A highly-lauded sandwich joint is dimming its Open signal this week.
Open Sandwiches, which served a collection of sandwiches designed by well-known native cooks, will shut for good on Dec. 15. Proprietor Jake Riederer stated he’s burned out by the restaurant trade and as a substitute desires to set his focus towards a brand new native market he plans to open along with his spouse.
“I’ve been in eating places for 25 years, and I’m uninterested in working the late evening hours,” Riederer stated. “It’s time for me to maneuver on and test one thing else out.”
Riederer initially debuted the pop-up idea inside American Bonded, a restaurant within the River North Artwork District, in March 2021, earlier than transferring it to an area throughout the Goosetown Tavern, at 3242 E. Colfax Ave., in November of the identical 12 months.
The kitchen’s restricted menu had six varieties of sandwiches, however for its final week, it would serve simply three: The Lee, a slow-roasted beef sandwich with Sichuan dipping sauce, created by Tommy Lee of Uncle and Hop Alley; The Osaka, a hen karaage sandwich, created by Jeff Osaka of Sushi Rama; and The Watts, a smoked pork stomach sandwich, created by Amos Watts of the Fifth String.
For each sale, Open donated $1 to an area meals charity of the cooks’ selection. All of them agreed on Mission Angel Coronary heart, whose former govt chef, Brandon Foster, died immediately in 2020. Riederer stated the enterprise donated a complete of $3,000.
“As a result of every sandwich got here from a unique chef, none of them shared a single ingredient,” Riederer stated. “Every sandwich was actually completely different from all the remaining.”
“I’ll miss seeing friends’ reactions after their first couple of bites as a result of it actually blew some minds as to what you are able to do with a sandwich,” he added.
For now, you will discover Riederer and his spouse inside Spinelli’s Market in Park Hill, the place they’re working to study the enterprise for his or her subsequent enterprise. And as for whether or not or not he’d reopen Open down the road, Riederer stated he’s “completely open to the thought of it.”
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