Local Business Profiles
Soul Food Takeout Restaurant Grows from Bespoke Catering Enterprise
Business Name: Outside the Box Carryout Restaurant
Products: Home-cooked soul food for takeout and catering, including meal kits and vegan options
Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thurs.-Sun.
Address: 1734 W. 35th St., Chicago
Phone: (773) 475-6533
Online: OTBCarryout.com
Get weekly home-cooked meal kits, holiday dinners and soul food carryout at this new McKinley Park neighborhood business.
Read more: Soul Food Takeout Restaurant Grows from Bespoke Catering Enterprise
Last Store Standing: Video Strip Keeps Neighborhood, Cinephiles Happy with Movie, TV, Game Rentals
Business Name: The Video Strip
Industry: Video and game rental
Hours: 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sun.-Thurs.
Address: 3307 S. Archer Ave.
Phone: (773) 927-4307
Online: TheVideoStrip.com
One of the last video stores in the entire metropolitan region is The Video Strip in the McKinley Park neighborhood of Chicago.
Vintage Sports and Pop-Culture Apparel Push Fashion Forward at Consume
Business Name: Consume
Address: 3452 S. Western Ave.
Industry: Retail vintage fashion
Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
Online: @consumechicago on Instagram
The apparel and lifestyle boutique Consume just north of West 35th Street and South Western Avenue (next door to Butterdough) is building a business on classic style from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s now finding huge popularity as contemporary street wear.
Read more: Vintage Sports and Pop-Culture Apparel Push Fashion Forward at Consume
Custom Fabrication Drives Explosive Growth at Bridgewater Studio
Bridgewater Studio co-founders Eric Cup, left, and Patrick Justice show off their custom fabrication shop in the McKinley Park neighborhood of Chicago.
Business Name: Bridgewater Studio, Inc.
Address: 1719 W. 35th St.
Industry: Custom fabrication, design and installation
Online: https://bridgewaterstudio.net
A big demand for bespoke fabrication — and the capability to quickly deliver a high-quality end product — has propelled McKinley Park neighborhood-based Bridgewater Studio through 100 percent year-to-year growth and toward a big business expansion, said Bridgewater Studio co-founder Eric Cup.
"We embraced high technology," Cup said. "it's been critical to our growth."
Read more: Custom Fabrication Drives Explosive Growth at Bridgewater Studio
New Restaurant Pochos Launches Luxe Weekend Brunch
Xavier Hernandez, Irene Acosta and Miguel Hernandez prep test dishes in the Pochos kitchen prior to their brunch opening on Saturday, August 24.
Business Name: Pochos
Address: 2025 W. 35th St.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sat.-Mon.
Online: Pocho's Facebook Page
Pochos restaurant opens this weekend, on Saturday, August 24, with a brunch service that's impossible to find anywhere else in the area, said Irene Acosta, one of the three partners in this new venture. Acosta, along with her husband, Miguel Hernandez, and Xavier Hernandez (no relation) hope to leverage their combined 50 years in the food service industry into a restaurant business that grows, step by step, from its initial weekend brunch.
"We want to build a community around food," Acosta said. "For years, I hoped my husband would open up a storefront restaurant."
Read more: New Restaurant Pochos Launches Luxe Weekend Brunch
Baking Obsession Gives Rise to Scratch Pastries at Butterdough
Uva and Lalo Leon are prepared for service in Butterdough's kitchen.
Business Name: Butterdough
Address: 3452 S. Western Ave.
Hours: 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tues.-Fri., 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sat. and Sun.
Online: Butterdough's Facebook Page
Self-described baking geeks Uva and Lalo Leon worked as brothers to "destroy our parents kitchen" on their path to Butterdough, a new bakery and cafe just north of West 35th Street and South Western Avenue in the McKinley Park neighborhood of Chicago. "We got the idea to make this love of baking into a business," Uva Leon said.
Open since July 13, Butterdough offers freshly made coffee drinks, pastries and sandwiches, all created from scratch ingredients. Although the menu changes every day, constant staples include plain, almond and chocolate croissants, plus special items like the popular vegan horchata, Lalo Leon said.
Read more: Baking Obsession Gives Rise to Scratch Pastries at Butterdough
