Changes in the Champaign-Urbana restaurant scene never seem to slow down. As always, we’re doing our best to keep track. Our look focuses most prominently on the C-U community outside of campus.
Local openings:
Who: Oskee’s Sports Pub
When: June
Where: Inside Atkins Golf Club, Urbana
Description: Formerly Homegrown, Oskee’s is refashioned as a prototypical sports bar, with numerous large-screen TVs around the restaurant. The menu is fairly typical pub fare, featuring sandwiches, chicken-and-waffles, salads and wraps, flatbreads and a handful of entrees.
Why we’re excited: Make no mistake — if you’re an Illini fan, this is a fine spot to catch the big game. The ambience is all about the Illini, and the food, on our initial visit, was fine.
Who: Black Dog (Urbana)
When: TBA
Where: 201 N. Broadway, Ave., Urbana
Description: The original Black Dog is planning to reopen! Yes, the spot that started the Black Dog craze in C-U, which never reopened following a pandemic-forced closure, recently announced on its website it will begin serving up its famous burnt ends and other good stuff at a date to be announced.
Why we’re excited: Are you kidding? It’s Black Dog. Black Dog’s Champaign location is fine, but we just happen to be partial to the OG Black Dog.
Who: Crumbl Cookies
When: August
Where: 2005 S. Neil St., Champaign
Description: Gourmet cookies that come in a fancy box, which is very pink, and people really, really like them. As in, the line is out the door all the time. Crumbl has a cult following that has quickly taken hold in C-U. Check out the weekly menu here.
Why we’re excited: To quote the inimitable Cookie Monster: “Mmmmm … cookies!”
Who: Napoli’s Italian Restaurant
When: February
Where: 1807 S. Neil St., inside the former Lodgic
Description: The menu is Italian food with most of the staples (pizza, calzones, strombolis, baked pastas, spaghetti, you get the picture). It is similar to the Napoli’s location in Decatur.
Why we’re excited: Happy to have that space filled again after Lodgic’s Everyday Kitchen closed. We’ve already been customers at Napoli’s; reviews from our group were solid if a bit mixed. But definitely give it a try for yourself.
Who: BakeLab Pâtisserie
When: July
Where: 1807 S. Neil St., inside the former Lodgic
Description: The Urbana BakeLab has expanded to create a new location adjacent to Napoli’s, offering its pastries and coffee plus some offerings unique to the new location. The Urbana BakeLab has enjoyed great popularity and we’re hoping the Champaign location does just as well.
Why we’re excited: We can never get enough baked goodies. In fact, there should be a law: No citizen should have to drive more than 1.5 miles from their residence to find a pastry. Sign that bill into law!
Local closings:
Who: Kentucky Fried Chieken
When: August
What happened: All C-U locations are now closed, along with many others in Central Illinois (Bloomington, Peoria, etc.) that closed abruptly in August. According to one news report, KFC closed about 25 restaurants in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. They were all owned by the same franchisee.
Who will miss it: KFC tends to be polarizing; you either love it or you hate it. Given the Chicken Wars that have enveloped C-U in recent years — hello Chick-fil-A, Dave’s Hot Chicken, Slim Chickens, Popeye’s, Raising Cane’s and on and on — it is no surprise that someone closed shop.
Any hope for the future: Considering that the same franchisee owned all of the closed locations, you’d think a new franchisee might be interested in reopening.
Who: Just Yolkin’
When: Sept. 1
What happened: CRS Hospitality Group, which owns a bunch of C-U restaurants, closed the restaurant earlier this month and has made references in various social media and news reports about utilizing the space in another fashion soon. We’ll see, but if there’s one location in C-U that has been a revolving door of restaurants, it’s this one. We’ve literally lost count of how many different restaurants have occupied the space at 2501 Village Green Place.
Who will miss it: Hardcore breakfast-lovers.
Any hope for the future: Sounds like CRS has something up its sleeve. Needless to say, whatever it is, it will need some good fortune to survive.
Who: A Taste of Both Worlds
When: July
What happened: ATBW, located inside Urbana’s Broadway Food Hall, is the latest entity to call it quits in that location. (Les Gourmets Cuisine is the only remaining restaurant in the Food Hall.) We’re disappointed to see the Food Hall struggle; we had high hopes at the start.
Who will miss it: Lovers of Filipino-Cambodian food. Unfortunately, that’s a niche that isn’t filled easily.
Any hope for the future: Sadly, not a lot. Broadway Food Hall is currently for sale, leaving customers wondering what might be next. Fortunately, H Mart will be opening across the street and will contain an Asian-centric food court.