Maddon’s Post, Joe Maddon’s restaurant, has closed

If you didn’t have a chance to sample what was termed “comfort food” at Joe Maddon’s eponymous restaurant, Maddon’s Post, you’re too late, writes Ashok Selvam of eater.com:

Maddon’s Post couldn’t muster a full nine, as the restaurant from former Cubs manager Joe Maddon closed on Sunday, seven months after it debuted outside of Wrigley Field. Owners Levy Restaurants pulled the plug on the collaboration between Maddon and James Beard Award-winning chef Tony Mantuano. Maddon is no longer with the Cubs; he’s now the manager of the Los Angeles Angels. Mantuano has also left the city and moved to Italy.

A news release blamed Maddon and Mantuano’s departures for the closure. Mantuano has cooked for luminaries including President Obama and announced in early December that he was leaving Chicago and Spiaggia. His camp was mum about Maddon’s Post’s future. After a season where the team failed to qualify for the postseason, the Cubs announced in September that Maddon would not return as manager. Maddon’s Post’s closure comes after the dreaded vote of confidence in October from management, when it said the restaurant wouldn’t drop Maddon’s name.

Personally, I thought Maddon was still popular enough in Chicago that the restaurant might have been able to make it, but with the chef’s departure, that was probably too much to keep the place going. That “comfort food” menu consisted of offerings mirroring the Italian and Polish background of Maddon’s hometown in Pennsylvania. While the main page of the Maddon’s Post website is now simply a note thanking everyone who came through the doors, the menu’s still online (at least for now), so you can see what you missed. I went there a couple times on non-game days. The food was good, service attentive and the prices were reasonable. There were lots of kids inside on those occasions and they seemed to be positioning it as a neighborhood spot.

Don’t expect the prime Clark & Waveland corner storefront to be vacant for too long, says Selvam. Hickory Street Capital, the Ricketts family organization that owns the Hotel Zachary and other projects in the neighborhood, is already looking to fill the space, which actually occupies two floors of that corner:

Hickory Street is looking for a new tenant for the Maddon’s Post space. A rep said they’d prefer an upscale restaurant, but would also be open to retail. Hickory Street reps believe the property holds value. Regardless of where the Cubs finish in the standings, Wrigley Field, the second-oldest Major League Baseball stadium, is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the Midwest. A rep added there’s no pressing deadline to get a new tenant in before Cubs’s Opening Day. That’s March 30 versus the Pittsburgh Pirates.