8 hours ago
Gale Street Inn, known for ‘the best ribs in the city of Chicago,' abruptly closes
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.'
He went on to say in the post that he's loved operating in Chicago, 'the greatest food town on the planet,' and that there is 'no gracious way to close a retail business.' The restaurant is widely known for its signature baby back ribs.
Some locals are mourning the loss of the restaurant. Konrad Klima, who was born and raised in Jefferson Park, had been having a tough day and was planning to have a beer and a bowl of soup at Gale Street on Friday evening. He was disappointed when he heard Friday afternoon that he'd have to find somewhere else to go.
'That's a bummer,' he said.
George Catania had been eating at Gale Street for 50 years, since he was a little kid and would eat dinner there with his grandparents. He liked the ribs and the people who worked there. Catania said he feels bad that they are all suddenly out of a job.
Gale Street Inn opened in 1963 in a small tavern near the corner of Milwaukee Avenue and Gale Street, serving Texas-size beef and ham sandwiches across the street from its current location, Georgene Chioles-Neff, the daughter of the original owners, George and Joan Chioles, told the Tribune when reached by phone Friday.
She said her dad borrowed $5,000 from his parents to open the tavern, and they were able to clean it up to make it 'very quaint and sweet' with a 'beautiful back bar.' Her mom, a Chicago Public Schools teacher, came up with the name Gale Street Inn, said Chioles-Neff, 71, of Kingston in DeKalb County. She remembers her father slicing the beef behind the bar at that time, and serving the sandwiches on dark rye.
A couple of years later, Gale Street cook Louie Artis shared with her family his recipe for baby back ribs, which became so popular that lines formed outside the 20-table tavern, said Chioles-Neff, who started washing dishes at the tavern at age 10.
'It was a family affair,' she said. 'We were from Jefferson Park. We were from the neighborhood. Because it was a young family working together that was part of the appeal.'
In 1968, the city took the tavern property via eminent domain to build the Jefferson Park Transit Center, forcing the restaurant to relocate, she said. Because of concerns about traffic due to the ribs' success, a local bank attempted to block the family from purchasing the new property, which she said at the time was a chicken farm. Chioles-Neff said the family used the name of Bob Beck, a bartender at the restaurant, to buy it.
'It's a true story, so help me God,' Chioles-Neff said with a laugh, adding that there was a line out the door when they reopened in 1969.
George Chioles sold the Gale Street Inn in 1985 to Harry Karzas, father of George Karzas, after opening a second location in Mundelein, which the family no longer owns, she said. George Karzas, who had worked for Lettuce Entertain You founder Rich Melman, took it over in 1992 and worked to reposition the restaurant as a more upscale place.
The restaurant was still widely lauded for its ribs, slathered in a sweet peppery sauce. Other items, such as crab bathed in lemon sauce, enjoyed their moment in the sun as well. The restaurant was also known to serve beer from local breweries and hang local art on the walls.
Chioles-Neff said she was shocked and heartbroken to learn the restaurant closed this week. All the memories came flooding back — working with her grandfather in the early morning hours, her father's 'bigger than life' personality and her mom's generosity.
'The three of us that are left, my brother, my sister and myself, are very sad,' she said. 'I cried all day yesterday. It was another loss. My mom and dad put their entire heart and soul into (the restaurant).
Just two weeks ago, Sam Toia, the president and CEO of the Illinois Restaurant Association, spoke with Karzas. During that conversation, he got an inkling Karzas might close the eatery soon, but Toia said it seemed Karzas just decided to go for it this week. Toia called Karzas the 'de facto mayor of Milwaukee Avenue,' saying he knows everything about Jefferson Park.
'Gale Street Inn was a place you went for your communions, your graduations, your anniversaries,' Toia said. 'Now you're taking another great place away from the Northwest Side of Chicago, where people went to celebrate special occasions.'
'You could get as good a steak at Gale Street as you can at any of our steakhouses downtown,' he continued. 'And the ribs might have been the best ribs in the city of Chicago.'
Toia said Karzas, and many other restaurateurs Toia represents, had large concerns about the financial viability of their businesses after the elimination of the tip credit. He also said that since 2020, labor and product costs have both increased 35%, among other expenses. Fear of immigration raids is another big concern right now, he said.
All in all, small, locally owned businesses are struggling to keep their doors open, Toia said.
'The restaurant industry was an industry of nickels and dimes before the pandemic, and post-pandemic, it's turned into a business of pennies and nickels,' Toia said.
Other local business owners also feel the change coming to the neighborhood. Steve Bollos' family took over the Jefferson Inn — a beloved dive bar right next door to Gale Street — around the same time the restaurant opened its doors. Bollos and Karzas worked side by side for close to 30 years and shared many of the same longtime regulars.
'Gale Street and George have been an anchor for Jefferson Park when it comes to food culture,' Bollos said. 'The closing of Gale Street is pretty devastating for the Jefferson Park neighborhood and Chicago in general, because they created this label of a place to go, where you can be treated right and feel at home.'
