* Background is here if you need it. Chicago Tribune…
George Karzas kept his cards close to his chest. At Weston’s Coffee, where he often orders a blueberry muffin and drip coffee with room for cream, the baristas had no idea the longtime restaurant owner planned to close Gale Street Inn. Nor did his many customers in and around Jefferson Park.
“It’s too soon to talk,” Karzas said Friday from the bright red doorway of his restaurant at 4914 N. Milwaukee Ave. He has kept the door locked since Wednesday night.
Karzas announced on Instagram Thursday that Gale Street Inn, a neighborhood staple in operation since 1963, was permanently closed, a troubling trend among local restaurants, industry professionals say. He cited staffing shortages as the primary reason for the abrupt closure.
“Hiring and retaining quality staff has proven too tough for too long,” he wrote. “We are tired of sucking, we have standards you know. But overworking our existing crew is not the answer. There are simply too many of you and not enough of us.”
I loved Gale Street Inn, and I was last there the Friday before it closed. The legendary Hannah Meisel was our guest and our table had a great time. The food was superb, the service was excellent and the music elevated us all.
George is such a cool dude. Very into live music and a longtime Dead Head. The bearded man has some stories, lemme tell you. I’ll miss his restaurant and I’ll miss him.
* That brings us to the Chicago Tribune editorial board…
We hardly need to tell you that many locally owned restaurants are the foci of their neighborhoods, which accounts for why there was such a howl of anguish in recent days when the cozy Gale Street Inn on Milwaukee Avenue in Jefferson Park announced its closure. Its famously genial operator, George Karzas, had owned and run the restaurant since 1994. Among his many other good works, he supported his local Jefferson Park theater, The Gift, storefront theaters and storefront restaurants sharing much of the same homegrown DNA in this city. At the Gale Street Inn, you always knew you were in Chicago.
The problem? The current headwinds are many in the restaurant business, including the well-documented rise in food costs. But top of mind of those in the hospitality industry in Chicago is the high cost of labor and the city’s shortsighted decision to get rid of the so-called tipped minimum wage following a campaign by an out-of-state activist group, One Fair Wage, which had worked its agenda on Mayor Brandon Johnson and enough of the aldermen in the City Council. Karzas’ decision to close the Gale Street Inn comes as the tipped minimum wage was set to increase again Tuesday, rising from $11.02 to $12.62 an hour as part of a phased-in approach that has been a progressive nightmare for restaurants.
Um, Mr. Karzas didn’t say the problem was high labor costs. Just the opposite. George said his problem was “Hiring and retaining quality staff” and that he hated “overworking our existing crew.”
That crew was fabulous, by the way. I never had a bad time at the Gale Street Inn.
Also, Karzas spent a bunch of cash during the past year or so turning that restaurant into a shining palace. If money was a problem, it sure didn’t show.
* Frankly, I’m not a fan of the One Fair Wage group and its agenda. They’ve so far failed at the Statehouse to expand the Chicago experiment statewide for good reason.
But my absolute biggest pet peeve is people who will super-impose their own pet peeves on whatever is in today’s news regardless of the reported facts, as the Trib’s edit board has done here.
Respect your own reporters, for crying out loud.
- Original Rambler - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 10:23 am:
Sad to see GSI close but I won’t be surprised to see it reopen at some time in the future. Need to find a new place for ribs NW Chicago.
Tribune again finding novel ways to push their agenda. I find their take on national issues at odds with how they address local issues.
- Juice - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 10:28 am:
Hate to disagree Rich, but the Trib edit board learned a long time ago not to read their own newspaper after publishing a long editorial with recommended policies on how to deal with the communist menace for the newly elected president Thomas Dewey on November 4th, 1948 after the read the paper from the day before.
Ever since then they haven’t bothered to read the newspaper. Except Kass. They always liked reading Kass.
- Amalia - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 10:40 am:
The Trib did mix that issue with the restaurant and the two are different issues it seems.
- Big Dipper - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 10:43 am:
Does a theater critic from Britain really have his finger on the pulse of Chicago? They have bad take after bad take. I wonder what percentage of the Ed Board even lives in the city.
- Scott Cross for President - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 10:50 am:
Gale Street Inn always delivered. Great food and great experience.
We used to bring our kids there on Sunday nights for table side magic tricks while the moms and dads could enjoy a slab of ribs.
- Jefferson Park - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 10:50 am:
I will miss the Gale Street Inn. In addition to the Tribune coverage, I also check articles published in local neighborhood papers. George Karzas helped his neighbors. He also helped fund raise for local schools.
My guess is that Gale Street Inn may someday reopen outside of the city limits. Bad public policies lead to people voting with their feet.
I have been saddened by the recent closures of several local restaurants. In every instance, the pandemic restrictions imposed in Chicago and Illinois were also mentioned as factors that impacted the businesses negatively.
- Grandson of Man - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 10:52 am:
Facts can never interfere with the doom grifter narrative of the Trib. Working people getting a small boost in pay probably deeply upsets the editorial board. /s But Gale Street had the best ribs, very sad to see it close so suddenly.
- Former Downstater - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 10:59 am:
All a so-called “Tipped minimum wage” does is put the burden of paying the employees on the customer. The restaurant is not my business, why am I paying the employees? A tipped minimum wage codifies and endorses this practice. This is one of the many reasons it needs to go.
- Paul Powell - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 11:04 am:
Hospitality employment is still below pre pandemic levels statewide
- JoanP - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 11:15 am:
= Does a theater critic from Britain really have his finger on the pulse of Chicago? =
He’s lived in the U.S. since the ’80s and in Chicago since 1990.
- CA-HOON - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 11:19 am:
Man, what happened to Clarence Page?
- levivotedforjudy - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 11:23 am:
Gale Street closing was sad. When I was at the National Veterans Art Museum, George always donated catered feasts when we had exhibit openings. He even held a fundraiser for us. Great guy. Also, I thought it was a much needed revealing as to what the crux of his closing was - shortage of labor (not whatever self-serving spin the Trib Board was trying to do).
- GoneFishing - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 11:48 am:
What’s a bit strange is I have a nephew who is looking for work. Put in applications for restraurants all over and hasn’t found anything. Not sure what is up. People are looking for work but can’t find it. However you can tell restraurants are understaffed. Not sure if the job seekers are looking for more than what the employers are looking to pay. It’s a tough business and I wouldn’t want to be in that business.
- Shytown - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 12:01 pm:
Uniformed editorial.
Tipped wage will continue to harm small/independent restaurants. More failed so-called progressive policies that do real harm, much like those pushed by the orange mad man.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 12:08 pm:
===It’s a tough business and I wouldn’t want to be in that business===
Same, but I’ve believed that ever since I worked in some restaurants long ago.
I worked at a 24/7 diner many years ago. The owners had a cot behind the kitchen. They took turns napping and sent employees to their house to feed their pets and water their plants.
The amount of hard work and commitment it takes to run a restaurant is not for everyone. And it definitely wears on you after a while.
George had a magnificent run and he went out on top.
Hopefully, somebody buys the restaurant. It’s truly gorgeous inside and is obviously beloved. The amount of publicity this closure has received likely surprised a lot of folks.
- Pundent - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 1:23 pm:
As I’ve observed before, the Tribune Editorial Board begins with a conclusion and then writes a phony narrative to support it. It’s a pattern of irresponsibility.
- Former Downstater - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 1:28 pm:
@Shytown, how specifically will it harm small businesses?
- Jefferson Park - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 6:56 pm:
Marie’s Pizza & Liquors is not too far away from the Gale Street Inn. It was even older as the business dated from the 1940s. It appears to be permanently closed.
- ChicagoBars - Tuesday, Jul 1, 25 @ 7:52 pm:
Tipped wage (if you look at West Coast states where it doesn’t exist - fascinating legislative history) have fewer bar & restaurant jobs per capita. This whole debate here continuously overlooks that a tipped wage bartender or server job here is a minimum wage job with a huge hourly wage upside from tips.
If the goal is somewhat fewer small business places & somewhat fewer jobs with upside than OFW has a great vision.
All the above being said…The Tribune op-ed is incredibly lazy and frankly not helpful with the over reliance on contorted anecdotes. Every bar or restaurant closing is it’s own soap opera. But the five year Chicago decline in bars & restaurants and especially jobs at those places is a economic development travesty.