"Friday used to be the busiest for lunch. But now it's the slowest. Everybody takes Friday off."
That's how Joel Nickson explained one reason Wishbone was closing when he spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times in early August. He and Julie Nickson ran the Southern-style breakfast restaurant for 36 years. Its last day at 161 N. Jefferson St. was August 28, 2026. Six weeks later, the newer places serving eggs and pastries around the West Loop seem to expect the shift Nickson described. Their posted hours lean toward Saturday and Sunday, and in one case Friday gets weekend treatment too.
Thirty-Six Years, Then One Bad Weekend
Wishbone opened in 1990 at 1800 W. Grand Ave. It then spent 26 years at 1001 W. Washington Blvd. before moving to Jefferson Street in 2018, Block Club Chicago reported, a move it made because of rising rents. Over the years it earned a reputation for shrimp and grits and Hoppin' John, and Eater and the Chicago Tribune both counted it among the city's essential breakfast spots.
Nickson gave the Sun-Times several reasons for closing. Labor was the "No. 1 problem for restaurants now," he said, and in 2025 egg prices hit the highest level he had seen in 35 years of running the place. Catering was down too, and he said customers were spending less because "money is tighter for everybody." Then a major plumbing problem in June cost the restaurant an entire weekend of business. "My wife and I started realizing, we're one disaster away from being in the hole," he said. When the closing was announced, he was working to place his 42 employees in new jobs.
The Friday comment points to the structural problem. Wishbone's weekday business depended on the office lunch crowd, and Nickson said it never recovered after the pandemic sent offices remote. A restaurant that loses a full weekend to a plumbing failure loses the days it now depends on most.
The Sandwich Shop That Opens Early on Fridays
All Too Well's hours make the same point from the other side. Chef Mitchell AbouJamra's sandwich shop, a sister to Evette's, officially opened its West Loop location at 1009 W. Madison St. on May 20, 2026, according to Eater Chicago. The shop's posted hours open at 11 a.m. Monday through Thursday. On Friday the doors open at 9 a.m., the same time as Saturday and Sunday.
The schedule puts Friday morning alongside the weekend. That is the same day Nickson watched go from his busiest to his slowest lunch.
Here is how the current morning options compare, using each restaurant's own posted hours as of early October 2026:
| Spot | Address | Weekend morning hours | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lou Mitchell's | 565 W. Jackson Blvd. | Sat–Sun 7 a.m.–2 p.m. | Breakfast all day |
| Bar Tutto | 1110 W. Carroll Ave. | Sat–Sun brunch 8 a.m.–2 p.m., café to 4 p.m. | Sit-down Italian café |
| All Too Well | 1009 W. Madison St. | Fri–Sun from 9 a.m., to 3 p.m. on weekends | Sandwich shop |
| Susu bakery | 652 W. Randolph St. | Sat–Sun 9 a.m.–noon, starting Oct 17 | Preorder pickup only |
A Steakhouse Bakery Designed to Sell Out
The most closely watched addition opens next weekend. Susu, the steakhouse at 652 W. Randolph St. in the former Grace space, starts a weekend bakery on Saturday, October 17. WTTW pointed out that this stretch of Randolph has mostly belonged to fine-dining evening spots like Oriole, Sepia and Grace. Chef and partner Alexander Willis and owner Paul Alqas modeled the bakery on Genie Kwon's approach at Kasama, where a casual daytime bakery supports a destination dinner restaurant.
The format is tight, according to Chicago Food Magazine:
- Preorders open on Susu's website every Monday at 3 p.m. for the following weekend.
- Ordering closes Thursday evening, and quantities are limited.
- Pickup runs Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon through the restaurant's back entrance.
- The first preorder drop goes live Monday, October 12.
The centerpiece is a breakfast sandwich made with housemade Wagyu sujuk sausage, French scrambled eggs, American cheese, red shatta aioli and green chermoula on hand-rolled sourdough pita. Willis calls the bread "Wonder Bread meets pita." The opening pastry lineup includes croissants, a chai cheesecake called Tea Tea Cheesecake, a Shakshuka Danish, tahini chocolate chip cookies and a tahini canelé. There is no coffee program.
Willis described the economics plainly to WTTW. "Not only is it an extra source of revenue for us, but it's also another venue of creativity for me." A kitchen already paid for by dinner service adds two short weekend mornings and sells a fixed quantity ordered days in advance. That is close to the opposite of a full-service breakfast room that has to staff up every weekday whether the lunch crowd shows or not.
Brunch on the Ground Floor of an Apartment Tower
Bar Tutto points to where weekend morning traffic now comes from. Joe Flamm's Day Off Group, which also runs Rose Mary, BLVD Steakhouse and Il Carciofo nearby, opened the all-day Italian café in December 2025 on the ground floor of a new high-rise apartment building in Fulton Market, Eater reported. Eater's opening coverage described a morning menu of Italian pastries and egg sandwiches, with pancakes and omelets added for weekend brunch. Today the restaurant's site lists weekend café hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and brunch from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Wishbone served the people who worked in the West Loop. A café built into the base of an apartment building is positioned for the people who live upstairs and down the block, on the days they aren't commuting anywhere.
This Fall's Big Openings Start at Dinner
The headline openings of the season don't serve breakfast at all. Black Briar, the 110-seat American gastropub from chef Jimmy Papadopoulos and co-owner Tim Anderson, opened September 26 at 201 N. Morgan St. in the former Bar Takito space, per Eater Chicago. Its current reservation listing shows service starting at 4 p.m. every day, and no brunch is listed. Berenjak, the Persian restaurant that opened in London's Soho in 2018, opened October 2 inside Soho House at 113–125 N. Green St. Soho House says it is open to members and nonmembers. Berenjak's Chicago page lists Tuesday through Saturday, 5 to 10 p.m.
Through all of this, Lou Mitchell's at 565 W. Jackson Blvd. remains the earliest weekend option on the list. It opens at 7 a.m. Saturday and Sunday and serves breakfast all day.
The other new morning options take narrower bets. Susu offers three hours on two days, with ordering capped by Thursday night. All Too Well opens two hours earlier at the end of the week than at the start. Bar Tutto runs its full brunch menu only on weekends. Each one schedules around the time of week that Nickson described as having pulled away from a weekday lunch business.
What's Next at 161 N. Jefferson
Wishbone's own site marks the August 28 closing and names no future project for the address. Susu's first preorder window opens Monday, October 12, at 3 p.m. Pickup starts at the Randolph Street back door at 9 a.m. on Saturday, October 17.
When the closest breakfast spot to your building changes, the way your block works on a Saturday morning changes too. We follow those shifts block by block across the West Loop and Fulton Market. If you'd like to know how your home's value compares, Vesta Preferred Realty can put together a valuation based on the streets you actually walk. Get a Home Valuation.
