Opening near for new restaurant complex

The owners of the new three-restaurant complex at 1026 Davis St. in Evanston tested out their second-floor open-air dining space called Five & Dime with some invited guests Friday evening.

The owners, Dan Kelch and Marty Cless, say they hope to open the upstairs space real soon now, but are still awaiting a delayed delivery of furniture before they’ll be able to launch the revivals of Kelch’s LuLu’s and Taco Diablo dining spots on the ground floor.

Cless says he’d imagined the development process for the new buiding would have taken about a year — and instead its been more than two-and-a-half years since the fire that destroyed Taco Diablo and other businesses just across the street from the new site.

Five-and-Dime has an outdoor grill and bar area — as well as another bar and some indoor seating space for use during inclement weather.

While it was a warm and rather sticky evening Friday, a fresh breeze made the upstairs open air space a refreshing spot for some al fresco dining.

And Kelch says they have some new tenants lined up — whose names he wasn’t ready to disclose — for the rest of the retail space in the new building and for the former Studiomedia building they’ve also acquired next door at the corner of Davis Street and Oak Avenue.

Related stories

Construction starts at new restaurant site on Davis (5/1/15)

Demo starts to clear way for new restaurants (1/21/15)

New home for LuLu’s, Taco Diablo up for approval (7/13/14)

Pine Yard fire destroys three businesses (12/29/13)

LuLu’s, downtown dining mainstay, is closing (12/6/13)