Local food artists Jordana and Garrett VanBergen are finalizing plans to buy the longtime home of children’s boutique Lad & Lassie, which closed in February 2020, and convert it into a restaurant and cafe. EvaDean.

Jordana told The Record that EvaDean hopes to open in mid-2023 and will feature a bakery on the right half of the site and a breakfast-lunch-brunch restaurant on the other side.

“It’s a bit scary. This building needs a lot of love,” she said. “It’s a very big project, but we are very excited.”

Although the sale of the building has not yet been completed, a purchase agreement is in the works, according to the VanBergens and a representative of Connor Max LLC, the owner of the property.

Wilmette Village officials said they have not yet received official documentation for EvaDean’s, but are aware of pending sale and restaurant plans.

While EvaDean’s will be the first company to own a restaurant for the VanBergens, Garrett and Jordana have extensive professional culinary experience.

Garrett VanBergen is the executive chef of Evanston Farma farm-to-tavern restaurant open for lunch, dinner and weekend brunch.

Jordana VanBergen is a Wilmette native and pastry chef. For 10 years, she has worked at Bennison Bakery in Evanston, which is owned and operated by his father, Jory Downer. Her grandfather, Guy Downer, was a baker who bought Bennison’s in 1967. Her grandmother was also a baker. Her name was EvaDean.

Jordana said the couple were looking for places in the area to open their own restaurant and settled there in downtown Wilmette.

“Downtown Wilmette has gotten really cool,” she said. “A lot more than when I was young. … You drive through downtown Wilmette, it’s bustling. There’s a lot more going on there.

A major draw of the building for the VanBergens was the ability to use part of Veterans Park, a small public space adjoining the building to the east, for outdoor dining.

Although use of the park requires formal approval, the Village of Wilmette would also like the building’s occupant to use part of the park, Braiman said.

Garrett VanBergen will be the restaurant-side chef, while Jordana will run the bakery. Garrett’s specialty, she said, is farm-to-table cuisine with specials that rotate with the season.

The VanBergens will also seek to obtain a liquor license from the village in order to serve alcohol – such as wine and cocktails, such as Bloody Marys – with lunch and brunch.

In downtown Wilmette, EvaDean’s will be the third breakfast location, joining Hotcakes at the corner of Wilmette Avenue and Fuel at the north end of the Metra station on Washington Court. The area also includes other bakeries, such as St. Roger Abbey French Organic Patisserie, Panera Bread, and Lawrence Dean’s, as well as incoming Buck Russell’s Bakery and Sandwich Shop.

The Record is a non-profit, non-partisan community newsroom that relies on reader support to fuel its independent local journalism.

Subscribe to The Record to fund responsible media coverage for your community.

Already subscribed? You can make a tax deduction Don at any time.

A steak and seafood restaurant from North Carolina named Firebirds Wood Fired Grill has made its way to Texas.

The state’s first Firebirds opens February 14, 2022 in North Fort Worth near downtown Alliance near Keller. Much of the northeast corner of 35W and Heritage Trace Parkway is a pile of dirt right now, but HEB has purchased a parcel of land there. A Chuy’s Tex-Mex is already open next to Firebirds.

After opening, the company’s East Coast rapid operators will focus on Collin County, where a Firebirds is slated to open in Plano, near the Frisco border at State Highway 121 and Preston Road.

The company now has 55 restaurants and plans to open four more in 2022.

The restaurant looks familiar – a bit like a Houston, but with more light.

“We felt early on that the Firebirds were a real fit for the customer base here,” Stephen Loftis, vice president of marketing, says of Fort Worth. He calls the restaurant “contemporary-polished”. It’s the kind of place where steaks are served for lunch and dinner, but you can bring your kids.

The most popular dishes on the menu are the lobster and spinach queso ($14.95 all day), wood-grilled salmon ($16.95 lunch, $25.95 dinner) and a rib eye Cajun ($37.95 all day for 16 ounces).

The seven salads on the menu are generously proportioned. Seared Tuna Superfood Salad comes with a dozen pieces of sushi-grade tuna near a bed of spinach and grains dressed in a tangy avocado-lime vinaigrette.

The restaurant also sells seven burgers. The most popular is the Durango burger, an incredibly high stacked sandwich with pepper jack cheese and fried onions. It’s one of many Colorado-themed menu items: Although this restaurant started in North Carolina and is now in Texas, founder Dennis Thompson had a home in Aspen, Colorado, and named several dishes in his honor.

Southwestern au gratin potatoes, made with a smoked tomato cheese sauce, are spicy and creamy. They’re a good match for Cajun rib eye, says Fort Worth chef Sean Martin.

Martin moved to Fort Worth for work and spent most of his career with the Firebirds. He started working for the company as a dishwasher when he was 18. He became sous-chef at this Delaware restaurant, then was promoted to executive chef at two Firebirds in New Jersey, then two more in Pennsylvania. He is just getting to know Fort Worth alongside general manager Michy Cruz, a native of Virginia.

And are these foreigners worried about moving to beef-loving Texas?

No, says Loftis. “We’re just going to bring our A-game,” he says.

Firebirds Wood Fired Grill is located at 2900 Amador Drive, Fort Worth. The second Firebirds in Texas is scheduled to open in late 2022 at 5430 State Highway 121, Plano.

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter at @sblaskovich.

Boca Raton, where steakhouses are popular and plentiful, hosts an upscale seafood-focused restaurant on Friday. The Corvina Seafood Grill debuts in eastern Boca, just south of Palmetto Park Road.

The elegantly appointed place, which offers indoor and outdoor dining as well as an indoor / outdoor bar, is run by a team of restaurant veterans who have opened and operated an eclectic batch of restaurants in the area. Washington DC.

Their Passion Food Hospitality group includes Corvina Executive Chef / Partner Jeff Tunks, who has achieved acclaim over a career spanning four decades and concepts ranging from seafood to American pub fare to the Caribbean and the Mexican cantina.

Corvina’s menu

At Corvina, Tunks’ menu looks at a blend of Latin American and Caribbean flavors. Some menu highlights at a glance:

• Fresh oysters served with a mignonette granita, marinated ginger and vodka ($ 19).

• Honduran tuna ceviche marinated in coconut milk, lime, ginger, chili and cilantro ($ 17).

• Grilled oysters with chipotle-lemon garlic butter and cotija cheese, served with warm Cuban bread ($ 19).

• Whole local snapper prepared in Veracruzana with marinated tomatoes, olives, capers and jalapeño (market price).

• Jamaican brick-pressed jerk chicken served with rice and peas and rum-glazed sweet plantains ($ 22).

• Brazilian-inspired moqueca fish stew with shrimp, lobster, mussels, fresh fish, coconut milk and dende (red palm) oil ($ 36).

• Grilled “Diablo” shrimp, served in a chipotle cream sauce with a sweet corn and Venezuelan cheese cachapa (pancake) and a pineapple chutney ($ 28).

At Corvina, Tunks will work alongside Passion Foods business partner David Wizenberg and group operations director Eduardo Pagan, who will serve as the restaurant’s general manager.

They are joined in this independent company by restaurant partners and investors Dean Carras and Patrick Marino.

Following:The Carbone restaurant group to open a partner restaurant in Palm Beach Gardens

More Seafood Love:Food Shack’s sister gets up in an unexpected place

Corvina Seafood Grill

• Hours: Open for dinner Tuesday to Thursday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Closed on Mondays.

• Happy Hour: Served at the bar daily from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., with a variety of bites at $ 9.