A Michigan State staple will be moving into Green Street this spring.
Conrad’s Grill, which specializes in late-night wraps filled with tater tots, will open at a free-standing building at Third and Green later this year, according to commercial realtor Guth & Associates, which brokered the deal.
Its menu contains dozens of combinations, including wraps with chicken tenders, grilled chicken, steak, and vegetarian options. Customers can order standard creations, or create their own. Some of the restaurant’s signature dishes are the breakfast wraps, which feature a mix of options including sausage, bacon, eggs and cheese.
“Fried potatoes inside a tortilla shell may not sound special, but legions of Spartan alums swear by the combo,” wrote Chicago’s Eater online magazine, which previewed the restaurant’s opening there in 2018. (It also reported on the Chicago Wicker Park neighborhood location’s closure in December 2021.)
It’s not often that we report on new restaurants coming to Campustown. Many of them are fairly inaccessible to the general public, or they are a carbon copy of something else that already exists in Campustown.
But Conrad’s Grill is different. For one thing, it originated in a college town – the chain now operates two locations in East Lansing, where it was founded by a former Michigan State student in 2007.
University of Illinois wasn’t the first option for Big Ten campus expansion — there’s already a location on the University of Wisconsin’s main drag (State Street in Madison), which opened pre-pandemic in winter 2020. The company is doubling down on college locations for its expansion plans.
Secondly, it’s located in a building that has its own parking lot, right off Green Street. That’s something of a rarity, and makes it a bit more likely that those who don’t live or work in the neighborhood might pay it a visit.
The location has been a lot of things in the past, mainly fast casual restaurants. Most recently it was a Wingin Out. It has also been home to Niro’s Gyros, and a hot dog joint if memory serves us correctly.
There’s no timetable yet for Conrad’s Grill’s opening in Champaign. Learn more about Conrad’s Grill online: website or Instagram.
