Restaurant Jackman & Co. opens, pays tribute to Glenview founder

Chicago Tribune

21 hours ago

There's a very good reason why Ballyhoo Hospitality decided to open its newest restaurant, Jackman & Co., in Glenview.
'Glenview chose us,' explained founder and CEO Ryan O'Donnell. 'They came to Ballyhoo and asked if we would do a restaurant in Glenview. Glenview is a great village and I do have lots of friends who are there.'
O'Donnell added that he, his wife Anna, and their children live down the street in Wilmette.
The chain already had restaurants nearby in Wilmette, Winnetka, Highland Park, and Lake Forest.
O'Donnell noted that he took into account Glenview's plans for redevelopment of the downtown area. 'We created a deal together that allowed us to put a business plan in place that made a lot of sense,' O'Donnell explained. 'They gave us grant money and they also secured a loan.'
The Village Board reported the details of the agreement in an e-newsletter sent to residents in September 2023.
It included the fact that the redevelopment agreement required the village to prepare the site for construction. It also provides a $1.75 million grant. In addition, the village and Ballyhoo
have a loan agreement for $2.25 million to be paid back to the Village at 2% interest over the next 15 years, per a village spokesperson. There is also an intercreditor agreement that details how the village would assume responsibility to pay off Ballyhoo's portion of a second loan from a private bank.
It further noted that a 'reverter clause' states that if Ballyhoo doesn't fulfill its obligations, ownership of the land and building would revert back to the village, per village information.
O'Donnell noted that Jackman & Co. is fully owned by Ballyhoo Hospitality.
The restaurant was named in honor of Edwin Stanton Jackman, a 'founding father of Glenview,' O'Donnell said. 'He was a steel magnate who delivered steel to the railroads back in the 1800s.'
Jackman donated a bear fountain to Glenview that has become a beloved symbol of the village. It is also the mascot of the new restaurant named in Jackman's honor.
It took a year for Ballyhoo to construct the new building on the space at 1749 Glenview Road.
The 5,800-square-foot restaurant seats about 170 inside and 50 outside.
O'Donnell reported that Jackman & Co. is a 'British-inspired gastropub that meets the Midwest.'
Executive Chef Matt Lehto was not available for an interview.
The menu includes British comfort food and Indian aromatics, with such menu items as red Thai curry prawns, battered fish and chips, and British beef roast with duck fat potatoes and Yorkshire pudding.
The cocktail list includes such playfully-named selections as 'The Queen Doesn't Need a Passport,' which combines vodka, blackberry, thyme, and lemon. London dry gin with italicus and dry vermouth are served in 'A Happy Marriage.' The bar features an extensive selection of whiskeys.
Nonalcoholic selections include, 'If These Walls Could Talk,' a mocktail of strawberry, cardamom, lemon, and ginger.
Ballyhoo Hospitality officially started in 2018 but its first restaurant, Gemini, was opened in 2009 in Lincoln Park. There are currently 15 Ballyhoo restaurants in Chicago and suburbs. O'Donnell said that he chooses the location and format of each Ballyhoo restaurant by instinct.
'I don't have a grand plan and I don't usually preplan what I want to put and where,' he said. 'I look for opportunities with different neighborhoods and communities that I like and that I spend time in. I like to be part of the communities that I know will support us.'
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.