments wound up on Restaurants & Institutions magazine’s 1990 list of the nation’s 100 highest-grossing restaurants. The top grossing Chicago-area restaurant was a fish house: Bob Chinn’s Crab House in Wheeling, which was number 18 on the list with $10.8 million in sales. The crab house boasts that it flies in more than 18,000 pounds of fresh seafood weekly. Tops within Chicago city limits was that sportsman’s paradise known as Ditka’s, number 27 on the list with $9.22 million in sales. Ditka’s just eclipsed the Berghoff, which checked in at number 28 with $9.2 million. Harry Caray’s, another sports-theme restaurant, was considerably farther down the list at number, 51, with $7.1 million. From there it’s back to the suburbs, to a glorified pancake house called the Omega in Niles, which came in at number 70 with $6.5 million. Chicagoans do like their ribs, which is why Carson’s on LaSalle Street can be found at number 87 with $5.9 million in sales. Then came Knickers, a Des Plaines diner that did a hefty $5.7 million last year. And another beloved Chicago spot, Leona’s flagship Sheffield Avenue restaurant, sneaked onto the list at number 98 with $5.6 million.

Tijuana Yacht Club Goes Under

Elsewhere in London, John Malkovich made his British theatrical debut last Tuesday in Lanford Wilson’s highly charged drama Burn This. Sources indicated that Malkovich has been wanting to play London for some time. Interviewed for London’s weekly entertainment magazine Time Out, in the wake of his divorce from fellow Steppenwolf Glenne Headly, Malkovich cast a nostalgic look back to Chicago. “I no longer have any roots,” said the actor. “You know leaving Steppenwolf was probably a huge mistake, but I did, and so that’s really that. I mean, I can go back and work there when I want, but it’s not really the same.”

Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Bruce Powell.