Restaurant Group Closes Café Cancale To Help Big Star, Violet Hour, Other Restaurants Survive 'Storm' - Block Club Chicago

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WICKER PARK — One Off Hospitality will not reopen one of its Wicker Park mainstays.

Café Cancale, 1576 N. Milwaukee Ave., is shuttering so owners can focus on their other businesses, according to a Tuesday Instagram post.

In addition to Café Cancale, One Off operates several other restaurants and bars across Chicago. 

In Wicker Park, locals will recognize The Violet Hour, a cocktail lounge, and restaurants Dove’s Luncheonette and Big Star.

Inspired by chef Paul Kahan’s trip to coastal France, Café Cancale opened last year. The French seaside-themed restaurant replaced Publican Anker, which opened in 2016 and closed last year.

“While the decision to close is a difficult one, the realities that restaurants across the country face are truly sobering,” the post said. “It is with this in mind, that we say goodbye to Café Cancale and focus our attention to steering our collective of restaurants through to the other side of this storm. … From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for the continued support and warmth we feel from the Chicago community.”

View this post on Instagram

To our community, ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ It is with a heavy heart that we announce the closure of our Wicker Park bistro, Café Cancale.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ When we opened Café Cancale just last May, our French-ish restaurant was welcomed with open arms by the Wicker Park community. We were grateful to have served each of you for $1 oyster happy hours, our famous cassoulet nights last November and countless bottles of french wine. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ This project was a dream for us having been inspired years ago by a trip to Cancale, France by Paul. The team that brought this vision to life was second to none having created a restaurant that felt like an urban escape amidst a bustling pocket of the city. The team offered food that earned accolades from critics and praise from guests but more importantly, it brought people together for a comforting meal. To us, that’s what it’s all about. Our biggest thanks goes to our staff who worked tirelessly at to bring this dream to life. ⁣⁣ While the decision to close is a difficult one, the realities that restaurants across the country face are truly sobering. It is with this in mind, that we say goodbye to Café Cancale and focus our attention to steering our collective of restaurants through to the other side of this storm. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ We are grateful to continue to serve the Wicker Park community through our sister locations on Damen, including Big Star, Dove’s Luncheonette and The Violet Hour, along with the additional One Off Hospitality restaurants across the city.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for the continued support and warmth we feel from the Chicago community. We hope that we’ll see each of you in the coming weeks across our restaurants. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ As always, we’ll be saving you a seat. ⁣⁣ Donnie, Eduard, Paul, Terry & The @oneoffhospitality Team

A post shared by Cafe Cancale (@cafecancale) on Jun 30, 2020 at 6:34am PDT

Also this week, One Off leaders announced they were shuttering Blackbird, the Michelin Star restaurant in West Loop, saying it could not continue to operate under the current coronavirus restrictions.

In April, employees of One Off spoke out against the restaurant group‘s handling of the COVID-19 shutdown, claiming the group mishandled more than $90,000 in GoFundMe donations.

RELATED: One Off Hospitality Workers Say Restaurant Group Mishandled Donations, But Owners Say They’re ‘Taking Every Measure Available’

The owners said they did the best they could under difficult circumstances and they even kicked in $180,000 extra to extend employees’ health insurance benefits.

In April, industry experts predicted Chicago could lose up to 1,500 of its 7,500 independent restaurants due to coronavirus.

Now, the city’s rules for Phase 4 of reopening allow bars and restaurants to serve at 25 percent capacity indoors, among other restrictions.

Some industry leaders say that isn’t enough to save Chicago’s struggling dining scene. Other restaurateurs either can’t operate their businesses with the city’s new requirements — or don’t want to.

RELATED: Can Indoor Dining Save Chicago’s Struggling Restaurants? Some Aren’t Risking It, Others Have No Choice

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Restaurant Group Closes Café Cancale To Help Big Star, Violet Hour, Other Restaurants Survive 'Storm' - Block Club Chicago
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